moving is hell when you live in the city and are moving via folding shopping cart and mostly own books... hundreds and hundreds of books. books you never read and that just accumulate dust and take up space.
you should know that i actually owned a lot of these books before i ever came here. i shipped these fckrs across the country so i could have them here, and presumably read them. yeah, right. you should also know that i bought a lot of these books while working at Barnes and Noble (never let a book addict work at a book store), a heafty bit of them from Amazon.com, and a chunk of them from Brookline Booksmith or Trident.
anyway, now that ive moved most of my books, im sorting through them, making piles. ive got all kinds of piles. in fact, i have more than a dozen piles, and i dont even have all of my books here yet. there are hundreds more at my old place just waiting for me to rescue them from a life of dust and darkness.
pile 1: gay books. non-fiction. most have been browsed but several have not been read. why? b/c ever time i try to read one i get deathly bored. i already know what its like to be gay and i really dont give a shit if jesus was screwing mary magdalen or one of his disciples. his body, his life, his business, not mine. and im already out, im not ashamed of who i am, and frankly the people who write "our history" do so with all the furvor and passion of a high school history book. its dry and boring. wow... i didnt realize i felt this way. good thing im exploring it, here with you, now.
piles 2, 3, 4 & 5: feminist books. non-fiction. several used in various womens studies courses 7+ years ago. some purchased with the intention of reading. some browsed, fingered, or at least glanced at. same deal as the gay books... i just get bored reading this stuff... mostly b/c im already so familiar with the ideas and information presented that i can hardly stand to swallow one more sentence. so why keep them??? well, what if i need them? what if someone asks me something and i need to research this question and need one of my books??? um, hello?!!? that is easily the stupidest reason ever. first of all, when was the last time someone asked me something about feminism or womens history or wages in the early 20th century? no one will ask me anything i cant just answer myself or find online.
piles 6,7 & 8: books on/about/by americans of various racial and ethnic backgrounds. non-fiction. some used in courses 7 years ago, but many purchased with the intention of keeping up on racial/ethnic/class theory and authors. yes, for some reason i feel like having a degree in this field means im required to keep up on who/what/when/where/how/why. again, its not happening. so, why keep buying these books? why not let go? two things... (1) i like to have awesome books like this in case someone wants to borrow them. but im not a library and we have a big one around the corner! (2) i just cant seem to let to of a book until ive read it. it seems more of a waste if i bought it and never read it than if i at least read it or skim it carefully first. thats the plan.
pile 9: sociology. obviously non-fiction. obviously i thought i would read these. i havent. see above for explanations.
pile 10: regarding teaching, social change, inequality, prison, teenagers and the like. non-fiction. did i ever tell you i was going to be a teacher? i was. in fact, besides being a nurse, astronaught, rock star, actress, nun, accountant and fashion designer, i was planning to be a math teacher. why? need you ask? clearly, if kids just had a "good" math teacher, someone who loved math as much as i do, and who could just show them how amazing and interesting math is, they'd love math too. well, in college, i found out you had to take calculus to be a math teacher. screw that. its not that i couldnt do calculus. i simply had (and still have) no interest whatsoever in learning it. im sure its quite fascinating and perplexing and amazing. but, i dont care. so, i decided i would be an english teacher instead. then i discovered womens studies and racial/ethnic studies and put the teaching thing on the back burner. later i decided to finally go to graduate school to get a masters in teaching... to teach... history. it wasnt exactly that simplistic. the idea was actually that knowledge is power and that access to good and accurate information and learning to think critical is the essence of social change and empowerment. that was my personal experience anyway. and i wanted to teach in prisons. women's prisons, juvinile detention centers, and even men's prisons. i believe many people who become involved in crime are acting out of a feeling of helplessness, anger at society, and self-hatred. if those folks can find a sense of power within and can put words to the oppression they feel, they can choose to redirect their feelings toward positive actions and social change. i still believe this, but i also believe that there is another way i can be this teacher without being at the front of a classroom talking about George Washington or Ronald Reagan. hence becoming a life coach.
piles 11, 12, 13 & 14: psychology and self-discovery books. i love this stuff. but sometimes it gets boring when people just keep saying what has already been said before. plus, i can use this stuff in my coaching. and i use it in my daily life. in fact, im using it to help me let go of books i dont need/use/want... learning to let go is important.
pile 15: books for my sister. this is a conservative pile since i know she's only in the 8th grade. here we have such classics as: Becoming American, Becoming Ethnic (about american identity, race, ethnicity, immigration); Race Class & Gender (historical and contemporary essays, poems, history, etc. with some quality Q&A after each piece); Animal Rights and Human Morality; Debating Sexual Correctness (different perspecitives on womens issues); and Real Gorgeous (funny and practical book about women and beauty).
pile 16: books for KDK. i havent told her i have a pile of books for her. its a small pile. she may not want them. but i thought to myself "self, maybe KDK would find these useful... or not."
pile 17: books for release as part of my profile atBookCrossing.com. i plan to release them at various local cafe's. and as i read the books in my various piles, i will add them to this list and release them too. it seems like a brilliant way to make information available to people and clear out the clutter ive managed to accumulate over the years. let go, let go, let go.
note: fiction is already put away on my book case. they are alphabetized by author and currently only occupy two good sized shelves. there is an additional shelf, however, which holds childrens books, and books on myths, goddesses, legends, etc.
previously:
weather or not - 2006-03-07
My Flight - 2006-03-02
poetree in motion - 2006-02-28
ultimate personality test - 2006-02-25
limerick e-trip - 2006-02-22