A toast to a host
Please pardon the regularly scheduled Mexico updates interruption.
“The Loj” was the base of operations for NUHOC, Northeastern University’;s Outdoor Club. “We go on Trips” is the group Motto. A few days ago The Loj burned to the ground in a fire. Everyone was ok. To those that have never been, it is nearly impossible to put into words how important this building was to a great many people. After thinking it over for a few days the idea that kept coming back to me strongest is that The Loj was a Host like no other.
The Loj, most simply, and accurately, hosted people. You could stay there at any time of year as a member of the club. Being a Loj Rat however (Someone who just hangs out at the Loj) was strongly discouraged. The Loj hosted getting shit done.
The Loj also was also a place that hosted your passions, and was a place that allowed your skills to grow. The Loj hosted probably the strongest community I have ever been a part of in my life. People gave endlessly of themselves to the other members. They taught people skills like rock climbing and skiing, as well as softer, and possibly more important skills, like how to get along with a huge variety of people.
The Loj hosted conversations and debates. It hosted massive bonfires and marhsmellow roasts. It was a host while you strengthened old friendships and made new ones. The Loj forced you to increase your self-reliance. It was one of my first times in my life or realizing that in this place, I was responsible, and in charge. We were the adults and the authorities, everyone one of us. There was no “someone else” coming to fix everything is something went wrong. It forced us to grow and trust each other. Find our strengths and ways that we could contribute. It hosted our personal growth.
The Loj hosted work weekends where people came and gave of themselves to improve the Loj. It hosted experiments, construction projects, winter carnival, New Years celebrations (at something approximating midnight), and imaginations.
The Loj hosted Thanksgiving and Christmas for those far from family. And it hosted some of the most spectacular views off of that magical back porch. It also hosted a 3/4 (?) mile hike in, which I was not warned about, nor properly prepared for on my first visit, when we arrived at 10pm on a Friday, in the middle of winter, with ice on the trail. The Loj challenged and rewarded everyone who was there.
The Loj hosted people’s mistakes, and triumphs, along with many a tall tale. It hosted injuries and wilderness first aid training. It hosted parties and quiet reflective weekends.
This week, as news of the fire spread among the community, it was beautiful to see how multiple generations of Alumni and active members who had been flung across the country since leaving Northeastern felt a need to come together and to celebrate and toast to the community that the Loj enabled and that they loved so much. People who had lost touch reconnected, and the community came together again as it has so many times before. It was a special place, and something that you want so badly for other people to get to share in. The Loj we remember may not be there anymore but the spirit of the Loj lives on with all of us.
NUHOCers that read this, please feel free to add to my hastily written list here if you’d like or share an anecdote or two as well. To everyone else, I hope you were able to catch a brief glimpse of something that was special to me and many of my friends.
