Many of you may already be familiar with Miranda July, the weirdly wonderful author, performance artist, and filmmaker. Many of you may have already purchased her smart, funny short story collection No One Belongs Here More Than You, and/or seen her lovely and strange film You and Me and Everyone We Know. But! Have you visited her website, Learning to Love You More? It’s a sort of web experiment… a web invitational, if you will… one that asks the general public to take on assignments and then post responses (or, “reports”) to the site.
The project started in 2002, and while the assignments have slowed down (stalled at #63), the reports keep coming. This is perhaps due to the fact that the assignments—which range from “Create an encouraging banner,” to “Reread your favorite book from fifth grade,” to “Photograph a significant outfit”— are compelling in both their simplicity and the unabashed human-ness they celebrate.
Take a look. (And if you’re interested, track the progress of the Olivers, a Seattle family striving to complete all 63 assignments by Labor Day weekend.) Are any of the assignments something you’d be willing to try? Which ones spark your interest most? (And what does that tell you about yourself?) Even if you don’t complete a report, thinking creatively about something you never before considered is always an entry point for learning something new about yourself.
Photo credit: Steve Rhodes on Flickr.
I’m not sure what this is about — do you send assignments to me or do I make up my own?