One of the overlooked benefits of going to college is you finally get rid of all the excess stuff you own. When I left for college, my room was cluttered with bits and pieces collected during my 18 years of life. In fact, when I go back, my room still has a ton of stuff. 10% of this stuff has actually monetary value (here's looking at you, binders of baseball cards) or are framed photos or something like that. That means 90% of the stuff in there is completely expendable. It has no value, and I have lived a year and a half without needed any of it (and probably longer).
Yet I have never thrown this stuff away. I guess it's because I am really sentimental. It's actually kind of embarrassing. And I don't mean that I excavate my third grade projects and wistfully think of the "good ole days". No, I'm not that kind of sap. The only time I ever look at a huge majority of this stuff is when I'm trying to decide whether to dispose of it or not. I know it sounds silly, but I can't throw away that stuff. It would just depress me. At one point or another, everything I still own was really important to me, gave me a lot of joy. And throwing it away seems like making that all for naught, admitting to myself that I was invested in things that turned out to have no impact or relevance. It makes me feel like my childhood was wasted, as dumb as that sounds.
Long story short, college forces you to ditch all that garbage. Or rather, leave it behind for your parents to ditch.
Which brings me back to the title of this post, my library. I carefully selected the books I would take with me to college. I was forced to ditch the Redwall series I once loved, and finally had an excuse to get rid of the Boxcar children. My library now consists only of the essentials:
A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway (My favorite author)
Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac (My religious book)
A Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (Is this now cliche?)
Chronicles Vol. 1 by Bob Dylan (One of my favorite musicians)
Our Dumb World by The Onion (In case you didn't pick up my liberal, coffee drinking, elitist streak)
Yet I have never thrown this stuff away. I guess it's because I am really sentimental. It's actually kind of embarrassing. And I don't mean that I excavate my third grade projects and wistfully think of the "good ole days". No, I'm not that kind of sap. The only time I ever look at a huge majority of this stuff is when I'm trying to decide whether to dispose of it or not. I know it sounds silly, but I can't throw away that stuff. It would just depress me. At one point or another, everything I still own was really important to me, gave me a lot of joy. And throwing it away seems like making that all for naught, admitting to myself that I was invested in things that turned out to have no impact or relevance. It makes me feel like my childhood was wasted, as dumb as that sounds.
Long story short, college forces you to ditch all that garbage. Or rather, leave it behind for your parents to ditch.
Which brings me back to the title of this post, my library. I carefully selected the books I would take with me to college. I was forced to ditch the Redwall series I once loved, and finally had an excuse to get rid of the Boxcar children. My library now consists only of the essentials:
A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway (My favorite author)
Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac (My religious book)
A Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (Is this now cliche?)
Chronicles Vol. 1 by Bob Dylan (One of my favorite musicians)
Our Dumb World by The Onion (In case you didn't pick up my liberal, coffee drinking, elitist streak)
I love your second paragraph.
ReplyDeleteand Catcher in the Rye might be borderline cliche, but Holden Caulfield still kills me everytime.
I personally much prefer The Sun Also Rises to "Farewell", but good choices nonetheless.
ReplyDeleteLike Fitzgerald at all? Beyond Gatsby, I think "This Side of Paradise" is flat-out incredible.