friday afternoon

we took to the streets of downtown portland with many little paper fortunes in hand. we were hoping to leave them in a hundred different places, we were hoping all kinds of people would find them. and smile or laugh. or stop for a second and take a breath and look around. or something, anything. who knows how much of that actually happened but it doesn't really matter. as it turns out, the act of doing was enough.



inspired by keri smith's guerilla art kit, I cut paper into teeny tiny slips and set out a mess of colored pencils. the crew was hungry for a project and didn't need much extra prompting from me. the crew (aka guerilla art army) at hand: ava and friends abby and millie, plus kind of/sort of ezra.



there really weren't any rules except, you know, to write something nice. I told them to write down something that they might like to find and read. interesting to witness the slight variations in interpretation. for example, abby felt strongly about putting dates on each of her fortunes. millie's messages were one-worded and abstract, decorated with hearts and exclamation points. mine were more in the vein of 'hey, your hair looks good today' and 'go on, play hooky from work'. though ava's were so heartbreakingly sweet I could barely stand to read them-- messages like 'don't listen to the mean things that people say' and 'you will always look pretty'. I saved that last one, by the way. tucked it away someplace special. it sort of makes me want to cry when I look at it. but also, it makes me feel pretty.



after lunch we set out for downtown. on our way to catch the street car, millie hid the first secret fortune in a small, rectangular nook close to the ground. abby said only a kid would find this one because adults are too busy looking ahead and walking fast. um, she is probably right. no wait, she is absolutely right.



it didn't take long before the whole thing turned into the best game ever. where to hide the fortunes? where could they be properly hidden and still be found? how will they keep from blowing away? what if we'd thought to bring a bit of tape? millie wins the prize for most brilliant hiding place: in the coils of the springs of a bicycle seat. so wishing I'd thought of that one.

a few other hiding places:



in the basket of a bicycle parked outside the library. personally, I think anyone who takes the time to decorate their bicycle basket with flowers deserves a secret fortune.



underneath some leaves on a concrete bench outside the downtown public library.



in the crack of yet another concrete bench and again with the downtown library. we hit the inside of that joint pretty hard too.



and speaking of the library, as we were walking by (leaving fortunes all over the place), we passed a homeless woman who'd set up camp on one of the concrete benches. at least, I think she was homeless. she was surrounded by an enormous amount of bags stuffed what looked to be everything she owned. and she looked tired, beat down . before I could stop it (or even have time to think about whether or not I should stop it, if it was at all appropriate), ava carefully placed one of her secret fortunes in the one small spot that wasn't occupied by the woman's bags. I was too busy chasing after ezra to react but once I caught up with him, I turned to see if the woman had noticed the fortune. and then I saw her pick up that tiny piece of paper and look in our direction. I turned away just then, hastily put my camera down. I was ashamed. actually, I wasn't exactly sure how I felt because I wasn't sure how she felt. I wasn't sure if she was crazy or if maybe she thought I was crazy or if it was even okay that we had done what we'd done. but I couldn't help myself, I turned to look at her once more and dang it if she wasn't smiling.

more hiding places:



for the next person who picks up a copy of the jewish review.



for the next person who goes to feed the meter.



for the person roaming the western philosophy aisle at powell's books. whoever found this one was told that they were a rock star. I hope they believe that.



for the next person who needs to make a call and absent-mindedly checks the slot for change. wait, is there anyone left in the world who still uses the payphone? I hope so.

I can't wait to do this again. I absolutely cannot wait. should you feel the need to try this out for yourself, please do report back. we could all use a little more shinyhappy, yes? yes, this is the point.