Summer

Hello all,

This summer I've got two jobs, one more interesting than the other:

1. I'm a mechanic at the Dutch Bicycle Company.
2. I "apprentice" with Anne Lilly, a sculptor who makes really cool, finely machined kinetic sculptures. So I'm in a basement all day with her, working on these and these, machining stainless steel to tolerances of about 1/4000 of an inch. I'm editioning one of her sculptures right now. We work in a space in Allston owned by an 87 year old man named Bill Wainwright who used to work closely with Buckminster Fuller (he claims that he, rather than Bucky, invented the geodesic dome). He's an interesting dude. Trouble is that 7 years ago he had an accident, and now has aphasia, meaning he can neither speak nor write. While he's mentally "all there", it's frustrating trying to interact with him. Every lunch hour turns into a game of pictionary. He also eats potato chips with melted blue cheese for lunch every day. It's... fragrant.

So that's what I do. Ideas for next year's thesis are starting to form, and I'm having tons of fun. Come visit in Boston!

-Matthew Fox Larkin