Sunday, December 8, 2013
Monday, August 12, 2013
Join us at the Free Library August 29th
In partnership with Groundswell and AHHAH (Arts Holding Hearts and Minds), we will be hosting a FREE SBYF Memory Writing Workshop on Thursday, August 29th, from 4:30-6:30 PM at The Free Library of Philadelphia. Come join us! Our theme is "summer memories" and our team of skilled memory collectors will help you to unlock those happy, suntan-scented memories lost deep in your brain. After the workshop, all the postcards will be archived in the SBYF memory vault for future generations.
Can't make it? We've got you covered. Just mail your summer memory on a postcard to:
1315 Walnut St.
Suite 732
Philadelphia, PA
19107
...and your memory will be exhibited with all the others we've received.
This is exciting because besides exploring summer memories across many decades...we'll also be exploring summer memories across different neighborhoods.
Also, please contact us if you are interested in joining a memory writing workshop at any of the following locations, operated by the brilliant folks at AHHAH.
*Groundswell is an initiative of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance whose focus is bringing "organizations and communities together 'to do something GOOD for change."
Can't make it? We've got you covered. Just mail your summer memory on a postcard to:
1315 Walnut St.
Suite 732
Philadelphia, PA
19107
...and your memory will be exhibited with all the others we've received.
This is exciting because besides exploring summer memories across many decades...we'll also be exploring summer memories across different neighborhoods.
Also, please contact us if you are interested in joining a memory writing workshop at any of the following locations, operated by the brilliant folks at AHHAH.
*Groundswell is an initiative of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance whose focus is bringing "organizations and communities together 'to do something GOOD for change."
Thursday, August 8, 2013
The SBYF Memory Library is Almost Ready!
Meet Mr. Ray Bowman, age 104. We were so moved after meeting and interviewing Ray that we decided to create a big bundle of postcards, sent from different moments in his life, from what it was like to hear his grandfather tell Civil War stories, to what it was like to read in bed by gas lamp, to being astonished by a simple light switch, to meeting Bing Crosby, and all the way up to the present...when we watch documentaries about the Civil War on 70 inch flatscreen TVs in air conditioned houses. What a life! We had each moment illustrated (as above) by SBYF artist Alex Mashett and then presented them, in a fun ceremony, to his family.
You'll be able to read Ray's postcards, and many others....NEXT MONTH. Yes, we're almost there. We've partnered with the creative team over at VIUS and are almost ready to unveil our custom-built digital memory library. We will be featuring postcards from our archive regularly, and you'll also be able to add your own memories from anywhere in the world just by grabbing a free library card!
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Announcing the SBYF Junior Memory Collector Program
SBYF's fearsome fleet of metal and ink.
Today's a proud day for us here at SBYF.
As we've grown over the years from a single memory (boy and grandfather, holding hands)...to a story scribbled on a yellow legal pad...to a road trip...to a fledgling, uncertain project...to another, bigger road trip...to a national writing program, I've always daydreamed that, somewhere down the road, we'd be able to create a mentorship program for young writers and artists. I think of myself at age 18 - I knew so badly that I wanted to be a writer, but I had absolutely no idea where to begin, what stories I was meant to be telling, or how to tell them well. For me, SBYF has been the most demanding, rewarding education a young writer could ever have. Thousands of times now I've met someone, listened to their story, and tried, to the best of my ability, to transform that raw material - that memory - into something more than a memory, into art (gag! but it's true). The fact that we use postcards as a medium only makes it more demanding - how can I convey real intimacy in such a small amount of space? Funny to think that I bought that original postcards and stamps with the money that would've paid for a graduate writing class. So, as I said, I always dreamed that someday I could share that experience with other young writers and artists. But it was always way out there, just a little speck in the distance.
Well, here we are.
Today we're proud to announce the SBYF Junior Memory Collector program, a mentorship program for young writers, artists, and leaders of the future.
What does a Junior Memory Collector do? In short, you explore the world around you in search of stories. You lead SBYF memory writing workshops, operate SBYF Memory Stations, and network with other creative organizations. You work closely with SBYF’s team of professional writers, illustrators, designers, film-makers, and sound engineers. Most importantly, you make a real difference in the lives of other human beings by helping to preserve their memories before they are lost so they can be passed on to future generations.
Oh, and this: those chosen are issued their very own manual typewriter (some of which are close to 100 years old!), which have been generously donated from folks around the Philadelphia area!!
Without further adieu, we proudly announce of first class of JMCs, whom you'll be getting to know a lot better over the next few months.
Emily Cornuet
Four things about Emily:
(1) I am a BFA Sculpture major at Tyler School of Art
(2) My favorite thing is hearing interesting stories told by colorful people
(3) I like words...a lot
(4) If I call you a rockstar that is the highest form of praise you can receive from me.
