Quad·ran·gular (kwä-'dra[ng]-gy&-l&r) adjective
: a polygon of four sides

Chron·i·cle ('krä-ni-k&l) noun
1 : a usually continuous historical account of events arranged in order of time without analysis or interpretation
2 : narrative

thank you for taking the time to read more about the diary project. i hope to give you detailed information to help you better understand of the history of the project, what i am planning to do, what i hope to accomplish, and how i hope to accomplish it.

[if you are already familiar, please scroll to the bottom for the latest entry]

this project has been in my mind since christmas eve of 1995. i was out in california and i woke up out of a sleep and started writing and drawing, and coming up with the general outline of what i am now calling the quadrangular chronicle. christmas 1995 was almost eight years ago, and i have been carrying this idea around, attempting to start it, then getting distracted for all this time. i've drawn plans for it, bought supplies for it, hired artists to do the work for it, and eventually flaked on it. now that i am able to focus my energy a little better and carry out complete thoughts, i am going to attempt to put together my diary project for the final time.

i am planning on designing and constructing a decorated box that holds four separate books. each of the books will be joined with a theme of similar materials and craftsmanship, but will be entirely separate. these four books will slide into a tongue and grove slot in the main box creating a single unit. each of the separate books are going to have one hundred eighty-two pages. one half page for each of the three hundred sixty-five days of the roman calendar year. i plan on taking each of the four books and giving them to people who i consider good people (my definition of a good person can be discussed at a later time). they will be instructed to write on one page for each day that they are in possession of the book. what they write is entirely up to them. if they want to write about what is going on with them personally, or in the world, or if they prefer to draw, any option is open. when they have written what they feel is enough, and they are ready to pass on the book, they will hopefully choose a person that is responsible enough to continue the project. throughout the year, each book will take on its own personality from the different people that have put their time and energy into it. then, hopefully, at the end of the year, each of the four journals will be returned to their origin, and be able to be read. they can be read individually as a singular book, or as a foursome, showing what each of the writers at the time felt noteworthy events.

at this point you might be scrunching your nose a little and wondering, "and, why?" a good question requires an even better answer. i am attempting to gather a collective of thoughts, feelings, and emotions from a conglomerate of individuals to show the differences but even more so the similarities, from external forces, on the human condition. was that ever the attempt to sound like an intellectual. what i am really saying is that when each of these books has come back together, we are going to be able to see how each of the persons were affected by the world in which they live. what i am hoping will happen, is that two, three, or possibly all four will at one time or another be unified in thought. of course, if they don't ever get unified, that just shows more of the same that four similar projects were circulating, and not once were their paths crossing, how wonderfully large our world can be. and yet, as soon as we envision its expanse, how small it can be.

06.10.02

it has been almost a year since i had written that blurb about this project. since that time i have designed them, put them together, and handed them out. i have learned a lot this year, and if things do not work out well, i can always consider this year the "official unofficial trial run".

i thought i was doing pretty well with my schedule and all. in june i had the sheet metal at the BROT Inc. this is a funny story. after cutting the design out of construction paper, i was discussing with kira about how hard it would be to cut all of the metal by hand. she agreed, and we thought it would be best if we had it machine done. well i come home from this meeting and and fiend who i hadn't spoken with Rick Ott, had left a card on my door. he helps run a metal stamping shop. i took it as a sign, and asked him if he would be able to help me. he could, and did, and the pieces came out looking better than it ever could have looked by hand. my whole feeling on getting things machined as opposed to having something done by hand, is that the machine had to be designed, and then made by hand, so in a round about sort of way it is still by hand. plus, for the most part, the machine does a much better job.

thinking that i had it under control. of course, i ended up procrastinating until late november before i got everything together. sean blake, helped cut the paper to size, and i ran into another old friend that i hitchhiked across wyoming with that helped cut the holes to bind the paper. it seemed that every part of the project was bringing me together with my past.

finally, early december, and right in the heat of exams, i got the help of mary eisman. she bent all of the brass fittings in order to bind the books together, the day before i left for korea. so here i am with a box filled with paper, brass tubing, and sheet metal, wondering if they were going to take it for some kind of weapon. they didn't, and i ended up working on it off an on while visiting tony.

needless to say, i ended up putting the final touches on them the day i left korea, right there on december 31st. i just seem to do my best work under pressure. i have never been one for preparation and planning. i try, believe me, i try. it just never seems to happen.

regardless, i did it. i got them together, and off to four people, fairly close to the first of the year. i gave one to tony, while still in korea. he, surprisingly, has been one of the more faithful keepers of the chronicle. i also gave one to my grandmother. she is so sweet. every time i speak with her she says that she doesn't have anything to write about. and every time i tell her that anything she writes about is golden. i gave the third to my father. i was pretty disappointed with the fact that i think he wrote in it maybe twice, in a four month period. such are the breaks. i will have to pick people that are comfortable with writing next year. although he writes his little lists on a daily basis, i guess he felt uncomfortable writing them in the books. disappointing. in the fourth book, i asked pat white, a counselor out at IBH, to write in it. i think he has been at about the same pace as dad as far as consistency.

so four books, out doing their things. hopefully getting written on, possibly not. but that is the way of things. i can't really be upset at anyone for not being able to commit their time to my projects. i have learned that life it too short to complain about most anything. nobody really cares to listen anyway. but if i convince people to write in them, oh how wonderful it will be to be able to look back at this year, from the perspective of the four. how fun projects can be. especially when they serve little purpose other than to entertain. come january i will give a full report.

05.20.03

it has been over a year since i have written anything about the project.  sometimes it disappears and falls into the cracks.  other times it gets pushed up to the primary burner.  january came and went, actually two januarys came and went, and i didn't write anything about the project.  of the four that i started in 2003, two were finished, one i'm still waiting on, and one has been  lost.  the two that were returned were from my grandmother, and the one that started with my dad, but finished with my mother.  blood is thicker than water.  a million times in my life it has been proven that in the thick of things the only people you can count on is family.  i don't know why i always forget.  

keith enoch was working on the box when i left to go on my adventure in central america, so i don't know if that is finished yet or not.  nevertheless, it will be when i get back home.  

the other thing is that this year 2005, i started a new series of diaries, this time i made eight, so that if four fail, i still have four were finished.  right now i know of one, two, three, that are working, and the other five i have no idea where or how they are doing.  hopefully well.  

when i get back home i will put up some photographs of the finished product. as for right now i am in el salvador, and am having trouble keeping any contact with anyone, much less try and track some books or have wooden boxes made.

04.10.05 

if you have been given one of the books and have any questions, concerns, or suggestions, please contact me at:

Dustin Grella
2900 Tompkins Road
Medina, OH 44256
book@dustingrella.com

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