letting go of things, collecting stories
item#: 062
materials: plastic
status: taken (2.13.08)
[update 2.18.2008] Here is item #062 on its first adventure.
photo by: Mary Schwalm
“a trip the Reptile/(Amphibian) house at the Philadelphia Zoo. [Mary] decided to give the frog a sense of its roots so it realizes how special its new life is….. ”
This is one lucky frog because its new owner, Mary Schwalm, is a photographer who travels a lot. If I could fit into someone’s pocket, I’d say Mary’s would be a cool one to pick.
item#:078
material: squishy stuff
status: taken (2.13.08)
59, no wait… 62 frogs and one snake.
I imagine it may have felt a little lonely for the snake. He was different, you know. Maybe the snake was in denial the whole time and thought he too was a frog.
item#: 085
material: plastic
date acquired: 2001
status: taken (1.26.08)
I was working for the Department of Residential Education at NYU, living in the East Village. I knew if I moved downtown the commute would be longer, but the apartment would be big, new, and possibly have a nice view. So, I moved to the Financial District. NYU @ the Seaport was an attempt to create solidarity among the staff of four residence halls: the massive Water Street dorm, Cliff Street, 99 John, and The Exchange. It was pretty short lived. A few months later Water was considered one staff, and the smaller staffs of Cliff, John, and Exchange were grouped into another.
This time as a member of NYU @ the Seaport was marked by a lot of frustration, confusion, and a lingering feeling of helplessness that made me bitter. I guess it paid off a bit in the end though. As a result of 9-11, the shifting staff, and the simple fact that I stuck around, I got the chance to reside in quite possibly the most fabulous place I’ll ever live–RENT FREE. When I look back at the two years living at the Seaport, it was great working there. That was reason enough to hang on to the duck. It’s also pretty cute.
I recently passed this on to a woman in Philadelphia who thought it was adorable. I had a moment of hesitation. Second thoughts were shooting through my mind; I didn’t want to let it go. What would she do with it? Was I a making a bad choice for the duck? Abandoning it for no good reason? She wrote me reporting, “[I] took a bath with my rubber ducky last night. LOL I have about 5 different duckies. I’m so silly.” I had some mixed emotions at first to hear this, but resolved that I was happy to know that the Seaport duck will now have friends, be among his kind, instead of collecting dust on my shelf next to a pewter figurine of the peeing sculpture in Brussels.
item #:074
material: wax
status: taken (2.13.08)
The reason this frog candle stuck around is because growing up I wasn’t ever allowed to light candles or incense. My mother was worried I’d forget to blow it out and burn down the house. These days there are candles in like every room of my parents house and they are more forgetful than ever before. It may be time to reinstate the rule.
item#:083
materials: plastic, ink
date acquired: 11/2005
status: taken (2.13.08)
I documented the acquisition of this item on miss koco does korea a couple of years ago:
I went to the store and found a pen, so I bought it. It has a pile of poo on the end where you click it. There is a picture on the body of the pen of the ddong man and a squatty toilet. I found some notebooks, so I bought them too. They have strange scenes of Dongchimee experimenting with poo. It seems that Dongchimee’s side kicks are a creepy looking fly and a bunch of flying laxatives. Who’s job is it to come up with this stuff? Who are you?
Since then I’ve learned quite a lot about the Korean attitude towards ddong and the dongchim phenomenon. It’s still all very strange but I really learned to embrace the whole thing; so much so that when the little brother on one of my students giggled “dongchim” as he poked his three-year-old little finger into the flesh of my tush, I thought it was kinda sweet that he felt so familiar with me and I was really impressed with the fact that I knew what he was talking about.
In this video two girls are hanging out in a bedroom, one gets the ddongchim.
Recently I came across a study on Korean folklore done at UCLA where they archived “ddong chim” stories of young Koreans. Most of them say this was a prank or something you did with people you were really close with, it shows a close relationship. They also talked a lot about how it seems to be perceived by people in America as invasive and totally disgusting.
I also found this really strange but funny game.
[update] The dongchimee pen was taken at the First Person Arts Salon on 2.13.2008
Photo: @2008 Talman Koots All Rights Reserved
I wrote a lot of interesting thoughts with that pen. It was taken by a very talented and inspiring person, so I’m thrilled about what things it may be used to create next. What an exciting future!
item#:084
materials: plastic
date acquired: 1994ish
status: available
item#:082
date acquired: 2007
country of origin: South Korea
status: taken (2.13.08)
I bought this phone charm from a street vendor in Hyehwa. They were set up right next to the rainbow mosaic poop sculptures near the subway station. I never used it on my phone, I thought it was far too large, but I bought it and kept it around because it was so Korea to me. A happy blue poop! How funny is that?!
item#:081
status: available
item#:080
materials: paper
status: available
item#:079
materials: paper
date acquired: 1994
status: taken (2.13.2008)
I studied French in high school for two years and again in college for another two years. My freshman French teacher never remembered my name and would call me either Natalie or Michelle. Ridiculous. My teacher sophomore year looked like a frog, really it was something about her lips. Regardless, I loved studying French. I liked verb conjugation exercises. I loved watching French films. One of the things I adored about DVD technology was the ability to change the language or add subtitles.
I think one of the most disappointing parts of my French education was being misunderstood in Paris. A waiter said to me, “Just speak in English!” I gave up after that.
These study cards represent the hours I spent learning French. I had them around to remind myself that I once knew a lot more French than I do now, and that if I just put forth a bit of effort I could again. I thought that I might pick it up someday, but I haven’t.
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