new of the news year

[calimac]

1. I finally finished watching Ken Burns' Dust Bowl documentary a few days ago. What most interested me was the geography. Centering on the exact area in the US where five states come most closely together (could that have contributed to any lack of regional coordination?), events of the Dust Bowl were given some precise individual locations in the film. And I realized that, apart from passing by the edges on a couple of childhood trips, I've never been there.

2. At a New Year's party I was quietly informed of a home truth that certain people in the SF community consider me an old fuddy-duddy in Tolkien matters. Well, of course they do. I have refused to bow to our new fan-fiction masters. Even a mere personal preference for the original author's unsullied creation is more rebellion than they can tolerate. Well, in Tolkien even ultimate defeat does not turn right into wrong, and I stand with those authors who do not wish graffiti drawn on their creations in public (what you do in private is your own business), such old fuddies as Ursula K. Le Guin.

3. Enough has been said in public elsewhere that I can explain my cryptic post of Saturday. The DeHoard Crew of which I was a part was sorting through the accumulated clutter of the life of our friend Vanessa. V. kept stuff, lots of stuff, in boxes and storage bins, each of them entirely miscellaneous, and they had long since taken over her house. In and among these bins we found papers, fabric, art supplies and sewing equipment, cameras and software, numerous old Altoids tins (not all of them empty), uncashed ten-year-old membership checks for a society of which she was secretary, and a 15-year-overdue library book, which I volunteered to return to its owner because I sometimes pass that way. In the course of two days' work, a pathway was actually cleared between the doors at opposite ends of the largest room in the house ... at which point we found that mice had been living underneath. The most poignant moment for me came when a clearer from the country-dancing side of V's life held up an old apa mailing and asked, "What's this?" Fortunate that I was in the room to answer the question.

Comments

[wild-irises.livejournal.com]

If the "fuddy-duddy" comment comes from me avoiding that conversation, that's not what I meant to convey.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

Absolutely not you. You don't presume to lecture me on the insufficiency of my appreciation of fan fiction. The persons referred to are certain mutual acquaintances who were 3000 miles away from that room. I intend to continue to maintain this distance.

[whswhs.livejournal.com]

I would not have guessed that without the explanation. I had assumed you were uncluttering your own habitation, as chorale and I are doing with ours.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

Then I'm relieved that I explained it. I have a lot of stuff, but I'm not a hoarder. Though my current working surfaces are messy, my back files are organized, and I don't keep stuff because it's easier than throwing it away. I'm afraid I know many people who take a different view.

[anderyn.livejournal.com]

I'm glad that you are not the hoarder in question. I have too many books, myself, even after a large purge, and I'm thinking that's one thing I need to do very seriously this year -- downsize my collection to something that's less hard to find things in, perhaps. Also, I need to do the same for my craft supplies. It's hard to craft when you can't find the paper/glue/yarn/needles/pens/etc. you need.

I'm sorry that you were told you were a fuddy-duddy -- while I myself appreciate some fan fiction (mostly for tv shows, though I do occasionally like a different take on Harry Potter), I certainly would not think that anyone who differed from me was anything but, you know, holding a different opinion. Also, in the case of Tolkien, I don't actually understand the fan fiction desire -- the books as they stand are enough of a secondary creation that I feel they don't need anything else besides themselves and shouldn't be messed with. Eh. De gustibus non est disputandem, after all.

[lisa-marli.livejournal.com]

Cleaning up after a hoarder must be one of the hardest things to do. At least it is being done by her friends who will know what all of it is, even if it is just an APA. It is one of life's mitzvahs, and I'm sure V appreciates her friends hard work.
Since I to am a hoarder, my daughter is already grumbling about the amount of work she will have. But since I am in need of cleaning up, I hope my health and Big Harold's health holds up so I can get some done this year.
Things done and cleaned up does have some rewards. And I might be able to use some of my Yarn!