Fake journals: I love it... and I missed it!

Fake journal? What's that?

I discovered it by accident, after clicking on the 'View my complete profile' to learn more about an interesting new-to-me blogger I'd found on Blogger (MHBD's Blog). That took me here, to MHBD's Fake Journal. After puzzling over it a bit, and not quite getting the premise, I turned to Google.

'What is Fake Journal Month?' took me to the Official International Fake Journal Blog, where I learned about the concept, it's creator, and it's 18 year history.

Although I was disappointed to learn that the IFJM had ended, and why, I was still curious as the the premise, especially when I learned that the founder was continuing the practice in private. Ah, there it is, the value of the fake journal was really for the individual, shared or not. That made me curious about those benefits.

Some highlights from the What is International Fake Journal Month page:

What is IFJM? Basically it’s a free pass to put anything in a journal that you might not otherwise put in. At least that’s one way to see it. From April first to April 30, you are encouraged to keep a fake journal different from and outside of your regular visual journal. Take on a new persona, alter ego, or be the same person you are now, except in an alternate universe. 

• Maybe you are a cat person and always draw cats, well for April you’ll start a fake journal and just draw birds, with a passion, as if they were the most important animal on the planet. 

• Maybe you want to live somewhere else? Well make a daily journal as if you are already there. 

• Perhaps you are always working in pencil. Now is the time to become that artist who always works in pen, just go for it. 

• Or if you are always image heavy in your journal, spend some time writing, pages and pages.

Interesting concept, eh? I think I may try it out. What twist will I take? I'm not sure, but one idea comes to mind: I draw daily and my doodles almost always include faces; I could challenge myself to just draw abstract for a month, and journal the experience. Will have to see. Thinking about a month later this year to do it.

Documenting life during a pandemic

Today I listened to TWO interesting CBC Radio shows about pandemic diaries: who's keeping them, and why, and how they have value beyond the personal. It turns out there are a few initiatives to encourage recording this period for their historical value. A few highlights from each:

'We want it all': Keeping a COVID-19 diary? It could help future historians — and your mental health - The Current

Dr. Karen Blair, an assistant professor of psychology at St. Francis Xavier University... is part of a team that's collecting diary entries from those in the thick of isolation. They hope to shed light on how the pandemic is affecting mental health. Each day, participants check in with a short survey. Some even share details about their experiences that day."

It's so interesting that I have joined the COVID-19 Diary Study project.

The Current story resources
Keeping a COVID-19 diary? It could help future historians - podcast episode and transcript
COVID-19 Diary Study - join Dr. Karen Blair's project

National Museum of Denmark's
Christian Sune Pedersen is leading the journal project

Danes are sending their quarantine journals to the national museum - Day 6

"Lots of people are turning to social media to chronicle the monotony of quarantine, peppered with the brief excitement of sourdough starters and family kitchen parties. But folks in Denmark are taking it a step further, by sending pages of their lockdown journals to the national museum to preserve them for posterity. Conveniently, Denmark already has a blueprint for the journal experiment..."

They've done it before, in 1992 (when they received 51,000 entries) and again in 2017. An interesting listen.

Day 6 story resources
Danes are sending their quarantine journals to the national museum - podcast episode and transcript
National Museum of Denmark - official website (19 museums/sites)