Personal Artifacts
Last week some friends-of-friends who were watching election night results at our house were all agog over Jordan's universal remote (pictured above). "If you were trying to figure out who Jordan was, and all you had to work off of was a collection of objects, this would be one of them," I said. I'm not sure what moved me to put it quite that way, but when Jordan and I were talking about it later, we agreed that the universal remote was, in fact, a critical Jordan artifact. Amanda artifacts might include:
- My journal
- A pillow, or eyemask
- My yoga mat
- A copy of "Song of Myself" by Walt Whitman ("do I contradict myself? very well then, I contradict myself - I am large, I contain multitudes...)
- Evidence of dark chocolate consumption
Then Keri Smith over at Wish Jar wrote about how sometimes she carries her favorite books with her, not to re-read, but in the hopes they'll influence her thinking or mood.
What artifacts would you choose to represent yourself to a stranger, or an anthropologist of the future? And what objects help you feel like yourself, bringing out your best feelings and ideas?
posted by Amanda @ 4:00 PM
13 comments
13 Comments:
For me, it's this thing. Which is kinda the musical equivalent of Jordan's universal remote. :)
The Line 6 POD X3 Live: It's nicely obscure, implies an obsessive nature, and is a tremendous enabler of creativity. Most of my creativity in 2008 was channeled through this beast in one way or another.
Not quite a universal answer, but I guess that's sort of the point. :)
Good post. With you on dark chocolate. You must go to Barcelona. Some of the best chocolate in the world.
So perhaps my ears. Or my theremins.
That or my iPhone. Form and function to perfection.
1) Water
2) cool jewelry, most often a statement necklace
3) hair tie on my wrist (temperature control is all about the back of the neck)
4) Digital voice recorder, for line memorization
5) One of five bags, each representing a different persona (teacher, student, actor, improviser,lady who lunches)
a necklace i fashioned out of a fishing lure that my grandfather made.
oh, how could I forget 6 - Cherry Chapstick
I can't think of artifacts that a stranger could identify me by. But I can think of some for my husband: digital baking/cooking thermometer, iPhone, high-powered mini flashlight, cabling/wiring, a Neal Stephenson library. I think the thermometer might be the best artifact for him, though. It embodies his love for precision data (which can then be tracked and graphically displayed) and food preparation.
Wait! After having read Karen's. I have mine, too. If not the band around my wrist to tie my hair back with, probably my ponytail itself. I've worn some form of a ponytail since I was 5 and do so about 80% of the time.
I love this post (and the blog design is just so snazzy, continues to impress).
My objects: a flat black polished disk with a real spider web embedded in it that sits on my desk, a kitchen blowtorch, a pink wig with gold tinsel running through :)
I love these answers, everyone! Blowtorches and theramins...oh my! I'm thinking it would be cool to display your answers + others in some 3D tag cloud...maybe a feature for Creative DC 2.0 :)
And Kristen, thanks for the design compliment! Means a lot coming from you :) All kudos go to Christina Descaro, the designer....
Hard to say - I guess at times it would be my tivo because I love everything TV.
Agree with all the positive feedback. Mine would be expensive headphones that allow me to ignore inane conversations in public (formerly shure, currently klipsch) and - this is hard to capture - an always-growing pile of periodicals and books that I never get around to reading.
Who gave him the universal remote?
Muralist
A camera and a CF card with a random selection of my favorite pictures I've taken... my fishtank... the heart-shaped ruby necklace that Zach gave me... my collection of Isabel Allende books... my e.e. cummings poetry book... my bamboo cutting board... empty bottles of tempranillo
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