My stuff: David

Apparently there are still people around town in Jackson, Miss., who know David only as his comic-drawing alterego, Gorjus. He writes/draws/makes the zine The Sandusky Review and runs the blog Pretty Fakes and is all-around the very coolest.







David explains his favorite things:

1. zine stapler - I make zines with this.

2. Jerry Lee Lewis - Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On record - I wasn't allowed to have music growing up. This is the first 45 I ever bought. I paid $5 for it at a record store in San Antonio, and that was the start of my record collection.

3. Alabama license plate - I really love Alabama. A big part of where I grew up was loving football. It's a big cliche to say football is a religion in the South, but it's totally true. It's the great equalizer.

4. Animal Man comic - This page is the reason I became a vegetarian. I read this when I was 14, and it didn't take at the time, but it left a seed in my head. The character is talking about the ethics of eating animals. It's not much, and looking back, I think, 'Really? That's all it took?'

5. 307 - This is a badge from my 1967 Camaro. 307 was how big the engine was. I wrecked it in Starkville -- totally sober. My dad found the badge in his basement recently and gave it to me.

6. Polaroid Sun 600 - My main art in my 30s has been Polaroids. Of all the Polaroid cameras I use, this is my favorite. I don't know why. It doesn't really take the best photos of all of them. But it has traveled all over the country with me.

7. Rubber stamps - They were a present from a friend. At first, we used them for fliers for a band, but then I started using them with Polaroids a lot.

8. Kill Rock Stars bracelet - I used to wear a lot of jewelry. I bought this in the late '90s. The record label Kill Rock Stars sold it. I liked having a cultural signifier. It was a code. Wearing this in a small town, you're saying you're a feminist. You're not a racist. You like punk rock. You're a real person.

9. bullet shell - This is from my grandfather's funeral. He was in the army in World War II, and at his funeral, they did the 21-gun salute. He was the first person I was close to who died.

10. button - This is from 2008, when I went to Florida and worked with the Obama campaign. With the 2000 election in mind, they brought a lot of lawyers to Florida to answer questions, etc. We had no problems where we where. It was just an awesome public service exercise. I felt connected to a larger whole.

My Stuff: Amanda Allen

Amanda explains:

1. Origami - My friend Gabriel made this for me before he moved back to Montana. I always thought it was inspiring. I keep it on top of my computer.

2. Key - I got this as a present from my friend Patricia for my 26th birthday. I think it came from an antique store in Chelsea. She got into a bad bike accident shortly thereafter. I have a tattoo of this exact key now.

3. Cup - Before my parents were married, they had a set of camping cookware. There are only two remaining artifacts of that set. I have one, and my dad has one.

4. Horseshoe - I bought this at an antique store on South Congress Street in Austin. I bought it on my last afternoon of the trip. For no particular reason I had a goal of bringing an old horseshoe back with me. Maybe I was listening to too much Ryan Adams. This was the dingiest one, the one I wanted. It's one of the best reminders of a solitary trip/

5. Scissors - I bought these in July at a stationery store. They're Indian tailor scissors, and they are incredibly sharp and precise.

6. Dracena Palm Tree - My mom bought it as a start on Maui when I was a kid. It's a good 16 years old now.

7. Record - This is my mom's original copy of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Right before my mom and I moved to Hawaii, we had a huge barn sale, and my mom was selling all her original Pink Floyd and Beatles records for a quarter each. I knew that was a mistake. Thankfully, most of them didn't disappear.

8. Kodak Camera - My grandpa gave me this and two other cameras. I think this one was made in the '30s. My uncle once described it as a Wizard of Oz camera.

9. Bobo the Bear - In 2008, I found him in a free box in front of my house. He's kind of ratty and disheveled, but I felt some kind of affinity for him. Later that year, I was having a lot of anxiety, and I would wake up in the middle of the night. If I snuggled Bobo, he calmed me down.

10. Where the Sidewalk Ends - My grandma bought this for me at Village Books in Bellingham, Wash., when I was 7. We used to spend many rainy afternoons at Village Books. If I had to set fire to my bookcase, this is the book I would save.

My stuff: Colin

Colin explains:

1. set of plates -- I had these exact plates in a furnished rental on an island in Washington. I wanted to take them with me, but I couldn't. Then I came across this set at the Mormon thrift store for $1 a plate.

2. cowboy boots - I got these is in the Mission in San Francisco. They have been through a lot of fun parties. I freaked out because they ended up with my ex for a while, but he finally returned them.

3. cymbal - Someone gave it to me when I was first started playing drums. I had no idea at the time, but it's an old Turkish cymbal. According to the stamp (and my three hours of research), it dates to 1959 - 1966.

