Stories from stuff – Let go of your stuff with a story at a Show & Tell-NYC event Saturday, May 31, 5-7pm, @BuythatBag, 159 28th street, Sunset Park, Brooklyn.
Here’s an excerpt from my story:
“I refused to dump mother’s possessions at the curb. But, I could not keep anything. I was in a dilemma. I justified leaving the old trunk safely in the house just sold. Since the new owners were distant relatives, I left hoping that they might find something useful. Their eyes lit up! They knew of mother’s superstitious habit of hiding her money. My inner artist had long been submerged by grief on that last day at mother’s house. Today, I would have easily found a way to keep some colorful fabric to make quilts, other creations and donate the rest.
My mother told me that she inherited that old, heavy, wooden trunk from her mother. When my maternal grandmother arrived in Harlem from Trinidad, she found it on a sidewalk. She painted it with colorful flowers and it moved into her life. My mother said that she used to sit and climb on it just as we did as children. That trunk moved with Grandma every time she moved—to various Harlem apartments, down to the Bowery, to 14th street, Chinatown, and eventually to our house on President Street in Brooklyn. The trunk, now painted grey, was last kept in our basement. It was intermingled with my mother’s and grandmother’s things—vintage fabric and tapestries, sewing notions like zippers, snaps, hooks, buttons, beads and fibers including yarn, threads, twines, ribbons, sequins, lace, fringe, trimmings, tassels, and crochet, knitting, embroidery and art supplies. There were also nick-knacks, old greeting cards, and how-to booklets. My maternal elders were talented craftswomen who made everything with their hands—upholstery, apparel, costumes, rugs, curtains, quilts, pillowcases and other domestic items.” Excerpted from “Fabric of Our Lives,” published in my blog post March 12. 2013.
If you are de-cluttering, moving or simply letting go of your old stuff, tell a story about it at a grown-up “Show & Tell” coming to Brooklyn – @BuythatBag, 159 28th street (Sunset Park), Saturday, May 31, 5-7pm. This event will benefit the Housing Works, an organization that helps HIV-AIDS survivors. Here’s the link for more information: