Hoards

I don't approve of watching shows about hoarding as impetus to clean. But it's a beautiful spring day that I have dedicated to errands and I am not cleaning. So I am doing something against my ethics and being a voyeur. I understand that the people on the show are adults and competent to decide whether to be on television but it doesn't sit right. My bedroom drifts gently toward entropy but it's never more than a few hours' hard work from tidiness, so the kinship I feel with the folks featured on hoarders is imagined. I don't know why scaring myself with houses filled with trash whose owners will go to great lengths to protect their collections are more useful for motivating me than is thinking about how efficient my routines can be when everything is put away by type, or let myself enjoy stewardship of my things. No, it has to be,

"Whenever there's mold or mildew or whatever, you want to wear a mask. Or at least I do. {the professional cleaner has tied perhaps three paper towels around her mouth and chin} I'm gonna put up a little humidifier {mold should be starved of moisture, also I think that is an air freshener because it is so tiny}, to make it a little more palatable {I have a visceral response to considering mold as palatable}." Hoarders, Linda/Steven

I saw the Song Dong piece about his mother's long term hoard -which she started after being subject to strict rationing in China- which accelerated after her husband's death. The installation is lovingly executed and while it is uncomfortable, it seems like her feelings are carefully respected and protected from outsiders when compared to the US television about hoarding.