DoodleHATCH Festival, Columbia, Maryland, August 19, 2023

Last month I decided to check out the DoodleHATCH Festival, a fantasy and STEM-themed festival that was put on by DoodleHATCH, a very unique art gallery that I devoted an episode of my ongoing web series The Baltimore-Washington, DC That Tourists Rarely See two years ago. I haven’t been back to that place since I finished making that video so I thought it would be interesting to return so I could check out their festival.

It also gave me a chance to play around with the camera on my new Samsung Galaxy A54 5G smartphone just a little bit more. I shot all still photos at this event but I’ve noticed one thing with my new camera. Every time I shoot a still photo, my phone saves it as a motion photo, which means that it lets you capture a few seconds of action leading up to when the shutter button is released. It even allows you to pinpoint which moment you want to preserve as the still frame.

What’s even cooler is that I can quickly convert motion photos to actual video in my Gallery app. I tried it for the first time when I was at the German Festival this past summer and I converted some still shots of a young boy riding a large barrel into a video, which I combined with short videos I shot of that same ride.

For this event I did something similar. I uploaded the video I created on TikTok, Clapper, Instagram, and YouTube. If you’re the type who prefers to just looking at still pictures, keep on reading this post.

I appeared to the festival wearing a pair of fairy wings and my glitter Minnie Mouse unicorn headband. I took a selfie soon after I arrived.

There were two areas of the festival—an outdoor area and an area that’s inside of the DoodleHATCH itself. The outdoor area was held in the parking area that’s closest to the DoodleHATCH entrance. It had some interesting attractions. Unfortunately it was very hot that day. (The temperature was in the mid-90s that day.)

There was an table that was prepared for a tea party.

There were costumes on a rack where people can try on certain costumes and even borrow them for the festival.

There were some neat art displays outside of the building.

There was a mermaid pool, which was incredibly cute and lovely.

I didn’t hang around outside as long as I would have liked because it was very hot outside. I went inside of the DoodleHATCH itself where I saw a bunch of really cool things.

There was an area that was dedicated to STEM-related exhibits, mainly robots and electronics.

That’s it for the DoodleHATCH festival! All in all it was a pretty nice event.

End of an Era at the Greenbelt Makerspace

In 2013 a married couple named George Boyce and Eva Fallon had decided to take out a lease on a space at Roosevelt Center in Greenbelt, Maryland that was previously occupied by a dry cleaning business. (That business—which had been operating for many years—had closed down permanently about four or five years earlier and the space had remained empty until George and Eva took it over.) They had an idea of coming up with something that was completely different—a makerspace. It would be a non-profit place where people would gather and make things.

When I first met them while they were still renovating that old dry cleaner space, the only makerspace I knew of was Fab Lab DC and that was because I had attended the day-long Summit of Awesome conference there back in 2012. Once the place was opened in 2013 I was totally impressed. That was the start of my association with that place, which was originally named Club 125 (after the address of the space at 125 Centerway), then subsequently renamed Makerspace 125 until it was renamed again as the Greenbelt Makerspace.

The Greenbelt Makerspace strived to offer facilities for people who want to experiment with trying to make something new but don’t have the proper tools needed at their home while also providing a social atmosphere. In the six years that this place has been in existence I’ve seen kids form the local First Lego League, girls form an all-girl robotics club known as the Labradoodles (named after the fact that George and Eva owned a labradoodle dog named Sam), people getting seriously involved with playing Minecraft, volunteers running a day-long Repair Cafe every few months (where people can get various items—ranging from sewing to a broken electrical item—repaired for free instead of just throwing it away), and other volunteers run a day-long “Build Your Own PC” workshop where participants could take their built computer home, one person trying to develop his own action figure prototype, other people trying their hand at 3D printing, and even a group of people who were trying to remodel the interior of a van.

