About the College for the Easily Amused

History

The College was started in 2001 in the Twin Cities of Minnesota. The Twin Cities had a few yo-yo clubs in the late 90s but nothing that was meeting regularly and the ones that were meeting were instructional and child related, the (slightly) more adult yo-yoers in the area wanted something more. The idea was simple, find a place and set a regular meeting time and people will show up, it's a model that has been working for years now. The first meeting was to be held at the Foxfire coffee lounge in downtown Minneapolis. The Foxfire was a great dirty punk rock venue but it was clean enough to be all ages, it had high ceilings and a nice staff, it was great. Except it wasn't great enough because when everyone conviened at the Foxfire on that summer day in 2001 we found it had perminently closed it doors for business that very day. That left ten yo-yoers essentially homeless wandering the streets of downtown Minneapolis in search of a home. On that day we ended up at Skyway Pizza, it was dark and the atmosphere wasn't very friendly, we knew Skyway Pizza wasn’t our home. Then one of our members recommended the Depot Coffee House in Hopkins and that became our regular meeting place. The Depot was a great home for the College but they kept changing their schedule and didn't take us or our business into account and they started closing the coffee house on Saturdays and we had to move again. In the spirit of the communal college another member suggested The Bean Scene in Minneapolis. The Bean Scene is a great coffee house that also serves food and free wifi, so in 2005 we made the decision to begin meeting regularly at The Bean Scene and that is where we have been ever since.

In 2003, a chapter formed in Madison, Wisconsin, and though it only lasted about two years, this website and the ensuing national visibility of the organization was one result.

Over the years we heard rumors of chapters in Colorado and Pennsylvania. But in 2005 we had two big chapters form, one in Saint Louis and the other Raleigh North Carolina.

We are always looking for people to start new chapters of the college because a community fosters innovation and growth. If you live in an area that doesn’t have a club then consider starting a chapter of The College for the Easily Amused. As a certified chapter of the College for the Easily Amused you will have access to webspace, a forum, a mailing list and most of all name brand recognition. We got Amused, and you can have some too.