Annotated Interpretive Response: Found Magazine

We all lose things, whether it's a twenty dollar bill, a photograph, or even the secret love note hiding in your back pocket, sometimes objects get misplaced and before you know it, you never see that cherished object again. What if you were browsing the internet, and you came across a site that displayed thousands of lost notes, letters, and pictures, and suddenly you see a picture of an old, crumbled up note that looks familiar to you, with your handwriting. Found Magazine is a site where anyone can upload a picture of misplaced objects they've found.

The love notes, torn, obscure photographs, and lost homework found rolling in the streets like a tumbleweed in the barren desert all suggest emotions that come from broken hearts to lost memories to hopeful beginnings. A letter to an officer, after receiving a ticket, explains in a note why his car isn't registered and how the owner doesn't have the money to pay the ticket because he needs to register his car first. Another letter, written by an aggravated, sad young child writes to his dad telling him how much he loves his father, but he's tired of daddy's nearly abusive ways. The broken grammar and slanted handwriting of these found objects express the reality of complicated lives people live.

Why is it is so interesting for human beings to dig deep into other's personal lives and snoop around? Maybe humans were made that way: to be nosy whenever there's a chance to be. This website is set up so that it grabs the immediate attention of any person quietly surfing the Internet, wondering whether that little boy is in a peaceful state of mind after writing his father a very stern note. And before people know it, they look up this website after a couple days, in hopes of finding out how that poor little boy is doing these days....