Shreds of humanity can be found in everything we touch. We leave behind traces of our essence in discarded personal belongings: notes, photographs, ticket stubs and other scraps. Found Magazine creator Davy Rothbart has amassed a towering collection of this memorabilia, either lost or trashed by the owners, and he has also created a way to package it — all in the pages of one publication.
The concept is simple. Rothbart and his friends in Ann Arbor, Mich., open piles of envelopes containing found objects that readers mail to Rothbart. They choose their favorites, and Rothbart slaps them onto plain paper and sends the pages off to a printer in Canada. The result is a homemade-looking creation exuding a patchwork of human emotions — everything from laughter to sorrow. Rothbart said the publication has a voyeuristic feel that evokes powerful reactions from readers.
“It’s natural to be curious about what other people’s experience being human is like,” Rothbart said. “It’s a real rush to see that we’re not all so different.”
Rothbart said he has always enjoyed collecting random items, but the idea for Found came from a misguided note left on his car in 1999. The letter-writer, “Amber,” apparently mistook Rothbart’s Toyota Camry for the one her boyfriend owned. “You said you had to work then whys your car HERE at HER place??” the note demanded, ending in a scrawled “I fucking hate you. P.S. page me later.” Rothbart said he was amazed at the letter’s ability to convey both disgust and tenderness. Two years ago, he included the note in the first issue of Found. He sold 800 copies of the first magazine — and even more of the second — and is now working on a third, which will appear in the fall.
Rothbart encourages readers to send him anything they find, along with a note naming the “work of art” and explaining how it was discovered.
“It’s neat to feel connected to someone you’ll never meet but you just cross paths by picking a note up off the ground,”
Rothbart said.
These days, readers send Rothbart more than just notes. Recently, he received a dead frog from a finder in Chicago. Rothbart included the animal, flattened and covered with lint, in Found’s second edition. The frog is still lurking somewhere in one of the many boxes crowding Rothbart’s home.
“It was pretty gross,” he said. “It still sends a little chill up my spine. I have no idea where that thing is now.”
Rothbart doesn’t want to open anymore dead animals, but he said he hopes people will continue to send him their discoveries.
“For people to really respond, it feels good,” he said. “It was a sort of stunning, overwhelming and unpredictable, but I feel like it’s worth honoring. I’m learning that it does seem to really affect and touch people in ways I would have never seen or imagined.”
Rothbart plans to publish a Found book in the near future, and he has just finished writing a collection of short stories, titled “The Lone Surfer of Montana, Kansas.” Rothbart is on tour promoting Found and “The Lone Surfer” this month, and he will stop in Eugene at Sam Bond’s Garage at 9 p.m. on June 12. Rothbart will travel with musician and brother Peter, as well as Virginia folk darling Devon Sproule, both of whom will perform at the show.
Visit www.foundmagazine.com for more information, and send your finds to Found Magazine, 3455 Charing Cross Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48108-1911.
Contact the Pulse editor
at jacquelynlewis@dailyemerald.com.
