Michael Cohen

I just read the C-Haus article (fall/winter 2007) ... great memories. These pictures are from part of my 1976 senior art show, which was basically a scene of the C-Haus. The photo of me is called Drinking Beer and Other Mundane Pastimes. The bronze sculptures were cast in a small foundry in South Beloit. I also cast one of the tables with pitchers of beer on it and people sitting in chairs.

Michael Cohen’76
Seattle, Wash.

The pieces on the C-Haus were great. Best things I’ve seen in the magazine.

Editor’s note:The following C-Haus letters were selected from postings to a special bulletin board, set up on Beloit’s Web site in conjunction with the pub’s 35-year anniversary.

I was surprised and, of course, pleased to read the article about the 35 years since the Coughy House began. I guess I was also a little surprised that no one called me about being one of the founding members and asked for my thoughts ... which I do have. It was a long time ago—a long, hot summer, and Chick (Foxgrover’74), Don (Ouellette’74), Anne (Kostick’74), and I worked with many others to set it up in that basement. I’m glad it’s still going—haven’t been back to it in 10 years or so. Congrats to those who have kept it going! Cheers.

I received a major in biology and minored in foosball. Those skills are still with me, and I have the C-Haus to thank! I did manage the place one term (spring of ’79), which certainly improved my skills, but probably also improved my chances of cirrhosis. Fun, fun, fun. Great memories.

I met my husband at the Coughy Haus. And we’re still happily married, 23 years later! In those days, beers were a quarter and pitchers were a dollar. Since those raucous college days I have gotten sober, gotten a master’s degree in counseling, and now I help others with their drinking problems! What goes around comes around.

Yes, the house beer was Point—yeech. But, once a year—on one’s birthday—it was free. So, if I show up at the Haus while driving through Beloit on my birthday, do I get a free pitcher? I still have my Beloit College ID.

Uh, then again ... bad idea.

Faithful to the C-Haus, but able to afford Pilsner Urquell ...

The first time I visited Beloit, I was a freshman attending Marquette University. We drove in for the Zappa concert, and I was so impressed I transferred to Beloit as a junior in 1973.

I lived in Music House, where I met my wife of nearly 30 years, Merry Schieber’75. I played mandolin and guitar in two student bands that played the Coughy House, a Texas swing-inspired band with a female vocalist, a pedal steel guitar player, and a name I don’t remember; and the Indian Mound Oysters with Tory Dunn’76 on banjo, Chuck Stangor’73 on string bass, Kenny Navarro’75 (now a smooth jazz king) on guitar, and myself on mandolin. The other day I was going through a box of old reel-to-reel tapes and found a recording of the Oysters gig, as well as a show we did on WBCR. The live performance was recorded by Merry Schieber, and you can tell the beer had kicked in because she was singing “la, la, la” over all of the vocals.

Good times, cheap beer, new wife!

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I was very touched to read about Philip Gates’58 and his peaceful protest at Fort Benning, which led to jail time. My son is a human rights activist who was also jailed for three months a few years ago, following his peaceful participation in that same annual protest against the School of the Americas.

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I read with pleasure the summer issue of Beloit College Magazine and the news of the Logan Museum of Anthropology’s accreditation by the American Association of Museums. As an anthropology and museum studies major, the Logan Museum opened an entire world to me—providing training and access to materials rarely available to undergraduates. Accreditation requires a commitment to high standards of professionalism, which in turn leads to greater opportunities for partnerships and funding—each critical to the continued success of the museum and its students.

Congratulations to all the faculty, staff, and students who have helped forward the museum’s mission over the years!

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