Miss Prothero's Post: The Stuff of Stuff

I've been working at Toni's coffee cart to make ends. The contradiction is most apparent there. I have customers who tell me they don't want their credit card receipt. Trying to save a tree, they tell me as they rip open a packet of sugar, pour it into their Styrofoam coffee, and stir it with a disposable plastic stir stick.

I do see it at the bookstore, too. There was one gentleman who told me he wasn't buying any more books. He was "cutting back on things". The next time I saw him he was toting a box from Amazon. Guess what was in the box? Books. Lots of new books. On green living! He was going to hand them out as gifts. Granted, the books were printed on recycled paper. But they were shipped in a new cardboard box on a new plane or truck using several gallons of new fuel.

We are confused birds. I saw graffitti on the sidewalk that seems to sum it all up -- "Consume less. Create more." Never mind that creation is a very material thing, an act of destruction, revision, and consumption.

As a lover of art, it's always bothered me. Why do I need another image on the wall, another story on the shelf, another ring on my finger?

I don't know.

Maybe because it's beautiful. Because it feeds my heart and soul and spirit.

Miss Prothero's Books will be displaying some of that heart and soul and spirit stuff during the month of June. It's jewelry by Kathy Adams and watercolors by Peg Meagher. The opening night reception is June 6 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Hope you can come. Here are some samples of their beautiful work --