One of the things I really had to struggle with when I stopped my fancy yuppie career to go back to school was the fact that I would no longer be able to consume things as I once had. Shopping, one of my then-favourite pastimes, was going to have to be throttled back severely if I was going to make it on a student's stipend. No longer could I continuously search for the new, for something to spend my money on.
That was two years ago. Fast forward to today and I find myself quite different than I was. I haven't set foot in a Winners or Homesense in over two months. The jeans and hoody and kickaround skirt I bought a week ago are the first new clothes I've purchased in quite a while, and I only go to the grocery store a few times a month, rather than twice a week. The new mantra for me isn't the pursuit of the new, but rather "making do"....getting into my consciousness the notion that I already have everything I actually need.
It would seem, then, that I'm running contra to the current craze and buzz over one of the latest Oprah book club selections, The Secret. The book promotes the power of positive thinking to bring about success, but success isn't measured in terms of inner happiness and right living. Instead, success is put in material terms. Thinking positively and envisioning personal success will lead to fancy cars, expensive homes and designer clothing. Alternet has an excellent if scathing overview of the book and the hype around it.
This has all given me an idea for a new paper about how the new is the handmaiden of postmodern consumption practices.
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