"Letters from your Past" does this work?

[OscarElGrunon]

Hi Eplaya

I'd like your input or feedback on our idea. My friends and I are planning to come down for the 2017 event and we're deciding what we want to contribute. We're not really artists but we do have a few ideas. We are flying in and renting vehicles, so that imposes logistical constraints.

We want to set up a station for writing old-timey paper letters that will be mailed in one year. People come and they can write a letter to themselves (or a loved one) that will be mailed before next year's event. We will supply paper, pens, a stamp, envelope, and even a wax seal, along with a place to sit and contemplate what you want to tell your future self. In the letter you can write about what kind of person you want to be in a year, or you can capture your thoughts of your burning man experience for later exposure, or you can write about a challenge that you may face in the future.

One year later, you'll get the fun of anticipating a letter in the mail. You'll get the fun of opening and unfolding and reading it. You may feel regret at things you didn't accomplish or pride at ways your life changed that you never expected. I imagine that people at BM go through a lot of emotion and experience ambition of how they might change, and this letter will remind them of those thoughts one year later.

So eplaya, does this idea work? Is there another camp at BM who does this type of thing already? I'm pretty sure at least some people will be interested. What should I know about running a camp activity? Any advice?

[Elliot]

Hi, Oscar!
We did this in 2015, and we stole the concept from an other camp who did it before. Regrettably, I do not remember the name of the other camp.

["Stole".... Well, nothing wrong with putting a good idea to further use, of course. But I wish I could give them due credit.]

We called it Letter To Your Future Self (if memory serves). And we would mail them in six months.

It was a sideline to our main gig, but we still had 50 letters to mail. So in March I did. Many of the addresses were incomplete, or illegible, or both. So for starters, I put all the letters in "outer" envelopes with printed addresses.

And thanks to the all-knowing interweb, all 50 found their way to their recipients.

A handful came back as undeliverable. (Of course, all 50 letters went out with a prominent and clear return address.) I researched those further. In two or three cases I found the writer/recipient on Facebook or elsewhere and communicated with them. And on the second or third try, no letter came back.

So it took a bit of time, but it was great fun playing detective.

Primary online tools for researching addresses were these two:

The USPS, who has EVERY DELIVERABLE ADDRESS IN THE USofA in a searchable database. Type in the address, and the site will immediately tell you if it does not exist, and perhaps even suggest what the correct address might be.

And Google StreetView, where in many cases I was able to zoom in and make out house numbers.

In addition, I searched for people on Facebutt, and so on and so forth.

Quite a few letters went out of the country -- Italy and Australia come to mind among them.

The only disappointment was that I received no feedback from recipients. But that was probably an unrealistic expectation.

By all means, do it.
You may want to emphasize completeness, accuracy, and legibility of names and addresses.

[PocoJoe]

Funny, we are doing something similar, but instead of Letters from the Past, we think of it as Letters to the Future!

We are taking a different approach, creating an art installation called "Devoted" where a participant can send an email to their future selves, after interacting with other burners.

Devoted 2017 Installation Home Page

It is a place to discuss the ritual of voting, and to reflect if voting is still meaningful. A lot of tech leaders come to Burning Man. Do we have a responsibility to lead, or are elections just another chance for click-based revenue?

We will have genuine "hanging chad" voting booths from the 2000 Florida election where you can compose an email to be sent in a year to your self, and other burners, just before the coming 2008 midterm elections.

Participants will also be able to read and compose real and fake news and read them on their mobile devices using a local wifi hotspot.

Please look us up! Good luck with your project.

Joe

[DoctorIknow]

No matter that it's been done, it is a great project that will for sure engage a number of people.

Perhaps offer some handmade paper, real fountain pens, and NOS (new old stock) US stamps, as licking 10 stamps to equal the USPS rates of 2017 is super fun, and you can buy bags of these old stamps at much less than their face value.