Handmade Tales

Since college, I've maintained a handwritten journal chockful of extras -clippings, collages, stories, pop-ups, comic strips. A question that came up every once in awhile was, for whom exactly am I writing the journal? Other than occassionally flipping through an old one to get a sense of perspective they reside in a dormant pile in my bedroom, and I can no longer convince myself that any kind of teaching potential is there; if anything, revisiting them is a masochistic exercise. Not that they are so awful, but it's something by me and too excruciatingly personal for any pleasure to be had.

In the spirit of journaling, several years I started following the Moleskine Notebook Experience. A consortium of sorts, Moleskine encourages and inspires journal keepers, writers of handwritten letters, and collectors of postcards. What got my notice was an early project in which members, upon completing a journal, would post them to each other and pass them through the mail. Though I have yet to participate (someday...), the idea seems really fun.

Now they have a touring collection of these journals that is making its way around the world, the latest stop in Tokyo. I'd love to be there to check it out!