Persistence. In the spring of 2009, as a senior at university, I was one of the first few people involved in the movement that became Twin Cities Maker, now a

Persistence. In the spring of 2009, as a senior at university, I was one of the first few people involved in the movement that became Twin Cities Maker, now a hacker/makerspace in Minneapolis, MN. Movements start small. The very first meeting was just three of us meeting in a coffee shop after one guy started by boldly registering the web domain and looking for interest. This eventually grew to a consistent weekly social meeting in the back room of a coffee shop. Over time informality gave way to an official club with officers. We started collecting dues to save money for a lease while still keeping the energy by meeting every week at the coffee shop. I moved away for work soon after graduating in the summer but initially kept in pretty close contact with the group. By January 2010, with the help of a group-merger, Hack Factory of MN dba Twin Cities Maker officially held a lease to a space in town. Since then they've expanded to lease more of the building. At the Hack Factory you can tinker with electronics, 3d printing, CNC routing, milling, welding, woodworking, textiles,.... Even after acquiring the shop, the weekly coffee shop meet turned into a weekly open house on Wednesday evenings that still runs today. Credit for this success goes to the individuals who stepped up to volunteer running this crazy enterprise. I have crazy amounts of respect for everyone who's served as an officer or otherwise helped organize things. After returning to town in 2011 I officially rejoined as a member, although I happened to loose much of my enthusiasm for social tinkering. I was interested, but not committed, so i'd sit in on board meetings but not actually run for office. Eventually, I spent less and less time at the shop. Since then I've always felt odd talking about my involvement in TC Maker, because other than being one of the first few people in the door, I never personally took much of a real lead role in the organization. By 2013- I was considering myself to just be the longest dues-paying member who actually participated the least. I'm on another "hiatus" now as I moved to Helsinki, Finland last spring. I'm still on the mailing list, and I still admire the group for doing their own thing and making it work. If I'm ever back in MN and it's still around I'll undoubtedly be involved again at some level. http://www.tcmaker.org/blog/ http://www.tcmaker.org/blog/