Brandon1324

http://i.imgur.com/ItRknuP.jpg

This is a question I get often and never feel confident in my answer. There is such a wide range of stories that come in. However, there is one (well, two from the same person actually) that stand out to me. I got this first entry very early in the project. I was collecting outside of a coffee shop in Ann-Arbor, Michigan when this sort of punk-rock looking girl walked by looking pretty upset. She did a double take at my sign, asked what I was doing, and just a few words into my explanation she grabbed a pen and started writing. She wrote this and walked off.

http://i.imgur.com/sfDVrbY.jpg

Months later I ended up befriending one of the baristas at this coffee shop. We I'd bring in stories that I got that day and we'd read them—it was good times. Eventually she said "Hey, can I write you a follow up story?" I said "You wrote a story before?" I didn't recognize her at all. Turns out is was that girl. Then she wrote this follow up.

Note: This is when I used to collect in blank notebooks and people would write one after the other. The entry I'm referring to is the one that starts with "So a few months ago"

http://i.imgur.com/wrtleSk.jpg edit: Uploaded a larger & easier to read image

There's a ton of stories on different topics that have stood out to me, but this one often comes to mind when someone asks that question.

Some, but it's INCREDIBLY rare. Every now and then I get people that don't understand what I'm doing and have no interest in listening. Here's a few that come to mind:

• There was a couple that stopped by. The girl was interested, the guy had no interest. She wrote a story while he pouted with his back turned to the table. They went across the street when she was done and I could see them arguing for about 3 minutes. Eventually he walked over by himself and wrote this: http://i.imgur.com/aekmupi.jpg

• Very similar to the last story, but another couple stopped, the guy has no interest in listening. After I had explained the project to the lady, he chimed in with "Hey man, just so you know, no one is going to participate in your little 'project,'" which was silly because there was several hundred stories sitting on the table in front of him and I had just explained to her how these were a few hundred of the 2000 (that I had at the time) stories in the collection. She wanted to write but he grabbed her arm and pulled her off and I never saw them again.

• I get a fair number of people that say "You're just trying to sell other peoples stories!" They usually walk off before I can respond, but if I get a chance to tell them you can read all the stories on the site for free, they usually have nothing else to say.

• A couple weeks ago I met a fellow reddior who asked what i was doing. I tried to explain and he just said "I'm on the front page of reddit all the time. I'd share but you're probably just trying to steal my karma!" and ran off. AMA Request that guy.

It's pretty funny... I'd say it's about 70/30 female to male ratio when I'm collecting alone, and closer to 50/50 when I have a female friend collecting with me.

That's me! Hello!

I stay out anywhere from 4-10 hours depending on the weather. I get to meet literally hundreds of people every time and the interactions are amazing. All ages and walks of life stop by and talk and ask questions. It's by far my favorite thing to do. On a slow day I'll get about 20 stories, on a good one I'll get around 150.

Washington Square Park is my favorite spot to collect and I'm there all the time. You should say hi sometime! I'm putting this card in my story-bin... I'll have it if you ever stop by!

http://i.imgur.com/PHSIf9D.jpg