Free Wishes

(Photo courtesy of Jeff Chan)

So it took me a couple months to get the pictures ready and another few months to finish writing this...

I went to visit the Market Collective back in March. It was my first time seeing it since being back in Canada, and it was also something I hadn't done pretty much since Market Collective first came into existence.

Market Collective is just one of numerous initiatives in Calgary that have taken off in recent years, connecting local artists' works and products with the surrounding community.

My main motive for dropping by the March Market Collective was to see the Free Wishes project set up by Jeff Chan and Jamie Hobbs. I learned from Jeff Chan's blog that Free Wishes was a community project he originally did with Jamie Hobbs at the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge. I didn't know this, but according to Jeff, more people die from suicide at the Golden Gate Bridge than any other location in the world.

Jeff and Jamie aimed to turn this location into a place of hope, even if for only a few moments, by inviting anyone to come and write down their wish on a rock.

Jeff and Jamie then brought the project to their hometown of Calgary, so I thought I would go check out the project, as well as write down a wish of my own.

It turns out that they put up a number of posters for people to write down their wishes. I did think the rocks were more interesting, but then I realized the great thing about these posters was that people were responding to each others' wishes. My favorite was one that said, "I wish we could have a rainbow everyday," to which someone else wrote, "but then it would rain everyday..."

(Photo courtesy of Jeff Chan)

As for my wish:

Visit Jeff Chan's website: jeffchanat.blogspot.ca
Visit Jamie Hobb's website: jamie-hobbs.com