Stop before you shop

I recently heard a woman on the radio boasting that she had gone for an entire week without buying anything. I immediately scoffed. “What’s the big deal?” I said to my husband, who reminded me that it’s virtually impossible to go for even a day without buying something—mindlessly spending money for a cup of coffee, a newspaper, a tank of gas, or purposefully going to a store for something we’re sure we “need”—a crock pot, a blue blouse, a heart-rate monitor.

To raise consciousness about shopping, a growing number of people take part in Buy Nothing Day, which falls annually on the Friday after Thanksgiving, the opening day of the holiday shopping orgy and therefore one of the most lucrative days for the retail business.

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‘We as a people…’

Beforehand, I’d contemplated jumping into my car and cruising up and down Main Street honking my horn in ecstatic jubilation when the results were finally announced—but at 11:00 p.m. on election night, when the west coast polls closed and the networks called the election for Barack Obama, that wasn’t the kind of emotion that I felt. Rather, I basked in a quiet glow of satisfaction and relief.

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I’m ready

I spent election night at an Obama party in Brooklyn, watching streaming CNN.com projected onto one of the walls of a large crowded room. I watched a balloon float down from the ceiling, catching the projected CNN announcer on one side, casting a shadow on the screen behind it and falling towards the floor before being punched back to the ceiling by a guy sitting on a couch.

Outside in the hallway, a hand-drawn map of the United States is colored in with red and blue markers as states are called for McCain or Obama. The excitement is palpable in the air and I am disappointed that I did not bring my camera.

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