The Blog
And We’re Back!
Good news, everyone! A few days ago my laptop (which is the heart of the online aspect of this project) had an unfortunate run-in with a strangers coffee while out collecting stories. After a a pillowcase full of rice, some fans, some screwdrivers, and some time, I’ve gotten things mostly back up and running. We’re not back and running 100% (still getting some random lockups every 30 minutes or so) but it’s better than nothing! Luckily no data was lost and the regular scheduled 6 hour entires were not interrupted! Now that things are back and running I’ve also added a few new scans to the Gallery.
Thanks for all of your kind messages and offers during this scary time! You are all such an amazing community.
Strangers Project on Hold
It is with a heavy heart that I have to announce that the Strangers Project is on hold until further notice. Around 30 minutes ago, while out collecting entries, a participant accidentally spilled his full coffee on my laptop, killing it in the process. With no funds to replace this I must pause the strangers project. I will attempt to recover as much data as I can and resume the project at some point in the future.
Thank you for being a part of the project and thank you for your stories.
–Brandon
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Give Your Eyes a Break and Listen
Something I’ve always wanted to include more of in the project is audio recordings. I’m still working on how exactly I want to produce the content that has been collected, but I just can’t hold onto this one any longer. You might find this again in a more “produced” piece, but for now, here’s a story I got on the streets of Ann Arbor, Michigan while I was swinging through town and collecting some stories on the way.
500 Stories and a Letter
Last night at around 2 AM, the 500th entry of the project was posted. What an amazing ride it’s been over the past three years collecting your stories. Since the start of this project I’ve been able to meet thousands of amazing and interesting strangers. I was able to watch a play that was created and performed based on this project. I was able to travel to 36 cities with Active Minds on their Send Silence Packing tour. I was able to listen to and share your stories… and it all started from deciding to sit outside of a coffee shop and ask some strangers to stop for a moment and tell me about their life.
Over the history of the project fans have sent me a number of emails and letters about the kind of effect these storie had on them. I’d like to share some of those over the coming weeks. This is a letter I received shortly before publishing “Hearts, Minds, & Flesh.”
I wanted to let you know that even though you don’t know it, your idea of the world changed my life a little bit. The fact that someone cares enough to hear so many complex and thought-provoking stories, many inflected with heartlessness and pain, and to bear it no matter what, is truly inspiring.
Recently, I began a downward spiral that was the most terrifying of my life. I was put on medication. I began to pour out some of my life as I started sharing my stories on your site. The entire time that I was medicated my self-concept began to form around the promise of adventure, creativity, and positive energies that I finally realized I still had—they’d just been buried under a thoroughly abrasive lack of hope. I remembered that I had worth, talent. I found magic, and I chase it because now I know it’s there. When I felt so horrible and dreadfully alone I couldn’t bear it, I would share an entry on your site, and realized that the mere thought that someone was reading it and that all my painful experiences weren’t just brooding inside my skull made me feel like a worthy person. Story-sharing was therapy & transcendence – it reached out across all borders, smeared them away. I would share, and then I would let myself cry, bawl, etc. For years, I wouldn’t even let myself cry because it made me feel like even less of a person. I hated myself for it, and so some very unhealthy habits persisted and perpetuated a vicious cycle where growth wasn’t happening. It seemed like my mental illness and the painful experiences surrounding it were camping out in my brain and using my resources like a Bodysnatcher. The fact that it was anonymous made it even easier—no useless judgment calls from half-invested people or professionals who wouldn’t be able to fully handle or process my reality anyway.
