Reconnecting

One of the wonderful side benefits of this project is the chance to revisit some great memories and reconnect with the people who helped make them. Wrapped up in warm and fuzzy memories, watching ice  and snow hold spring at bay on Lake Erie around Cleveland.

Deadline April 1, 2011 and Beyond

Deadlines are like a target, one aims to shoot for them, and in my case, am ecstatic when I actually hit it. The deadline of April 1, 2011 is just that, but a little more. Postage rates go up April 17, 2011 by a yet undisclosed amount. I will be happy to get any of my babies back after that, with the appropriate postage, because, more than likely it will be sent back to the return address sender if not. Of course, putting the P O Box for the Petition Box as the return address would work as well, too.

Out and About

The edition is completed and they are starting their journey outward. My hope among many is that connections are made, the web is created and they find their way back to me. Safe travels my children.

How to Participate

First of all, congratulations, and thank you for participating.

1. Start reading the book from the beginning.
2. Add your petition to any page in the book, note where you are from geographically. Other interesting info would be your age and gender, but not necessary.
3. If this book or another returns to you, there are 100 floating around out there, indicate so in either the same petition, a new one and/or this blog.
4. Find a WILLING participant who will also do steps 1-3.
5. You can find where your book started in the blog entry of Feb 21, Tracking the Book
6. Follow the blog, offer your thoughts and suggestions if inspired.

The Petition Box Project

Have you ever wondered if you could ask anything from anyone, what would you ask for? I did, and do wonder what other people would ask for, which is why I started this project. The answers have been interesting, thought provoking, entertaining, and not just for  me, but for those who participate, read what others have written and add to it.

It's easy to participate and in the process we are collaboratively writing a story of human connection. I have 100 books that I am hoping to start in different parts of the country, through friends and acquaintances I have made in our many moves. Consider starting one for me. You can write in it anonymously, noting where you are from and possibly your age/gender and then pass it on to another WILLING participant who will keep it going. If the theory of 6 degrees of separation is true, more than one may cross your path, which you can note each time a book comes to you.

Send me your address at:

Sol LeWitt, Where Are You?

If it is not obvious, this project plays homage to great artistic minds like that of Sol LeWitt. His Sentences on Conceptual Art are interesting, contradictory, confusion and intriguing. But the one that seems to be with me now is this:

Once the idea of the piece is established in the artist's mind and the final form is decided, the process is carried out blindly. There are many side effects that the artist cannot imagine. (These may be used as ideas for new works.)

The blindness did not come in handy when I was ripping out stitches in the coptic binding because of missed steps 5 moves back. But what looks like a mess to one person is organization to another!

In the End

When I tell people about my project, their mind races to 'end' and "What if something happens to the books?" I can only say that something IS happening to the books. This particular project is about the process and a reframing of what the 'product at the end' really is. It is not so much about getting from beginning to end, but what happens in between.

We are collaboratively writing a book, sharing thoughts and human connection. Each book is handed from one person to another. A petition, prayer, thought, observation is shared. A tangible, unique, human mark  is made, the story grows. I am dropping a pebble in my pond and watching the ripples move into yours. Each participant creates more ripples, like rain drops falling on water. I  trust that the need for making ripples is not just my penchant but yours as well.

That being said, I would also like them all to make their way back to me. It's exciting to ponder the creative collaborative process as it is happening and let go of what 'getting to the end' looks like. In the end, whatever that looks like, we have connected and written that story into being.

Human Touch

The human touch will impact these books, much like it does each of us. There will be chafing, worn edges, unintentional errant marks, but I have also observed the careful, thoughtful examination that taking time to participate creates...