Stranger Stories

Last night (with the moral support of Cody) I left a book at the Classic Bean on Fairlawn.

It was inspired by the PostSecret project, and conceived with the prospect of taking the project one step further. For those of you who don't know, PostSecret is an art project created by Frank Warren in which anonymous people from all over the world send their secrets to him on postcards. The primary idea is that we all have secrets and we all share secrets. We are more unified than we know.

The book, a small leatherbind, has instructions on the first two pages:

1. The current owner of the book should write something. It can be a secret, a drawing, a story, a song...it doesn't matter, and can be any length. So long as it is true about that person. Also, preferably something that not many people know.
2. When they're ready to pass it on, the challenge comes. I ask that instead of just handing the book over, they take a dive and talk about their entry to the next person. A stranger to them. I suggested that they leave an email and telephone as well, so that they may be contacted again.

On the last page, I left instructions for contacting me to return the book. I have no idea where it will go, if it will work or, if it does, if it will be returned to me. It's a fairly thick book, so it may take some time to fill. I don't think that I should expect it back for a while, maybe even years. I do look on the bright side, though. I recently read an article about a sculptor who had his work returned to him after nearly forty years. It made me feel a bit better.

Also, I'm thinking about starting another book, slightly different. Rather than being open for art, I think I'll direct people to write the story of their most life changing event in the book or something that has happened that profoundly affected the person. Reading something like that, seeing a hundred stories of things that have changed lives written by hand...that would evoke thought and emotion. But first, I have to come up with some spare cash. :)