The Mill Mosaic

I know I’ll probably get talked to because it’s now technically now Amplify Bloomington but honestly it just didn’t sound as catchy.  And being old school and only in Bloomington for just over 2 years The Mill has been a second home to me, a place where I’ve connected with new friends, a place where after over 20 years working remote allowed me to connect and learn from others,  and it is the physical home of one of the key pieces of the new Amplify Bloomington.

So here’s Rodney’s Ramblings #5, unscripted, unfiltered, most definitely grammatically incorrect.  And probably too long for most to read but this is written for the future me as well as anyone who cares to read or listen. 

This one, though, I first have to give credit to the Indiana University Students who produced the incredible TEDxIndiana University program in 2025 for inspiring the idea.

One of the best things about Bloomington is the variety of events you can attend here.  One that popped up a few months ago was tickets to the TedxIndiana University at the Buskirk-Chumley Theatre.  Looking for an excuse and a night away from our home remodeling I booked us tickets knowing just a little bit about Ted Talks.  And I’m so glad I did.

I’m going to quote the amazing college students who worked so hard to put this program on and who really created an amazing event with excellent speakers and themes.

From their website:
“A mosaic is built from fragments, but meaning emerges only when pieces come together. This year, the TEDxIndiana University “Mosaic” conference explores how ideas, stories, and perspectives meet to create something greater than the sum of their parts” – https://www.tedxiu.com/

So for those who missed it I hope that you can attend next year, but only after I get our tickets.  It was amazing to see the energy and enthusiasm of the students who worked so hard to put this on.  Who appeared to be their own mosaic from I’m guessing multiple states and countries who mentioned they had worked on it since August.  The speakers were amazing with a variety of topics, and I hope that someday the talks are posted online for others to see.  Tedx is designed to be entertaining, interesting, thought provoking, and idea generating with each talk.

And for some strange reason since TedxIndiana University I’m craving a trip to New York City to try a Katz’s Deli Pastrami on Rye Sandwich.  I’m sure the food is amazing but hearing about the experience of it and seeing a business that has survived for over 130 years is what really piques my interest.

During the breaks between the speakers and the weeks since I have found myself thinking about the Mosaics I’ve been a fragment of in my life.

The friends I grew up with on the lake that came together as teenagers to put on a couple waterski show’s each summer.  Selling advertising and printing a program to generate funds for equipment, docks, and gas.  Dealing with the Wisconsin DNR, Sauk County Board, Town of La Valle Board, and Lake Redstone Property Owners to secure the needed permits and insurance for the event.  Many of us being teenagers who could drive a boat but could not drive a car yet.  Fragments from different cities and different states which came together as teenagers for 3 months out of the year to put on a pretty entertaining show and build lifelong friendships and our own mosaic.

The Foundry workers in my hometown that I worked alongside who came together to produce some of the best ductile iron castings (brake calipers, differential housing, transmission housing) for the automotive and construction industries.  Some see a metal casting, I see the individual grains of raw sand that comes in and are blended with clay to become a mold to pour the metal in, the scrap metal that gets melted, the machines and the operators to make the molds, pour the castings, clean the castings, and finish the castings.  The teams of people performing quality control, tracking each part, shipping each part.  Each fragment has to do their part just right to ship that Mosaic out the door.

The “Fun on the Fox” boaters, marina friends, and other boaters in Northern Illinois that came together to help me create one of the most unique, largest, and safest boat parties in the Midwest at the time.  The Lake County and McHenry County Marine Units and EMT personnel who had to work the party to create a safe environment instead of attending it.  Without all those fragments behind the scenes the mosaic of over 1,000 boats and an estimated 7,000 people would never have safely come together.  A mosaic so amazing, fun, and safe at the time that 30 years later people still talk about it and share their stories.

The amazing wife, family, and friends at the center of my own personal mosaic.  The loved ones who are no longer physical pieces of my own mosaic, but most definitely will always be there in spirit.

And the thousands of other fragments that through the years I have met and shared stories or learned what they did that if their life over something as simple as sharing a donut, a coffee, a beer, a boat ride, or random talk about what they did in their life that helped grow my own personal mosaic.

And that brings me to the latest mosaic that luckily, I have been able to be a fragment of. The Mill Mosaic in Bloomington, Indiana.

The Mill is a real life fragment.  The building itself is a fragment of what used to be the largest furniture maker in the United States back in the 1920’s I’m told.  It’s a fragment of the old Showers Brothers Company furniture factory where the wood was milled to size.  The first fragment or piece of the puzzle needed to create a furniture mosaic.  After being vacant for some time, I guess the City of Bloomington purchased it from the University and invested in it to create the amazing place we see and work out of now. 

The Mill is the home to multiple fragments. Founders, entrepreneurs, established businesses, startups, remote workers, lifelong residents, bloomerangs, outsiders, and the Amplify Bloomington team themselves all contribute to growing this mosaic on a daily basis.  As such The Mill has become a living and changing mosaic.  I have experienced the pieces coming together to make something greater.  The fragments willing to share a little piece of themselves or their knowledge to help others grow their individual or company mosaics.  I’ve seen some of the fragments leave and make way for new ones while still leaving behind a lasting fragment in the mosaic.

They have started interior renovations to the physical Mill to make space for additional fragments to be added to this wonderful coworking place.  While it will drastically change the interior that has been home for the last 2 years for me and 8 for some other’s I’m beginning to warm to the thought that what we gain by having space for additional fragments on a daily basis will far outweigh my appreciation for the original openness of the building I knew.

In the short time I’ve been in Bloomington  The Kiln was another fragment of the Showers Brothers Company added to the area mosaic through private investment.  It was the building where they used to dry the lumber after the Mill I’m guessing and as such it’s perfect that it how houses several companies and to the benefit many in the area (minus my waist) a new Soma Coffee shop.

They were also building and have since opened a brand new fragment called The Forge across the street.  A beautiful new office building designed to provide more space for innovation and larger office space for companies that have matured beyond the physical space of the original Mill Mosaic.  A place where some companies from the Mill have moved over to and a place that will attract future companies.

And while The Mill Mosaic will continue to grow even more beautiful on it’s own, they have now created Amplify Bloomington to be a civic platform to bring industry, Indiana University, the startup ecosystem, and the Bloomington community together for the benefit of all. 

So while at first my thoughts were that the Amplify Bloomington is going to be a larger mosaic made up of other mosaics, I think it’s more like an exhibit space led by multiple curators. 

The Amplify Bloomington Civic Platform in my eyes aims to pull together and connect the individual fragments from the various mosaics already built.  To share the knowledge, experience, resources, and ideas to help grow each individual fragment which in turn grows each mosaic which in turn grows the exhibit.  A platform to organize all these and exhibit each one so that the curators, artists, each mosaic, and each fragment might be able to see how joining together can be more than the sum of the parts.

All to make Bloomington more than the sum of it’s parts.

The TEDxIndiana University team of students had to come up with the theme and pull the multiple fragments together to create their mosaic to pique the interest of the attendees and to generate thought and discussion afterwards. 

For me the students succeeded 125% and I thank them for that.

And I thank every fragment that has allowed me to be part or their mosaic or are part of mine. And thanks to those of you who have made it through my rambling.

And if you still have coffee or a beer left (or want to grab another one) I through this into Google’s NotebookLM to see what ideas the AI Podcast could generate.