America is one big episode of Hoarders
I saw an IG post that said the average home has 40,000 items in it. Then I saw something else that said the American home has 300,000 items. Basically - that’s a big discrepancy and there’s no clear source for either stat so we’ll have to disregard both numbers. We’ll never know.
There are some interesting things that I came across along the way though….
The average American home is getting larger in size while the American family is getting smaller. But who can really afford to feed a bunch of people with the grocery prices looking like they do?
We now have more self-storage facilities than McDonald’s and Starbucks. COMBINED. That’s just too much stuff.
Even Skateboard P knows you gotta purge sometimes.
Pharrell was auctioning his own things via his online platform, Joopiter. My 4 years in the Tidewater area had me so excited to look at the collection a couple of months ago. There was very little that I could afford. And now I understand that I was not the target audience. Just so we’re clear - Drake bought a few pieces of the jewelry being auctioned. I do not have Drake money, not even Degrassi coins.
Pharrell talked about having 11 storage units worth of stuff, and it just made me think about our connection with things and keeping them. I’m notorious for keeping things for a long time, but not like in a “pristine condition, collector’s item” kind of way. Like I had some Coach boots that I wore the soles off, got them resoled, and eventually my friend threw them in the trash during a move. She just said, “It’s time.” It had been 12 years of consistent use.
I’ve never had a storage unit, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have the clutter gene. Sometimes I’m nostalgic, wanting to hang on to old things that I’ve associated with happy memories. But sometimes I’m totally over it and ready to throw things away rationalizing with “They’ll sell me another one.”
I’m no longer a one-click-to-buy Amazon girl, but I still have a loooong way to go.
Things from around the web
The Glamour of Tears. I found myself in an interesting convo a couple of months ago about people posting themselves crying on IG. It feels weird to me, but I don’t really know why. I’m a strong advocate of letting your feelings out but something about having them, pausing to record, then posting that moment feels off to me. I can’t put my finger on. Am I on the only one? Let me know.
Even the groundhogs are confused. Will we have more spring or more winter? I thought there was only 1 official groundhog, but seems like there are 3 of ‘em.
Where is Ryan Leslie?! I recently saw a tweet recommending him for a Tiny Desk and I said yes like EYE was getting paid, ok?!
He was really ahead of his time, and also made music production look too easy.1 Courier a flugelhorn so I can get the right sound on this track? No problem!
Y’all already going too far this Black History Month! I gotta admit, the Harriet Tubman rap went kinda hard.
Let’s skip over the required musical talent part….