I wonder who we're effecting, if we're building 'the right' relationships, if our actions are advantageous, if we're exploring enough ideas, etc. I don't particularly enjoy blogging, and therefore I don't necessarily find it lucrative to discuss too much of this rumination in such a forum. Yet, I feel it important to share with others who may read this weblog some noteworthy items I've come across while reading through some old sketchbooks that I find to be quite relevant (and timely) in their relation to PieLab and forthcoming initiatives here in Hale Co. Bear in mind the following notes/ideas are collaborative and were conceived many months ago, prior to the influx of several young individuals to Alabama, at a time long before the idea of owning a pie shop on Greensboro's Main Street was even conceived.

--PieLab is a multi-faceted fresh approach focused on building community, and boosting the morale of these communities in a way that is sustaining, self-perpetual and fun. PieLab is not business as usual, but rather a new way of thinking about business as a catalyst for positive social change.

--PieLab is a negative energy inverter fueled by pie.

--Founded on the idea that simple gestures, like giving away free pie, can create joy, PieLab aims to bring communities together and help stimulate local business economies.

--PieLab is delicious, hopeful, contagious, tasty, goopy goodness.

--There is an infinitely renewable source of young adults that want to do good things.

--Thinking Wrong is a creative philosophy to break the standard, calcified connections that currently drive business development and communication.

--PieLab is a design engine that enters a community and works in that community. PieLab is part of community, community is part of PieLab.

--PieLab should sustain itself through the products and services that are incubated and sold in-store and online.

--PieLab should support lasting change and growth in Hale County as a way of building job opportunities and business for local residents.

--Projects should (1) address a pressing social need within the community (2) can be implemented within the community (3) deliver positive results that can be measured.

--At it's core, design is about problem solving. But it's also about problem identifying. Instead of creating a need for things, designers should focus on responding to the things we do need.

Ideas are only ideas until action is taken. Action is being taken. It is essential that we all keep talking, keep questioning, keep ideating and remain self-aware and self-critical as we move ahead with this wonderful, albeit unpredictable, endeavor. Huge steps have been made in the right direction. Let's keep going. xoxo

Breanne, Dan, Ryan, and Willy's house was broken into at some point this afternoon. They had just returned from a long day at work and an evening of grocery shopping for PieLab and the University of Alabama Blitz. Two iPods, one TV, and one laptop are now missing.

*This was the sawhorse used to climb into Dan and Breanne's bedroom window.

William Christenberry lectured at University of Alabama (his alma mater) last night. He spoke about growing up in Tuscaloosa, making trips to Hale County as a child, and documenting the same abandoned structures over time. His photography has definitely been of huge interest and inspiration to my own and it was fantastic to hear him speak in person.

*Photo by William Christenberry