Susanne

What’s your name?
Susanne

How old are you?
Almost twenty- I’m 19

How long have you been living here?
A little over two months- I’ve been involved since the beginning

Where did you live before you moved in here?
I lived in Bislett with my mom, so I’ve moved away from home.

How have you divided up the rooms?
For the most part everyone has their own room,. There’s a little variation in the size of the rooms. On that side, where I live, are the smallest units- regular sized living rooms, toilet and kitchen, and those on the other side are a little larger, and on each floor there are also double rooms that we’ve reserved for parents who have custody of their kids during the weekends. And sometimes several people share a room together. We’ve been talking about reorganizing so that we can live more than one to a room, because we have the space, and who might be interested in doing that, etc.

So downstairs there’s communal space?
Yes- the use of those spaces is becoming more structured. The innermost room has been blocked off so that there’s no through traffic, a place were there’s peace and quiet, which can also be a meeting room, and then there’s the dining room over here
but of course it changes a little from day to day! There’s a lot we still haven’t decided! Soon we’re going to have an art workshop, so we’ll get som artwork up on the walls- invite some young people to come and do some grafitti pieces and decorate a little. It will be nice for us to live in a place with a lot of artwork and cool for people to be allowed to get creative.

We often have musical jam sessions, people just bring their instruments and sit and sing and play, and since we moved in we’ve had a café here, not to make a lot of money, we do that on Sundays, and then we have a lecture series on a variety of subjects on Wednesdays


Kutt:

I don’t know that there’s that much more that happens in an organized way, but there’s a lot of stuff being planned. I was just thinking about it in the shower- now we can finally start working on this stuff, since we have a sense of security.

Do you collaborate at all with the elderly residents?
They always come down for waffles and coffee on Sundays. Three of them, no four,- Stig , Mathias, Kåre, Marte- they’ve been really involved in the political process, they always come with us to city hall, or wherever we happen to be going, they speak with the media- Mathias is always around- they’re the one’s who are the most active, but we’ve also gotten fruit and gifts and stuff from some of the others
but how active they are? I think a lot of them will come out for the Christmas party. They might not be comfortable enough with us yet,- there are some new ones that we’ll try to include in things.

–start:

What kind of relationship do you have to clothing?
I have a pretty personal relationship to clothing, actually, I kind of attribute it with a kind of soul in a way. All of the clothing I have is used- a lot of it is inherited, from ever since I was small, and some is from flea markets and thrift stores and stuff like that, and I like to wear them until there’s pretty much nothing left!

Commotion.
The Finance Committee is set to vote later in the day on whether the house will be sold

Show up!
The Finance Committee is deciding on sale of the house
Show up at the house 13:30 or at City Hall 1500-2000
Afterwards: cake and beer- info about Svartlamoen, Trondheim- Jam session

What are you making?
I had an idea- yesterday I made a dish out of rice and lentils and vegetables which people really enjoyed, so now I thought I’d make something similar with beans and chick peas, left overs and spices, but I totally misjudged the time, so now it’s just going to be rice. And spice. I’ve got all kinds of spice from home, from back when my mom was a student and stuff, so I’m a little unsure of how long it will take to cook, but if I mix in enough spices I know it’ll be good. So for example: tenderizing salt “Makes all meat more tender!” Probably goes great with rice, huh?

When’s the food supposed to be ready?
I originally wanted it to be ready one thirty, but it will be ready two o’clock. People won’t be here until three.
You’re going to City Hall?
Yeah.


The Finance Committee votes to sell the house with a small majority.
I don’t understand what you neo-liberal Progress Party politicians are thinking
and the Liberal and Christian Democrats, with your socially aware profiles and stuff- you’ve all got to seriously get your acts together! We’re going to really focus in on you during the election year!