February 2011
39 posts
Happy One-Year Anniversary! →
Today is the one-year anniversary of If I Were a Hoarder. When I started this blog, in the lonely eighth year of a Ph.D. program, I noted that I should be working on my dissertation, not writing about junk… Now I’m in the lonelier ninth year of a Ph.D. program, and, well, I should be working on my dissertation, not writing about junk…
January 2011
123 posts
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Junk at Porta Ludovica
My very rough translation of the first four paragraphs of Carlo Emilio Gadda’s “Carabattole a Porta Ludovica”:
To free oneself of a sick old tool, a dusty contraption from the bazaar of our life! A psychological effort worse than any disease. To separate ourselves from a fake-mahogany frame wreathed with golden chili peppers, with a portrait of the first wife of the uncle of...
NY Times: "My Personal Baggage" by Amanda Fortini →
I’m not a hoarder. I don’t save tin foil, cereal box tops or those plastic rings that yoke a six-pack together. The problem is not too much stuff in my home; it’s the stuff that leaves home with me. I’m like a nomad, hauling my worldly possessions on my back.
I have the same problem, as anyone who has seen me on campus lugging a rolling suitcase stuffed with books, a gym bag, a purse, and a...
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Totally Off Topic...
…But related to all this talk of Boston: How much do you love the new bridge!
strwbrryjacuzzi-deactivated2012 asked: omg watertown!!! im in newton at lasell college! w00t!!
stuffsickpeoplehavetoputupwith- asked: My bad---you currently live in Cali. But where you're from? Less than 5 miles from where I live. I noticed you took down the post about friending you on FB, and I hope you weren't spooked or something. I really don't care / am not a stalker in the least----I just found it interesting what a small world we live in. Also, based on your profile, we have more in common than just the...
breatheouttheanxiety-deactivate asked: Hi! I follow you on my personal blog, and you seem like you like to inspire and help people, so I figured I’d share this (it’s not spam/fake I promise).
I just started a blog for people that struggle with anxiety. People can share stories, ask questions, get advice/info, etc about it. Anxiety takes it’s toll on way too many people, and usually just talking about it can...
I just started a blog for people that struggle with anxiety. People can share stories, ask questions, get advice/info, etc about it. Anxiety takes it’s toll on way too many people, and usually just talking about it can...
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Watch“The Making of Ms. Augustine Greane,” a film by Nathan Gulick about the installation piece by Wes Bruce.
Thank you to Madcapped for the submission!
From the Archives: "Hoarder, or Someone with a Lot... →
My father doesn’t hoard newspapers, empty containers, bottle caps, or other ephemera of consumer culture, and he doesn’t live in filth, exactly. The diagnosis of “hoarder” would even seem like an exaggeration were it not for the fact that his house is now completely full, and in some rooms the clutter rises above shoulder level… [ Read On ]
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From the Archives: Is Hoarding Related to... →
Most basically, compulsive hoarding seems to have less to do with material deprivation than with increased anxiety about economic contingencies, but I have a lot more to say about it than that..
Packrat - Watch the Documentary Film for Free →
via wyrdwhorl
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The New Yorker: Jessie Sholl on Hoarding →
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Bay Area Readings by Jessie Sholl →
A reminder that Jessie Sholl, author of Dirty Secret: A Daughter Comes Clean About Her Mother’s Compulsive Hoarding will be doing a reading and book-signing at the El Cerrito Barnes & Noble at 7 p.m. I hope to see you there!
If you’re in the Bay Area and can’t make the reading tomorrow, she’ll also be at Book Passage in the Ferry Building at 6 p.m. on Tuesday.
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“The hoarding drive is boundless in its nature. Qualitatively or formally...”
– Karl Marx, Capital, Vol. 1
Watchlittleskies:
The Cathedral of Junk is a prime example of where the term “keep Austin weird” comes from. Vince Hannemann started building it in 1988, and It apparently reached its pinnacle earlier this year, when 20 years of construction had to be mostly taken down to be in accordance with city building permits. I’m sad to have missed the cathedral in its true glory, but it was still just as...
Watchlittleskies:
The Cathedral of Junk is a prime example of where the term “keep Austin weird” comes from. Vince Hannemann started building it in 1988, and It apparently reached its pinnacle earlier this year, when 20 years of construction had to be mostly taken down to be in accordance with city building permits. I’m sad to have missed the cathedral in its true glory, but it was still just as...
stuckwithinadream asked: i am so afraid of becoming a hoarder someday....i already collect little things and i have several different collections. looking through your blog makes me feel a little better! :D
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Mr Edmund Trebus
j-to-b writes:
hi :)
i thought this story would be of interest to you!
there used to be a programme called ‘life of grime’ in the uk that highlighted the works of council workers and pest controllers as they cleaned up streets and and council property in different towns and cities in england. one of the stories that it featured was that of mr trebus, a former polish war veteran...
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paradichlor asked: You mentioned Fontaine's clipping of images from the chintzy nonprofit address labels she received in the mail, and incorrectly surmised that the address portion must have been wrong. Probably not; people just receive thousands more labels than they could ever possibly use. I clip the images off (they are hopelessly uninteresting and unbeautiful) and but keep almost all of the address...
paradichlor asked: You mentioned Fontaine's clipping of images from the chintzy nonprofit address labels she received in the mail, and incorrectly surmised that the address portion must have been wrong. Probably not; people just receive thousands more labels than they could ever possibly use. I clip the images off (they are hopelessly uninteresting and unbeautiful) and but keep almost all of the address...
Mr Edmund Trebus
j-to-b writes:
hi :)
i thought this story would be of interest to you!
there used to be a programme called ‘life of grime’ in the uk that highlighted the works of council workers and pest controllers as they cleaned up streets and and council property in different towns and cities in england. one of the stories that it featured was that of mr trebus, a former polish war veteran...
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Noette: On Hoarding →
noette writes:
I am hoarder. I know this and accept this. I do not mean accept as in defeat. Just accept as in I know it is inside me, and I am aware of it’s presence in my life. In this way I hope to minimize it’s impact on my life.
The reason I bring this up is because today I threw out the corsage that I was given by a male friend for my Formal. (Kinda like a prom for all you non-UK...