Alex Steffen's working on a collaborative travelogue about all those present-day places that the future has leaked into:
Bruce Chatwin starts his book, In Patagonia, by describing the piece of dark and hairy dried-out giant sloth hide that sat in his grandmother's cabinet, and how dreams of finding a giant sloth drew him to South America. In Patagonia is not about giant sloths. But the giant sloth pulls him along — sloth-sightings and rumors of sloths drive the book. And in searching for the giant sloth, he finds Patagonia.
Here's what I'm asking: send me your giant sloths. Tell me what in your city (or any city you know well) has the stink of the new on it. What art, what architecture, which community groups, what design innovations fill you with hope, awe you, give you shivers? I have some great leads, enough to convince a publisher to pay me to take this trip, at least. But I need your help.
In a sense, this book may well be the world's first network-supported travelogue. It's an experiment — and you get play. Use the Giant Sloth link to the left. Send me your lead. You can do it anonymously or not. Anyone whose story is actually used in the book will get an author's copy, handsomely personalized, directly out of my little stash. And, of course, you can follow my progress on this crappy little blog.