In addition the Greenbelt Makerspace became a place where people could just hang out and socialize whether it was through a regularly scheduled weekly event (such as the weekly Fiber Fans meetup for knitters/crocheters/sewers) or through a monthly event like Fermentation Fans (where people could try all kinds of homemade fermented food and drink) or even if there was nothing scheduled but two or more people just wanted to go inside and socialize for a bit.

The biggest hurdle of this makerspace was money, which was needed to pay expenses like rent and utilities. George and Eva spent a huge amount of time writing grants to various organizations in an effort to raise enough money in order to keep the makerspace a functioning community-based nonprofit organization.

George and Eva soon found a funding source when they started to run a series of week-long tech-oriented daytime camps for children and teens in the summer. In fact, they made so much money running those camps that they were able to keep the makerspace afloat for the rest of the year and early into the following year.

They were so heavily involved in keeping the makerspace running that they soon became the public face of that makerspace. Eva was already retired when the makerspace was first opened but George eventually retired from his day job as a NASA contractor about a couple years after the makerspace opened so he could devote more time to that makerspace. George even attempted to run for the Greenbelt City Council twice but he was defeated at the ballot box both times.

By 2017 George and Eva decided to move away from the two of them running that makerspace in favor of a cooperatively run non-profit complete with a board of directors. People could buy into owning a portion of the makerspace for just $20 a year. I ended up taking out a membership because even I could afford paying $20 despite my financial struggles at the time.

But in 2018 George and Eva announced that they were moving to Vermont in September after the Greenbelt Labor Day Festival. One of Eva’s relatives had died earlier that year and they had a desire to live closer to other members of Eva’s family, who all lived in the New England region.

I went to the first membership meeting that was held after George and Eva moved and I learned that the makerspace only had enough money to last them until the spring unless they find another source of funding.

Well March came and I found out that the makerspace was about to run out of money. Meanwhile the neighboring Greenbelt Theater needed to make some major renovations to its HVAC but had to deal with a closed theater (along with lost income) while the renovations were going on. So the makerspace board of directors and the Greenbelt Theater got together and they decided to let the Greenbelt Theater take over the Greenbelt Makerspace’s current space. You can learn more about this arrangement right here.

Anyway the Greenbelt Makerspace had to move out by April 1. I learned about this official announcement when I was attending the weekly animation meetup that was held at the makerspace on St. Patrick’s Day. Basically there would be a clearance sale at the Greenbelt Makerspace on March 31 while some items would be transferred to The Space, the other nearby makerspace that’s located inside of Beltway Plaza Mall. At that point I took out my smartphone and started taking pictures of the entire facility for posterity.

Here’s the front of the makerspace, including the door and windows.

Here are a few wide shots of the interior of the Greenbelt Makerspace.

A volunteer looks over and packs up the inventory that would either be sold at the March 31 clearance sale or sent over to The Space.

Like I wrote earlier, I learned about the Greenbelt Makerspace’s imminent closure during the weekly animation meetup that I’ve been attending for the past two years. Pictured is Ola Betiku, who founded the meetup and has been running it the entire time.

Here’s a look at the 3D printers.

Here’s one of the big screen monitors.

Just a few of the board games that were available for people to play, especially during the monthly Board Gaming Night that was held there.

There was more to the Greenbelt Makerspace than just computers and robotics. There was a section that was devoted to sawing, welding, and other types of hands-on projects that one could make with various hardware.

Pictured is a small kitchen area with cabinets, a sink, a refrigerator, and a microwave oven. The only thing that was missing was a regular oven with a stovetop but, otherwise, it was a place where one could microwave a quick dish or store food and drink.

There were numerous books and various electronic and computer parts stored everywhere.

There were plenty of non-computer crafty parts that were also stored at the makerspace, such as this dress form and tubs full of Lego bricks.

Here are a couple of shots of the First Lego League table that was used to practice for local competitions. The First Lego League team have decided to continue holding its meetings in the home of one of the team’s organizers.

Here’s one of the cabinets which stored numerous things that were used at the makerspace.

