Several years ago, I asked friends, family and strangers to send me a picture for my birthday. It could be of anything they wanted, provided they tell me a little bit about the picture. I got a photo of a flock of running Wonder Women, a picture of my friend in a junior high letter sweater, the first snowfall another friend had experienced, a smiling Dalmatian, a metal nun, the hand of a great grandmother resting on the head of her newborn great grandson, etc. When I first asked for photos for my birthday , I specifically asked for a hard copy because I loved (and still love) getting mail, but this time, I'd like to make my birthday request entirely digital.
My birthday is on Saturday and it's a big one. Please send me a picture. ANY picture. Tell me a little about that picture and a smidgen about why you decided to send me that particular picture. The picture doesn't have to have anything to do with me, it just has to be something that matters to you in some wonderful/weird/fun/silly/monumental/inconsequential/inspiring/dull/unique/mundane way. In other words, Dealer's Choice. And the description doesn't have to be long. Or complete. Or coherent. Or anything at all.
Stymied on what to send me? I'll give an example of what I'd send you, had you made a similar request: a picture of the Denny's sign in Evansville, IN. I'd tell you about how I used to hang out either there or at a nearby restaurant with my friends in college. About how we wound up exclusively patronizing Denny's because the other nearby restaurant was partially destroyed when a plane landed on/in it. About the corner booth where friendships were cemented over the Sleepwalker Special and of the origin of the phrase "A lot of Binaca and no ego."
Send your pictures to birthdaypicturesforamy@gmail.com. Let me know in your email if it's OK for me to share your picture on this blog.
Another favor: send this request to your friends, too! I want to see what people I don't even know will send me. This is a long standing anthropological art project that I am deeply inspired by. I am so looking forward to seeing what comes my way this year!
All of this being said, don't send me pictures you wouldn't show your mother/grandma/thesis committee/boss/priest/guru/sister. Be classy.
Send me pictures, you lovely weirdos! And share my request, please, if you are so inclined.
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