Tracking the Books

There are 100 books in this edition. Each book is numbered on the last page like a fraction. The bottom number is the total number in the edition, the top is the number it is in the edition. The same number is also on the back lower envelope. Here is where each book has started and who started them. They are added as they start circulating.

Artist Proof: Returned 4.8.11
1      Monumental Idea Miniature Book Traveling Exhibit, University of Akron
2      MIMB Traveling Exhibit, U of Akron
3      MIMB Traveling Exhibit, U of Akron
4      MIMB Traveling Exhibit, U of Akron
5      MIMB Traveling Exhibit, U of Akron
6      Teresa, Executive for non-profit, Philadelphia PA
7      Jessica, Actress, NYC
8      Catrina, Interior Designer, Atlanta GA
9      Nicole, Fashion Marketing major, U of Michigan
10    Jill, housewife, mother, chauffeur, chef, maid, accountant, Lake Orion MI / Returned 4.27.11
11    Jimmy, student in science, Lake Orion MI
12    Hannah, artist, Kent OH
13    Birch, artist, Kent OH
14    Mike, artist, Kent OH
15    Patty, editor, Fleming PA
16    Erica, artist, Kent OH
17    Pam, artist, Kent OH > Justin, art handler/printmaker, NYC
18    Kent State University / Returned 4.22.11
19    Pam, artist, Kent OH > Megan, textile artist, Philadelphia PA
20    Pam, artist, Kent OH > Jeanette, retired factory worker, Tuscon AZ
21    Pam, artist, Kent OH > Rachel, art handler/printmaker, Los Angeles CA with entries from: OH, WA, AZ, Portland OR, Boston MA /Returned 3.16.11 > Forwarded to Roxanne, musician/mortgage broker, Milwaukee WI
22    Noreen, artist, Atwater OH / Returned 3.28.11
23    Nicole, printmaker, Ohio City OH / Returned 4.5.11
24    Bridget, artist, Omaha NE
25    Bob, semi-retired accountant, Arlington VA / Returned 4.2.11
26    Noel, artist and professor, Kent OH
27    Barbara, artist/teacher, Cleveland Heights OH
28    Annie, arts administrator, Cleveland Heights, OH / Returned 8.1.11
29    Meri, artist/teacher, Cleveland OH
30    Carol, artist/teacher, Cleveland OH
31    Jennifer, artist/teacher, Lakewood OH
32    Carmen, artist/educator, Cleveland OH / Returned; 4.1.11
33    Robin, teacher, Chardon OH
34    Akil, artist/entrepreneur, Beachwood OH
35    Santina, musician/arts administrator, Cleveland OH / Returned 6.17.11
36    David, arts administrator, Shaker Heights OH
37    Catherine, elementary principal, Gainesville GA
38    Ferdinand, artist, Gainesville GA / Returned 5.12.11
39    Keith, doctor, Lakewood OH
40    Jeffrey, PhD microbiology, Madison WI / Returned 7.29.11
41    Wanda, teacher, Madison WI
42    Laura, musician, Madison WI / Returned 4.7.11
43    Stephen, budding youth minister, Madison WI
44    Beth, newscaster, Cleveland OH
45    Mary  Ann, unemployed social worker, Defiance OH / Returned 4.1.11
46    Nicole, painter, Pittsburg PA / Returned 4.15.11
47    Jeanne, retired legal secretary, S Daytona, FL
48    Shannon, yoga instructor, Nashville, TN
49    Roger, programmer, Nashville, TN
50    Susan, artist/teacher, Washington DC / Returned 6.15.11
51    John, retired small business owner, Bay Village, OH /Returned 4.1.11
52    Mary, artist, Cleveland, OH / Returned 4.18.11
53    Kathy, news photographer, Atlanta GA
54    Deanna, teacher/artist, Lakewood, OH
55    Mary Ann > Omaha NE
56    Mary Ann > Rensalear, IN / Returned 4.29.11
57    Mary Ann > Evanston, IL / Returned 3.22.11
58    Mary Ann, unemployed social worker, Defiance OH / Returned 3.22.11 Forwarded 3.29.11 > Jay, musician, Berea OH
59    Carole, artist, Bay Village, OH
60    John, songwriter/CEO NGO, Bay Village, OH / Returned 4.5.11
61    Diana, educatir, Bay Village, OH / Returned 5.26.11
62    Clarissa, nurse, Bay Village, OH
63    Binney, Education Mgr, Cleveland OH > Jill, Ann Arbor MI/Returned 3.17.11 > Forwarded to Tia Marie, marketing, Valley View OH
64    Binney > Joan, photographer/grandmother, Boca Raton FL / Returned 5.2.11
65    Binney > Jessie, Dir. Arts: Nonprofit, Akron OH
66    Jenny, education admin nonprofit, Cleveland OH
67    Jenny > Tessa, medical software, Akron OH
68    Jerry, fundraiser, Cleveland OH / Returned 4.1.11
69    Jerry > Michelle, artist, NYC
70    Elaine, recruiter, Lawrence PA / Returned 4/27/11
71    Belinda, costume seamstress > Pete, chemist, Washington DC / Returned 5.16.11
72    Maria, surgical nurse > Rick, retired press operator, Altoona, PA / Returned 5.12.11
73    Tom, retired detective, Menomonee Falls WI / Returned 4.15.11
74    Diane, hospital administration > Jeff, retired Dept of Corrections, Holidaysburg PA
75    Beth, newscaster, Detroit MI
76    George, artist, Shaker Heights OH
77    Jason, printmaker, Cleveland OH
78    Michael, writer, Cleveland OH
79    Holly, artist, Cleveland OH / Returned 4.22.11
80    Bridget, artist, Cleveland OH
81    Molly, free spirit, Cleveland OH
82    Angelica, film maker/educator, Cambridge MA
83    Tom, attorney > Lane, renaissance woman, Atlanta PA
84    Vicki, special educator, Evanston WY / Returned 4.26.11
85    Linda, harpist/army wife, McLean VA / Returned 5.2.11
86    Mike, executive, Cleveland OH
87    The Morgan Paper Conservatory, Cleveland OH / Returned 4.15.11
88    Luey, writer/artist, Cleveland OH
89    Jen, artist/educator, Cleveland OH > Anna, quilter extraordinaire & seamstress, Lincoln NE / Returned 4.4.11
90    Molly, special educator, Solon OH
91    Wendy, art conservator/printmaker, Cleveland Heights OH
92    Janelle, CSU printmaking student, Avon Lake OH / Returned 3.30/11
93    Rosemary, college instructor, Cleveland OH > Sheila, marketing, Aloha OR
94    Nancy, medical researcher, Cleveland OH
95    Denise, printmaker, Beachwood OH / Returned 4.1.11
96    Amy, nonprofit art director, Cleveland OH
97    Susan, sculptor, Sheffield Lake OH > Lauren, Santa Monica CA 4.4.11
98    Rebecca, director art school, Florence Italy
99    Gabe, printmaking barista, Cleveland OH / Returned 7.5.11
100  Elaine, maker of makers, Wooster OH

