Day One, Sam's Entry

So today was the first day of our project. We set up shop at the intersection of Drexel and Main, across the street from Capital University in Bexley, so that both pedestrians and drivers could ask us questions, since we were sitting right next to the intersection. It was slow going at first. Our very first question was a cop (riding in an unmarked van?) asking us if we wanted a ticket. We said no.

We stayed for 2 hours, and were approached 23 times over that period. The people asking questions ranged from a group of friends in a car passing by to a Swiss girl on a bike who ran into the planter in front of our tables. Almost everyone asked us why we were sitting there answering questions, but we also got many very interesting questions. They ranged from "Will I sell my house?" to "Should she go to prison?" to "Do you like Obama?" to "Have you guys considered bestiality?"

I should also note a lot of the people asking us the questions were women. When it was a guy asking, it was usually someone in a car with their friends. In fact, one guy actually got out of his car at the intersection and ran over, but couldn't think of a question. So his friend in the car asked "How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?" I said "I don't know," right as the light turned green, so he yelled "NOOOOO" as he turned the corner. Then their friend just stood there trying to think of something to ask, but he couldn't really think of anything, probably because he was a little concerned that his friends stranded him (they picked him back up).

I was actually more excited than nervous about this project, and today made me confident that it could be really cool, because we met some really cool people and got into some interesting conversations. We didn't record today, as we just wanted to get a feel of how this would work, but we did record every question we were asked as well as a short description of who asked it. I think the camera being present will definitely affect who asks us questions and what they ask, and it will be interesting to see what happens. Tomorrow we will also have a Magic 8-ball to consult if someone asks a question we don't know the answer to. After all, we said we will answer any question honestly, not accurately.