Collecting Stories

The project began in July of 2009 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I began the project spontaneously one evening by purchasing a blank notebook and writing a sign with a Sharpie marker inviting strangers to sit down and share their story. Within minutes people began stopping by and sharing stories from their lives.

There’s something incredibly raw about journal entries collected on the spot—stories that people didn’t expect to tell only moments before they stopped. The stories aren’t restricted to any demographic—young, old, male, female, successful, and despondent all stop to share their lives with a fellow stranger. The result is a sort of intimate voyeurism through ink.

In November 2009, the first printed volume of Don’t Talk to Strangers was released and is currently available both at amazon.com as well as on the project’s page.

You can read many entries for free on the project’s main page, and new stories are continually being added.

View the Full Project

It’s been almost two and a half years since I created the first version of this. It was passed around quite a bit and I had dozens of requests for a higher quality version. You asked and I am delivering… two and a half years later. Updated a bit for 2010.

(And yes, I made this while at work)

(click to enlarge)

If you really want to get stuck in the chart, head over to my current project, (Don’t) Talk to Strangers. It’s a collection of thousands of anonymous journal entries collected from strangers. After all, you’re clearly not very busy right now.

Hear the first submission!

We’re trying to explore what we are losing, what we are gaining, and how it relates to everyone around us.

It’s simple. Leave a voice recording containing absolutely anything you’d like to say. Tell us about your life. What moves you. What scares you. What inspires passion into your life. Tell us your story.

There are no limits on what you can share–something funny, something sad. Something you’re angry about. Something secret. A confession.

Anything. In the end, we’ll be trying to capture the complexities of our world through the combination of our voices and our stories.

Click and drag the image to pan in any direction. This is version one. Look for more clear versions as well as details on the building of the device in the future.

new path, pretty colored, pretty quick.
over the counter–different backgrounds.
orders pushing him with those several loops,
explained and overlooked,
folk moon, square buildings.
this point we fly.
despite the situation,
matter not projected.
next interactions aspirin vicodin codeine seldom good.
anger
never the problem.
noise like oxycontin.
enough,
reasons enough why.
years rush,
still embracing,
until we had heard false positives
and beneath was jokers.

View the Full Photostream

Collecting Your Words

I’ll be uploading entries from the notebook as soon as I get access to a scanner.

Also, a special thanks to DJ for the great chat, the food, and the book.

I'll be reading this next

I’ve had a chance to talk to about 24 people so far throughout this project. It might be too early to say, but one of the most connecting bits of humanity I’ve noticed in everyone’s story is that we’re all trying to get somewhere else, whether it’s physically, financially or emotionally.

I would think that at the root of it, most of what we do is an attempt to be happier than we were the day before. So then, what is happiness? Can it be pursued? Should it be? It’s not contentment. Contentment can lead to stagnation which leads to dissatisfaction. It’s not the absence of negative feelings.

 I’m thinking it may be tied to the feeling that you have meaning in your life. Meaning that has nothing to do with the values of others. That is to say, meaning in others, not of others. So perhaps meaning should be pursued, not happiness.

Children are happy, sometimes. They experience joy, weather permitting. Before they start thinking too much. Before the thoughts get too complicated. But thinking is important and rewarding too. I remain, at this time, undecided on the matter. I’m moving too, but I’m not sure towards what. Right now it’s towards people and their stories.

So, then, friends, what are you moving towards?

New Office

I dropped the apartment, the desk, the chair and everything else for my new office: green grass, warm sun, and the ambient chatter of the outside world. Other than laptop screens not being the best in sunlight, I couldn’t ask for more. Power seems to be a bit of an issue, but I can get a few hours of work outside, then charge up in near by coffee shops. The system is great so far.

Hungry Co-Worker

One of the most enjoyable parts of getting work done right now is being able to work on my most recent project (yet to be named). I set up this sign to help encourage passerbys to stop and share their story with me.

Ehdom Talks to Strangers

So far so good–If only the coffee were a bit cheaper…

I’m in Ann Arbor for a few days collecting your stories. You can usually find me somewhere around State Street and Liberty. Look for a bandana and a sign.

I started a new notebook yesterday that is to be filled with journal entries from strangers. I met about 9 wonderful people yesterday and got three new journal entries. Thanks for all that stopped by. I’ll post the notebooks up once I have them filled up a bit more.

Some early entries

Your entry next?