That is me, Hannah, Smoking a cigarette in Nadine Crisp's Station Wagon in Sheboygan, WI in May 2011
Sharing a cigarette at the MSP International Airport in Bloomington, MN in Spring 2011
THI RACE IS FOR ANYONE OVER THE AGE OF 18 THAT LIVES (or is in) IN MINNEAPOLIS (during the race)
Aka not chain smoking hipsters in NYC. This is about meeting people from your community and learning about the people around you, the city you live in and doing something that is not the same-o same-o.
Keeping it LOCAL. To all blog readers not in Minneapolis - have fun reading about or race on this blog when it is all over.
The Cigarette Race is voluntary (and free $0.00) 24 hour race TO BUM AS MANY CIGARETTES AS POSIBLE. Now it is not as easy as it sounds. There are rules. We do not want someone going to a gas station and buying a million cigarettes to cheat and win. Because as we all know, cheaters usually win, but NEVER prosper. Most of my blog followers are creative souls and I bet over 50% of them are cigarette smokers, so they have no need to lie, because this and all my missions I send people on are all about meeting strangers, not having all the glory.
I will try to explain this so everyone will be able to understand.
We will meet at a café ( have not planned everything yet) at 9pm on a Friday night (in the far future, I want everyone to know about this so it will be in a few months). Everyone will come to the café ONE TIME, this is a race, we have no time for B.S!!! At the café I will pass out brown paper grocery bags, a list of rules and wish you good luck. Everyone will need to bring a notebook, a writing utensil, a lighter, appropriate clothing and gear for the weather, maybe a water bottle, a watch, and A CAMERA (preferably digital). If you do not have a camera, borrow one, if no of your friends/family/co-workers have one, rent one from some sort of library, if you can’t rent one have a rich person buy one from Best Buy (or other store) and return it the next day to give rich person their money back. And for the love of God, please, do NOT steal a camera in the name of my blog. I do NOT want a lawsuit here! After explaining the rules in details and making sure everyone has their bumming gear I will send you on your way. I will have a stop watch and start it the minute you all bust open that café door to begin your race.
The point of this race is to a) talk to strangers, b) bum a heck of a lot cigarettes, c) go on an adventure to new places, d) learn something new about your self, other and the city you call home, e) be apart of the first ever Project Get Er Done Official mission and f) Tell people about my blog so they can participate in the next mission.
I want to make it very clear that my project/mission is not to promote smoking. The FIRST mission is a race for cigarettes, yes. But you do not even need to be a smoker to participate. You can bum them and then give them to a friend, throw them away (sad), or scatter them on the street, I don’t fuc*ing care. Point is you do not have to be a smoker to participate, but if you are you will race harder so you can get a bunch of free cigarettes. Another important point, we are going to TALK to strangers, we are not going to TALK SHIT, to strangers. I do not want the cops called because… “Oh it is a project about strangers…” NO! Everyone needs to be polite and respectful. If you ask for a cigarette from some one and they don’t want to give you one, say “thanks anyway, I hope you have a lovely day/night.”
Here are some polite ways to ask a stranger for a cigarette incase you don’t know. And of course thank them if they give you one. If someone is smoking a cigarette you obviously don’t need to ask if they smoke. But if they are not smoking go ahead and ask.
Hi, my name is _____. How are you doing today. Could I please bum a cigarette from you.
Excuse me ______, is there any possible way I could bum a cigarette from you. I don’t have any today because of ________ (some excuse).
Hey _____ that is the same brand of cigarette I smoke. I just ran out. Do you think you would be able to please bum me one.
Hi ______ my name is _______ and I don’t actually smoke myself but I am participating in a massive contemporary art project created by Hannah Chang Schroeder and I am on a 24 hour race to bum cigarettes and meet/talk to strangers so maybe I can stop judging people that do smoke and learn something about their lives. Hannah is so nice and creative, you should check out her blog…grab a pen…here is the URL!
There are MANY ways to ask for a cigarette and make yourself sound respectful.