Carlos Miranda
Four things about Carlos:
(1) Born in Honduras
(2) Study at Drexel University
(3) I can make a loud clicking noise with my tongue
(4) I know all the words to Fergalicious by heart.
Emilie Mehler
Four things about Emilie:
(1)Emilie did ballet for fourteen years, acted, and sang in
the choirs all throughout her high school career.
(2)She loves to travel and will be going to Austria,
Germany, and possibly a quick stop in Prague over the winter break of 2013-2014.
(3)She nineteen years old and is a freshman at Temple
University where her older brother attends and her father is an adjunct
professor.
(4)Has never been to Disney World/Land and doesn’t plan on
going.
Alex Ferguson
(1) I am currently an Advertising major and Spanish minor at
Temple University.
(2) I didn’t know I had two middle names until age 13, it
was something of an identity crisis.
(3) I am a huge music person, I love attending concerts and
I love making people mixed CDs, especially to cheer them up.
(4) I studied abroad in Spain for a month and fully intend
on returning to live there someday.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Project Update - Winter 2013
Hello!
Unfortunately this will be brief, but I wanted to give you a glimpse into what's going on here at SBYF HQ now, and what you can expect for 2013.
What's going on is this:
We asked you to mail us memories in 2012, and Whoa Lordy, did you ever. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! We are currently going through them one by one by glorious one. I can't even guess yet what the number is going to be, and it's growing faster all the time. All these amazing memories (plus the ones from the Memory Stations) will be archived in The Vault, for future generations, as promised.
For example:
So you want to know What It Was Like On a Random Winter Day in Maine in the 1950s?
(click for full size - strongly recommended)
BUT.
You want to see them too, right? We are currently designing and building a digital system where you will be able to explore our Library of Human Experience (at least a small part of it, to start), and maybe even have beautiful postcards from different decades delivered directly to your inbox. That is our number one priority right now, and it's going to take a while to get it together, but it's coming.
In the meantime, you can still create postcards with your local communities/schools, or just with your own friends and loved ones at home.
We are also excited and honored to be presenting at several conferences this year, including:
*The Meeting of the Minds, March 2, in St. Paul, MN
*Generations United, July 30-Aug. 2, in Washington DC
And several others TBA...so come see us!
And finally, if you are in the Philly area and interested in volunteering with us or joining as an intern, please email us at info@sbyfproject.com. There's lots to do and it's gonna be a lot of fun.
Unfortunately this will be brief, but I wanted to give you a glimpse into what's going on here at SBYF HQ now, and what you can expect for 2013.
What's going on is this:
We asked you to mail us memories in 2012, and Whoa Lordy, did you ever. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! We are currently going through them one by one by glorious one. I can't even guess yet what the number is going to be, and it's growing faster all the time. All these amazing memories (plus the ones from the Memory Stations) will be archived in The Vault, for future generations, as promised.
For example:
So you want to know What It Was Like On a Random Winter Day in Maine in the 1950s?
(click for full size - strongly recommended)
You want to see them too, right? We are currently designing and building a digital system where you will be able to explore our Library of Human Experience (at least a small part of it, to start), and maybe even have beautiful postcards from different decades delivered directly to your inbox. That is our number one priority right now, and it's going to take a while to get it together, but it's coming.
In the meantime, you can still create postcards with your local communities/schools, or just with your own friends and loved ones at home.
We are also excited and honored to be presenting at several conferences this year, including:
*The Meeting of the Minds, March 2, in St. Paul, MN
*Generations United, July 30-Aug. 2, in Washington DC
And several others TBA...so come see us!
And finally, if you are in the Philly area and interested in volunteering with us or joining as an intern, please email us at info@sbyfproject.com. There's lots to do and it's gonna be a lot of fun.
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Columbus ----> HOME (Digital Postcards)
This is the story of a young postcard.
It spent the first three months of its life inside a cardboard box with 10,000 of its identical siblings. The box itself was inside a car, beside a trash bag full of sweaty socks, t-shirts, and underwear. Bottles of motor oil and transmission fluid swished around whenever the car turned. For months the car turned this direction and that - somehow not breaking down - zigging and zagging, sometimes up to ten hours a day.
Then one day the postcard heard a sound: snipping. Someone was cutting the plastic bands on the outside of the box. And then another sound: tape ripping.
Light poured into the box.
A hand reached down...
Okay, that's enough from the postcard's perspective. By the end of this post you'll see who ended up getting that 10,000th postcard. But first we start in Wheeling, West Virginia.
I don't want to badmouth Wheeling, so I'll just say it's a rotary phone in a digital world.
