I think that the presentation went well. I just kind of babbled my way through it. I was so happy to get it done.

But just because I've done the presentation DOESN'T mean that you guys should stop with the chain. Please CONTINUE. I looking forward to hearing from more of you. And tell me what you think of the project.

Stranger danger
-being in contact with someone who you may have had no previous contact with
-giving personal information to a stranger, something that we are strenuously warned against (especially since the development of the internet)
-the subject of strangers+underwear=Danger/Predator
-the idea of the faceless stranger who ends up with this letter and is fondling underwear—the cause of people’s reluctance even if they don’t want to say it (Bee’s quote)




Communication
-“I can’t remember the last time I got something in the mail that wasn’t a bill or a pizza73 add”-quoting myself
-people are detached from the people and the world around them, constantly using electronic means to keep in contact (email, MSN, text msg, etc)---the world becomes more impersonal, colder
-receiving mail gives a person something tangible that they can hold, this was sent to them from another person--- meeting/interacting with a new person in a new ways, also able to interact with them online at the available lj community if they choose to





Body Image
-the idea of telling people what size of clothing I wear is fairly daunting, especially when it’s about underwear




People/artists who influenced this project
-Cindy Baker with her work with Fashion Plate-body image
-“Social Acupuncture”-Darren O’Donnel—projects like Spin the Bottle, Back of the Bus, The Talking Creature
-postsecret.com—Frank Warren—sharing something personally with someone else fairly anonymously

Here it is....



Hey,

Have you posted to the lj community
(http://community.livejournal.com/underwear_chain/)? Why or why not? I have when I can. I don’t really know what to say for the most part. I responded to what I felt I could. Some of the posts seemed geared towards someone besides me. I don’t know how to explain it but I picked that up somehow.

Have you passed on the letters? It took me awhile but I passed all the letters on. It took me quite some time because I edited my decisions so that I ‘thought’ everyone would participate.

Did you have difficulty passing on the letters? Why or why not? I went to great lengths to find people that I did not know their friends. I felt really awkward passing the letter on to friends of a friend that I knew would eventually be buying me underwear. It definitely affected my decision and I decided I would rather the underwear come from strangers.

At times I felt like I had to exert some peer pressure, did you? I have definitely been exerting peer pressure on everyone I have felt comfortable heckling. There have been reminder e-mails, and updates and verbally following up to make sure that they are at least thinking about the project. I found myself promoting all the good things whenever possible. You could potentially get **36** pairs of underwear! Also bringing up the academic validity and social constructs as motivation. I don’t know how well it worked though unfortunately.

How did you feel when you were asked to write down the size of your
underwear and describe it? Awkward. Really awkward.

Are you eager to get your underwear in the mail? Sometimes, I don’t want to get my hopes up because I think I will be disappointed. I have little faith in my friends passing it on. I really thought they would all do a good job. Boo. It would be really fun if I got some in the mail though. I don’t even know how I would feel when I got them.

Is there anything else you'd like to say about the project? I think it was very brave you to attempt something so bizarre as this. Corinne and I could always reassure each other that our project was actually a project. I can imagine it must have felt really depressing at times because both our projects depended on participation which (I thought) could be predictable. Guess again! Oh well. Good luck with everything and I really appreciated all the time and effort you put in to this, and I tried to reinforce it with my own participation.


Sincerely Jen.

Of course I've posted to the lj community, I'm in charge of it and I'm always checking for new posts by others.

I have passed on all 6 of my letters. It took some time but mostly my friends were just generally ok with the project. I did have to explain the project over a few times, I kind of suck at explaining things clearly).

There were a few people who i thought would participate and who surprised me when they declined. (1 told me she had no one to give it to, another said that she would just end up breaking the chain and another didn't even give me an answer, she just asked about the project then talked about something else and left). I had to exert just a bit of pressure because people weren't always going as fast with the project as I wanted them to be, but most people were fairly eager to do the project.

I felt very self conscious when I wrote down that I was a large. Actually even just talking about this project makes me a bit self conscious, hopefully I'll get through my oral presentation ok.

I am SO eager to get my underwear, I have been checking my mailbox since I handed out the letters and I have been so disappointed everytime i check and there's nothing there.

I think that I've said alot on this page about the project already and I'll be posting more tonight and tomorrow as I prepare for the presentation.

this is another of my friends' replies to my questionnares...


