Kaieteur News columnist Peeping Tom dug around in poor people's homes and discovered they are not only "accumulators of clutter," they are also doing quite well in terms of material goods. He assesses, "Today, most poor homes have television sets, DVD players, laptops and all the latest gadgetry. So being poor is now just a class symbol; it is no longer about not having." How's that? Well, he says, "Hire purchases and remittances have conspired to ensure that the poor have everything in their homes that the rich can have, except that the rich have, in accounting terms, more fixed and movable assets." [More here]
Peeping Tom's assessment of the poor in Guyana isn't new or any less cutting than others I've heard. But, I don't read him often enough to decide here what his particular bent may be about the condition of the poor or about the condition of Guyana period. What I do know is that (maybe besides Freddie Kissoon, who appears to be plain-spoken and direct) you can't take what you read in the Guyana newspapers at face value.
I also know a thing or two about accumulating clutter. It's what happens when you buy cheap goods. Cheap goods tend to have a short life span and so you find yourself replacing them often. And if you're like me and you don't like throwing out things you like just because they don't quite work right, before you know it, you have tons and tons of crap all around you . . . cheap clothes, cheap shoes, cheap furniture, cheap utensils . . . cheap shots, cheap friends...
So for the Christmas coming and beyond--for as long as I plan on staying around this blog-- I'll throw out the cheap stuff and only stock goods of robust quality. They include (in no particular order)...
--The blogs and periodicals I really read and consider worthy of sharing with folks who read me
--The book share feature, which I'll bring back next year
--Responses from writers
--Music
--The writing competition
What good stuff are you stocking? What are you stuffing in your stocking? What's in your stocking? (Last try), What stuff is you stocking?
