Sometimes co-ops collect a little clutter. That’s really an understatement. Hypatia’s attic had been collecting clutter for at least two and a half noticeable decades: dressers with missing drawers; at least six bed frames, aged like a fine wine; forgotten boxes of clothes and books; an antique and well used toilet displaying a fine patina; three tube-style television sets; computer monitors; sketchbooks left half used; junk doors and windows — brightly painted, dulled by dust…

We collected the stuff in our dining room, but it overflowed, spilling out into the corridor.
…masonry and rubble (?); mouse-infested and tattered luggage; couches from the street side; used Band-Aids and balls of tape; timeworn lamp fixtures — no shades; relics of people’s lives circa the early/mid ’90s — pink hair dryers, Aqua Net aerosol hair spray, baseball cards, a stepping machine, Thigh Master set. Punk-O-Rama I and II CDs. Et cetera. And though it was interesting to rummage through this, we had to let it go. The clutter rendered the space nearly unusable.

All the attic stuff piled into our living room and out into the hallway
Continue reading →