Along with renovating their accommodations, getting to know the neighborhood, and being forced to take jogs every morning with John Bielenberg (oh, wait a minute, that was just the advisors), Project M engages in little design challenges to keep their minds sharp and their hands busy.

One morning we participated in a Renga, which is a Japanese word for collaborative poetry, the kind where people build stanzas upon stanzas to create one big happy masterpiece. Here, in Rural Studioland, a Renga means actually building, of course, so we were equipped with 2x2s, drywall screws, a table saw and some drills. Teams of two were instructed to make it graphic and make it 3D, using “stanzas” of six 2x2s every turn. Away we went. More coverage at M’s blog.

Three hours later, we’d reached a height of two stories and terrified those sleeping near the window to the right.