Web-based
Why Not Different?

Name Russell
Age 50
Where you grew up Johannesburg, South Africa

I no longer have the object, just vivid memories of it.

When I was 7 or 8 years old, my friends and I used to play cowboys and crooks, and soldiers - we played soldiers far more often (must have had something to do with the movies like Battle of the Bulge), but I cannot recall it ever being that we were fighting a specific enemy. We would dig foxholes and camouflage ourselves. My parents often travel overseas, and more specifically to the USA. During this time period, we would all read the latest comic books (my father used to import all comics and magazines into South Africa from the USA). Mattel manufactured a toy machine gun called a Fury F500 Cap Machine Gun, which was the coolest thing you ever could own. After much begging, smarming, groveling and pleading, my father agreed to buy one for me on his next trip to the USA. Boy oh boy, did that time drag!

The great day eventually arrived!!!!! The gun needed 4 D cell batteries which were housed in the butt, and took special rolls of caps. When fired, it sounded like the real thing, smelled like the real thing and was the envy of the group. You had to be a REALLY special friend in order for me to let you even hold it, let alone fire it! Never really figured out if some of my "friends" were there for the fun or the gun! I recall rather vivedly sleeping with the gun in the bed with me, just in case we suffered a surprise attack during the night!

Name Christine
Age 43
Where you grew up Malibu, CA

Living off the ocean...
The smell of the sea and days in the water...
Picking up shells and enjoying the sunshine...
Everything about it makes me warm inside to
think of that happy time of my life.

Name Lindsay
Age 24
Where you grew up Lake Arrowhead, CA

It is a picture of me, not of an object. It is a picture of me from when I was 4 or 5 years old, an image of a little girl exuding total confidence in herself, not shaken or hindered by fears or doubts, but supported by an unwaivering belief in herself and a feeling that she was special. That is what I cherish most from my childhood--the confidence that I had in myself.

Name Elaine
Age 49
Where you grew up Johannesburg, South Africa

When I was five, I was the only daughter in my family. My Mother made no bones about the fact that having a daughter was one of the best things that had ever happened to her. I always felt pretty, I loved my clothes as my mom hand made all of them, indulged my love of short hair and made me understand that being a female was an honor.

Growing up in this environment, loved and nurtured made me feel very special. On my fifth birthday I was given the doll I am holding in the picture. Her name was Pamela. She had the bluest eyes and the prettiest face. I LOVED her. I could feed her water in a teeny tiny bottle that came with her and she in turn could wet her diaper! (The water had to go somewhere!!) She came packaged in the most beautiful box and there were three diapers to use for changing. She slept with me, bathed with me, played with me all day long and was allowed into my most sacred space which was my life sized Wendy House that my grandfather built me.

As an adult, the photo I forward to you holds a special place in my heart. Haircut day, pretty dress and Pamela in the photo with me. Aaah life was so uncomplicated when I was 5!!

Name Chelsea
Age 22
Where you grew up Lakewood, CA

The town where I grew up "protects it's own". It has a neighborhood watch program where certain residents are on a committee to sort of civilian-wise patrol the neighborhood and beware of suspicious types. Today this sort of xenophobic profiling by committee sort of weirds me out, but when Iwas little, my brothers and I just knew that there was this scary dude, the black stranger, who lurked, and who was a bad mother, and we were really sort of fascinated by him. He definitely played a role in my development, and his sort of retro silhouette made my fantasy world and my real world overlap a little bit more in a way I think is probably healthy for a kid.

Name Mary
Age 42
Where you grew up
My childhood was spent in the Midwest: Dayton, Ohio, Akron, Ohio, and Edwardsville, IL


The objects from my childhood that I wish to write about are 4 Christmas ornaments which no longer exist. Three of them were what, at the time, seemed to me to be giant glass bulbs -- one was silver, one purple and one green. I loved the size and heft of them, and especially loved looking at my distorted reflection in them -- my nose seemed so big and elongated!

