Missed Connections: Love, Lost and Found

Last Saturday, the sun was shining for what felt like the first time ever so I shirked all my paperwork, walked to the library, picked up some holds, rolled my pant legs up to my thighs (sorry for unleashing my white/hairy legs on you neighbors) and parked it on a bench for an hour. While I was sitting on the bench I opened up one of my recent library acquisitions, Missed Connections: Love, Lost and Found by Sophie Blackall.

The book is made up of a collection of art inspired by the Missed Connections section of the NYC Craigslist. I first heard about the project on NPR (always a good sign) and it is amazing.

The author (well really compiler/illustrator) introduces her work like this:

"Most of us have experienced a Missed Connection. Untold people a day kick themselves for not being bolder, braver, more spontaneous. Right this second two guys in suits are eying each other as they step around the garbage on Market Street in San Francisco. A delivery man in Hell's Kitchen, New York, is wishing he had paused to hold the door for a dark-skinned woman with a pink scarf. In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, a man and a woman pull up at crossroads. They are inexplicably drawn to each other. They stare through their windshields, and imagine rolling down the window to say hello. They imagine going to a diner up the road for coffee, imagine their first kiss, whether the other prefers the left or right side of the bed. The  lights change and they drive on in different directions." 

" We have only one life and we rush through it. We make choices and follow paths and we don't linger too long at crossroads. Moments of intimacy with strangers are minor detours we rarely explore, but those moments make us feel alive, and human, and part of something greater. They connect use to each other."

I was hooked immediately and read the whole thing on the spot. Upon finishing, I was thrilled to discover her Missed Connections blog so I never have to stop looking at her craigslist-missed-connections-inspired art.

I am in Love.

Also,  I just discovered Sophie Blackall has an Etsy shop!