Best Advisors EVER!

Bill and Ann were the best advisors EVER! Yep, Bill roller-skated down the street. XANADU!

LAB

My sign is complete. Yep, over 350 holes and bolts.

Last Day

It's the last day of M... it's a bittersweet feeling. We're all decked out in our M uniforms and are finishing our breakfasts. We have a lot of work to do today.

The Heat is ON!

Only two days left... we've got a lot of work to do. The physical space is nearly done. BUT how do we out-source Project M, recruit future M'ers, generate excitement, etc.?

The Cult

I officially joined the Project M cult by getting an M tattoo. Yep, I'm an M lifer. My tatt is featured in the bottom left photo. The pink doesn't show up too well, but at least it didn't hurt at all.

Only a few more days! We're working our butts off — cleaning the studio space, creating signage, constructing chandeliers, renovating the bathroom... We're all suffering from a bit of separation anxiety as the end nears. Perhaps some of us will stay for a few extra weeks, months or years to make sure this Lab succeeds.

Little more than a week left...

There's a little more than a week left of Project M. We've been putting most of our effort into (1) cleaning, remodeling and decorating the Lab's space and (2) developing the Lab's web presence. What's our small community project going to be? No clue. The Animal Shelter fund-raising effort was halted by vast political complexities. The Rosenwald School project is still being considered. 

Future Home of The _________ Lab

We're hard at work — cleaning, renovating, and designing the interior/exterior of this space.

Cooky Sign

We've been brainstorming about possible exterior signage for The Lab aka The ________ Lab. 

My Wrong solution is to make a sign comprised of bolts. People can change the look and configuration of the sign by adding and removing washers and wingnuts/nuts on the grid of bolts. The photos above are of a quick test model.

Sunday

CVS typo, swimming in Perry Lakes Park, and laundry. Sunday is our slower day... yet it's always packed.

Proud Constructors

We're so proud of our table. Now to make benches...

Done spinning... hopefully.

It's the end of the second week of M. We've established a few possible projects and are in the process of researching each of them. 

The proposed projects are:

1. Design Lab: Permanent design lab in Greensboro. Will have an M structure, but will be open and available year-round.

2. Public Swimming Pool: Taking the Rural Studio Lyon Fields as our model, creating a water park/pool that the whole community can enjoy. Hopefully, the black and white communities will engage at this pool. (The local pools are for Whites only.) This project seems to be hit or miss in its success.

3. Animal Shelter Fund-Raising: Rural Studio created a wonderful, beautiful animal shelter. However, the pound is not used due to funding issues. To make a long story short, Greensboro has a huge stray problem. I have never seen so many stray animals — out and about and also dead on the side of the road. We've even adopted two stray kittens and are hoping to find a home for them before we leave.

It feels so good to be making progress and working towards more concrete goals. I'm hoping we can keep this momentum going. (Keeping my fingers crossed.)

Project M Short

Project M Show.

Indian Food!

Got Indian food a few nights ago in Tuscaloosa with the lovely Betsy from HERO. Also, check out the group blog for more M info.

Construction is so Cool...

A big thank you to Johnny Parker for helping us finish our table (and calling us dumbasses and dipshits only a few times). 

Construction is so cool... even the second time around. So, we made this huge table, realized that it was poorly constructed, had to disassemble and reassemble the table. HOWEVER, this table is pretty awesome! 

Project M at the Rodeo

Team Portrait

Team portrait of us at the local Rodeo. Very patriotic.

Greensboro Happenings...

 

This first week of Project M has been a whirlwind of activity. We get up early and stay out late. We've been touring the town, seeing the Rural Studio structures, mingling with the locals, taking care of the two kittens we adopted, building a badass picnic table, and working on thinking wrong. 

Our first week of intensive brain-storming has been... well, intense. We've kicked around tons of ideas and have fought a little. :) We think we have settled on an idea, but I'll tell you all more about it once it's a bit further developed.

Here are some photos from the past few days.

Bunkhouse

Home, sweet home. Home to my fellow 8 M'ers and I, that is. 

Cell phone connection is iffy and internet connection is random. I promise to blog as best I can!