Value

These books are made from the relentless onslaught of paper that accumulates as a part of life, so their value is negligible if any. My municipal taxes pay to have it all hauled away as garbage or recycled paper, making it have negative value. If time really is money, then the value lies in the amount of time spent on the creation of each book and it is elevated as each participant passes it on. Is there a threshold, to which the value is too much to risk passing it on into the unknown and it is tucked into the return envelope with a sigh of relief???? That is one possibility, especially for early returns, maybe....

"1 of 100"

There was a debate going on in my head about how to track the books, and even if they should be. Part of the process is trusting the connections that will be made. If the books are tracked, what information is enough? In the end, having a point of which to refer back to as the starting point seemed to fit.

The edition number, the first name of the "1 of 100", a brief description of who they are and where it started are listed for each book. It is bristling to try to capture the complexity of a person with a few descriptor words about what a person does. The point of doing so is to allow those, who check the provenance of their book, to see how they are connected to people they think they might not ever be, and ponder that connection.

Without being able to visually confirm or deny our perceptions, can it be possible, that despite our differences; age, gender, race, socio-economic, religious and otherwise, that we just might hope and want some of the same things??????

What a concept!

Responsibility

Feedback, in talking with some of my "1 of 100", involves the word responsibility. There is a sense of being responsible, for making sure their book (and this project?) are successful. It is manifested in different ways from connecting and then collecting it back in a group, to one on one interaction like a temporary loan of the book.

"Responsibility" is not what I had originally intended this project to be about. It is a heavily loaded word associated with accountability and consequences that dates back to the 1590s, answerable to another for something. It's etymology, though, is rooted in the word, respond, c. 1300, which sounds much more friendly. It means to answer to, promise in return, relating more to interacting and/or reacting. The ability to respond, interact, react to other people is connecting to them.

My hope for the participants in this project is that the contemporary understanding of 'responsibility' will hone their selection process, to find someone who is also willing "to promise in return", to connect to another person, who will do the same, and continue that connection forward to others who will do the same. In that end, the process will continue to write our collective story into being.

References take from: Online Etymology Dictionary

Connections

The strength of this project is dependent upon the strength of the connections we have with each other, virtual AND otherwise. Electronic media is keeping us connected more than ever, in bigger, more diverse circles. It is the human touch that I wonder, may be on the decline. An actual hug is not the same as a virtual one. The tactile response to paging through a book is not the same as reading a virtual one. The typewritten word is not as touching as the handwritten thought. The virtual description of a garden is not the same as being physically in the middle of one. There is an art to negotiating the human experience, that involves all the senses. The machination of ideas, seem so much more vivid/possible/interesting when they are informed by the actions of the senses. So, too, will this project.

Speaking of gardens, as the days finally grow longer, I am optimistic that the virtual planning of my garden, will soon give way to weight of spades, the heavy smell of willing dirt, and the dna of seeds, weeds and otherwise.

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.