Interactive garden attempts to change lives

By Jack Nicas

For close to a month now, pedestrians wandering down Elm Street have noticed a mysterious garden beckoning them to enter. It is a daring task to walk into a stranger’s yard, but that’s exactly what the owner wants. It is a challenge to participants in hopes of inspiring change in their lives.

After following the tiki torch-lined stone path and crossing the spiral marbled ‚Äúabyss,‚Äù risk-takers come to what appears to be a colorful punching bag. Upon further inspection, it is revealed the color comes from countless multi-colored notes marked with part participants‚Äô deepest questions.  As the hanging cards twirl in the wind, one can see each question is thoughtfully answered on the back. To one‚Äôs left a sign reads: ‚ÄúConfess a fear, a secret, a question. Leave it in the box. Return in two days and the back will speak.‚Äù Completing this task is the first step to ‚Äúcrossing into the abyss.‚Äù 

Although erecting such an experiment in one’s front yard may sound absurd to most, it is just another project on the extensive resume of Johnny Monsarrat. The former MIT mascot beaver said, “My entire life history is full of crazy projects, it’s not enough to just have a birthday party; I’ve got to have a prank and a guy in a costume.”

This ambition is on display from Harvard Square to his home on Elm Street. After watching Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” with his girlfriend recently, Monsarrat was inspired by the main character Orlando’s act of love, in which he tacked up poems in the Forest of Arden for his lover Rosalind. Monsarrat attached flowers to 15 original poems and posted them along his partner’s walk from her house to his. “She was of course flattered,” he said, “I earned some brownie points for it.”

“Crossing into the Abyss” also owes its inspiration to a movie, although less critically acclaimed.

Monsarrat said “The Love Guru” sparked the idea for the garden because comedian Mike Myers clearly inserts his life philosophy into the film. “I thought ‘Gee, I’ve got a life philosophy too,’” Monsarrat said. The garden took off from there.

“I really believe that most people know what they have to do—if you’re jobless, get a job; if you’re loveless, go date—but they block it out because they choke,” he said. “Life is a big deal, it’s so big that people choke and they don’t move forward.”

“Well the path represents your past and present; the abyss—the spiral, the shrine—is your future,” he said. “And like your future it’s strange and unknown. But if you dare to walk into the circle and put a card up, then why not face your future. It’s symbolic that you’re ready to move on.”

Monsarrat faced his own abyss at one point in his life. “In 2002, I was 327 pounds and in an unhappy marriage.” He said he felt things were always his fault, until he decided to finally make himself one of his famous projects. He said he created three lists: all the things that made him happy, all the things that made him sad, and all the things that he thought made him happy, but really didn’t, “like binge eating.” One by one he began fixing things in his life and gained momentum along the way. “Now I’m in a very good place and have been for three years,” he said. “I recommend it.”

As his life improved, so did his projects. They morphed into companies, including his first venture, Turbine, which he said is now the largest computer game company in the world. He said he sold his stock in Turbine to start up his next project, Hard Data Factory, a company that provides detailed information to help other companies grow, such as competitive pricing information or names and addresses for sales leads.

On top of serving as CEO to Hard Data, he maintains his pride and joy, www.johnnylist.blogspot.com, an extensive listing of every New England event for the next year. And in between all that, Monsarrat said he puts aside “an hour and a half everyday” to answer 10 questions for his front-yard advice column.

However, answering every comment, question or confession is not as easy as it sounds, especially when it requires a translator. Monsarrat has received one question in Spanish and one in Chinese, both of which he managed to respond to, in the original language of course.

He said his goal when answering is to be supportive and direct. “One person wrote, ‘Why don’t boys like me?’ The generic ‘Dear Abby’ advice would be, ‘Don’t worry, it’ll happen,’” he said. “What that means is, ‘Don’t worry and gain some self-confidence; that’ll tend to attract people.’ So I just prefer to write that instead.”

Monsarrat said people are often afraid to ask for help, so he’s combating that with his garden. “If you needed someone to come up and ask you what’s going on in your life, how can you be helped, consider it done,” he said. “No more waiting.”