Good Friday afternoon everyone:

As we head into the first long weekend of the last fifteen months that carries some semblance of normalcy and independence, I had intended to write a note of good wishes and encouragement to continue your efforts to stay safe and healthy. I wish you both those things.

But my best-laid plans to be more expansive were disrupted abruptly by a deeply disconcerting note that Elaine sent to Jennifer K, copying me, about Elaine’s annual report letter for this year. It read:

So, to make a long story short I am looking for “the brick”; Rip’s first-ever Annual Report and my first Chairwoman’s letter.

It has always (or so I imagined) been on the shelf in my study in Maine next to the ever-exciting Dynamics of Fly Fishing.

But it isn’t there.

Why, I-do-not-know.

With time I should get to the bottom of this. In the meanwhile I will appreciate your help.

For those of you unfamiliar with the reference, our 2006 Annual Report (the first of my tenure) featured an interrogation of changes we might make to the capital challenge grant program – opening the brick revealed the changes we were considering. The paper version was a photo of a actual-real-live brick constructed by our designers for the purpose of the annual report:

As you might imagine, Elaine’s note about its disappearance from her shelves is deeply disturbing on a number of levels.

First, and this is deeply personal, why the Kresge break-out masterwork would be relegated to bookshelf adjacency next to a fly-fishing handbook is a disquieting question that only Elaine can answer. It’s not as if it had been placed next to A River Runs Through It – at least that has a photo of  a fly-fishing Robert Redford on the cover. No, it’s sitting next to a how-to-manual. What’s next? Putting it next to an instruction guide for carburetor repair?

That certainly furnishes ample motive for someone with even de minimus literary sensibilities to remove it from Elaine’s library. But no, I did not do it. Every time I visit Elaine’s house in Maine, I get lost – I could never have found my way to her library, even were I so inclined.

Second, and this may begin to get closer to the heart of the matter, lumber has become prohibitively expensive. There are increasing reports of house-plans being shifted from wood-frame to brick.  As a result, many architectural and construction firms are exhibiting bricks in their lobbies to try to convince prospective clients of the wisdom of cheaper material options. For example, this starter-made-of-brick-only home was just constructed right next-door to Amy’s house:

Modest, but interesting. I can only imagine that many architects – always a profession comfortable with living dangerously – might consider contracting for the theft of the ultimate showpiece in their entry-way. There have already been architectural-office-sightings of a  19^th-century paver, a brick from a particularly iconic building that fell to the wrecking ball, and a first-generation Lego brick. Including a Kresge Brick would seem only logical:

Third, and I suspect that here we’ve landed on the most viable theory, there has been an explosion in the market for original bricks as the ultimate NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens). As you might imagine, the requirements for such a common material are stringent. This particular brick-as-NFT description makes that clear:

Indeed, I just checked and sure enough, the original editions of Kresge’s Brick are in play as crypto-assets. They have given rise to Krescoins. Each of the fourteen first-run editions of Brick is paired with a unique Krescoin – a token validating that each owner’s version is the real one. My very quick stroll through the Dark Web indicates that twelve of the Bricks are accounted for – although it’s hard to ascertain with certainty, some of the owners include:  the fourteenth-in-line-to the Saudi throne, an oboe student at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Luka Doncic:

Sorry, couldn’t help myself.

But that leaves two unaccounted for, and I suspect that Elaine’s was one of those two.

I’ve accordingly asked Krista Jahnke and David Carrig to use their social media savvy to get to the bottom of things, search the Dark Web, and track down Elaine’s. And I’ve given Sheryl the authority to purchase a Krescoin with Presidential Discretionary monies – a one-time, opportunistic investment if I’ve ever seen one.

So, Elaine, we’re on it.

Rip

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