Addicted !
“Hi my name is ___ and I’m addicted to paper.” That’s how I’d introduce myself at a meeting of Paperaholics Anonymous, if there were such a group.
I am not now and never will be one of those little old ladies who hoards so many newspapers and magazines that you can’t traverse the living room without fear of toppling walls of paper towers.
BUT, I have a serious “affinity” for paper.
Not just any paper, though. Good paper. Useful paper. Paper of VALUE. Like clippings of fascinating articles from the New Yorker that bear more careful reading, articles I downloaded and printed from the online New York Times that are easier to read on paper (but I haven’t read them yet), recipes from the Oregonian that maybe someday I’ll try (if I ever get back to serious cooking), editorials from our local paper that deserve a letter to the editor (or did when they first appeared six months ago). That sort of stuff.
I have the notion that if I can collect enough information on, say, health care reform, I’ll be able to make a difference in the public debate. I’ll be able to convince my neighbors to take appropriate action, testify to my congressperson, or simply write a reasoned and informed opinion piece for the paper (which of course they will want to publish).
All the above is what I tell myself as I print out the latest DailyKos blog. Instead what I get is a major paper hangover as I survey the stack of MUST READs. The paper paralyzes me. At least once a month I spend the day purging, getting down to wood, feeling sheepish then triumphant, vowing NEVER to have to do this again.
I need someone to lock up my printer and my clipping scissors. I need to pick one issue. ONE issue. If it’s health care reform, I need to let somebody else worry about global warming. Someone else needs to slap down the hypocritical religious right. Someone else needs to take care of the sorry state of public education, the war in Iraq, social security.
Who will it be? You? Do you have a pet issue that needs your focused attention? Help me out here!
I am not now and never will be one of those little old ladies who hoards so many newspapers and magazines that you can’t traverse the living room without fear of toppling walls of paper towers.
BUT, I have a serious “affinity” for paper.
Not just any paper, though. Good paper. Useful paper. Paper of VALUE. Like clippings of fascinating articles from the New Yorker that bear more careful reading, articles I downloaded and printed from the online New York Times that are easier to read on paper (but I haven’t read them yet), recipes from the Oregonian that maybe someday I’ll try (if I ever get back to serious cooking), editorials from our local paper that deserve a letter to the editor (or did when they first appeared six months ago). That sort of stuff.
I have the notion that if I can collect enough information on, say, health care reform, I’ll be able to make a difference in the public debate. I’ll be able to convince my neighbors to take appropriate action, testify to my congressperson, or simply write a reasoned and informed opinion piece for the paper (which of course they will want to publish).
All the above is what I tell myself as I print out the latest DailyKos blog. Instead what I get is a major paper hangover as I survey the stack of MUST READs. The paper paralyzes me. At least once a month I spend the day purging, getting down to wood, feeling sheepish then triumphant, vowing NEVER to have to do this again.
I need someone to lock up my printer and my clipping scissors. I need to pick one issue. ONE issue. If it’s health care reform, I need to let somebody else worry about global warming. Someone else needs to slap down the hypocritical religious right. Someone else needs to take care of the sorry state of public education, the war in Iraq, social security.
Who will it be? You? Do you have a pet issue that needs your focused attention? Help me out here!
posted by JoieDe at 10:49 AM
3 Comments:
All right -- I'll take on global warming. Shall drag all my men to the World Environment Day festivities in SF tomorrow to prove it. I'm also TOOOOO happy to be the one to toss your scissors. As for the printer . . . well, I might just take the printer off your hands -- it runs too well to trash :) In return, you must promise never to call and whine about the piles around your desk/bed/car/catbox/etc again. Deal?
I understand your addiction to paper! The feeling that there is so much that needs to be addressed, and so much more that we have to read and research before we feel qualified to speak out. Thanks for letting me know that I am not alone!
I have a fairly large space (10 x 10, air-conditioned, etc.) in one of those public storage places. In it rest several boxes of unread clippings from the 1990's. Perhaps you'd like to start such an archive yourself.
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