5 Things Meme

It’s a mashup of the icebreaker games that everybody hates, the old playground standby tag, and the chain letter… and it could only happen in the blogosphere. It’s the 5 Things Meme.

Paul Schmelzer, author of the always excellent Eyeteeth, has tagged BLYGAD (way back here) and who am I to break the chain? I’m supposed to reveal five things you don't necessarily know about me, and then tag five others who should do the same. In this case, the whole AFHMN gang will be getting in on the fun.

So without further ado: 5 things you probably don’t know about AFHMN

1. The first AFH seeds were planted in Minnesota soil in 2005 as Cameron Sinclair came to talk at the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at the University of Minnesota (which is now the more inclusive College of Design). The speech Cameron gave then was not so different from the one he gave at the TED Talks last year:

2. In fact, so many were inspired by that talk, the University somehow managed to convince Cameron to come back to Minnesota and find the time to teach a studio. This kick-started a new push, led by Dean Tom Fisher, to position the school as a leader in humanitarian architecture.

3. No grassroots organization is without its growing pains. As we recently made the transition to using Google Groups, we accidentally added our whole mailing list, 140 blessed souls in all, to our “working group”. Needless to say, many of them politely (in most cases) objected to being included in one morning’s nuts and bolts conversation (18 emails deep) about where we should hold the next meeting.

4. AFHMNers have day jobs, imagine that! Check 'em out on the web: Cermak Rhoades Architects, LHB, Swainhart Construction Services, Shelter Architecture, SmithGroup, & Perkins & Will... among others!

5. I’ve successfully gone a full year without using the word blogosphere, on this site or anywhere… until today. Thanks Paul.

And to keep the ball rolling, I tag:
Up Your Architecture
CRA Jotter (with just a smidgen of self promotion)
A Life Without Buildings
Vestal Design Blog
A Daily Dose of Architecture

Have fun!