There was a shelving unit which held various arts and crafts supplies like paints, yarn, needles, buttons, beads, lace, pipe cleaners, glue, etc.

There were a couple of sewing machines available for anyone who wanted to try a sewing project.

Even the bathroom had an interesting decor. There was a poster where one could learn about all of the planets of the solar system while sitting on the toilet.

The bathroom also had these signs that were holdovers from the days when the dry cleaning business operated in that space.

A few nights after I shot the other photographs I took one final photo of the place when I showed up to the weekly Fiber Fans meetup that was held at the Greenbelt Makerspace.

Since then the Fiber Fans have moved their meetup to the nearby New Deal Cafe (which is located across from the Greenbelt Makerspace’s former location).

Even though the Greenbelt Makerspace no longer has a bricks and mortar space, the board of directors are trying to find ways of somehow keeping the Greenbelt Makerspace alive. All I know is that over the past few years I’ve seen other DC area makerspaces like TechShop and Catylator Makerspace close down permanently so I’m hoping that the Greenbelt Makerspace could somehow be revived in a new form in the future.

Ever since its original opening in 2013 I’ve written several blog posts about this place covering such events as the Repair Cafe, Build Your Own PC Workshop, and other events. In case you’re curious as to what the place was like in its prime, here are some links to old blog posts and photos that you can check out.

Club 125 (the original name of the makerspace)

Makerspace 125 (the first renaming of the makerspace)

Greenbelt Makerspace (the final name of this place)

Link-O-Rama

Discovery of the first new blue pigment in 200 years leads to quest for the elusive red.

Electronics-recycling innovator is going to prison for trying to extend computers’ lives.

A look at the history of the 45 RPM record.

The #MeToo moment: How one harasser can rob a generation of women.

The American Renaissance is already happening.

The five greatest slave rebellions in U.S. history.

Norway wants to criminalize drug use and focus on treatment.

There is scientific evidence that clutter causes anxiety.

Housing a prisoner in California costs more than a year at Harvard.

The majority of U.S. workers live in “employment monopsonies” where there is little or no competition for workers.

The people who turned old dolls into planters and scared the hell out of their neighbors.

Roy Cohn, Donald Trump, and the New York cesspool that created them.

How Denmark became one of the happiest countries in the world.

Member Week at Makerspace 125 (April 13, 2017)

The week prior to Easter Sunday was an event held at Makerspace 125 known as Member Week. The STEM center was opened to the general public in an effort to get more members to join the makerspace, which had recently converted into a member-owned cooperative. While I was there a couple of nights that week, I only took pictures on Thursday, April 13, 2017, when there was a demonstration of the various electronics that the makerspace hopes to run workshops on in the future, including open source devices like Arduino and Raspberry Pi.

The decoration of the outside of Makerspace 125 was well underway that night but it was still a work in progress when I took these pictures.

Here is the electronics demonstration itself.

Member Week at Makerspace 125 ended with the 2017 Greenbelt Maker Festival, which was held on the day before Easter Sunday.

The 2014 Greenbelt Mini Maker Faire (April 5, 2014)

After all the sweat and tears I went through finishing my doll loveseat couch and after that last-minute conversion of my Zentangle activity from an hour-long workshop to a day-long hands-on activity it was finally time for the first-ever Greenbelt Mini Maker Faire. It was the third Maker Faire of its sort in the Washington, DC area after last fall’s Silver Spring event (which I attended) and another event that took place in Northern Virginia just a few weeks ago (which I wasn’t able to go to because I’m currently involved in my church’s social action project to teach English to recent immigrants and I co-teach a class that takes place at the same time as the Northern Virginia event).

I was so wound up from making lots of last-minute preparations for the event that I didn’t get much sleep so I woke up totally sleep deprived. I consumed plenty of Diet Pepsi and Five-Hour Energy drinks just so I can avoid dozing off. Here is what my table looked like.

