What is it? It is Wheel
Questions, a black, cylindrical structure about eight feet tall tented
by colored awning and hung with 238 small, squarish pieces of paper,
each one bearing a handwritten question. People ask: "Why am I here?
What should I do with the rest of my life? Why isn't Santa Claus real?
Turn the paper over to read the answer penned by John Monsarrat, the
project's founder. The Wheel has been on display in front of the
Tedeschi Food Shop at Davis Square since July 3 and will stay there
until the end of the month.

At the Wheel, signs instruct
visitors to note their questions on blank sheets of paper and leave
them in a wooden dropbox. Monsarrat, later picks up the questions,
answers them by hand, photographs all of the questions and answers and
posts all of them on his website, www.wheelquestions.org. He then posts
selected questions on the Wheel itself.

Since it opened in
Davis Square on July 3, John Monsarrat's installation has been very
popular. Visitors to the Wheel have posted an average of 127 questions
per day, with a high of 268 and a low of 15 questions. The questions
address themes of love and life, and the same ones arise again and
again, proving how universal people's questions are. Visitors find the
Wheel a refreshing alternative to on-line forums, such as blogs.

John
Monsarrat started the Wheel, formerly called the Abyss, in his yard at
123 Elm Street in June of 2008. It was so popular that he built a new
structure and took it on tour to Harvard and Davis Squares this summer.
Wheel Questions was at Harvard from June 14 to July 2 and has been at
Davis since July 3, where it will stay through the end of the month. In
August, the Wheel will be based at Harvard Square. Monsarrat says the
Wheel will stay open until the money runs out (according to him it
nearly has) or until he "goes insane" (also according to him he nearly
has). He is currently seeking corporate sponsors for the project.

A
common question for John Monsarrat is "Who are you?" and it's one that
many readers may have. John Monsarrat is about 40 years old with an
undergraduate computer engineering degree and an MBA from MIT. He
currently is currently CEO of the company Hard Data Factory, a data
mining service, and is the founder and former head of the computer game
company, Triton. But mostly, he is the guy who spends 6 hours a day
collecting, answering, and posting questions and answers..

To
the question "Why are you doing this?" Monsarrat replies: "I genuinely
like to help people. I'm desperate to escape an ordinary life." He
doesn't claim to have all the answers, and admits that things are
easier said than done. When people ask what authority he has to answer
these questions, Monsarrat replies: "I've made a lot of mistakes and I
like to think I've learned something."

So what are people
asking? A few questions are political ("Will Iran be free?"), some
trivial ("Snickers, Charleston Chew, or Heath bars?"). Most questions,
though, relate to universal and timeless themes, asking about love ("Is
Kevin in love with me?"), death ("What happens when we die?") sexuality
("When should I come out to my parents?"), religion ("Is there a God?")
and the meaning of life ("Why am I here?").

Monsarrat's
answers are both blunt and optimistic. To the question "Why am I here?"
he replies, "I'm sorry, but there's no reason," and "There's no hidden
purpose." He continues to say, "Thank goodness we get to decide our
purpose for ourselves." He advises people searching for a path in life
to get together with a friend and make a list of the experiences that
they find most meaningful and satisfying, then set some related goals,
and go after them.

Submitting an average of 127 questions
daily, people certainly value the Wheel. Daniel Fireside, of Teele
Square, commented that, "People sure seem to have a lot of questions,
so it seems like a good idea to solicit, to find out what's on people's
minds." In fact, people seem to value the chance to ask anonymous
questions and air their thoughts even more than they value Monsarrat's
answers. Jennifer Bellingham, a recent Emerson graduate caught perusing
the Wheel at Davis on a recent evening, has submitted many questions to
the Wheel, yet has never gone to the website to see the answers.
Another visitor to the Wheel, Marsha Walters, compared it to Frank
Warren's website of anonymous postcards, Post-Secret. She called
Post-Secret, "A way to get your secret out. And this is a way to get
your questions out."

Unlike Post-Secret, where postings are
displayed but not answered, at the Wheel, every question gets an
answer. People have mixed opinions of Monsarrat's answers. Daniel
Fireside liked the project but was "a little disappointed that the
answers weren't funnier." Bellingham appreciates the answers, but
cautions that "nobody should think of it as, you know, the word, but I
think it's a good opinion." Many people submit questions such as as
"What makes you think you have the right answers? Are omniscient?" and
seem to consider Monsarrat a know-it-all.

Also in contrast to
Post-Secret, the Wheel is not an on-line forum but a physical
structure. As Bellingham neatly put it: "It takes the anonymity of the
internet and puts it in the outdoors." Like a blog, the Wheel is open
for anyone to read, and postings are anonymous. It changes daily, so
people return again and again to see the latest posts. Unlike a blog,
the Wheel is a physical structure with a defined location, and the only
way to ask a question is to go to the Wheel, write it down, and drop it
in the box. Fireside commented that, "It's kind of nice, in this
electronic age, to have people write things down on actual pieces of
paper."