After getting tired of trash strewn through my front yard and street, I’ve come up with diversions to make picking it up more interesting. For instance, I try to identify where it comes from. The napkins covered in ketchup are usually a clear match for one the local carryouts. That’s easy. Chicken bones are the same. Brown bags? Local liquor store. Broken crack pipe? Empy dime bags? That’s easy to figure out too.
What I find more fun is trying to figure out where the trash further away from the sources comes from. So the brown bags that are a couple of blocks away from the closest liquor store… which store did they come from? Same game with the carryout trash, etc.
Occasionally, I find gems. Like the other day I found a shredded personal ad for “Bustylicious11”. I couldn’t read all of it, unfortunately, but I do know that if you’re reading this, Bustylicious11, that there is someone that is/was interested enough in you to print out your personal ad before leaving it on the streets of Shaw.
I guess the whole reason for doing this is to make cleaning up more interesting and less tiresome. I really have enjoyed it more when I try to match the trash with locations and people around the neighborhood. I guess these are the little games we play to make life more interesting?
I found a name, signature and a social security number among the trash in my yard. Also a dime from 1910. Valuable stuff my friend.
If you find something really interesting I suggest that you send it to Found Magazine http://www.foundmagazine.com
I have found some interesting things in the neighborhood for example: 1) a very angry letter from one jilted lover to another, 2) a heartbreaking letter from a teenaged girl to her mother in prison, 3) an envelope on which there seems to have been evidence of a complex money laundering scheme.
Start collecting because Found Magazine is coming May 25th.
It might be fun to add a ¨Found in Shaw¨ section to the blog where we can put links to pdf files of our finds.
Enjoy your search!
Amy
This is the second “found” mag thing I got. The first I deleted because I considered it SPAM. It is not DC based. Email me if you want to promote your site/magazine/store whatever and let me decide.