It did have a beautiful path along the river, though, which you should walk if you're ever there on a perfect Fall day.
And if you look close, there's subtle beauty where you least expect it.
Remember when you actually had to put coins into parking meters and then turn the knob? Remember that feeling? Remember that sound?
So I was sitting in my car beside this meter, reading the HUGE map I have (it's practically life-sized), plotting my route eastward, when suddenly I heard a snap!
And then a boom!
"Holy crap!" someone yelled.
I lowered the map, looked behind me. Didn't see anything.
"Holy CRAP!" the guy said again, incredulous.
So then I got out and walked around back, where I stood with my hands on my hips.
"Did you see that?" the guy asked. "Dude, this HUGE branch just fell off this tree and just missed your car."
"Yeah man, I see that."
Here's the bizarre part: there hadn't been a lick of breeze all day. Not even a tickle on the leaves.
Imagine a very tall man standing there, waiting for a bus and, for no reason, his right arm falls off.
"HOLY CRAP!" the guy said.
If I'd parked one Shaquille O'Neal sneaker-length further back, that branch would've smashed through my back window. One full Mugsy Bogues and it would've cracked my windshield. Look how close it was to the bumper - which somehow it didn't hit.
Note: I've already made my argument against fate, but, jeez, that was pretty weird.
And then...
I drove on to Pittsburgh, where I was staying with my friend Quelcy. Just as I parked outside her house she pulled up with her boyfriend, Jono, who I'd never met. We shook hands and exchanged the normal pleasantries. "Oh where you from?" "Oh, Philly, me too, that's funny, where exactly?"
Turned out, we were not only from the same town, but had grown up on the same block! I'm seven years older, but we shared many of the same memories: same school, seam teachers, same local park, same neighbors, and so on.
I purposely held off on giving out the 10,000th postcard the next day, so I could present it to Jono at the final public 10,000 Strangers event.
And wouldn't you know the memory he chose was the same duck pond in the parable that began this whole project?
It spent the first three months of its life inside a cardboard box with 10,000 of its identical siblings. The box itself was inside a car, beside a trash bag full of sweaty socks, t-shirts, and underwear. Bottles of motor oil and transmission fluid swished around whenever the car turned. For months the car turned this direction and that - somehow not breaking down - zigging and zagging, sometimes up to ten hours a day.
Then one day the postcard heard a sound: snipping. Someone was cutting the plastic bands on the outside of the box. And then another sound: tape ripping.
Light poured into the box.
A hand reached down...
Okay, that's enough from the postcard's perspective. By the end of this post you'll see who ended up getting that 10,000th postcard. But first we start in Wheeling, West Virginia.
I don't want to badmouth Wheeling, so I'll just say it's a rotary phone in a digital world.
It did have a beautiful path along the river, though, which you should walk if you're ever there on a perfect Fall day.
And if you look close, there's subtle beauty where you least expect it.
Remember when you actually had to put coins into parking meters and then turn the knob? Remember that feeling? Remember that sound?
So I was sitting in my car beside this meter, reading the HUGE map I have (it's practically life-sized), plotting my route eastward, when suddenly I heard a snap!
And then a boom!
"Holy crap!" someone yelled.
I lowered the map, looked behind me. Didn't see anything.
"Holy CRAP!" the guy said again, incredulous.
So then I got out and walked around back, where I stood with my hands on my hips.
"Did you see that?" the guy asked. "Dude, this HUGE branch just fell off this tree and just missed your car."
"Yeah man, I see that."
Here's the bizarre part: there hadn't been a lick of breeze all day. Not even a tickle on the leaves.
Imagine a very tall man standing there, waiting for a bus and, for no reason, his right arm falls off.
"HOLY CRAP!" the guy said.
If I'd parked one Shaquille O'Neal sneaker-length further back, that branch would've smashed through my back window. One full Mugsy Bogues and it would've cracked my windshield. Look how close it was to the bumper - which somehow it didn't hit.
Note: I've already made my argument against fate, but, jeez, that was pretty weird.
And then...
I drove on to Pittsburgh, where I was staying with my friend Quelcy. Just as I parked outside her house she pulled up with her boyfriend, Jono, who I'd never met. We shook hands and exchanged the normal pleasantries. "Oh where you from?" "Oh, Philly, me too, that's funny, where exactly?"
Turned out, we were not only from the same town, but had grown up on the same block! I'm seven years older, but we shared many of the same memories: same school, seam teachers, same local park, same neighbors, and so on.
I purposely held off on giving out the 10,000th postcard the next day, so I could present it to Jono at the final public 10,000 Strangers event.
And wouldn't you know the memory he chose was the same duck pond in the parable that began this whole project?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)