One half of the table was devoted to the arts and crafts that I had for sale, including some tiny art canvases, thrift shop Barbie dolls that I refurbished and recycled as fairy dolls, and the doll loveseat that I made from a broken Dance Dance Revolution control pad, fabric scraps, and duct tape. I had an American Girl doll, a Makies doll, and a pink teddy sit in the loveseat. They weren’t for sale—they were used to demonstrate the loveseat. The pink bear was holding the qr code for my entry on how I cleaned and repaired that bear while Victoria the Makies doll held the qr code that led to the Makies website. (I figured that this qr code would satisfy anyone who was curious about Victoria.)

The other half of my table was devoted to the drop-in Zentangle activity complete with books, pens, pencils, and paper. (I also had a bowl of Easter egg-shaped chocolates to encourage people to visit my table. LOL!) I also had an iMac G5 available for $100 that I was selling on behalf of a friend of mine in exchange for getting a cut of the sale proceeds. I only got one interest in the computer from a person who thought that a friend of hers may be interested but she needed to check with the person first. Otherwise, no one was interested in the computer.

Here’s a photo of me standing next to my table that someone else took with my smartphone. I wore the official t-shirt of the Greenbelt Mini Maker Faire but it was cold outside so I ended up wearing a sweatshirt over it. As for the sweatshirt itself, I wore the same My Little Pony Rainbow Dash hoodie that I wore last Halloween. (I have the hood down in the photo below.) I had plenty of people who said that they loved my sweatshirt.

My booth faced the front of the New Deal Cafe, which was a pretty great location because I had a lot of people who stopped by on the way to the cafe.

Whenever I needed to step away from my table, I had my American Girl doll hold this message that I wrote on a small dry erase board.

The day was pretty sunny but very windy. Despite my polymer clay paperweights, there were times when I still had to reconfigure my table because the wind was strong enough to blow things over. I made a few sales on my crafts, which was okay. There were also times when I would walk over to Club 125 just so I could take a warming break from the cold and the wind.

The biggest hassle was trying to convert my Zentangle activity from my originally planned hour-long workshop to a day-long, hands-on, drop-in activity. (When I signed up to give a workshop, I thought I would give an hour-long workshop located either in Club 125 or one of the other interior places in Roosevelt Center. It wasn’t until I went to a party for the volunteers on Thursday—two days before the event—that I was really expected to have a drop-in activity for the entire day.) Rather than repeat the same instructions over and over again to different people, I decided that I needed to provide a written instruction sheet. Luckily I didn’t have to create one from scratch. I found this document online where I basically printed the first page and used that as the Zentangle instructions sheet.

For all my effort in reconfiguring the Zentangle lesson from an hour-long workshop to a day-long hands-on activity, only four people actually worked on their own Zentangle that day. The weather was in the 50’s and it was very windy so I think that affected people being willing to do something artistic outside. Other people who had hands-on activities on outdoor tables also told me that they didn’t get many enthusiastic takers. The girl in the photo below was one of the four people who did a Zentangle.

I took frequent breaks to go to the bathroom and I spent some of that time checking out the other tables at the event. The next photo is a table for a new hackerspace/makerspace for women called Spanning Tree, which hopes to find some facilities near a Metro stop.

There was an information table about Club 125, which was largely responsible for the entire event.

Solo the dog helped her owner with running the table that educated the public on using herbs and spices.

There were all kinds of hands-on activities like origami, felting, soldering, and making music.

Someone walked around the Mini Maker Faire dressed in steampunk couture.

There was a table for creating paper airplanes while educating people about the fact that there was once an airport in Greenbelt, Maryland called Schrom Airport.

This woman was busy twisting balloons into various animals, plants, hats, and other shapes.

A small games publisher, Black Oak Games, publicized its two products—Knot Dice (a puzzle where the user creates Celtic knots) and Diner (a diner-themed card game).

A local company called TechShop provided information about upcoming classes in computer and technology-related subjects.

A bunch of kids were having fun playing computer video games inside Club 125 while other kids played with Legos, made chalk drawings on the sidewalk, and had their faces and other body parts painted.

