Stories from the Ouachita Memory Project (aka “The Memory Project” or “Ouachita Memoir Freewrite”) organized by Chad Pollock in 2005:

I was showering this morn., thinking about writing, memory, riendship, male-bonds, philosophy, god, all those things that float around my brain and make me such a precocious SOB, and I had an idea. I’m calling it the “Ouachita Memory Project,” though I’m open to better ideas for a name. Here’s the idea:

We are, all of us, I do believe, inclined toward the written word. What if we spent one week writing down stories, memories, philosophy, poetry, whatever the hell comes into our little brains about that strange (and marvelous) period of our life that is OBU? I’m saying OBU because that was a focal point and the place where most of us met and congregated, but our story seems to extend beyond mere place.

The rules could go like this:

1. We pick a week in which to write. I’m thinking the first week in March because this would give us a few weeks to stew on things. We could sketch things out and outline ideas, but no actual writing till that week.
2. We commit to write fearlessly for at least 30mins a day during that seven day period. The form, theme, subject matter is up to each of us, so long as it relates to the tumult of our early 20’s (I know I’m presuming that it was tumultuous, perhaps you perceive it differently). No editing need be done during the seven day stretch. The important thing is to let the thoughts flow.
3. We collect these vignettes (or whatever type o’ writing is produced), possibly do a bit of editing, collate and post them on the web. I have a bit of webspace where we could do so, and I would volunteer to do the HTML markup, unless someone else would prefer to do so.

What do you think?

Am I a loon?

Of course, I am a loon, but is it a good loon-acy?

Are loons really lunatics?

I’ve written all of you, because you are all part of my own story. The circle is broader than us, I know. So, if you think of someone else whom you would like to include in the project, feel free to invite them.

If you have something you would like to contribute to the OMF, drop us a line via the contact page.