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Habitat. Articles. Essays on Life


From the Editor 45: Total Recall

Soter talksI looked at the timer on my phone. The man on the other end of the line had been talking, virtually without interruption, for 24 minutes. He was on a jag about corruption, misconduct, and malfeasance on his co-op’s board, and I had opened the floodgates by asking him, “What’s the problem?” 

From the Editor 44: Dogs

PACK YOUR BAGS, LASSIE

From the Editor 41: Sandy

Board walk no more: the aftermath In Sandy’s Wake

From the Editor 36: Principle

With Jennifer Wu, ops directorWhen is it principle, and when is it a shot in your own foot?We were talking about bonuses, and the woman with the Germanic accent couldn’t quite understand why the other members of her board wanted to cut the super’s Christmas bonus.

From the Editor 33: Seat, Anyone?

DON'T SLEEP IN THE SUBWAY, DARLING    Riding on a subway is like living in a co-op. Or is it? Subways are full of people from all walks of life – young, old, white, black, male, female – all crowded together in a place (a train, an apartment building) until they reach their destination. And on the journey, they must get along.

From the Editor 32: Stupid Owner Tricks

YOUR MOTHER SHOULD KNOW  Effie, with Tom and Nick, Cape Cod, 1960My mother, who died this past July,  did not suffer fools gladly and, when something seemed wrong, she didn’t mince words. “That’s stupid,” she would say in her pronounced Greek accent. “Really stupid.”

From the Editor 29: Boards

     CARRIED AWAY