Contents (from left to right, top to bottom):
- Omamori charm of Sakuna from Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin
- Katamari face mask from my sister
- Christmas cats pop-up gift box also from my sister
- Folded-up letter of acceptance to FAU’s MFA in Creative Writing program
- Schedule of orientation for FAU’s new graduate students
- Postcard from a hypothetical trip to Venice (friend did not actually go to Venice during the pandemic)
- Unsettling Furby pin from my sister that says “I SEE YOU”
- Business card from FAU’s University Center for Excellence in Writing, where I currently work
- Plastic train ticket to Hogwarts and Ravenclaw coin as party favors from party I did not attend
- A small book arts project I put together in my nonfiction class, featuring parts of a lyric essay I wrote
Other contents not pictured:
- Actual jar
- Big empty space within jar (to show off all the lost potential for memory-making during the pandemic)
- Our vaccination cards (we need this handy always now, so they can’t remain in one place)
P.S.
I think the memory jar project is going on an indefinite hiatus. Maybe I’ll bring it back in some form eventually. I would like to, however, keep a more regular journal of my life because of how it helps me both remember (I’m remembering much less now) and cohere the chaos (a bit, anyway). But, most importantly: it brings me joy to do all this. It’s silly how often I forget this.
We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospection.
Anaïs Nin