let me stargaze a little while

Assignment #9: Draw a constellation from someone's freckles.

Connect a series of freckles, moles and/or birthmarks on someone's body using a ball point pen. The shape that is formed can be abstract or representational. Draw this on someone else, not yourself.

i read this in two hours without stopping

Assignment #45: Reread your favorite book from fifth grade.

Find a copy of your favorite book from when you were in the fifth grade. If you can't locate the original copy try to find one that is from the same era. Reread the book. Scan or take a picture of the cover and send that to us. Please make sure that we can see everything on the book cover very clearly, and don't crop anything out.

"An absolutely clean child gives off the most ghastly stench to a witch," my grandmother said. "The dirtier you are, the less you smell."

"But that doesn't make sense, Grandmamma."
"Oh yes it does," my grandmother said. "It isn't the dirt that the witch is smelling. It is you. The smell that drives a witch mad actually comes right out of your own skin. It comes oozing out of your skin in waves, and those waves, stink-waves the witches call them, go floating through the air and hit the witch right smack in her nostrils. they send her reeling."
"Now wait a minute, Grandmamma..."
"Don't interrupt," she said. "The point is this. When you haven't washed for a week and your skin is all covered over with dirt, then quite obviously the stink-waves cannot come oozing out nearly so strongly."
"I shall never have a bath again," I said.

we're not very good at this

so, we've been bad. our summer project has become a rather dismal read. but! it's not because we haven't been keeping up with it, but rather because we both have been just too darn busy. the two of us have been working like dogs: talisa has been waitressing at a mexican restaurant almost non-stop (sometimes she smells like guacamole) and i've been swept up into the publishing world (sometimes all i talk about are the book proposals i've read). 

we have also been doing fun stuff, like exploring new neighborhoods, decorating our new(ish) apartment and helping others decorate theirs, watching movies (both outdoor and indoor!), cooking, frequenting beer gardens and/or irish pubs, and drunkenly making out with people who have ridiculous names (usually in that order). 

one excursion in particular, though, we felt we had to specifically mention: on our way to coney island, a woman with bongos got into our subway car and, after mild encouragement, began to play them. talisa and i, along with our fellow car riders, began to connect with her rhythm, and soon people were -- unprovoked -- banging on the side of the car, stomping their feet, and yelling in time with her playing. the music, eventually accompanied by dancing, escalated and continued for at least seven stops. 

spontaneous dancing and music is, unfortunately, not one of the LTLYM assignments, but we felt it was a moment worthy of recognition here. so, here is the video we shot -- consider it our apology for our lacking posts. keep reading, guys, because we've got a lot more coming. we swear. 

some people are better at this than we are

our first contribution!

Assignment # 11: Photograph a scar and write about it. Photograph a scar on your body or on someone else's body. Make it a close-up shot so that it shows just the scar. Include a story (write it on a computer as a separate file, don't write it on the photograph) about how the scar happened. Please do not send images of wounds that are fresh and have not healed. Only images of scars will be accepted.

One night in high school Emily and I went skateboarding in the UCI parking lot that is near In-N-Out. It was either junior or senior year because that is when I was friends with Emily in high school. She was guiding me in skateboard basics with a you'll-be-fine attitude. During one of my standing attempts at skateboarding, as opposed to the usual sitting/laying and getting pushed, I ate some shit. The open wound originally had some gravel in it and lasted a while probably because I don't long-term tend to wounds. In combination with other accidents, this one helped me irrationally conclude years later that my body doesn't take well to non-repetitive and calculated movements.

Contributor: Jennifer

now with interactive features

this project makes us happy. but we want it to make you happy, too. that's why we'd love for you to complete an assignment (or two or ten) and e-mail the results to us. we'd be happy to post it and share the love (and learning).

here's the address: claireandtalisa [at] gmail [dot] com

posts to come

Hi All again -- 

We hope more people will be reading this soonishlike, so to entice some return visits, here are some assignments we're in the middle of completing: 

Assignment #30: Take a picture of strangers holding hands. 

Ask two or more people who are strangers to you and to each other to hold hands and then take a picture of them. Take the picture when they aren't smiling. Please make sure the picture includes the faces of the strangers.

Assignment #64: Teach us an exercise.
Teach us an exercise that you do regularly which yields results. Lead us through it, step by step, using a series of photographs, with captions below them. Test it out on a friend to make sure the instructions are accurate. Let us know what time during the day you do it, how many times a week, and how many repetitions. Tell us what the benefits of this exercise are (calming, tones ass, etc.) Let us know if this exercise is related to something you have done, or currently do (ballet, high school basketball warm-up, ashtanga yoga, self-invented, etc.). We are looking for unique exercises that you swear by and are longing to share with the world - exercises done regularly, almost religiously, not just one-time deals.

And here are some assignments we're still chewing on, as we feel they require more thought and purpose. These ones are heavy-hitting, so we hope you check back for them, whenever they are completed: 

Assignment #63: Make an encouraging banner. 

Think of something encouraging you often tell yourself. For example: Everything will be ok. Or: Don't listen to them. Or: It'll blow over. Now make a banner. Hang the banner in a place where you or someone else might need some encouragement, for example, across your bathroom. Or between two trees so that you and your neighbors can receive encouragement from it. Or in a gas station.

Assignment #14: Write your life story in less than a day.
In no less than one hour and no longer than 24 hours write your entire life story starting with your birth and ending with today. Try to get as many details in as possible, that will make it more interesting. Don't feel frustrated by the time limitation, it will make the task less daunting, (besides you have the rest of your life to write a more complete version if you want to) at the same time seriously try to remember everything you can from your life so far.

Love in every color,

Claire and Talisa

scars are souveniers you never lose

Assignment #11: Photograph a scar and write about it.

Photograph a scar on your body or on someone else's body. Make it a close-up shot so that it shows just the scar. Include a story (write it on a computer as a separate file, don't write it on the photograph) about how the scar happened. Please do not send images of wounds that are fresh and have not healed. Only images of scars will be accepted.

When I was in the seventh grade, I weighed 60 pounds. At the time I was doing competitive gymnastics (I trained up to level 8), and I was at the gym up to 25 hours a week, even more in the summer. Gymnastics was something that I ate, breathed, and slept, and at the time that seemed perfectly normal to me. Towards the end of seventh grade, several injuries, culminating in an elbow injury in which I temporarily lost mobility in my arm/elbow, forced me to quit the sport that had become my life. (For anyone who's interested, pieces of the cartilage from my elbow had chipped off and become lodged in the joint, impeding movement--gross, I know). It is a well-known fact that gymnastics usually stunts growth, especially for girls who begin training at a young age. Within less than a year of stopping, my very muscular, very small body gained over three inches in height and thirty pounds, and over the next few years the exponential growth spurt continued. (I'm just barely 5'2'' now, so you can imagine how small I was before). The stretch marks on my body are the result of those changes. Those marks-- tiny white networks that seemed to infiltrate the once soft, firm, adolescent skin of my thighs, legs, and even my knees-- became the outward scars of an inner battle between myself and my body that some days I still fight. Generally, however, the scars no longer bother me; they are a part of me and my past and my present. As for gymnastics-- I still have dreams where I'm flying through the air and I wake up with my palms sweating from the thrill of it.