My first memory of them was the Christmas that I was three, and I looked forward to getting them out of their box every year. They became "my" ornaments. They were not especially unique in design, but they were unique to our tree in terms of size. For me, the tree was not complete without these giant shiny orbs. The other ornament was far too large for a tree. It was a large brass bell with a music box inside that played "Oh Christmas Tree," and had a red velvet ribbon tied around it. You pulled the pendulum, and the song played. My mother always hung it above the entryway from living room to kitchen the weekend after Thanksgiving, heralding the start of the Christmas season. My brothers and I would clamor around her to be the first to play the bell, but my mother always pulled the pendulum first. Christmas was a truly warm and magical time for my family.

It was a time of secrets and wonders and good things to eat and celebrating with family and friends. It was without a doubt my favorite time of the year. It was the activity, the bustle and warmth of it all, that excited me far more than the presents. The ornaments represented the start of all that for me.

Those ornaments were lost many years ago, after the death of my mother. My mother was truly the center and heart of our family, and it was she who made so much of my childhood magical. It seemed for many years, while she was ill, and then after she died, that all the color and magic of our world was gone. Even the ornaments I so cherished lost their shine and their ability to transport us to a magical moment, and so it seems fitting that the ornaments just disappeared.

Rather than cling to them, hoping for them to somehow bring back what was lost, I am glad now for the memory of them, of the breathless wonder they were able to inspire in me as a child, because it is the memory of that child and her wonder and delight that informs who I am as an adult.

Name Bryan
Age 23
Where you grew up Lackawanna, NY

This is the pin that I got when I graduated from kindergarten. I've always been a sucker for nostalgia (in other words, a packrat), so I kept it. I had it stored away for the longest time in that one drawer that just serves to accumalate stuff, alongside my retired boy scout uniform and various other artifacts of my youth. I had the inclination to rummage through said drawer last Christmas when I went home (that's right, all of my stuff was still where I left it, but that's because I moved into the basement, which wasn't exactly prime real estate in my family). I found this pin, and after a brief chuckle, I attached it to my sweatshirt (my only one, I might add, the one I wear nearly every day). It hasn't come off since (except when I just now had to place it on the scanner bed).

For me, it serves many purposes. My first reaction upon my discovery was one of disbelief. It was unfathomable that I was once that small, young, and cute. Its a constant reminder that time is continually passing, and I'm not getting any younger (or cuter for that matter). It makes me want to give that happy little boy something to keep smiling about. Back then, graduating kindergarten was a big event. Now the goals are a little higher, but the principle's the same. The pin functions on a completely different level due to the fact that its a pin, and not a stagnant photograph. It makes people confront even the changing nature of strangers. We see people every day, but rarely do we account for them as human beings unless we knew them personally. They become obstacles on a crowded sidewalk, extensions of their vehicles when on the road, and catagorized nuisances in various settings (telemarketer, salesman, beggar, politician, etc.), and rarely do we account for the fact that they had the same basic life struggles that we've had. Perhaps not everybody reads that much into it when they see me wearing the pin, but at least it gets a lot of females to touch my breast and comment on how cute I was, and that's why the pin stays.

Name Ann
Age 36
Where you grew up Born: Toledo, Ohio | Raised: Lasalle, MI

This picture was taken at a place called Cedar Point, my favorite childhood place. It is an amusement park in Ohio, located on Lake Erie. As a family we would sail on our 35' boat across the Lake to the park. I have three brothers, so this is a rare picture of me alone....

Name Shaun
Age 23
Where you grew up Johannesburg, South Africa and Worcester, MA After giving this much thought and deliberation, I have decided that the most invaluable thing that I own from my childhood is actually a gift that I was given at the age of 23.

