52 Projects, An Interview with Jeffrey Yamaguchi

By: SuperNaturale

Jeffrey Yamaguchi is, among many other things, the author of the outstanding new book "52 Projects: Random Acts of Everyday Creativity." When he is not writing, or working on his site 52 Projects, he is an editor here at SuperNaturale. He was kind enough to answer a few questions for us about his new book, his life, and his preference for pie.

So for those unfamiliar with 52 projects can you explain how and why you started it?
52 Projects, the book, is a collection of offbeat, exploratory, artistic projects. There are writing projects, photo projects, mail art projects, one that involves key lime pie, another that encourages experiments to make the perfect margarita. The idea of the book is not for the reader to re-create these projects exactly - because following something to the letter is never fun. There are no step 1, step 2, step 3 instructions, no pictures of finished projects. My hope for the book is that it inspires the impulse to create and share in each person's own, unique way.

I started the 52 Projects project as a simple website; a list of projects. I think why I started it is two-fold one. I have always seen my creative efforts as projects. I wanted to throw a party at midnight and serve waffles - that was a project. I had a birthday party for someone, and I got it in my head to make her a seven layer cake - again, I saw that as a project. Buttons for a zine I used to publish - again, a project. So to create the list of projects I had either done or wanted to do, that is the first part of the why. The second part involves how project-making has helped me navigate the day to day; has helped me get through tough times and deal with the sometimes unbearable weight of just life in general. In particular, and this is something I write about in the book, my jobs have not always been ideal. And I don't mean to sound like a complainer or a whiner, but my point is to say that I have certainly gotten disgruntled and felt miserable. Well, one of the ways I've dealt with this is to make projects - to be creative on my own terms. Making projects really fuels me, inspires me, and the energy it generates seeps into areas that need a jumpstart. So that is also part of the why - to celebrate and show the positive impact that making projects can have on all areas of the day to day. Making projects will impact each person uniquely, of course, but it's guaranteed to be energizing and inspiring.


It’s almost as if doing these projects has a perhaps unintended air of civic duty about them, as if they contribute to society as a whole to make our culture richer. Do you see this?
Let's see. That is some serious weight you are giving to these projects. I think at the core, the projects address each person's own, unique creativity. And the book tries to make the point that being creative and engaging in project-making, of projects both big and small, can have a strong, positive impact on the day to day. Everybody is living a full life, whether they think they are or not, and everybody is being constantly creative, whether they think they are a creative person or not. But the projects in the book sort of force the issue in terms of documenting that full life, or peering into it with a project-makers eye, as well as harnessing all that inherent creativity flowing through each person's life in the form of specific, personal projects. The argument I make in the book is that making projects can be an energizing, inspirational force - one that impacts all aspects of your life. It's something that grows bigger and stronger the more you cycle through the process. A process that inspires not only yourself, but most likely and hopefully others around you.


It seems to me that projects have an innate goodness and generosity about them; they feel like they fulfill a spiritual need. Do you think this is true, and if so, why?
Many of the projects do involve sharing, getting in touch with old friends, making a point of connecting with the important people in your life, and of course just doing things for people you don't know at all. I do believe that there is an underlying theme in the book that emphasizes how making projects with others in mind can have a very positive impact on both you as the project-make, and also on whoever you involve or give your project to. It instills a nice round of goodwill that has a way of making its way beyond just the giver and the receiver of the project. I think that certainly, yes, it can be spiritual, but it can also just be something that puts a smile on someone's face.

There is a chapter in the book on making projects as gifts, and I think that addresses your question best. To make a project for someone and give it to them, or involve them in it, you can really make that person feel special; you can really uplift their spirits. It does not have to be some elaborate painting, or some project that takes years to make - it can be a simple as Project #1, photocopying your old letters from a good friend and them mailing them to that person. And you, as the project-maker, get something out of the deal as well. It's an electric feeling to give a gift, especially if it is a project of your own creation, made special for a particular person; a one of a kind creation for a one of a kind person. It's a way to keep yourself energized and inspired and feeling good about yourself and maintaining a healthy, positive attitude. I was told long ago that if you’re depressed or feeling sorry for yourself, then go out and do something nice for someone else and you will feel better. I prescribe that effort for myself all the time, and more often than not it does the trick and pulls me out of the doldrums.

