Issue 5 · November 2025
Things that are worth keeping. A list, incomplete.
I have been thinking about what makes a thing worth keeping. Not worth buying; that's a different question, and an easier one. Worth keeping. Worth carrying from one apartment to the next. Worth wrapping in newspaper and placing in a box and labeling "careful" in marker and then, three years later, unwrapping in a different kitchen and putting on a different shelf and feeling, briefly, like the room is yours now.
I started a list. It is not finished. I don't think it can be finished, which is part of the point.
A blanket that is heavier than you expect. A bowl you eat from every day and never think about until someone else uses it and you notice. A knife that fits your hand and nobody else's. A photograph you forgot you took until you found it in a drawer, which is not a product but is a thing worth keeping, and I am not limiting this list to products, because the list is mine and I make the rules.
A wooden spoon that has darkened with oil over years. You could buy a new one. You could buy a better one. The one you have is better than the better one because it is the one you have.
A pen that writes the way you think. I cannot describe this more precisely. You know if you have one.
The list goes on. I stopped writing it down after a while because the list itself was becoming a thing worth keeping, and I didn't want to be responsible for that. I already closed the shop. I don't need more inventory.
Thank you for reading. I'll write again in December.