Articles of Interest
I skip lunch. My father’s clothes have been occupying his bedroom since he died in December, as if sitting an extended shiva. I sort them in one long afternoon last week: try on and keep, give away, consignment. I don't know from where the motivation suddenly came but once it did, I was driven to see it all the way through. Books, opera CDs, and nice clothes were the pillars of my father's worldly possessions, keystones of his personality and identity. "This is yours now," my father prematurely gestured to me shortly before he died, as if meaning "this is your problem." Social impact challenges are generational issues, although I approach them as if they can be solved in a single lifetime, if not a few years. They could be, but we'd have to see ourselves, and our economic system, radically different. Changing not just broad perspective, but identity takes time. Americans are foremost proficient and individualistic consumers. Our national symbol should be the oversized Costco shopping cart. Sorting through the last of my father's stuff wasn't an exercise in nostalgia as much as surprise. Another sweater? What was he thinking when he bought this? So many (really nice) ties! Like any offspring does, I skimmed from him, or tried to, taking only what I felt suited and fit me. And like any child, I ended up with more than I anticipated. My father appreciated good design and took pleasure in owning embodiments of it. I undoubtedly inherited some of my design proclivities from him but, unlike him, can be satisfied with much less. Progress.
