1000 Journals Project

Journal #981 by Whitney Sherman

I watched a documentary a little while ago about the 1000 journals project – did you see it? It was about an experiment that started more than a decade ago, in which one person ‘launched’ 1000 paper-based journals, destined to travel the globe, to be written on, illustrated, passed around, poured over, and loved by total strangers, before being posted to the next recipient (or writer) on a very long waiting list.

Some of the journals were amazingly beautiful pieces of art; others a brief written insight into the lives of the people it came into contact with. There were a lot of sob stories, bad poetry, and tales of frustration, heartache and joy; there was also a journal that simply went missing, which the project managers are still searching for.

The 1000 journal project became so popular, and the waiting list to receive a travelling journal so long, that organisers recently launched another initiative, inviting people from all over the world to launch their own travelling journals, and for others to sign up to receive them.

I was so excited when I found the site again yesterday, that I signed up on the spot – I’m now waiting on journal #4818, and I’m 15^th in line, which is not too bad at all! It was released in Australia in November last year, so it may be a while before it gets back to me; but sometime in the next couple of years, I’ll get a random parcel from someone I’ve never met, and I think that’s worth the wait.

Nat

Ps. To join up or to read more about it, go here.