Hello,
Here's my answers to your questions...

1. No I have not posted on the livejournal because I haven't had time to lately due to all of my school projects.

2. No I haven't passed on any letters yet (and I feel really bad about it) becaue I keep forgetting about it till you remind me.

3.na

4. I'm not entirely comfortable telling everyone my size, but at the same time I doubt any one will be suprised so it's not that big of a deal.

5. I don't know if I'd actually wear any underwear sent to me without washing them in hot water about 500 times...it's just kinda creepy.

6. I think that getting it earlier in the term would have made it easier for me to help you out. Also, I think that the number of people each person has to send it to is too many, something like 3 people might work better because in a small group of tight friends there might only be 6 or 7 people and once they get a letter from one person who do they give it to?

Have you posted to the lj community

(http://community.livejournal.com/underwear_chain/)? Why or why not?

Yes I did post. Mainly because the originator of this chain letter asked me to.



Have you passed on the letters? How many?

I tried, but it appears I don’t know the right kind of people. I could only find one person willing to participate…And she’s related to me so I’m pretty sure I guilted her into it…



Did you have difficulty passing on the letters? Why or why not?

Yes I did. The people I asked were uncomfortable with the idea of sending and receiving underwear in the mail. Although I think it was more receiving underwear then the sending it that made them uneasy, they were understandably concerned about the reactions of people around them.



At times I felt like I had to exert some peer pressure, did you?

Yes. That was the only way I could get even the one person to agree to participate.



How did you feel when you were asked to write down the size of your underwear and describe it?

I never actually had to, so this question doesn’t really apply to me…The person I convinced to participate couldn’t find anyone willing to join in either so I never had to divulge this information.



Are you eager to get your underwear in the mail?

N/A See previous answers



Is there anything else you'd like to say about the project?

I think it is an interesting concept, but finding people willing to participate is tough.



Black Yoshi

This is from one of the people that I passed my letters on to. Thank you for answering.



>>Have you passed on the letters? How many? I managed to pass on a whole
>>one letter.
>>
>>Did you have difficulty passing on the letters? Why or why not?
>>At times I felt like I had to exert some peer pressure, did you? I had
>>difficulty passing on the one that I did, and the person I passed it on
>>to assured me that he will not have time to pass on the others. I also,
>>on my part, had difficulty pimarily in taking the initiative to pass on
>>the letters (due to other things that had to take prioity). Finally, I
>>gave up, and asked someone to take it anyway, even he was not going to
>>pass it on.
>>
>>How did you feel when you were asked to write down the size of your
>>underwear and describe it? I felt indifference to it I suppose? My
>>friends are aware of my size, and relatively cognizant of my underwear
>>preferences.
>>
>>Are you eager to get your underwear in the mail? I would be! However, I
>>am rather pessimistic as to whether that will actually happen.
>>
>>Is there anything else you'd like to say about the project? I think
>>it's a very good idea, but one that would have to be done over a longer
>>period of time. Perhaps it would be more effective over the internet?



I think that I am going to present this project as ongoing and as a long term thing.

I sent out this letter to the people that I had passed my letters out to in the hopes of gathering more information on the project.

Hey,
If you were sent this, then I assume that you are participating in my art history project of the underwear chain letter. I just had some questions that I wanted to ask about your feelings on the project. Feel free to expound on your answers or add any information that wasn't asked about. I'm interested in hearing everything you have to say on the project.

Have you posted to the lj community (http://community.livejournal.com/underwear_chain/)? Why or why not?

Have you passed on the letters? How many?

Did you have difficulty passing on the letters? Why or why not?
At times I felt like I had to exert some peer pressure, did you?

How did you feel when you were asked to write down the size of your underwear and describe it?

Are you eager to get your underwear in the mail?

Is there anything else you'd like to say about the project?

Thanks for your time and for participating.

I haven't actually read these letters since I sent them out, but hopefully they're ok.

Here's my introductory letter:

February 21, 2007

Hi Everybody!

