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My Little Tarot Library

My Little Tarot Library

Remember back in 2023 when I launched Gallery 69, a FLAG in Enderis Park? Well, the neighborhood can now welcome another Free Library… of another kind!

My Little Tarot Library

I don’t know Mandy but she’s got an account for her mylittletarotlibrary that you can check out, and if you’re local you can swing by 74th street between Hadley and Locust and get your own tarot reading!

My Little Tarot Library

I know almost nothing about tarot readings or cards but I’ve learned a few things about them from Dana and a couple friends who do readings.

My Little Tarot Library

Dana told me you are not supposed to buy your own tarot deck, as it should be gifted to you. Did she just make that up so I buy her a deck? I don’t know! I do know that Stacey Williams-Ng made a nice looking deck!

My Little Tarot Library

It looks like Mandy offers readings but I did a terrible job with the photo of her card so contact her via Instagram for info!

My Little Tarot Library

When you visit the library you’ll see a stack of cards in envelopes or just wrapped in paper. Take one and there will be a reading written on the paper wrapped around the card.

This is the card I got when I was riding past on my bike one day and discovered the library. I told Dana about the library but felt she needed to go get her own card.

My Little Tarot Library

So here’s the card Dana got. Wild, right? Although honestly if we keep going back each week Dana could have a full deck within a year! (Kidding!)

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A Little Free Craft Closet

As you probably know I launched Gallery 69 – a Free Little Art Gallery back in 2023. You might also know that in the last few years I’ve tried to get around my community by walking or riding my bike and sometimes you find a hidden gem down some side street that you just never noticed before… and that’s how I found this Little Free Craft Closet.

Located on Lefeber Avenue between Clarke Street and Wright Street in Wauwatosa is this charming little “closet” where someone decided to put some extra crafting supplies they could bear to part with. As you know, crafters are notorious for saving even the smallest bits of things, especially fabric! So to find a kind soul willing to part with some… it warms the heart!

Anyway, while this Little Free Craft Closet probably won’t be listed on freelittleartgalleries.art it always good to see variety in the “free little” movement to help build community. (Correction: It’s now listed there!)

I am reminded of my 2016 idea for a Little Free Hack Rack which would be perfect outside a makerspace or really anywhere! Someone could still make this idea a reality.

If you have the means and an idea for sharing something of value with your community, I urge you to do it. We need it now more than ever.

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Gallery 69 – A Free Little Art Gallery

Gallery 69 is open! It’s a Free Little Art Gallery which is sort of like a Little Free Library, but instead of books, we give away art. And if you’ve got art you want to give away we’d love to help out with that, just leave it in the gallery for someone else to enjoy. They can either take it home with them, or just admire it while it’s in the gallery.

There are a bunch of these FLAGs all over the place, not as many as libraries (yet) but you can search for one near you using freelittleartgalleries.art. (There’s also a great Smithsonian Magazine article explaining things in more detail.)

I first encountered a Free Little Art Gallery in the summer of 2022. I was out on a walk one morning and came across a large cabinet on 65th street in Wauwatosa, just north of Clarke street with a note inside explaining that it was an art gallery and would soon feature free art. I checked in on it every few days and eventually art showed up, along with a note about the opening night party! I did stop by that night and met Robin who set up the gallery. She was awesome and we talked about it a bit. I then made it a habit to visit at least once a week, and started dropping off my own art there. It was awesome.

So in 2023, I decided that for my birthday I wanted to build my own gallery. I am a thrifty midwesterner, so I gathered up the scrap wood I had lying around, found some nice shelves on the curb a few blocks away one morning (and hauled it home, which was not fun!) and while I did not finish the gallery in two days as originally planned, I did finish it in two months. Yay me.

Alright! Now we need some art! While I can certainly drop prints into the gallery when needed, I’ve already reached out to some artists I know about supplying some fine (little) art to keep it filled up.

Here’s a neat little leaf I got from another nearby gallery, located on 87th street, just south of Locust in the Cooper Park neighborhood. (Find it on Instagram.) Just like with my practice of moving books between Little Free Libraries I can see moving art between little galleries.

More random things… a print (which are actually gift tags) and some painted rocks from a free rock garden down on 69th street just north of North avenue.

Another one from the 87th street gallery, a flower card. People like flowers, right?

Here’s a print I made from a laser-etched plate I made from a photo I took of some power lines one morning. I plan to keep making more prints so come and get them if you like them!

A few more rocks from the free rock garden down on 69th street along with a small plastic piece that seems like a Shrinky Dink thing which I got from… I don’t remember! Anyway, it’s art, it’s free, and you can come and get it if you like it. Gallery 69 is located on 69th street just north of Locust street in the Enderis Park neighborhood of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

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Little Free Hack Rack

LFL
Photo by Todd Bol

One of the projects I started and haven’t made much progress on yet is the Little Free Hack Rack. The concept smashes together the idea of a Little Free Library and a Hack Rack into something that’s just crazy enough to work.

We even set up a web site at littlefreehackrack.org for this thing… Oh, and what is this thing?

Little Free Hack Rack
Illustration by Kathy

Just like a Little Free Library the Little Free Hack Rack should be a weatherproof enclosure with a door, but it would contain miscellaneous items that could be useful to makers and hackers. You could stock it with some resistors, LEDs, capacitors, or other components. You might put your old cell phone in it, knowing someone might grab it just for the screen or the keypad. We might be able to keep old tech out of the landfill by promoting the recycling and reuse of materials.

I’d love to some day offer plans to create your own Little Free Hack Rack with cut files for laser cutters and CNC machines. In an ideal world someone at a makerspace could download the files and build their own Little Free Hack Rack and have it out near the curb in a very short time frame.

Let me know if you build a Little Free Hack Rack for your front yard!

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Mozilla Supporter

Adopt Mozilla

One more than one occasion, people have asked why I don’t use Google Chrome, or Apple’s Safari, or even Opera or Microsoft Internet Explorer… I think this sums it up pretty well:

Mozilla’s mission is to build user sovereignty into the fabric of the Internet. We work to ensure that the the Internet remains open, interoperable and accessible to all. To do this we build products, we build decentralized participation worldwide, and we build the ability for people to create their own experiences in addition to consuming commercial offerings.

As the “web” changes, I think it’s probably necessary for Mozilla to change as well.

Read the whole thing: Mozilla in the New Internet Era – More Than the Browser.