I don't really have many things from my youth because I led a very disjointed and fragmented life. I moved quite a bit, and material objects proved to be fickle and hold very little significance or sentimental/ emotional value to me. My relationship with my sister is possibly the greatest gift I have obtained and earned through right of passage transcending from youth to adulthood.

The attached photograph which was recently given to me is the greatest reminder I have of the guiding spirit that always brings a smile to my face and validates me as a person, friend, and most importantly brother.

Name Liss
Age 24
Where you grew up Stavanger, Norway I remember very clearly the photo album my mother compiled after having picked me up in Korea. I am adopted, and can not remember not being aware of this. The album shows a diversity of touristy images of Korea, as well as the first photos of my mother holding me in the orphanage. This album was for me an integral part of the process of understanding the concept of being adopted, of having another mother somewhere else, of having been uprooted from one side of the planet and replanted on the other. I used to look at it with my parents, and at some point, being different-looking became natural to me. I think this has formed me immensely as a person, waking up every morning thinking I was white pretty much. I have never really tried to conform because in one sense there wasn't a point. However, I have always been very conscious of behaving 'well', of performing over par, to prove myself. I am not yet quite sure how this relates to being different, but I am sure one day I will find that it does. I still have that photo album sitting at home, as a reminder that one day I will want to go back to see the land I was born out of. Name Perry
Age 42
Where you grew up High Point, NC Still life.

I did this painting when i was a sixteen year old high school student. A year or so earlier I had become seriously interested in the idea of becoming a painter. This was sparked by a set of books about great artists my mother had in the house. One fall I read the book about Van Gogh and he instantly replaced all other icons in my life.

The other picture is of me working on the same still life painting in my high school art class(taken by someone who's name time has erased from memory). By force of habit I always stood in the back of the room, as far away from everyone else as I could get. Art class was always chaotic and I found it more productive if I isolated myself from everyone else. This is one of the only pictures of me standing in front of an easle and is very sentimental.

Name Harrell
Age 35
Where you grew up Santa Maria, CA


I've always loved this photo because I look so mystified in it. I actually keep it in my wallet and periodically take a look at it to see if I can identify with the child I used to be. Somehow looking at my child self is grounding for me.

Name David
Age 34
Where you grew up Santa Maria, CA

The seventh grade yearbook. My ex-wife just returned this with a box of my things. I have never really looked at before. There I am on page fifty; it's the only place you'll find me. Look at who's around me there, like there was some special relationships more than our alphabet. One to the left and one down: Marney Overly, my first and only grade school romance. We went out in the 5th grade for three weeks, and then she called it off. Later she reinitiated and we saw each other secretly for another three weeks. Directly below me: Tammy Partner. I didn't even know she was alive at this point; in high school she became my sisters best friend, and then she got pregnant with Greg Myers who was my best friend up to the 5th grade, before we got in a fight and he tried to kill me with a kitchen knife. I guess now I am glad he did because my life might have been dramatically different otherwise. I recognize everyone in this book, and this seems remarkable.  So I was suffering here. I think this was the last time I bought a yearbook, or even showed up for a photograph. I would be No Photo Available after that. And none of these kids were my friends at this point. But some how I still remember all of their faces and more than that, how they held their bodies, how they walked. Most remarkable of all is that they don't look like kids to me. My memories of them are fused with each of their places in the social order--as archetypes. I'll tell you one thing though, I can see now that it was really my own doing the suffering. These really were just kids.

Name Stacey
Age 31
Where you grew up New Braunfels, USA

Grandma’s swimming pool in the summertime.
Warm summer breezes at twilight.
Caterpillars and fence posts.
Curiosity!

