I started this site with the foolish notion that I would easily be able to convince my friends to contribute. I was lost in my red cloud of collectivity, thinking that if I built it, they would come. Certainly the interest is out there, I just need to be a bit more enthusiastic when persuading others to participate. So I’ve come up with a plan. I’m still looking for people to contribute to the site but I’m going to try another method.
I’m asking for people to write letters. In those letters we can read, hear and see their experiences of living in a city. Describe how the city is your friend, a stranger, a nemesis. Write about what it feels like to go whirring through the trails on your bike, how you sometimes feel uncomfortable pushing your way through a gang of unruly kids clustered at a bus stop, how it’s comical to find the man in the car next to you at a stoplight wrist deep in his nostril. Share how you sometimes feel like you’re living in a music video as you stroll along with your iPod. What is it that makes a day horrible? What makes a day profound? These are the type of experiences that I want to collect here. I don’t mind if it takes a while. Personal projects like these need to proceed at their own pace. I don’t need instant gratification. This is the slow information movement.
Submit your experiences to letters@thecollected.ca.
