Found
Well, this was a most interesting site I stumbled upon a few years ago. When the book came out, I raced to the store to buy it. Have you found things, like notes, or shopping lists, pictures in places that you have been?
Davy Rothbart started a magazine of all this "found stuff" he had kept. Pretty soon people were sharing what they found with him. Next thing the magazine gets too big and he publishes a book, and then another book, and the book with all the naughty notes. Each found object is a photocopied orignal so you are experiencing the "real thing" only in a book collection form. There are found things on his website also (link below).
Some of these found things (handwritten notes, emails, pictures, half notes, shopping lists, love/hate letters, etc) and their stories are just so funny you laugh so hard you cry, and others are extremely sad. The titles of the objects by the authors are just as funny if not insightful.
The one that really makes me wonder was the little folded notes written in Polish and left at a Polish church tucked into window sills, or bushes. When found by someone, he could not read Polish and sought out someone who could, an old Polish man, a stranger in a park. The old man read the note and burst into tears and could not tell him. He found someone else to interperete the notes. A very young woman had left these little folded notes at the church because she was once again suffering from cancer and did not know if she would make it. Eventually, the little notes disappeared and we are left to wonder, what happened to her.
A funny one was the kids "Adventure Club", a secret club where one of the rules was "be nice to squrills". Their list of rules floated away and a neighbor found them. She inquired about the secret club and the kids (ages 5-8) were stunned as she recited the rules to them. They insisted she tell them how she found out. She told them that her dog Kismet had overheard everything. They walked away speechless and perplexed.
My favorite one was the poor kid sitting in an Algebra test and wrote a very clever poem on his test about his frustration with learning algebra. The teacher flunked him but gee, he was extremely creative. I would have to say, in my opinion, if he was floundering, the teacher did nothing to help him out and make him feel successful, that is the teacher's job.
These are a slice of life and a slice of someone elses problems, or issues that we can all relate too.
Davey also travels the country doing Found Readings. You can see the date and location on the website.
You can view more found objects on the fabulous website: Found
Post Secrets
Have a secret and want to tell someone you don't even know and then get it posted on the net . . . maybe?
Here is the result of an project, now ongoing, that turned into a book titled "Post Secret" by Frank Warren.
Frank went around and placed post cards with directions on it for anyone who found it and was willing to anonymously tell him their secrets and mail the card back to him. He was astounded at the results. Some are artsy, some are funny, and some reveal some very deep dark personal secrets that make you want to cry. For the most part, the secrets you read affirm your own standard of life. You can learn a lot about other people but mostly about yourself by reading the secrets.
Frank's website is updated weekly with 10 new scans of cards he has received and feels them worthy of sharing with the world. There is also a travelling show museum at the Reading PA public library for a short stint (till 10/8/06). A fair warning that some of the secrets contain foul language, violence in various forms, or are sexual in context.
Post Secret Website
Overheard in New York
There is a book (same title by S. Morgan Friedman) and a website (link below) that posts snippets of people's conversations as people pass through daily life.
There are links on to Overheard in the Office and Overheard at the Beach on the main site.
I even heard there is Overheard at College too. LOL
Overheard in New York
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