Most of us take public transportation all the time. We spend a lot of time moving from place to place throughout the city, and much of that time is spent in the company of a lot of strangers, in rather small compartments, with the walls full of images and words other people have paid to have us see. Public transportation is strange. It is boring. It is surprising. It is at once monotonous and infinitely varied.

I want you to start paying attention to what happens when you’re on public transportation, and I want you to write about. Buy a small notebook and keep it with you. Can you, after thinking about it for a couple of rides, write up a list of rules and guidelines for those who are new to this form of transportation? How do you know these exist? What happens if some violates them? Write about what you see when it’s interesting or unusual, but also write at some point about an ordinary ride. Get into detail, whatever you are writing. Start noticing patterns as well as changes. Write about the physical environment, as well as the people in it—what ads can you see?  What difference does it make to have those ads near each other? What kind of contact happens on public transportation? Any time you talk to someone or interact with someone in a way that’s more than “excuse me,” or whatever, write it down afterwards.

You can write as often as you like, but you should write at least twice a week.  I don’t care how long each entry is or what format you use (paragraphs, full sentences, notes), but it should be legible to me, detailed, and thoughtful. If you scribble things down in a rush right after something happens, go back and write it out more carefully later.

I will collect these journals periodically throughout the semester.  I will not collect everyone’s at once, so that I can get through them quickly and get them back to you in rotation.