I feel like your work is akin to those “Learning To Love You More” guys, as if you were the literary version. Do you feel like this is a zeitgeist kind of thing? Are there people out there working who you feel a particular kinship with?
A ways back, a reader of the 52projects.com website told me about the learningtoloveyoumore.com site and I checked it out and just loved it. I emailed Harrell Fletcher, one of the people behind that site, to tell him that and to let him know about my sites. And he contributed a project to the whatsyourproject.com site - a very cool one that made me run out and find Raymond Carver's short story "Cathedral." I also did a couple of the learningtoloveyoumore.com assignments, one of which ended up on “The Next Big Thing radio show” (an argument with my wife, acted out by actors).

Another aside is that Miranda July is one of the people behind the learningtoloveyoumore.com site, and about 8 years ago I saw her do a performance at this small venue in Berkeley, CA, and she was handling all her equipment and selling her tapes during the intermission. I remember her saying something like, “Someday, I'll maybe have some help running these shows,” and boy, she probably does now. She's really made it.

Anyway, the web has really made it easier to see and learn about and connect with other project-makers, writers, photographers, crafters, artists, etc., and I'm really thankful for that. I find it all very inspiring, I really do. I think project-making has always been going on to the degree that it is now and that the zeitgeist is more about project-makers using the web and certain types of online tools like photo-sharing and blogs and message boards to connect and build community. It's been very important to me to be able to see the work of others, to make connections with other project-makers, and to participate in the projects of others.


What is the weirdest feedback you've gotten from 52 projects?
You know, probably my wife's feedback when I was just starting to write the projects; when I really did not yet know how the 52 Projects project overall would evolve. My biggest fan was not a fan of 52 Projects. At all. I write about it in the acknowledgements section of the book.


Have you seen/heard/read anything recently that really inspired you creatively?
Let's see. I was really inspired by a film I just rented on DVD, Fear and Trembling. I popped it in well after midnight, thinking I would just watch a little, but kept on watching because I could not stop watching.

Today I was just at a new store in Park Slope, Rare Device, run by Rena Tom. I was inspired by the store itself and pretty much everything in it. In particular, on the shelf was a new book (The Heart Is Also A Furnace by Magdalen Powers) from Future Tense Books, and I bought it and thought of Kevin Sampsell, who runs Future Tense, and was reminded of how much his work inspires me.

400 Words was also on the shelf, from Katherine Sharpe. It's a collection of writings that are each 400 words contributed by people from all over. Katherine had submitted a project to whatsyourproject.com about her 400 Words project - it inspired me then, and seeing the book (which I have and think is wonderful) on the shelf at the store inspired me.

I was inspired by how good the new Battlestar Galactica series is. I just rented the first set of DVDs a couple weekends ago, and that was pretty much all I did that weekend. Merlin Mann's 43folders.com, the poetry site NoTellMotel.org, all the crafter sites, the photos at yourwaitress.com, a zine I just got in the mail, Issue #9 of The Hungover Gourmet. These things all just inspire me. I never feel at a loss in terms of finding people doing amazing, cool stuff, and their energy and projects really do inspire me.


Now that your book is done what do you think you will be working on next?
I'm always working on projects! Hey, that's what 52 Projects is all about - to always engage in both big and small projects. So I better answer this question right, right? But in terms of longer-term projects I am working on a few books, which is always a little dangerous, because it means none are ever going to get done. But whereas I used to need something to happen from start to finish very fast, I'm allowing for a lengthier time to work on these projects. I did something similar with 52 Projects. I worked on it over time, while at the same time writing a novel. A lesson learned was that 52 Projects definitely went somewhere (both the website and the book), whereas the novel is in a drawer. I think, hope, but hmmm, wherever it is, that's probably where it will stay. So I'm still learning how to work it, but I am always working.


Which do you prefer cake or pie, and why?
If I'm at the office and someone is serving cake - and isn't someone always serving cake because it's always someone's birthday? - I make sure to get there. Even though I hate the small talk that goes on at those office gatherings, I'll suffer through it for a piece of cake. If I'm at a party and there is both a cake and a pie on the table, I'll have small slice of both (and if one is really good, you know, of course I'll go back and have more).

But forced with a choice, I'm going to say pie. I think this goes back to the memories of family gatherings - those home cooked pies laid out after dinner and how good they always tasted. And then there is that image of Agent Cooper, from the Twin Peaks show, always ordering a slice of Cherry Pie. And every time he takes that first bite, his eyes just light up. That always made me want to run out to the local diner and get a cup of coffee and a slice of pie. There's also just the nature of the pie itself - the way it's really difficult to make a good crust, and all the endless fillings, from apple to pumpkin to berry to banana cream. But perhaps most of all it's because everyone has a secret pie recipe, a specialty, something that they have mastered and become known for in their circle of family and friends. Thinking about this has really made me want a damn good slice of pie.

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