Opinion: One person’s trash might be another’s treasured collectible
I’ve run out of space for my feather collection, and it’s not because I have so many of them. I don’t. The problem is that I’ve consciously limited the display space to my home office, and I don’t want them taking over any other part of the house.
In comparison to other collectors who have spent years building up their pile of tchotchkes and treasures, I’m a relative novice. During COVID lockdown, when my only non-screen outdoor entertainment were long walks, I started picking up feathers I found around the neighborhood. One feather became two, two became five, five … well, you get the picture. Before I knew it, I had dozens of feathers — white, brown, gray, black, blue, mottled, and striped — tucked in mugs, vases, even in an antique inkpot.
I don’t know why I do it. Then again, that’s not exactly true. Picking up a feather, washing it carefully, and then patting it dry with a napkin gives me pleasure. I like admiring the feathers when I’m not staring at my desktop monitor. They’re pretty, and they bring the outside indoors.
If you measure their value in dollars and cents, the feathers are worthless, but I don’t care. Money’s not the point. Besides, I like remembering when and where I found each of them, and certainly there are worse obsessions to have.
Searching for an appropriate unobtrusive location on my bookshelves has gotten me wondering about why we collect the things we do. I doubt feathers are a popular collectible, but other items have been for a very long time. Think: coins, stamps (which I collected as a child), souvenir spoons, postcards, coffee or beer mugs, even refrigerator magnets.
At one point, The Hubby collected antique tools. He scoured garage sales to supplement the pieces he had inherited from handy relatives. Eventually, and long before I came into the picture, he sold them off, yet to this day he reminisces about pieces that he loved.
Back in the day, all the boys I knew collected and traded baseball cards. My youngest brother still has quite the stockpile and, in fact, the sale of one helped finance the down payment on his home. (And to think my mother often complained about the plastic sleeves and binders he cared for so lovingly.) In addition to the cards, he’s got a collection of bobbleheads and other sports memorabilia that he proudly displays in his living room. Quite the conversation pieces, I must admit.
A childhood friend remodeled a room to house his vinyl LP collection. He began accumulating records as a teen and continued even as that music format gave way to eight-tracks, then CDs, and now Spotify and Pandora. He’s on to something. Vinyl has made a comeback because some of my grandkids own old-fashioned record players and albums. The quality of the sound, they tell me, is better.
A few celebrities are known for their unusual collections too. Tom Hanks for typewriters, Barbra Streisand for old furniture, Demi Moore for vintage dolls. I also know people who collect cars and art, but this usually involves deep pockets, so that leaves out most of us.
Archeologists know humans have been collecting since time immemorial. And since time immemorial, the motivation is often prestige and profit. Displaying the rare provides proof of the power to own something.
But there’s another factor to the collecting equation. The hunt. For example, I’ve spent not a penny on my feathers, but it has taken a strong pair of legs to walk the long distances and a steady gaze to examine the shifting ground. It’s been dangerous too. Klutz that I am, I once skinned and bruised my knees reaching for a white feather that probably belonged to an egret.
It was painful, yes, but oh, the beauty! It was well worth the fall.
Ana Veciana-Suarez writes about family and social issues. Email avecianasuarez@gmail.com.
You have questions. I have some answers.
Q: am a fond watcher of “PBS NewsHour.” There has been no “Politics Monday” (with Amy Walter and Tamara Keith) segment since the new year started, and no mention of what is going on. Do you know? A:
you know, “NewsHour” underwent a big change after Judy Woodruff retired as anchor at the end of last year and a new team, Geoff Bennett and Amna Nawaz, became co-anchors. A “NewsHour” statement said,
“As we embark on 2023 with a new co-anchor team, we are hitting pause on our Monday ‘Political Stakes’ segment. We’ll continue to cover politics intensely and we look forward to welcoming Amy Walter and Tamara Keith’s insights and reporting on the program again soon.” Keith posted that statement on Twitter recently, adding “I don’t have a lot of answers. I’ll just say the 7+ years I got to be part of the Politics Monday team … were a gift.”
Q: really enjoyed the CBS shows “The Neighborhood” and “Bob Hearts Abishola.” Will they be returning for another season, or have they been canceled? A:
has renewed both comedies for the 2023-24 season. In addition to each show having about 7 million viewers per episode across all platforms, CBS noted that “The Neighborhood” is the most watched comedy among
African American viewers, and “Bob Hearts Abishola” ranks second.
CBS, by the way, has also renewed comedies “Young Sheldon” and “Ghosts” for next season.
Q: you have info on the potential revival of the TV show “Justified,” and when and where it might be available for viewing? A:
to FX, probably this summer, is “Justified: City Primeval,” a miniseries with Timothy Olyphant back as federal marshal Raylan Givens. The cast has some returning players and a host of new ones, the latter including Olyphant’s reallife daughter as Givens’ child.
The original “Justified” was inspired by an Elmore Leonard story and the new production draws on another Leonard work, “City Primeval: High Noon in Detroit,” although Givens is not part of that book.
The core of that story, and the ongoing fascination of Givens as a character, led to the new production. There’s crime, of course. But more intriguing is what one showrunner told EW.com: that Givens is “at a state in his life where he is this walking anachronism, and can this guy survive in a world that’s not the same world that he’s used to? And the world’s changed politically, sociologically, and he’s changed as a man, and that’s where we find him.”
Q: seems like this last episode of “The Resident” on Fox was wrapping up with happy endings for the hospital and characters. Has it been canceled? A:
that we know of. While the Season 6 finale looked like a planned farewell, series co-creator Amy Holden Jones told TVLine.com that “we do this every year. Last year’s (season finale) worked as a series finale also, but thankfully, it wasn’t to be. We left open questions and put new character arcs in place to launch us into Season 7. We never hear (about renewal) until May, so it’s a recurring issue.” Still, she said, “I can promise a great Season 7, should it occur.”
Q: recently saw a picture on the internet of Loretta Young and Marlo Thomas together, which described them as mother and daughter. Is there any truth to that? A:
Young was Marlo Thomas’ godmother. And you can find Thomas’ video tribute to Young on Turner Classic Movies (tcm.com).