Name Daniel
Age 27
Where you grew up Pittsfield, MA

My "footie" as it was known, was the softest, most snuggly, powder blue piece of heaven a big fat kid could ever have dreamed of. Put that baby on, zip it up, and you were ready to go. I was the cuddliest thing around. Here, I am pictured with my grandmother as she struggles to keep me aloft. I can remember wearing my footie every day and I think I even had other ones until I about 4 or 5 when they didn't come in sizes big enough to fit me. (Sort of like those damn KangaROOS shoes. Do you remember those? They had these hidden pockets, like a zipper on the side, and you could hide stuff in there. Well, for whatever reason they never made KangaROOS big enough to fit my feet, so I totally missed out on one of the coolest things to come out in the 80s. I am STILL bitter about that.) I have searched high and low for an adult size footie, but I haven't yet found an equivalent. I guess it's one of those feelings you can never really re-create anyway, being all warm and snuggly while your grandmother whispers in your ear how much she loves you.

Name Neal
Age 27
Where you grew up Greenfield, MA

Ok, well my object isn't really a picture of mine. It is an image that I downloaded after much searching. Some of my fondest memories of childhood revolve around activities involving my parents as are many for most people...unless of course your parents were abusive or involved in that weird shit you see on Springer. So first I will describe the object. The object is a "Play Tunnel" and was very popular in the late seventies and early eighties. It is made of a series of steel rings for support and covered in thin plastic. Kids stetch them out and make tunnels for forts and whatnot. My father was a work-aholic so when he played with us in the yard, it was like crack-high exciting. One of the things he would do (That no other sane parent would do) is take our play tunnel seen in this picture, and put around him and stand up. He looked like a giant worm monster. He would run around the yard with it pulled all of the way up over his head and growl. My brother, and I would run around him daring to be caught by the worm monster. We would eventually get close enough to be caught at which time my father would bend over me or my brother encompassing us in the tunnel and appearing to be eaten by the monster. He would pick us up and lower us back down to the ground inside the tunnel and we would pop out of the bottom and run around again. This provided us with hours of entertainment.

Name Max
Age 21
Where you grew up Taipei, Taiwan

Eating chicken nuggets + having my favorite girl in the class sitting next to me = smoking

Name Carla
Age 45
Where you grew up Rancho Santa Fe, CA
Where you live now Encinitas, CA [I no longer have a 'country"]

I love this picture because I remember the feeling of knowing what I am doing. That day we were looking for shells in the mudflats of Sanabell Island. I am covered with mud because i was digging for angel wings & clams. When ever I am out in the tidepools (or covered with mud) i get this sense of being so present and so connected with life and nature and the planet, it is wonderful. That is why I live by the beach and also why I am into gardening (remember the mud). I know I don't look very confident or uplifted, there were other things going on that day. Yet while i was out there in the mud finding angel wings, the other stuff just really didn't matter.

Name Meg
Age 25
Where you grew up Rochester, NY
Where you live now San Francisco, CA


I like to dance, although I am not a dancer. I have found a medium I can dance within, which does allow me to move and be moved. Love consumes me, yet I still find myself tangled in trying to find one. Love is a feeling not an exact number. My destiny is love, my art is that particular love. I will keep on dancing my own dance for now.

Name Jessica
Age 24
Where you grew up Columbus, OH
Where you live now Columbus, OH


What i remember most is the smell of tennis courts. My one true love in life was tennis. I was going to become professional and then in high school Igave it up because i got fed up. Because I let some woman's poor call cast my fate with my one true love. I know I let my parents down, they saw my potential. I watch tennis now and wonder where I'd be if I hadn't given up. That's the only reason why I would want to rewind time. On the courts was where I felt safe and important. I dont' know where that is anymore.

Name Shawn
Age 31
Where you grew up Worcester, MA
Where you live now Worcester, MA

This is a picture of the first kind of vehicle I ever had. It was my father's 1986 Jeep Comanche pickup truck. He gave it to me when I got my driver's license at age 16. With the keys, I had freedom. This silly little underpowered truck was with me through my most wonderful, awkward and turbulent years. I have so many memories of friends and experiences that involved that pickup, it makes me wish I could go back in time and visit that young 16 year old kid and have a Fribble with him.