Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
Artist Candy Chang likes to turn public spaces into community bulletin boards. The death of a loved one inspired her “Before I Die” project. On the side of an abandoned house in her New Orleans neighborhood, she put up a huge chalkboard that was filled with rows of the fill-in-the-blank sentence “Before I die I want to _____________” The wall filled with statements: Before I die, I want to become a pirate. Before I die, I want to stop worrying so much. Before I die, I want to be a mother. Before I die, I want to travel all over Ireland. Before I die, I want to dance a waltz in Vienna.
Now there are Before I Die walls around the world—in New Zealand, in China, in the United Kingdom, in Peru…
First, watch Candy Chang’s TED Talk, “Before I die I want to…”
Then, if there’s a Before I Die public art installation near you, visit it and write down the top priority from your bucket list. If there isn’t one near you, write the statement for yourself. Then write three paragraphs explaining why you want what you wrote.