+ Winter/Spring 2007:

  MSR...

I would like to propose an idea for my semester final.
I propose it now, as I'm looking at my calendar, to allow adequate time for proper completion. Following, is what I'd like to do:

For one week I will record every aspect of my life, be
it sleeping, thinking, consuming, excreting, driving, crying, etc, etc. Moments of my everyday will be logged in a journal. My writing shall be spontaneous and uninhibited, structured much like a diary entry. I will attempt to take-in as much as possible, being open to the events occurring in the space that surrounds me. In essence, I will bring forth, and make visible, a private facet of my mind, revealing the details of my thinking that, prior to this point, have been known only by yours truly. Along with my writing, I myself, will be photographed every hour on the hour for the duration of the week. A rule will be established, however, that only ONE photograph will be taken every sixty minutes. There can be no re-dos, no editing, no primping in front of the mirror prior. Each photograph shall capture me in the exact moment, freezing time as it truly exists.

Between both the imagery and the writing, which will likely be presented in final form as two separate elements, I hope to generate a desire for comparison.
I will have captured, at any given moment, a physical documentation of self, (through the photograph) as well as a mental documentation of self, (through the writing). It will be interesting to see how much or how little my mental self effects my physical self, and visa versa.

After one week of record keeping and collection, I will turn my gathered content into a "book," (what I refer to here as "book" can only be assumed at this point to mean a collection of pages held together by some means, as one unit). Said "book" will be divided into separate and distinct facets much like Breton's Nadja. Section one will set up the week long exploration, serving to the reader as an overview, much like this email is intended to do for you; section two shall be the experience itself, incorporating my daily logs as well as my hourly images; section three, shall be my reflection on the experience. It is here, in this final section of self-reflexivity, that the bulk of my interest lies. In total, the finished piece shall be part autobiography, part diary, part essay, and part memoir.

The idea of revealing the inner workings of my mind makes me both nervous and self-conscience. It will of course be solely up to me, as self-proclaimed editor, exactly how much of my personal thoughts should be included. Ideally, there should be absolutely no editing whatsoever, as making changes would defeat the entire purpose of the project. I will struggle with this. In all, this project could be a very interesting and profound map of self analysis or an incredibly dull and boring, amateur attempt at greatness. It, in a sense, is a project of chance. I will not, however, disregard a boring outcome and label it as a failure. Perhaps boringness is a true testimony of ones day to day routine.

There exists still, details to be worked out and decisions to be made in this personal investigation of self. I feel prepared, however, to make this piece work and to achieve many of the elements that I've described above. That is all...at this point. I apologize for sending this extensive document to your personal address; I, however, feel that I need to get started with this very soon if I am to complete the final piece in time.

Your response/suggestions/critique/disapproval will be accepted and greatly appreciated.

  -Megan

*In addition, I'd like for the finished piece to include a list of sources to inspire readers to dig deeper into some of the topics, for which I intend to address. I have gone through our class text of primary documents and pulled 4-5 documents which I feel may be appropriate.
I intend to venture over to the library in a few moments and search for some additional resources discussing topics of pattern, repetition, self-reflexivity, observation, spontaneity, apres coup, genre, time, monotony of the everyday, and phenomenology. Clearly this is quite a comprehensive range of topics, but if you know off-hand any texts that I may refer to, I'd greatly appreciate the suggestions.*