Come and Build It With the Mid-South Makers

Come and Build It With the Mid-South Makers

It's Friday night, and the Christian Brothers University campus is dark, save for one room on the second floor of the engineering building. The classroom is completely packed with people sitting at long white tables. A few type on laptops covered in stickers. Others fiddle with circuit boards.

Work in Progress, Mid-South Makers Meeting

This isn't some crazy weekend night class - it's the weekly meeting of the Mid-South Makers. The Makers are a hacker circle, a group of hardcore DIY-ers who meet every week to share ideas, projects and tools. Occasionally, members of the group will teach classes on their craft of choice (some of the upcoming classes are in etching, quilting, and programming).

While the word hacker is usually associated with somewhat nefarious computer geniuses, the Mid-South Makers aren't those guys. On this particular Friday, members of the group are working on motion-sensitive 3-D software, small candles shaped like skulls, homemade Halloween-themed tote bags and circuit boards.

Seriously. Put on the glasses.

Eventually, the Makers are hoping to get out of the classroom - they're working to find a building that they can turn into a full-time hackerspace. The space would function like a gym for the DIY-inclined. For a monthly fee, members would have access to shared workspace, tools and classes.

The Mid-South Makers meet every Friday night at Christian Brothers University's Nolan Engineering building at 7 p.m. Anyone that's interested is welcome to join.

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Anna Terry
I love this article about creativity unleashed! My son is a student at CBU.I see you're looking for space. We have a loft for rent on Peabody Ave. I wonder if it would be a good space for the Makers?
September 21, 2010 9:44pm
Chris Patton
Hi Anna - My name is Chris and I'm a member of the Makers. We are very interested in possibly renting your space! Is there any way you could contact one of us? My email address is [email protected]., but you can also reach us via the Contact page on our site: http://www.midsouthmakers.org/contact/. Thank you very much!
September 23, 2010 1:54pm
Charles Morgan
Yeah, the makers a bit heavy with the computer types. If you need a virus cleaned or want to talk about php and perl, your find more than enough people to talk too. I would like to point out that there are elements in the group that takes the word hack to another level. We have a couple who enjoy cooking, and to help fund raise have been selling water at the meetings. We have a couple who specialty is gardening. I my self find, I do more wood working, and physical projects. By using the groups google groups page was able to in short notice get a few people to help me pull a 5ft x 5ft shadow box off a wall that was 15 feet up. Its really is a mix bunch of folks looking to get more out of life and learn from each other. The maker slogan is "Technology on your time", and this group defiantly has the right spirit for that. Thanks for the write up, your web site it pure win!
September 30, 2010 6:29pm
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