I see by the snailpapers that Ruth Kaiser has created something she calls The Spontanepous Smiley Project and it's a must-see. Go look now!

Ruth whispered in my ear, from her home in California to my cave here in Taiwan: "Danny, listen, I am hoping to get your ear regarding an art project that I have now that lives on the Internet and involves 1000s of people all over the world -- including Taiwan yes, and maybe the APPLE DAILY there will cover this, too -- collecting and sharing their photographs of the Smiley Face as it appears in everyday objects. [We started this 2 years ago - - long, long before AmEx debuted their current ad campaign!]

Recently we've partnered with OPERATION SMILE (a network of volunteers working worldwide to repair childhood facial deformities, see link below). Smiley uploads earn donations for Operation Smile. In december we launched our first Smile-a-Thon. An entire elementary school went on a Smile Hunt. Like a Walk-a-Thon the kids will got people to sponsor them, but instead of by the mile the sponsors pledged by the SMILE. Hundreds of kids spent their Winter Break finding and photographing Spontaneous Smileys. We learned a lot with this pilot school and are working to offer Smile-a-Thons nationally!

I had an exhibit of my Smiley photos in Berkeley. On the night of the opening, I thought a few people might come, but we were mobbed! The happiness of the project has been contagious! People who had read about it in the papers came to meet the Smiley Lady. It's hard to believe that little ol' me, a mom/teacher/artist trying to spread a little happiness and raise money for Operation Smile with my goofy little project, is getting that kind of attention."

WOW. This is really a great idea and a great art project and a great public project. Go go go, Smiley Lady!

We can see a book deal coming from this, calendars, mugs, lots of things, not only to raise money for good charities, but also to give people around the world a good smile and a laugh or two. I love it.

Sign me,

Smiling Man