Journals

Well, hello there. My hope is that rather than a rare post from me, this is my first post "back."   So it's been an interesting 8 months here in Boston. I found myself, at the beginning of 2009, getting deeply involved with Dorkbot Boston . It all started how most of the best things in my life have started, trying to impress a girl.   While the girl never worked out, the community I found was remarkable. Hackers, makers community educators. I know people who run DIY community Biology labs and some who make their livings building electronics kits they sell online. Via lockpicking I was able to ingratiate myself to these folks and in July of last year I offered to host a Dorkbot meeting at my workplace, an ancient Egyptian adventure near Fenway Park in Boston.   In the email that was sent out to announce the event my good friend David Nunez wrote the following:   Schulyer Towne is the in-house graphic and web designer for 5 Wits, Inc.  He is a recognized expert in the art of speed lock picking (”locksport”) & is the Executive Editor for Non-Destructive Entry Magazine.   Just before the event, literally a few hours before, I received an email from Ian Sands, a writer for a popular free weekly here in Boston, the Phoenix. He was just finishing an article about Dorkbot and some of the people involved. When he saw my bio in the email he was intrigued. This was only a few days before DEFCON, the annual hacker conference out in Vegas which holds the only significant lockpicking competition in America. I mentioned that to Ian and that this was sort of my triumphant (I hoped) return to Locksport and he said he wanted to write a profile on me for the paper.   I wrote to him, spoke with him on the phone and texted him progress while I was out in Vegas. He called for a few last minute questions just before I flew back and a Photographer met me only a few hours after my plane landed in Boston. The article was out 2 days later.   I thought it was great, my Mom thought it was a hoot and my friends and coworkers teased me about it. I gave myself a mohawk the day after the article came out and while out for drinks with friends, in a not-too-classy maneuver, I grabbed a copy of the Phoenix from the bar, opened to my full page article and said to the cute waitress, "So, do you like my hair better in this photo or like it is now?" The laughter from my friends seemed endless.   I thought that would be all there was and was appreciative for my 15 minutes. However, Ian forwarded me an email he received saying simply "Someone wants to talk to you." It turned out to be Andrea Shea who works as a segment producer and reporter at WBUR. She wanted to do a short radio piece about me and my hobby. I agreed immediately and as I had finally started up our local locksport club I invited her to join me at Sprout, the hacker space where we hosted them and where I store most of my locks these days.   She came out, interviewed me, had me open some locks for her and took a few pictures. She mentioned in passing that everyone at the station was pretty excited about the article.   A month or so later I invited her to come to my home were I was getting together with a few friends to pick one morning and she interviewed them and took a little video as well.   It took a while longer for the story to be complete and the day the story aired  Andrea wrote to tell me that everyone was still excited in the office. I thought that was nice, but she went on to say that their enthusiasm was going to land the story on Here and Now   the next day   which broadcasts nationally. My Mother was thrilled.   She was even more thrilled when a freelance reported heard the story and called to ask if she could pitch a story about me to some major publications. I agreed and sent her a boatload of information on the different aspects of locksport, the competitions, the ethics, the research, etc. and she began pitching stories. I heard from her sporadically, but there didn't seem to be much happening. I was about to head home for the holidays when two people from Boston University got in touch with me. One worked there helping to run their television station and the other was a Graduate student in documentary film making. They both, without any knowledge of the other, asked if they could produce a short documentary about me. I was absolutely flummoxed by the amount of attention I was getting. Especially coming out of what was just a miserable time a year previous. I was coming up on the 1 year anniversary of my arrest and wasn't wholly comfortable as the spotlight on my life kept growing. I pushed them off just a bit and said I would meet with them as soon as I got back to Boston from Vermont.   Being home with my family for a full week at Christmas was incredible. I know this is a travel-centric site, but my simple trips home are always the most rejuvenating, focusing, relaxing times in my life. It was great to recharge and see so much of my family. Then I got another email from Andrea Shea. She said that the Here and Now piece had drummed up even more interest and now All Things Considered wanted to run a version of the story. It aired 2 days before Christmas  and on Christmas day, my whole family gathered around my sister computer to listen to the story together. It was amazing.   