This is a letter from the person who started this chain. And it is one of those ever dreaded “underwear chain.” I want you to know that I’m not just doing this for free underwear (although that is a perk). (Accompanying this letter should be two other sheets of paper that are nearly identical and they should have instructions on them as to what is expected of an underwear chain letter). I’m actually doing his as part of an Art History course for university (the course has a lot to do with interacting and trusting others… or so it seems to me). So I decided that I’m going to take a leap of faith and trust whomever this letter happens upon. I’m also asking you to trust those who receive this letter after you, in fact what it comes down to is ‘do you trust your friends’ friends?’
I want to document each generation of the letter and track how far it travels and where it stops. I would love if you could find it in yourself to continue this letter, but even if you don’t want to send the letter on that’s fine, but could you use the contact information for the livejournal and e-mail address and let me know why you choose not to participate… I am not trying to pressure you into doing this, it is just that this is a project and I want to document peoples’ thoughts on this chain.
Trust me (feel free to laugh here). I know how people feel when they decide not to continue the letter. One of the reasons I choose this as my project was because when I was in high school I broke an underwear chain (and I’ve felt guilty about it ever since). Now I’ve decided that I am going to trust the friends of my friends, and that now includes you.
If you have any questions I can be reached at underwear_chain@hotmail.com or there is a livejournal community created for everyone to interact at http://community.livejournal.com/underwear_chain/451.html .
This letter is your invitation to come and join the livejournal, whether or not you decide to continue the chain. This letter is open to both men and women, so feel free to give this letter to any of your friends who you think would be interested. No matter what you decide to do, please just contact me and let me know about it.
Thank you for reading this letter, and hopefully I can look forward to your participation in the project. (Sorry if this letter was just incoherent babble).
Here’s to hoping that everyone has fun with the project!

Sincerely,
Caitlin aka Cay

Ps. Hopefully I’m not annoying you to death, I know that some people hate chains and to them I apologize most profusely. This project is meant to be fun and allow people to interact with others whom they would normally not have the chance to. Thank you, again, for reading. PLEASE, copy this and attach it to the letters that you send out.




And here is the chain letter itself:

Dear friend of a friend,
OK, don't hate me but ...
This is an underwear chain. I didn’t invent this, I’m just using it for a project for one of my classes. The deal is you send one pair of new underwear with the tags still attached to the first person listed below in a manila envelope. Then, send a copy of this letter to six of your friends. Move the next person's name, ( ) generation # and info to the top spot and list your name in the second set of blanks on the letter. Also, it would be helpful in my purposes of tracking the letter if you could put down what generation of the letter you are (I’m #1), you’ll be the next highest # after the person above you (1, 2, 3, 4… you get the idea).
If everything works out, you should receive 36 new pairs of underwear (hopefully to your specifications). Be sure to include your size ... don't be shy (heck, I’m a large *blush*) ... and any special style you prefer next to your name and address.
If you cannot do this within a week, please notify me as I would like to know how the letter progresses. E-mail me at underwear_chain@hotmail.com and come tell me what you think of this at http://community.livejournal.com/underwear_chain/451.html.
I’m documenting this so please join me at the lj or send me an email about your experiences with this letter. I’d also like to know the results that everyone got. Join us, but if you can't participate, let me know.
Thanks and enjoy!
# _______________________ Size:
__________________________ Style(s):
__________________________

# _______________________ Size:
__________________________ Style(s):
__________________________

PS: Please make sure and send one copy of the blank letter to each of your friends to they don't have to retype the letter!



Any comments?

Okay so what was I trying to do with this project? I'm using this post to try and get some of my ideas across and to use this as a sounding board before my presentation of the project.

I had been really interested in some of the projects that I read about in my class that had to do with trusting people that you had had no previous contact with, as well as projects that had to do with being comfortable in your own body and letting other people become comfortable as well (sorry if I'm not wording this well, let me know if things are unclear and I'll try to word it better).

I thought of this project initially because I had refused to participate in one of these chain letters when I was in high school and I have felt guilty about breaking the chain ever since. Also, I felt that this project would be interesting because it involved being in contact with someone through postal mail, rather than email or other forms of instantaneous contact (though they are being used to keep track of the project). Because the contact is delayed there is a greater sense of anticipation for those who have sent the chain forward and are anticipating replies.

This project was meant to be fun and exciting but I was genuinely surprised by how many people didn't want to participate. I wanted people to get past the whole idea of the menacing stranger. Unfortunately people are very unwillingly to get past these ingrained ideas.

I'll probably be back pretty quickly to talk about my intentions with this project once I have time to think it over some more. I'll also try to remember to put the letters I sent out up on this page so that people who aren't involved can see them.