THE VALUE OF STARTING A CONVERSATION

"For those people who look at me with a blank stare and say, 'Well, why are you doing this?' – I want to be able to have an answer, because I can feel it on an intuitive level," Armen says. But he explains, "It’s in hearing other people’s experiences and having these accounts that not only does it give me something to show, but it also enables me to formulate my own thoughts in a way that I can confidently say to another person, 'Yes, this is something people are consistently experiencing' – it’s this kind of mind, body, spirit connection that doesn’t feel perverse." Armen says The 100 Carry Project explores pragmatic principles of intimacy, connection, and mending the detachment from our minds, bodies, and spirits that our society fosters. "I knew it was valuable to me and important, but I didn’t know what it would be for others," he admits. Janie validates Armen's project and offers encouragement for his moments of doubt. Snapping her fingers with a clean-sounding pop, Janie says to Armen, "Put yourself out there anyway and to offer it up to people, because then that’s what kind of makes people question it and stirs up something in them that might help them be a participant or at least start a conversation." Through life, she says, "So many of us are sleepwalking. We’re so in our heads, so out of our bodies, and we’re so seeking comfort, seeking the easy way that there’s just that disconnect and a loss in that disconnect. I think opportunities like this provide a chance to reawaken that experience."