So I just had an idea.
I spent 3-4hours a day commuting via public transit on the Pace Bus, Metra Rail Train, and CTA Bus. I sit next to new people, wait for busses by the same group of people, sometimes see familiar faces, and other times sit in a train car of others I've never crossed paths with before.
Wouldn't it be interesting to know their stories?
Not their whole life's drama or tale, but just to introduce myself, and ask each person I sit to on the train, or stand by at the bus stop the same short series of questions.
I could call it the friendliness project. Or the 3 minute story. I don't want to bother people, but I think it could be a very enriching experience for everyone involved. After a month of riding 3 forms of public transit, I think of how many people I could have met, and how we all share at least the common bond of being a commuter.
I could even stretch this into my time spent in the elevator in the office, or while waiting for jobs at the color printer. I know some people are going to find it strange, but I hope that most of them will be pleasantly surprised, and go on about the rest of their day just a bit happier.
Its always nice when people take an interest in you as a person, so hopefully this project could help ease the isolated commuter life of iPods, iPads, laptops, books, and newspapers.
But before I embark on this endeavor, I'd love for some feedback. My plan would be to write a short entry for each day I meet people, and share some neat things about them, as well as their general receptiveness to me starting up a conversation with them.
I think this could be fun! What do you think?
~Jenna
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I often thought about doing something similar when I was a student and used public transport. Sounds like a cool idea. I would say keep the interview to 2-3 questions, and as you said, ask the same 2-3 questions every time. You'd probably need a voice recorder or something (unless have a fantastic memory) but I know that some Ipods have voice recording technology on them, so if you have one of those then you would be set. Good luck! PS, I stumbled on to your blog after hitting the "next blog" function a bunch of times.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea, although I'd guess you'd probably get about 50% weird looks/ignore, 30% one word answers, and 20% genuinely interested. Better than nothing though.
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