Andrew Schroeder

Perhaps one of the greatest things about trying to work minimalism into my life is the practice of curating all the objects in my home. Although nothing is overly luxurious or rare, each of the objects I am exposed to daily has some actual significance. In a society that makes consumption inescapable, this tiny act of concentration makes an enormous difference.

I am fortunate to live with this tiny bit of Mid-Century modern furniture in my house…

In the film Amelie, there are a number of great scenes where the characters likes and dislikes are rapidly recounted for the audience. I’ve always found these little tidbits fascinating and wish I could have a similar narrator’s voice popping into my consciousness throughout my workday. What could possibly be a better social lubricant than having that information up front? If I had to narrate myself… “Andrew is obsessed with cleaning, organizing, and photographing the workspace where he rarely actually works.”

An oldie but goodie from the days when George W Bush was still president. Somewhere in central Minneapolis, there was an enormous sculpture/installation of sorts depicting all of the evils of the administration. Nothing says political protest piece like baby heads and astroturf.

Something really amazing happened to me today. I was headed to the Northern Lights Tea Shop (link) when I was stopped by three people attending a conference about using technology to organize information, notes, etc… I couldn’t resist when they inquired if they could ask me a couple of questions about the ways that I organize information and make lists in my life. Really, how could I? This is something I obsess about; something that kicks into high gear all the archivist tendencies I try to suppress throughout the day. I am obsessive-compulsive when it comes to organizing data and it often takes all my strength not to completely reorganize the database I manage at work. (more…)