Skip to main content

What's In Store


In the unreal spectrum of what passes for reality TV is a little genre that follows the exploits of people who buy storage lockers. Storage Wars is probably the leader of the pack. I watch an episode or two now and again because some of the characters and some of their recovered loot perks my interest. If you stop judging the quality of this entertainment and the people who seem to make it their avocation, you can learn a thing or two about the treasures they bid or gamble on. They're risk takers, dreamers, who discover a real find now and then.
Antiques Roadshow it's not. They've glammed it all up to make "powerful TV." In other words it's an exaggerated mess that's orchestrated for an audience that's mostly materialistic or in a coma. Still I watch from time to time. But after you get past the locker with nothing but dirty mattresses, or the one with a valuable coin collection in a dresser drawer, something else is sneaking into your brain. After the ending feature where that snuff box recovered from an otherwise messy assemblage of Tupperware, outdated and musty clothes, and painted pine furniture, gets appraised at $3000. Something is raising it's unwanted head.
This stuff stored away, this stuff up for sale because someone didn't pay the rent on the locker, this stuff which contains personal effects, family photos, collections, accumulations, packed up lives...this stuff belongs to somebody. Somebody else.
The entire premise of this show is that all's fair in storage facilities and those who can't pay the rent. There is just one logical question that nobody seems to ask, much less answer. Why don't those in arrears use the contents of the locker, or even just something they can easily sell, and pay that overdue rent. Nope. They just abandon these pieces of furniture, these doll collections, these antiques? Couldn't pay the $100. due this month so I just walked away from the entire locker worth 5K?
How about a hard hitting documentary on the people who lost it all. Who are these folks who would rather walk away from an intriguing pile of life's detritus than to let some unctuous bargain hunter buy it for half it's worth and resell it for double or triple that?
I'm interested in the other war going on in their lives.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

To a Tee

 I'm a sucker for a good t-shirt.  They are the foundational garment of my life.  My day starts with selecting a t-shirt and it ends with sleeping in one.  Once thought of as under garments, t-shirts are now original art and no doubt, a billion dollar business.   You can get a t-shirt with anybody's picture displayed.  You can commemorate an event, a birthday, a death, even a specular play in any sport.  Family reunions usually have a commemorative t-shirt.  Also, any organization that solicits your support in the form of a donation is likely to offer you a t-shirt. Where once I only had the basic white t-shirt, my drawers are filled with all manner of colorful choices.  Some recognize major events in my life, some, spectacular performances or plays I have witnessed, and some unforgettable places I have been.   I say I'm a sucker for a good t-shirt because I have taken the bait on what I perceived as a must-have only to be disappointed. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Illusory

What does it take to enrage you?  That moment when your words fly on pure emotion because enough is enough.  Is it a driver that cuts you off at high speed?  What about being an eyewitness to blatant racism or on the receiving end of some obvious injustice? I know some people who never express rage.  I admire them but know full well I am not capable of such distance from that which would bring about such a strong response. Another senseless shooting and 7 people die at the hands of a mentally ill gun owner.  The father of the 20 year old college student lets it fly and somehow millions feel a new sense of relief.  He calls the politicians bastards who do nothing, he wears his pain in public.  The news media responds but we all know that nothing is going to change.  We are the gun country.  We are the place where anybody, anytime, can be cut down just for being there when somebody else snaps. Usually the perpetrators are delusional. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Mr. Greene v. Mr. Brown

I want to tell you about something. Something I've carried inside myself for a number of years now. Perhaps if I were a different kind of person I wouldn't need to talk about it. I'm not. My need to tell it is stronger than your need to hear it. Because, however, there are a number of teachers and former students of mine who may read these meanderings from time to time, I need to tell this story all the more. About 7 or 8 years ago I was asked if I would allow a university PhD. candidate to observe an English class. At first I decided against it because I was scheduled to have a student teacher placed with me the second half of the semester in question. After some urging, however, at the request of a respected colleague, I agreed. Soon I was committing to extra meetings, signing documents and explaining to the class in question who the young woman who thoughtfully pounded away on a laptop in the rear of the classroom three times a week was. I knew that the topic of ...
3 comments
Read more