From talking to you over time, my suspicions that such a pattern of reading and recording other people’s burdens must take a toll were confirmed. I just wanted to say, I’m sorry. Probably more than ten stories encompassing some form of suicidal thoughts and traumatic stories—those were from me. You’ll never know what they were exactly, but you should know that a face is on some of the stories you probably thought sounded helpless, because that’s exactly how I felt at the moment I wrote them—helpless. That’s not at all how I feel now. Well, sometimes. But way less than ever before, and everybody feels that way sometimes so it’s fine. I can also process that feeling like a pro now, kick the shit out of it. I just wanted to let you know that I would never actually do it, but the thoughts are there and when they were/are really present, sharing them on your site is/was undeniably helpful. Without a venue to share them anonymously, who knows how else I would have processed them? In the past, I processed them in very unhealthy ways, and the other week I realized that sharing my stories on your site marked a serious turning point for me. I know that’s what you’re slightly used to, but I also know that it’s hard and I wanted you to know that even though I thought so many times about doing it and even went so far as to actually purchase a firearm and imagine a funeral and write a note (and edit it, I edited it off and on while thinking about when to do it, but I obviously never did it, which is obviously a very good thing) – I shared that on your site, and sharing makes the pain and aloneness stop, which is the same as blockading the trigger on any gun.
You should just know that you’re beyond appreciated, and I’m myself now, my best self that I was so far from before, and of the people that I have to thank for it, you’re the only one I’ve thanked. Maybe that speaks for how you should remember that the mere opportunity to share stories is therapeutic and wonderful. I’m even really happy about where I am as a person in my life right now, which is a big deal. I feel like so many people arrive at that point so easily, but for me it’s been a long road and I’m really happy to be here and that you (and your project) entered my life at the point that it did. You’re a doll. You’re also clearly a creative and intelligent human being that the world needs more of. I’m sad that you’re leaving, and I just really wanted to let you know all of these things, I hope that it is reflective of your efforts to reshape the world, and that my feedback isn’t too burdensome. Thank you.
I just wanted to thank all of you for being a part of this journey with me, and I hope you’ll stick around and share your story.
Major Site Updates Are Live!
Hi everyone! I’ve gotten a lot of great feedback from fans about what they’d like to see more of and less of here on the website. I’m excited to announce that I’ve just finished and posted some major updates to the site a few minutes ago. Here’s a list of what’s new and what’s changed:
The Front Page
The front page is all new. I wanted to create a landing page that would provide easier access to certain areas of the website that were easy to overlook beforehand. Now, from one spot, you can easily see what’s new on the blog, the entries, the scans, and more.
The Gallery
While there was technically a gallery before, it was a bit rough to use. I scrapped the whole thing, added 28 new scans to start, and set up all new functionality to the page. Now you can just click an image to expand it and arrow key/click through forwards or backwards to view each entry. I’ve also added the ability to get a link to individual scans if you come across one you want to save or share. New scans will be added approximately once a week.
Automatic Updates
One of the most common requests is now a reality… more stories! A new entry will be automatically posted every six hours.
The Newsletter
The Strangers Project now has a mailing list that is filled with extra content and free book giveaways. It’s so good I even signed up for it myself.
I’ll be continuing to add more features, tweak the ones we have, and posting new extra content here on the blog in the coming days. Thanks so much for taking the time to be a part of this project! As always, please feel free to sent any thoughts or suggestions to me any time.
—Brandon
New Scans Coming Tomorrow!
Hey everyone!
I had a lot of requests for more scanned handwritten entries, so I’m currently scanning the entire collection! I’ll post a group of new scans tomorrow, and until then, be sure to keep checking back for more transcribed entries. The site is now fully automatic and posting a new entry every 4 hours. If there’s anything else you’d like to see more of, please let me know over here.
Scanning a stack of entries
Hearts, Minds, & Flesh is available NOW!
693 Entries, handwriting samples, and a special letter from a fan are all included in the 288 page print edition of the project! Order a limited signed first edition here!
Audio Recording Preview
This is far from finished, but I thought I’d share a preview of an upcoming audio recording of various DTTS entries.
Your Stories & Your Voices
A little over a month ago I asked visitors to call in and leave a voicemail reading their favorite entries. I put a few together, and here is the result. Thank you all for participating.
