The Real Divorcees of Facebook Marketplace
Often, we acquire stuff because it reflects something we aspire to become. We buy clothes that are too small because we hope we’ll lose weight. We buy books because we hope we’ll become experts in a topic. We buy craft supplies because we hope we’ll master a new skill. Then a year or two later, when the clothes haven’t been worn, the books haven’t
... See moreMallorie Vaudoise • Honoring Your Ancestors: A Guide to Ancestral Veneration
Benjamin’s library was a personal monument, the same kind that we all construct of things we like or identify with. Its importance was dependent on permanence — collections are made up of things that we own, that don’t go away unless we decide they should. “Ownership is the most intimate relationship that one can have to objects,” Benjamin wrote. “... See more
Kyle Chayka • Essay: The digital death of collecting
For Benjamin, the importance of collecting stemmed from its endurance and persistence, a longterm commitment that the collector makes to the collection. “A collector’s attitude toward his possessions stems from an owner’s feeling of responsibility toward his property,” he wrote in his library essay. Benjamin would have detested the era of algorithm... See more
Essay: The digital death of collecting
Abandoned objects were best. Ones that had been owned for a long while, so they had a strong Identity, but that currently had nobody in the Physical Realm to care for them.