Ephemera by any other name would be... trash.
But not on eBay.
On eBay, you can buy ephemera, and I do. Lots of it.
I buy cast-aways and cast-asides from a generation back, sometimes even two or three.
I like the milk caps and the jelly molds, memories of kitchens and routines that are no more.
I savor postcards written to someone else with mentions of a mundane trip to Florida to visit relatives, or maybe to see an old friend in Nebraska.
I lovingly turn the pages of yellowed scrapbooks with ripped pieces of magazines pasted in alongside greeting cards for birthdays and anniversaries, where I know neither the giver or the recipient.
I buy stacks and stacks of photographs of families that aren't mine.
These things come here to my somewhat crowded home, and I try and find a perfect place for them.
And I think of them as beautiful and meaningful, this ephemera.
But deep down I know: I buy a lot of trash.
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| Today's homework, tomorrow's ephemera |
This post was first published on this date, two years ago.
