Found

Found

My friend Jaime took me to the Alamo Drafthouse downtown to see Davy Rothbart, the driving force behind Found Magazine. It was a great show. Davy read some of his favorite stuff from the magazines and the new book. His brother, sang a bunch of songs inspired from stuff found. Then, folks from Austin were invited to share their special finds.

I was so pleased to discover this scene. It seems to me to be like verbal snap-shot photography in the style of the late Cartier-Bresson, in that the found letters, notes and postcards capture and share moments that are, paradoxically, both particular and general. And much like the photographer, practitioners find themselves constantly on the lookout for interesting stuff and in this way participate more fully in the life and time that surrounds them.

Also, I think about what a great service to historians and social scientists that Found Magazine and its contributors are making. They are collecting and preserving an important, insightful and otherwise neglected elements of the human record. I mean, how invaluable would be if archeologists found a record of a spontaneous and casual converstation between two 12 year olds in ancient Babylon!