Here is a list of things you cannot say;
Hey you give me one of your cigs
Yo bitch can I bum a square
Got an extra heater
I will give you $5 for the whole pack
Give me a cig or I will beat that ass
Get the picture. The only word you can use is “CIGARETTE.” I do not want to send out a bunch of people bumming cigarettes and sounding like hoodlums. This is a contemporary art project, not the ally behind the bar. But please, do go to that ally and ask for a CIGARETTE nicely! We do not want to sound like a bunch of 16 years olds bumming cigarettes because we legally cannot buy them ourselves. Everyone participating in this project will need to show me an I.d of some sort. I will not have any minors getting arrested to participate in this project. So all you 17 year old artist/chain smoker…I am sorry, this is not for you.
Here are the M.F Rules smokers and creative souls that don’t smoke aka ALL PARTICIPAENTS:
HANNAH CHANG’S TOP TEN
You must be in Minneapolis for the race
You must bring all of the supplies I mentioned above (camera, pen, paper…ect)
You may only ask a person for a cigarette once, no following smokers around and harassing them
You may only bum (receive) one cigarette from each person you talk to.
You must verbally ask for it, if you are deaf or mute you are allowed to write a note/text to ask for cigarettes. But if you have the ability to speak, you need to open your mouth and ask. This project is about talking to strangers, but if you cannot speak you may by all means participate. We all know how to read and write to.
You are not allowed to smoke any of the cigarettes you bum in that 24 hours. If you bring your own pack you can smoke YOUR cigarettes all day, but not the ones you are bumming.
Keep note of how many cigarettes are in your bag. Tally them. So when you get back you do not need to count them. BE HONEST. I do not have the time to count or re-count every ones cigarettes.
BE POLITE. I already said - this is about talking to people, not talking shit to people. BE NICE. It is easy.
Follow all the rules. This is not “Fight Club” this is a voluntary art project about meeting interesting strangers via bumming cigarettes. So if you know you are not capable of following these rules, please, do not show up at that café to start this race. I am not paying you, you will not get a job recommendation, this is all in the name of art and free entertainment. So all of you people who do not know how to follow rules, go away and give some cigarettes to the people who know how to follow rules.
Now 24 hours after the race starts we will all meet at the same café. We will bring our bags filled with a diverse cluster of bummed cigarettes, our cameras, notebooks, and a brain full of interesting stories about strangers we have met/places we went/trials we encountered…ect. I will then as everyone to tally up their cigarettes and count them if they have not counted them. I will have everyone write down their name and how many cigarettes they bummed. The person that bummed the most wins. But first I will personally count the cigarettes in this “winners” bag to make sure they are not a “cheater.” So here is a list of things the winner will receive
A t-shirt that says “I am a good bum”
A certificate of cigarette bummadge (B/W office paper duh, I am not rich)
They get to keep ALL the cigarettes hey bummed
They get to brag
They will not have to buy cigarettes for a long time (if they smoke)
If you don’t smoke and you win, you will now have every chain smoke in MN contacting you for that bag of free cigarettes….aka more “friends”
Not only do you get to keep YOUR bag of cigarettes….their will be a box, a HUGE BOX…and everyone that lost to you will need to DUMP their entire bag of cigarettes into YOUR HUGE BOX. BOOOOOMMMMM WOAH NELLY RIGHT? Now you not only have a huge bag of mother fuc*ing cigarettes…NOW YOU HAVE A HUGE MOTHER FUC*KING BOX OF POSSIBLY THOUSANDS OF CIGARETTES!
This is NOT a box of all Marb Reds… It has every kind of cigarette chain smokers all over Minneapolis have to offer aka: American Spirits, Marbs, Camels, Paul Maul, Newport, Parl, Crush, Top, Danish Shag, ….the list is endless. Maybe even some hand rolled ones…(splif?)
Now when you are sitting on the bus with this HUGE BOX OF FREE CIGARETTES and they guy/girl asks you “how are you?” you have something interesting to say. Usually if you are MN nice you would respond, “good and you?” Now you can say, “I AM REALLY FUC*KING SUPER GOOD, I AM AMAZING, I AM ESTATIC, YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE WHAT IS IN THIS BOX…HOW ARE YOU?” And BOOM a VERY INTERSTING conversation is now being sparked with a STRANGER. That is the whole purpose of this project. Yeah you have cigarettes which is AWESOME, but now you have something interesting to talk about because you stepped outside of the box and took and risk. CONGRATS future winner, you rock. Whoever wins is going to win my love (if they are actually a good person).
