Small Talk: Breaking free & making things
Alex Hillman
Happy Friday!
Normally, this time of year slows down a bit arond the Indy Hall Community and Clubhouse…but not this week!
From record-breaking art streaks to prepping seed packets for local neighborhoods and more, it was awesome to see people giving themselves permission to make things, just because.
To end the week, here are 5 quick things that we think are worth a high five. 🙌
1. 🎨 Kevin’s Creative Renaissance
Kevin shared something powerful this week:
I’m close to finishing my 10th piece of art in the last week, which is one less piece of art than I made in the entirety of 2022 (and the last piece of art I made for myself was in 2023).
Breaking free of the confines of drawing for work and finding a spark of creativity without feeling like I need to do it for money has been so liberating, especially after how long I’ve struggled with my creativity. I hope I can keep it up.
Hell yeah, Kev. 🙌
2. 📚 Sarah McAnulty’s “Nearby Nature” Book Announcement
HUGE congratulations to Sarah McAnulty whose new book “Nearby Nature” was just announced! You might know her as the driver of the the viral Squidmobile and Squid Facts Hotline, or the founder of science education nonprofit Skype a Scientist.
This new book is a collaboration between her and literary agent (and longtime member and friend) Eric Smith of Neighborhood Literary.
We can’t wait to read it!
3. 🌱 1000+ Native Seed Packets for Philly Neighborhoods
Speaking of Sarah…this week she worked with about a dozen Indy Hall members to create over 2000 native seed packets to distribute around Philadelphia neighborhoods, with a goal to create 5x by January!
That’s a whole lot of future flowers, thanks to many hands working together for a few hours. Oh hey, that rhymed!
4. 🎉 Ctrl Alt Philly’s Record Turnout
One of our newer monthly meetup partners, Ctrl Alt Philly led by Kyle Tryon from Sentry, had their best attendance this week. Unlike most other tech meetups that focus on one tool of language or framework, this is more of a generalist developer meetup for anyone who likes building things with code or technology and understanding how they work.
They’re taking a quick break for December and January, but will return in Feb so stay tuned.
5. 🎄 Deck the Hall(s)
We have a tradition around this time of year to invite our community to “deck the hall” aka pulling out our holiday decorations and, most importantly, dressing up our 12’ Skeleton Brad for the festive season ahead.
If you couldn’t make it, don’t worry there’s plenty of time to add your favorite decorations in the coming weeks. Let us know what you’d like to add to our very silly seasonsal decor!
One More Thing: Unusual Connections
We love any chance to share the most unusual connections that pop up in our community. And this week we have the perfect example:
Lou Huang asking in our Discord about a “longshot” request: borrowing a firefighter’s jacket and helmet (we presume for his sketch comedy group Septar since it was just for a weekend).
Within hours, fellow member Will Tung offered to lend his jacket and helmet, because of course he did! Will is not only a real local firefighter (thank you for your service) but also leads the local urban advocacy group 5th Square.
As they say, “We contain multitudes.”
That’s a wrap, see ya next week!
Don't miss our next post
Stories, insights, and community updates delivered to your inbox weekly.