4. James Merrill - The Changing Light at Sandover - This is a trilogy of poems he wrote side-by-side with his partner. A lot of the material is drawn from their ouija board sessions. I took a summer and read through the whole trilogy. It was one of the most inspiring things I've ever read.

5. French poster - Someone I didn't even really know gave it to me as a gift. My room didn't really have any decorations. You don't come across something like this every day.

6. Anthony Bourdain cookbook - It was a really big inspiration when I first started cooking at a restaurant. It pushed me to keep cooking, to keep being creative.

7. jacket and ski vest - They're hilarious. I found one in Houston and one in Portland, but they have the exact same retro color theme.

8. keychain - In high school, they gave these to all the seniors. It's not my favorite because I liked high school but because it reminds me of one of the most intense, crazy times of my life. If I can get through that, I can get through anything.

9. score by James Dillon for "Helle Nacht" - This is one of my favorite orchestral pieces from the late 20th century. I just found it while browsing the sheet music store. I started listening to his music while studying composition at Oberlin College.

10. prescription sunglasses - They have backed me up when I either lost or broke my regular glasses.

My stuff: Quentin

Quentin explains his choices:

1. Sennheiser 280 Pro headphones -- I've always liked music, but I live in a noisy apartment next to the Interstate, so having noise-canceling headphones is important. They sound amazing, but they look really, really geeky on.

2. collaged table -- I bought the table at Goodwill for $10, but the surface was beat up. I spent three or four months during my freshman year collaging the top of it.

3. 1983 Centurion LeMans RS bicycle -- When my mountain bike was stolen, I wanted something thinner and faster. Bikes are like couches and kids: There are already too many in the world, so you should buy them off Craigslist. I do have a feeling, though, that the guy I bought this one from on Craigslist may have stolen it, which makes me sad.

4. painting of San Francisco Church and Catacombs in Lime Peru -- A friend of mine who is a photograph took the photo this is based on while traveling in Central America. Then she painted the picture when she got home.

5. Emigre Magazine(s) -- They started publication basically the same month that the Apple computer came out. They're design magazines. A teacher/mentor recommended them to me in college, and ever since, I've been collecting them.

6. collage notebook -- I've always enjoyed collages. A couple years ago, I started this notebook after having a similar one in college. Once every week or two, I sit down and do a few pages. It's like a private journal that I can show to the world. People see one thing, but they mean something different to me. They hold specific stories for me, but no one else picks up on them because they don't know the contexts.

7. Canon AE-1 -- I learned how to shoot photos on this camera, which a high school friend gave me.

8. 1967 Magnavox Astro-sonic HiFi record player -- For a couple years, I wanted one to play old records on. This is one of the first that they made that was solid state, so I won't have to replace any tubes. It came up on Craigslist for $50 a couple of blocks from my house.

9. Big American flag -- Ryan Adams reissued his first three albums on vinyl recently. Around the same time, I moved into a new apartment. I liked the way the bedroom on the back of Gold looks, so I decided to recreate it. I found a cheap flag on eBay.

10. Q -- That same friend sent me a letter in the mail.




***Eds note: Some of the images are courtesy of Q, who scanned them in for nicer lookin'

My stuff: Flannery

Flannery explains:

1. keyboard - I bought it at a garage sale for $5. The middle keys don't work, but I saw the same model in a store for $130. It's the same one They Might Be Giants use. You can really make some cool sounds with it.

2. shirt - This is my best find at Goodwill. It has no sentimental value. It's just really soft. And it's Osh Kosh.

3. banjo jams book - My pen pal made this for me. I write all my songs in it.

4. poster - I've had it for three years. It's hand-screen-printed, so it was limited. It was a good show. Plasmic Stallion was the best band. They were more punk than anyone.

5. THE - My pen pal sent this to me, too, as a housewarming present when I moved out of my parents' house. There was nothing else in the package, but it was heavy as shit.

6. guitar - I got it after years of wanting my own guitar. I had just been using my bandmate's. I didn't want to rush anything, so I waited a long time. But friend offered to sell this one to me, and it took only 15 minutes to decide. It has been the best guitar.

7. bike - This is the same as the guitar; I didn't want to rush. I was close to buying a lot of other bikes, but then I bought this one on Craigslist for $150 in Tacoma, Wash. It's my favorite color, and it fit.

8. box of polaroids - I actually organized these by date once.

9. holga - I've taken a lot of nice photos with it. It's seen a lot of use. I mean, it's really old. I got it from my aunt, who used it in college.

10. stapler - It has no purpose but to look nice. Plus, it matches my bike. It caught my eye at Goodwill, and I thought, 'This is love.'