93. Hopscotch
July 1, 2008
Megan walked through the part of her neighborhood where the bigger houses were, where the families lived and the parents paid mortgages and the children had tire swings. It was a glorious summer day, and her skin was slick with sunblock. She came to an area where the sidewalk and street were covered—covered—in chalk. In the center of the intersection was an elaborate mandala, scribbled in blue, pink, lime, and canary. On the sidewalk were pictures: an elephant in a dress, a truck with huge tires. Through the street ran an elaborate hopscotch game, breaking the traditional grid format as it zigged and zagged. Between hops would be directions (”cross the street and do what it says there”) and squiggles (”follow this line”).
Megan heard a creaking of metal. She looked in the direction of the sound: a little girl in a backyard, standing on a swing, holding the chain and looking over the fence. She was staring intensely at Megan and seemed to be trying to read Megan’s opinion.
Megan smiled. “Hello! Do you know who made all this awesome art? It’s so good.”
The girl snorted derisively and actually flipped her pigtails.
“I did,” she answered, as if to say: wasn’t it obvious from how I was watching you?
image: Leslie Duss on flickr
Story a Day on Robot Foot
July 1, 2008
Several days ago, I ran into Jonathan Murphy, who writes about “hyper-connectivity” and creativity on the blog Robot Foot. I wish we’d gotten to talk more, because the implications of that combination are fascinating, although maddeningly over my head—sure, once upon a time I took some classes about “postmodern culture,” but let’s be honest: the material was limited, I barely passed, and it took a lot of teachers’ office hours to get even that far. So, as someone who’s tried and come up short, I greatly admire Jonathan’s ambitious endeavor to parse our new, more connected world… one artist (or Domino’s Pizza anecdote) at a time.
Turns out Jonathan’s interested in what I’m doing, too. He even made a post about Story a Day, saying that it’s all about “[g]etting the work out there, and making creativity more of an iterative process.” He also says that Story a Day is “…a model for finding your voice online.”
Shucks. That’s exactly the idea, and I couldn’t have said it better myself. At least, not yet.
image: Stephenyears via Robot Foot