There were demonstrations of using recycled grocery store apple cartons and PVC pipes in vertical gardening.

There was also an exhibit on terrariums.

There were displays and demonstrations on traditional activities like spinning wool, canning, mosaic making, and sewing clothes.

There were some new twists on old traditions like cooking food in a solar oven.

This table sold science and math-themed books for children.

There were a variety of handmade crafts on sale like knitted hats, knitted scarves, hand-painted wood crafts, and even blinking jewelry.

There were electronic devices of all kinds on display.

The Greenbelt Mini Maker Faire had all kinds of 3D printers that made jewelry and figurines.

In contrast to last fall’s Silver Spring Mini-Maker Faire, the Greenbelt one was committed to being more non-commercial by featuring smaller lesser-known companies. In fact, the biggest name at the Greenbelt event was NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, which had a large booth.

Basically the event provided a nice place for people and animals to socialize in the sun.

I also shot a short video of some of the exhibits and events where just showing still photos wouldn’t do them justice. It includes a man who used these noise-emitting electronics to play Patsy Cline’s “Crazy” song, a robot that could toss a large ball to people, and a bunch of people playing with hula hoops.

Like I wrote earlier, there were times when I had to struggle with my items getting knocked down by wind gusts. My doll loveseat couch even got knocked over a few times and it’s a big item. Here are what my two dolls and one teddy bear looked like at the end of the day before I packed them in my car.

I took a closeup of my American Girl doll’s face mainly because she looks either sleepy or stoned or both.

That’s it for my photos. If you want to see more photos, check out the official photos that have been posted on Flickr.

The Trouble With Electronics

I’ve been mostly quiet in this blog because of technical problems beyond my control.

First my five-year-old MacBook’s hard drive keeps on crashing so often that I’m seeing the infamous multicolored beach ball of death more than getting any work done before the hard disk totally dies. I reboot it and it’s the same result. I tried running both antivirus software and disk repair software to no avail. 😦

I was on the phone with my mother a few weeks ago finalizing plans for Thanksgiving Day and I mentioned my computer problem and she offered to give me $1,000 towards the purchase of a new computer. I accepted and a check arrived in the mail the next day, which was sweet. (Thank you, Mom!)

In the meantime Apple has come out with a new line of MacBook Pro that has something called a retina display. Prices range between $1,200-3,000 and each computer can be customized with additions (such as more RAM). I was so confused as to what I should get that I did a Google search that resulted in this excellent article on Wired.com that really explained everything thoroughly. Thanks to that article I was able to get the MacBook Pro that’s right for me and it cost a total of $2,300 (including an Apple Super Drive so I can continue to use and write CD’s and DVD’s plus a three-year Apple Care warranty).

On top of it I can mail in my old MacBook to Apple for free and I could get a discount card that’s good for future purchase from either Apple.com or an Apple Store.

The only downside is that there have been such a backlog of orders that I won’t get my new computer for a few weeks. I received the Apple Super Drive last week but I won’t be able to try it until the new computer arrives. So I now alternate between using my iPad and my smartphone to surf the Internet (including updating this blog).

And speaking of smartphones, I got a new one today. I didn’t plan on this. For the past six months or so, the on/off switch became so difficult that my phone wouldn’t switch on unless I pressed the button in a certain way and in a certain place. I dealt with it by keeping my phone switched on most of the time.

Then the power slot on the phone became difficult. If I wanted to recharge my phone, I had to jiggle the slot or else it wouldn’t show that it was recharging. It didn’t matter which recharger I used, it was the same result. It was a hassle but I decided that I wouldn’t think about replacing it unless the phone totally died.

A couple of days ago I received a holiday flyer in the mail from Verizon saying that I’m now eligible for a phone upgrade and it listed some phones available starting at $99. I thought that was nice but I decided to set it aside for future reference.

