It's the last day of 2013, and I'm supposed to be finishing preparations for a cross-country move. But instead, I really want to recount my favorite moment of this past year.
On Friday, October 11, 2013, MIT's Hobby Shop held a celebration to commemorate its 75th anniversary. The hobby shop is a place for the MIT community (students, faculty, alumni, and such) to … well, practice *manus* after stretching their *mens*. It's a large room, filled with benches, power tools, and hand tools for working wood, metal, plastic, etc.
People use the Hobby Shop to build … things. Equipment for lab projects, musical instruments, furniture, signs, or whatever else they might dream. I was (sadly) not a member in college, but joined later to learn and use their large machinery when starting my bed.
The celebration in October included many member projects on display, one of which was a camera. Biyeun, its builder and user, gave a presentation about making and using her creation. In her introduction, she explained her discovery of view cameras and her instantaneous reaction: "I must build that."
As I nodded my head in understanding of her sentiment, I saw heads all around the room do likewise. Building a machine gives you a different understanding of it that no variety of use ever will. Just a taste of such knowledge can cause everyday objects to practically scream at you forever afterward, "Imagine what it's like to create me." I knew that everyone nodding had heard that call.
The dean of student life, Chris Colombo, spoke as well. He was not a member of the Hobby Shop, but had good friends there. He expressed awe for the projects like Biyuen's camera, that he had seen leave the shop, and a few minutes into his speech said something like, "I wish I knew how to build something like that." As he took a breath afterward, I could just feel every shop member in the room struggle to restrain themselves from walking onto the stage, grabbing Chris by the elbow, and dragging him to the shop, to teach him how. "C'mon, I'll show you," were the words on every lip.
Realizing that I was surrounded by people that not only had wanted to know, and then spent time doing and learning, but now also wanted to show and teach, was my favorite moment in 2013. Finding people that are curious is not terribly hard. Finding those that will follow through on their curiosity can sometimes seem rare. But, finding one who actually wants to share what he or she has learned, by answering the endless naive questions of a beginner, is like winning the lottery. To be standing in a room full of such individuals was overwhelming.
Post Copyright © 2013 Bryan Fink