The Books That Bind Us

This past week I went up to Bennington College to meet with Dorothy Allen, one of the school’s young, energetic administrators. Dorothy graduated last fall. In fact, she delivered the senior speech at her graduation ceremony. But rather than heading off to the many prospects and opportunities awaiting her arrival, Dorothy chose to remain at Bennington and give back to the school by working with its alumni (myself included) to help build the networks that keep our inner and outer communities thriving.

I was meeting with Dorothy to discuss a presentation of Two Blue Wolves for the school’s upcoming All-Class Alumni Reunion in early October. Over 15 members of the Bennington Alumni community contributed to the Two Blue Wolves Digital Collection which revolutionizes the way we experience literature – reinterpreting a story through music, video and art – and presenting it as a complete multi media package.

While we were on the subject of collaboration, Dorothy brought up a project that she’s been working on with a number of other recent grads… In addition to her creative writing pursuits, Dorothy delved into printmaking and bookbinding while she was a student at Bennington. She eventually combined these interests into a series of handmade books using recycled materials. Each of the books were mailed to a friend somewhere in the United States – a closed network of eight to ten individuals, all of whom were asked to add a page to the book, and then mail it to the next person in the chain.

One of Dorothy’s handmade books [click to enlarge]

Sure enough, each of the recipients went right to work, pouring out their creative energy.

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As a result, the books are like snapshots of whatever the contributor was thinking or doing the moment he or she received the book – eating popcorn, contemplating the universe, longing after a distant love… After completing their circuits, the books were mailed back to Dorothy, and are now part of the permanent collection at Bennington College’s Crossett Library.

Crossett Library at Bennington College / Bennington, VT

As a whole, the collection is striking. The books aren’t beautiful per se. They’re wild things. Handled, cobbled together, falling apart – whirling kaleidoscopes of young lives and creative minds. The first thing I thought when I opened one of them was, “This is the beginning of the end for Facebook.”

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Now let me be honest, I’m an avid Facebook contributor myself. I can spend an endless hour sifting through a live feed, and the various links and photos posted by an ever-growing network of “Facebook friends.” But these books – these tangible artifacts of the connections between people – hit on something that I’d lost track of in the infinite uploadable gallery of my digital life. This was a dialogue that you could hold. And one that would remain intact for only so long. I immediately wanted to start collecting sheets of cardboard and putting together a book of my own.

Bennington College students getting their read on.

Back when I was at Bennington (before the days of Facebook… or wind power for that matter), my art, like my life, seemed endlessly intertwined with the lives and art of my fellow Benningtonites. Friends, colleagues, faculty – we were all linked in this rich tangible way – influencing, sharing, reacting, tossing kindling onto the same fire. That was what I saw as I was going through these books – a family wishing to remain connected in some real way as a new, wider world asked them to drift apart, to change, to streamline and digitize. I know what it’s like to feel those pressures. And so do the faces that stare back at me from my long list of online friends. And it makes me wonder, if I were to make a book and send it all around, what would be returned? What notes and artifacts would be shared by these people that I once knew so well – that have gone on to experience successes and failures, births and deaths, and a whole string of epiphanies on what our life’s journey is all about?

And then I asked myself, why am I scared to send a book like that around?

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I think it’s safe to say that we all have a love/hate relationship with our digital world, Facebook included. We worry about offering over our private lives, but then spend hours uploading photos and trolling the profiles of people we haven’t connected with in any real way for years. The fact is, Facebook is safe – in the way that these books aren’t. And I can’t help but feel like there’s a tipping point on its way, when we’ll spend less time curating the window displays of our lives and instead pick up a piece of paper, make our mark, and pass it on.

If you would like to view (as in: pick up, hold, and leaf through) one of Dorthy’s handmade books, visit the Crossett Library at Bennington College and ask the librarian to point you in the right direction. The books are currently stored in a crate on the second floor, opposite the stairs.