Rob Walker's Blog, page 44

Volume 2 update and recent reactions elsewhere

Significant

Just a quick note to observe the completion of the first auction of Significant Objects Volume 2, which actually happened on Tuesday: The Rabbit Candle + Story by Neil LaBute, went for $112.50 (original price $3). An auspicious beginning! Please keep the bids coming and keep helping us spread the word. As you know, proceeds from the 50-object Volume Two will be gathered up into a lump sum and given to 826 National. We want an impressive lump sum!

Get a Significant Object story by...

Chrome Turtle

Object No. 7 of 50

[Bid on this Significant Object, with story by Bob Powers, here. Significant Objects will donate the proceeds of this auction to 826 National.]

I bought this chrome turtle from the first girl I ever loved, five years after I'd stopped. She was having a yard sale. I didn't know it was her yard. I just caught a glimpse from across the street and saw there were sweaters, so I decided to check it out.

The clothes were all women's. I would have kept walking, except I knew I'd seen ...

Jar of Flowers

Object No. 6 of 50

[Bid on this Significant Object, with story by Sarah Manguso, here. Significant Objects will donate the proceeds of this auction to 826 National.]

When the old lady died, my brothers and I were told to take away everything that was left.

The knickknack shelf was dusty. The porcelain things were gone, and so was the tiny violin. There were some pastel-glazed animals, a jar of flowers, a clay thimble, and other things of no value. I looked at the little paper man, his paper...

Friday Mug

Object No. 5 of 50

[Bid on this Significant Object, with story by Dan Reines, here. Significant Objects will donate the proceeds of this auction to 826 National.]

I think it was Ted Spain's to start with, though I'm not sure. He used to take it to meetings, and on Fridays before the all-staff I'd see him filling it with gin from a bottle he kept in his second drawer.

No, serious! He knew I knew, too — he looked up once and I was staring at him like you're looking at me, and he just sort of, you ...

Scottish Doll six-word story contest: we have a winner!

Last month, I said that if enough of you wrote a six-word story about the Scottish Doll, an object purchased for Significant Objects but then thrown into the garbage, I'd pick a winner and issue a prize. Forty-odd stories later, we have a winner.

In the end, there was one obvious winner, in my judgment: Diane Kimbrell. Here's her story:

A Highland "Fling" into the garbage!

Diane wins a Significant Objects Mug mug. Congratulations to Diane, and thanks to everyone who entered the contest. Let's...

Our Top 25 Objects

According to our highly scientific Adjusted Sales Rank table, the following objects were the 25 most significant of our experiment. Let's consider these significant objects visually — i.e., without mentioning which authors wrote which stories, and without reference to the stories. What do you see here, readers? Is there something inherently more significant about these objects than the other 75?

1. Russian figure

***

2. Indian Maiden

***

3. Wooden Animal

***

4. "Hawk" Ashtray

***

5. Pink...

Massager

Object No. 4 of 50

[Bid on this Significant Object, with story by Amy Fusselman, here. Significant Objects will donate the proceeds of this auction to 826 National.]

11/21

Hey Snit —

Guess what I found, the tiny carpet of wooden balls!

It was in her linen closet, wrapped in a couple of those tea towels with the bluebirds on them.

You remember this, right?  When she was trying to improve our "perceptions"? And we stood on the floor in the kitchen and held carrot sticks in our hands and told her...

Hammer Bottle Opener

[Bid on this Significant Object, with story by Alexander Chapman, here. Significant Objects will donate the proceeds of this auction to 826 National.]

So Mel liked to call himself "The Hammer." It was sobriquet few used except Fran who worked at the Texaco. Every other Friday night, after a few shots of Mel's plastic bottle scotch and a joint she herself sold on the side to a few customers not named Mel, Fran would holler "Hammer me!" while Mel was on top of her. Mel took his name from a...

Plastic Communion Cross

[Bid on this Significant Object, with story by Mark Binelli, here.  Significant Objects will donate the proceeds of this auction to 826 National.]

Shortly after I made my First Communion, my cousin Rodney showed up at my mom's. He'd also just made his First Communion, though at a different church. It was so recent, I still had this plastic First Communion cross, a gift from my great-aunt, propped on my bookshelf. My mom always disliked my aunt, and had commented in some oblique way on the...

Volume 2 (plus, a special offer on our first new story, from Neil LaBute)

As you can see, we've launched Significant Objects, Volume 2. We plan to publish 50 stories, and auction off 50 objects, with proceeds at the end going in what we hope is an impressive lump sum to 826  National, a nonprofit that tutors students age 6-18 in creative and expository writing. Bid early and often to support this excellent cause!

We're signing up contributors and editing stories — so stay tuned for Significant Objects from Bob Powers, Amy Fusselman, Debbie Millman, Douglas Wolk...