Upon returning to Boston I was immediately back in touch with the documentary folks. I met with Robin Berghaus, the woman who worked for Boston University, first. In a perfect example of a small world it turned out she had interviewed one of my roommates for a short video a year or two before.  He said she was great to work with and incredibly knowledgeable about her craft, so I was excited to meet with her. I was now running the locksport workshops every month at Sprout and after meeting with her briefly just to discuss what she wanted to do, I asked her to come out and meet some of the people I pick with. She brought her equipment and interviewed a lot of my students and friends. We now have a 61 year old blind man who is picking with us and she was there with the camera when he opened his first lock ever. Everyone was cheering. It was a great day and I would meet with her at Sprout again later on to do a one on one interview. She's finishing up the editing now and I can't wait to see how it comes out.  Ben Hartman, the other filmmaker, bought me dinner the first time I met him. It was soup in a bread bowl and as I have a lush beard it was a terrible choice for a first meeting/interview. We spoke for a while and got on well. He didn't know exactly what he wanted to do, but I mentioned, mostly joking, that I would be traveling to Istanbul in May for LockCon 3 . He didn't bite, but said he'd love to come to a workshop sometime just to watch and see what there might be to document. He attended one soon after and we spoke again at length. He was getting more excited for the documentary and I was getting more comfortable with the odd waves of interest in me and what I do. A few weeks passed, he was busy with school and I was busy with any number of things, then I got an email one day.   I don't recall if I mentioned this before, but I included it in my Thesis proposal and got a good response to the idea, but as long as you were still planning to go, I'd really like to incorporate the Istanbul LockCon into the narrative and base the rest of the film around that event...   He wanted to turn what was supposed to be a short documentary into his Masters Thesis and travel to Istanbul with me. I couldn't believe it. I was thrilled. I started sharing the details of my trip planning with him. I was supposed to fly into Lisbon and make my way across Europe to Istanbul in only a week. I was thrilled for the trip and had a few traveling companions. I met with Ben again, we were both excited and discussed some story arc ideas and what to expect while we were there. Then, terrible news came down. LockCon 3 was canceled.   I was devastated. I got in touch with Ben as soon as I heard and told him what happened. I wrote that I knew he had planned a lot around this and I felt terrible, that I had some conferences and competitions, but none of them were of the same caliber. I joked that I should start a competition myself, in Boston. I'm sure you can see where this is going. Ben wrote back, thanking me for telling him so quickly and jumping a bit at my joke. He said if I could do it, he would film it. Then, at the end of the email, he said   In fact, the more I think about that idea, the more I like it... I'll be in touch again soon...   His enthusiasm fired me up and I started trying to get a team together, to see how possible a conference and competition might actually be. I had a lot of resistance, a lot of people telling me I should wait, or not do it at all, but there were enough people passionate about it that I wanted to at least try.   I knew that with the people I have surrounded myself with here in Boston, the hackers, makers, creators, I could pull it off. I spoke with a few of them and asked if they would help me apply for a space I was in love with and figured would be easy to get for free. They were excited to help and gave me a glowing recommendation. Unfortunately, the event was denied.   I sulked like a little kid for about 2 hours until someone slapped me out of it and said "That space wasn't your conference, just find another one!" and I put the call out. I updated my website for the first time in years with a plea for help. The next morning, a Saturday, I woke up to find emails, tweets, text messages from any number of friends and a lot of people I had never heard of offering to advocate for me, apply for other spaces, and put me in touch with other people who could help.   As of today, my options for space are overflowing but I have decided on one that I think will work beautifully. Some great people have come forward to help me secure it and my fingers are crossed that the smooth sailing continues. Ben and I have met again and made some simple plans. He's excited and I'm thrilled to have him on board from the get go. It's been an absurd 8 months and all starting because I was trying to impress a girl by attending an event called "DorkBot."   Oh, and remember that freelance reporter I mentioned? She landed me a profile in the Boston Globe.   Ridiculous.