Snatching up a neatly folded piece of notebook paper flittering at your feet or plucking a crumpled piece filled with chicken scratch from the pocket of an airline seat could lead to the discovery of a hidden world, a look into another person's secret life. Share it with the world! Davy Rothbart, the self-proclaimed "point guard" of Found Magazine, takes great pleasure in gathering found objects from around the country and publishing his collection.
The magazine is filled with discarded love notes, misplaced grocery lists, trashed "to do" reminders, and mislaid doodles and photographs. Of what possible interest could this seeming trash be? Of intense interest, if viewed by the amateur voyeur. These found objects are relics of people's lives, their experiences both significant and insignificant, humorous and frightening, romantic and angry, straightforward and cryptic.
At www.foundmagazine.com you can get a taste of these weird and wonderful finds. Many are amusing. Written in capital block letters, one note reads, "PLEASE PLEASE STOP POOPING HERE. WE LIVE HERE. THE RIVER IS 2 BLOCKS AWAY!" Or, the following note that reveals Yoda's serious issues with addicts: "Don't give drug addicts methadone. Give them morphine. Put them asleep for good. BASTARDS THEY ARE." Some, while chuckle-inspiring, seem earnest. An "action list" includes steps like "get things out of pawn shop," "build boat," and "get off heroin."
Some are disturbing, like the child's drawing titled "If You Tell Lies." Above a picture of Michael Jackson (seemingly unzipped) knocking on the door to a child's room, the caption reads, "If you tell lies, people won't believe you when you tell the truth."
Other are sweet. Jonathan, a grateful young man in desperate need of guidance in the romance department, begs in a post script to a love note to his new girlfriend, "I haven't had a lot of girlfriends yet but just teach me what to do and what not to do! Please!"
The four editions of Found Magazine, as well as the three editions of Dirty Found (yes, naked pictures and nasty notes) can be purchased online or at Lakeshore Record Exchange on Park Avenue. Take a peek inside the lives and minds of complete strangers.




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