The Adventure of Flat Stanley - Part 1

The innocence of children, as illustrated in the black markets of Cambodia Flat Stanley Project, tells the story of a cardboard cutout that travels around the world and is documented through photography. My niece took a moment out of her busy day (i.e. eating glue) to create a manila folder mongoloid and asked me to document the adventures for her class. I was honored that she would put her faith in me and I promised that Stanley would see things that no other child could possibly imagine. My only task was to report on the adventure and send the final pictures and a written adventure log to her 1st grade teacher.

As luck would have it, I was poised for a trip to Austin for business. I packed up my bag, buckled the little guy into his seat and we were off on our first adventure.

Stanley was very well behaved on the plane and enjoyed the
Bat Bridge and getting the lay of the land when we first arrived. But, as the night started to progress, Stanley started to change.

After I got out of the shower I noticed that something was not right.


Stanley had cleaned up his C.H.U.D look and dressed in suave business attire. I also caught him ordering some adult feature films, but decided to look the other way and get ready for the night ahead.


We hit the town and went bar hopping on our first night, but I lost track of him. The last I remember, we were taking shots of Patron and dancing with some fine bitches at "Maggie Mae's" . I had a little too much to drink myself and blacked out back in the hotel room.

I awoke the next morning frantically looking for Stanley when I stumbled upon him in the bathroom. The only thing I could do was look in horror as I reviewed the pictures he had taken with my digital camera.



I couldn't believe what I had seen and before I had time to berate him for his behavior he did the unthinkable. I was shocked he had finished the 8-ball and didn't even save me a little. He then let me know I should call him Crack Stanley,as that was his preferred party persona, and he winked at me.

I panicked, folded him up, and let him detox in my suitcase until the conference was over and we headed back to New York. I had several trips scheduled for this adventure and I crossed my fingers that he would straighten up, even if it meant an intervention.

Little did I know that this was the beginning of the end for poor Crack Stanley.

Stay tuned...