A day after I got that flyer, I was using my smartphone when the screen suddenly turned black. I knew that the battery wasn’t low because I noticed that it was still half-charged when my phone turned black. I tried the on/off switch and there was no response. I tried recharging the battery and still no response. I tried jiggling the power outlet on my phone numerous times and the phone refused to revive.

So I took my old phone to the Verizon store earlier this evening and got myself a new Droid Ultra smartphone. The screen on this new phone is way brighter and sharper than the one on my previous phone. It’s amazing how radically different the screen is.

The most amazing thing is that my files were transferred from one phone to another in a unique way. On my old phone the files were stored on an SD card. This new phone doesn’t use an SD card at all. In order to copy files, both phones had to be switched on with special software installed that would copy files wirelessly.

But the Verizon people had a hard time with booting the old phone. After using several different chargers without success, someone on the staff found this charger that finally switched my old phone on so the file copying could begin. One of the employees told me that it was pure luck that the phone switched on but he told me that the revived phone will probably won’t last much longer.

So I left my old phone for Verizon to recycle and I walked out with a new phone. I’m going to test out the camera to see if the photo quality is improved over the old photo.

With my recent shopping for a new laptop and phone, I realized that I’m starting to make major decisions for myself without having to consult with my husband first and it feels liberating. I still have memories of when my husband bought me my old MacBook back in 2008 and he made the lion’s share of the decisions regarding which model to get. For the next few months he would rib me about how I had a better, more advanced computer than him (which ended when he bought himself a new MacBook for himself the following year that was more advanced than mine). Despite that, I still appreciated my MacBook and I still would be using it if the hard disk acted up. I had that computer for five years and I only had to have it repaired twice. (Both times were to fix the LCD monitor.)

My husband also chose my smartphone for me and I was happy with it despite my lack of input in that decision.

But now I’m making all the decisions and I don’t have to justify it to anyone else. Of course if my decisions go wrong, I will have no one to blame but myself. But after going through that ugly divorce earlier this year, I’m really reveling in being able to make my own decisions without having someone else veto my decision or convince me to give up my decision. I think that alone is what I have to be thankful for this Thanksgiving Day.

Silver Spring Mini Maker Faire (September 29, 2013)

For many months I’ve heard via Facebook and other websites about something called a Maker Faire where all sorts of cool DIY stuff is demonstrated. I envied cities like New York City and San Francisco for hosting large Maker Faires and I found myself wishing I could check those events out but I couldn’t due to tight finances.

But then I saw a notice in The Washington Post about a Mini Maker Faire that would be held for one day in Silver Spring so I decided to go for it since it was a fairly short drive from my home and it was free admission. The Silver Spring Mini Maker Faire billed itself as the first official Maker Faire in the DC area and, given the huge response to this, I’m sure there will be more events like this in the future.

For those who have never been to a Maker Faire, here is a brief description of what it was like. The Silver Spring Mini Maker Faire had agencies from the local universities, the federal government, and government contractors provide demonstrations of the latest in high technology like computers and robots. For those who aren’t hi-tech geeks, there were plenty of craft demonstrations of things like making your own wool felt and weaving strands of LED lights in clothes. There was even a cooking demonstration. Basically it was an event that had something for everyone no matter what your personal interests are.

The day was warm, but not too hot, with low humidity so it was the perfect day for an event like that. It was very crowded though. I wasn’t able to try any of the hands-on exhibits because of the throngs of eager kids who pushed their way to the front of the tables and were grabbing things to try. I only stayed an hour because it was very crowded. But it was a pretty good event nonetheless even if I saw some demonstrations given by both NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and the University of Maryland’s Human-Computer Interaction Lab that all reminded me of my ex-husband. (He works at NASA and a few years ago he made an ill-fated attempt at getting a Ph.D. through the University of Maryland’s HCI Lab until he decided to drop out.) Here are some photos I took with my smartphone of the event.

I only got one new thing at the Silver Spring Mini Maker Faire. One of the Mini Maker Faire’s sponsors, Google, gave away free recyclable shopping bags in a variety of colors. I got the green bag.