Objects Quarterly

Volume VIII: Keepers and Losers; demonized object; plastic debris; AI slop items; etc.

Welcome to the latest edition of OBJECTS QUARTERLY, a roundup of object-related items of interest published, uh, quarterly, for supporters of The Art of Noticing. Attending to objects is a sub-theme of TAoN, and a favorite subject of mine. Revisit prior OQ issues, and other mindful materialism posts, here. While this is for TAoN supporters, I encourage you to forward OQ to potentially interested parties. Enjoy!

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KEEPERS AND LOSERS

Although the Give It Up project I’ve mentioned previously has now concluded, I continue to think about its themes — and how tricky it can be to part with even a formerly meaningful object.

So I was intrigued to hear from writer/editor Rachel Kramer Bussel about a couple of object projects she’s working on. First: a series she’s been editing over at her Substack/lit mag Open Secrets, which is focused on personal essays. The series is called Object-ives:

Object-ives features 500-999 word flash nonfiction essays about possessions we can’t stop thinking about. Whether we love(d) or hate(d) them, these objects teach us powerful lessons about ourselves.

The most recent installment is about an owl lamp that has survived multiple object purges by the author. If you’re a fan of objects, story, and meaning, check out the series (and maybe submit a story of your own?).

That said, I was even more intrigued to learn about Bussel’s own, separate object project, described in her personal newsletter. It’s a Year of Decluttering, introduced with a thoughtful post on the project and its motivations:

The short version is that I’ll be getting rid of one physical item a day for the next 365 days. I’ll be tracking them all, posting photos and descriptions on Threads and Substack Notes, hopefully daily, and summarizing them in this newsletter.

Evidently this undertaking was inspired in part by Christine Platt’s book The Afrominimalist’s Guide to Living with Less. Bessel writes:

Platt founded the #1Thing1Day1Year decluttering challenge, which you can learn more about here, and I encourage you to follow her on Instagram. The challenge is exactly what it sounds like, a method of slow decluttering that’s, as she wrote in January 2024, “an opportunity for us to get in the habit of letting go of things that no longer serve us using a low-pressure, holistic approach.”

In that opening essay Bussel describes a first purge: a “from the library of” stamp. (“I don’t need my books to have my name in them. That actually feels a little weird and presumptuous.”)

Again it may be a hangover from Give It Up, but I feel these two projects reflect something a lot more considered than the usual “decluttering” discourse. The question “Should I keep this thing, or lose it (that is: let it go)?” is worth taking seriously. How do you decide?

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IN OTHER (OBJECT) NEWS:

DEPT OF EXPRESSIVE OBJECTS:

In what sounds like the opposite of decluttering, The New York Times covers “junk journaling:”