Friday, April 09, 2010

Another crippling consequence of the modern positives

Cleaning up, I got all happy and thought about writing an ode to throwing things away, but then I got confused because of the whole recycling thing. Throwing things away isn’t what it used to be. Not the relief of decluttering, of kicking materialism’s ass, of embracing simplicity, learning to live with less, the whole bit. Now you should find new uses for stuff. Even the old flannel nightgown you never wear. You should darn it, spruce it up with rick-rack, make it more appealing and upcycle it into a “vintage” tunic. Not the defective ceiling fan. You should fix it, or let the kids build a jet airplane in the yard with it. Not the even your garbage is safe. Couldn’t you incorporate it in some amazing artwork even though you sucked in art class? Well, you could at least try. That’s the other thing these days. Everybody is an artist. You just need to dig. Boy, I was looking forward to throwing a couple sacks of crap out but now I feel obliged to hide them in the basement. And wear a beret.

7 comments:

Elisabeth said...

Try the Salvos or St Vinnies, though even these folks can be selective, but you're right, I daren't throw anything out these days.

If it is in anyway useful I have to pass it on to charity and at the same time I feel ashamed if it's well past its use by date.

Kass said...

My basement and garage are full of future art pieces. This is actually my thought process when I refuse to see junk as refuse.

Radish King said...

*SNORK*

Radish King said...

ps. I started purging my house last year or the year before I can't remember but it was amazing how freeing that was how letting go of all that crap and making room for new crap or just space seemed to make room in my brain. No guilt. I burned a lot of stuff and gave put the good stuff in the box with the smiling face on it. Including a lot of books I knew I'd never read again.

SarahJane said...

Books are especially hard. Even my inner artist, who is still at the café smoking cigarettes and wearing her black beret, thinks the pages could be useful in a collage.

ArtSparker said...

Take up sculpture. Pretty much anything can be wrapped in wire mesh and duct tape, just put layers of thinset mortar on tope et voilá, you have a monument.

SarahJane said...

There's an idea. Wrap it all up in wire and tape. Would make a nice song, too.

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