When I used to visit my brother Michael, at his Day Program, sorting was one of the challenges the teacher presented him and his classmates with. “This sock goes with the rest of the socks in this basket,” a classroom assistant would urge. It was a task that eluded him. It is a task that eludes me as well, albeit on a deeper level.

Straightening out

While we were away, we had the luxury of spending time with very little clutter. At my mother’s place, we lived in a guest apartment. It was perfect: small and simple; relatively bare.

I resolved to organize when I got home. This is hard for me for a number of reasons: 1) I have a wide range of interests, from anatomy, to philosophy, to watercolor; 2) I make it a point to become deeply involved with all my interests; 3) I get a thrill out of collecting things. I have at least a dozen books about color; boxes of books about watercolor painting, history of painting, history of art, neuroanatomy, photography, philosophy; not to mention my own photographs, drawings and journals.

Where to start?

This question seems to plague me. With sorting, however, it starts out simply enough: I make piles of like things, just like they told Mike to do. I think, “Everything that is made out of paper and is about 8.5X11 inches goes in this pile; everything that is a watercolor book, no, make that ‘art-related’ goes in that pile.”  Things go along swimmingly for a while. I even make a pile of things to discard. It is a small pile.

I’m better than I was

Years ago I had much more stuff than I have today. I had at least three wind-up record players, two wind-up cylinder players, several hundred 78 r.p.m. records, three violins, a viola, a guitar, two clarinets in addition to the books (and a partridge in a pear tree).

I even filmed myself trying to make sense out of it. If I can ever find that tape, it will be so embarrassing to watch.

However, I was able to rid myself of quite a bit of the stuff that I have been carrying around for many years. I am spurred by my return from our trip, to continue ‘lightening up’, possession-wise.

Editing

I am convinced that sorting possessions into piles, prioritizing their importance and getting rid of those that are unnecessary, is a transferable skill. I think it is key in composing a successful personal project. The overwhelming weight of facts, impressions, images and stories have to be parsed, sorted, ordered and pruned-back so that a tight, effective narrative can be crafted.

Throwing things away is hard for me. But I have found that it helps to have a mission statement to use as a guide: If the material does not further the goal of the project, it must go.

I still have that ‘Antiques Road Show’ dread of giving something up that will later be assessed at some ridiculously high price. But what am I going to do, keep everything? No. I think I’ll just stop watching ‘Antiques Road Show’.