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Possessions

Possessions

What we trade for our things

River Selby (they/them)'s avatar
River Selby (they/them)
Nov 28, 2022
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On the day after Thanksgiving I bought too many things online, knowing I was moving into a new apartment in a month and I don’t even have pots and pans. To find the best deals, I sifted through all the websites yelling HERE ARE THE BEST BLACK FRIDAY DEALS and filled up many carts on many websites.

I talked myself into and out of getting a Kitchen-Aid stand mixer, a Staub coccote (like the one I sold before I moved here), a nice dinnerware set. I filled baskets with nice things and then closed websites, only to reopen them again, my basket still there, waiting for me.

Let’s be clear: I have no money. Not real money. I am tenuously sustained by my PhD fellowship and stipend, plus some loans. I am still paying off medical bills for my back surgery six months ago. I have a car payment. My rent is going up, and moving, even in town, is expensive.

Yet I filled basket after basket after basket. My email inbox itself was a kind of basket, being filled with Black Friday offerings promising me…

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