SOME IMPORTANT INFO:
I have not set a date/remember the name of this café. It is a Samali restaurant on the West Bank. I want this race to happen in a few months so word can get out and there will be a buzz around Minneapolis about it before it starts. I want A LOT of people to participate, like hundreds, not like 25 people. Like 525 people. Obviously we wont be able to fit in the café if that many people show up… SO PAY ATTENTIPON NOW.
IF YOU WANT TO PARTICIPATE EMAIL ME NOW hannahchangschroeder@gmail.com
I will put your name on the participant list - that way if a lot of people sign up I can move the meeting location to a larger indoor space, an if it is really huge we can meet in a park or something. But I do not want to shoot for the moon and miss. So I will plan on meeting at the café, and then if this shit explodes we can change plans then. SO EMAIL ME if you are over 18, polite and want to have a lot of fun participating in a huge collaborative contemporary art project and meet a lot of interesting people on the way. NO CALLS. I don’t even have a phone. I have a voicemail thingy. SO EMAIL ME. NO SPAM and please don’t harass me. If you are a relative of someone that died from lung cancer hear me out: I am not making these people smoke these cigarettes, I am just asking them to bum them an spark a conversation. No the mail for Hannah please. We all have a bad habit that is bad for our health. This is mine. But I do not eat meat, or candy, or drink pop, or drink alcohol, or eat non-organic food when at all possible, or drive a car…or….ect. So hey no one has to be mean to smokers. I love smoking and I know it kills me. All smokers that went to public school and took a health class know that smoking is bad for your health, but hey, we still smoke. I dedicate this project to all chain smokers all over the world. This is OUR VISE, so sue us! Everyone has a vise, so I hope people can look in the mirror and try to figure out what their vise is. Smokers, I love you. Quit- if you want to be healthy, or don’t that is your personal decision. I am not quitting anytime soon and that is my choice. Light me up!
Here is how a cigarette can save someone’s life. A group of strangers saved my life one day simply by sparking a conversation with me after I played a song from the when I was out busking (playing music on the street for money). Although they do not smoke, they still SPARKED a conversation with me and opened their mouths, ears, minds, hearts and the door to their house the first night I met them. I was homeless at the time.
So if you enjoyed English class I high school, you may enjoy this analogy. If you don’t know what the word analogy is, Google or dictionary it. It is an easy word to grasp.
This is a quote I wrote about shattering things like: hate, judgment, stereotypes, racism, sexism, ignorance, by simply SPARKING A CONVERSATION WITH A STRANGER.
Here it is:
SPARK A CONVERSATION WITH A STRANGER
LIGHT A WILD FIRE IN THEIR HEART
AND TOGETHER BURN DOWN THAT FOREST OF HATETRED DOWN
Because burning that forest of hate down together is lot faster than trying to cut it down all by yourself with an ax.
Because everyone makes mistakes and from mistakes we learn lessons. Everyone makes different mistakes aka we all have learned different lessons.
If we talk to a stranger and LISTEN we can learn a PRICELESS lesson from a mistake we never had to learn the hard way, we can just talk to them and learn from listening.
- Therefore -
lessons learned from strangers are priceless aka..
LESSONS ARE PRICELESS
MONEY IS WORTHLESS
AND CONVERSATIONS WITH STRANGERS ARE FREE
(Conversations with talk therapists are $60+ an hour)
That conversation Megan, Lindsay and Tiffany sparked with me when I was homeless was PRICELESS. They took me in and saved my life. That conversation was priced at $0.00 per hour.
But it was worth more than million dollars.
but it is worth $0.00 when the person you are trying to talk to doesn’t listen to you or walks away or avoids you on the bus, or is too busy. if you want to be the good person you think you are/strive to be…open your mouth, open your ears, open your heart....to a STRANGER. Listen to them. Learn a lesson. or maybe spark a conversation with an old friend you lost contact with. All broken friendships can heal, f you take the time to listen and understand.
SPARK AWAY MY STRANGERS! I WISH YOU GOOD LUCK AND HAPPY DAYS!
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