Letter of Recommendation

 As always, I cannot promise I will post to this blog, mainly because of time constraints, partly because I work all day on a computer at my job, so when I'm not at work, I prefer working by hand, with a pen, or a typewriter.

That said, this blog is conceptualized as a tribute to the New York Times' "Letter of Recommendation" feature in the Sunday magazine.  I was surprised to find the name available in the blogspot world, so I grabbed it when I was thinking about it.

I love the weekly "Letter of Recommendation", and I miss it when they do special editions of the magazine where they do away with all the regular features.  I like to see what people like so much that they recommend it, and what the New York Times feels is worthy of an article, given that the internet gives us access to an almost uncountable number of opinions about favorite things.  I always think about the articles I would write and the things I would recommend.

The articles are not always about material things - the Mountain Time Zone, which is also where I live, was the most recent.  However, I'm curious about our relationship to material objects in general, and to my own relationship to them in particular.

I have always fantasized about having a small set of possessions, but even as a college student, I tended to collect more items than were needed.  The problem is I visualize a small set of ideal possessions, which might be where my love of the "Letter of Recommendation" comes in.  I have multiple versions of most things - daypacks, typewriters, camping stoves, jackets, bicycles, berets, expedition backpacks.  I am not the idealized version of myself - who is? - but instead of working on behaviors that would lead me more in that direction, I often look for objects that would frame the picture of myself as I would like to be.  That material framing of a life is where advertisers earn their keep.

I'm not sure that advertisers have a particularly good bead on me as a target for their endeavors.  What do I want my possessions to say about me?  I prefer simple, mechanical things.  I would say that I want to own few things, but I am lying if I claim that my preference is not also a fascination for simple, mechanical things, and that leads to a little bit of collecting.  I like natural materials - pottery, leather, steel, iron, aluminum, beeswax, canvas, wool.

I'm curious how the internet has led to pockets of interest in particular items.  How would my interests be different if I were limited to what the physical market offered?

That's enough for now.  Like I said - too little time.  At this point, I may never add to this blog, or I may begin to add frequently.  It's hard to say, but I have it here as a placeholder.  In the meantime, I heartily suggest subscribing to the print edition of the Sunday New York Times and enjoying the official "Letter of Recommendation."