FIXIT Clinic tomorrow night

If you are alive and breathing in this technological age, I assume that at one point or another you have experienced an electronic (stereo, printer, walkman, discman, tape player, karaoke machine, computer, word processor, electric typewriter, flashlight, ipod, cellphone, digital camera kitchen appliance, etc.) breaking.

And what is usually our response to this? Throw it away, right?

Then what? You buy a newer version that is just as likely to break within a few years.

In my experience, the worst of these are printers. As far as I know, every printer made in the past decade was made to malfunction within a few months, and it's sad that most of those millions upon millions of printers are in a landfill now.

What is my point?

Tomorrow, you will have a chance to rub shoulders with people who say, "No!" to discarding broken or worn out items, and "Yes!" to, at the very least, trying to fix them.

17th Street Studios, located at 1642 Highland Ave., is offering a free FIXIT Clinic at 6pm, tomorrow, Wednesday, September 14. All you have to do is bring one item that is broken (this can be ANYTHING that is broken) and we will provide as many tools and helpers to help you fix it.

Here is a video featuring the creator of the Fixit Clinic, Peter Mui. He will not be there, and probably no one will be wearing a lab coat, but this is what we will be going for:



Here is what you need to know about tomorrow:

Bring your broken, non-functioning things: electronics, appliances, computers, toys, etc. for assessment, disassembly, and possible repair. We'll provide workspace, specialty tools, and guidance to help you disassemble and troubleshoot your item. Whether we fix it or not, you'll learn more about how it was manufactured and how it worked. This is a FREE, family-friendly event: children are heartily invited!

We will provide numerous tools and "Fixers" to help you troubleshoot your item.

Please bring:
1) your broken or non-working thing (carry-in only: no oversize items)
2) any tools you already own that might be helpful (e.g. phillips head screwdriver)
3) a digital camera to document the disassembly and what we find inside
4) boxes, bags and/or small containers to organize (and carry away) parts

Here is the Facebook invite if you are into that, and you may read more about 17th Street Studios workshops and lectures here.

And, this may not go along with the beginning of my post, but I say if we can't fix it, we go Office Space on it, as long as we make jewelry out of the broken pieces. Upcycle!



This FIXIT Clinic is sponsored by: