THESE NEW OLD TRADITIONS

"Team Cobblers" at the Fixers' Collective

Stuff, stuff, stuff. At least once a month I pick an area of my little apartment and start trying to pick out stuff to pitch. Inevitably, the project ends quickly. Though it’s true that there’s always a bit more stuff around than we need, it’s also true that I’m relatively pared down to “things that have use.”

The funny is, there’s this whole contingent of stuff that can be described as, “things that should have use if they worked.” A great example of this is my immersion blender. When it was working, I used it almost daily for all sorts of kitchen tasks. Unfortunately, these tasks included things that the blender wasn’t actually meant for and so, of course, it broke. Now, it lives in my kitchen drawer. I want to buy a new one, but the truth is… this blender is my second one this year, and I spent some money on this one hoping that “higher quality” would mean that I could abuse it longer. My sense of ethics says no, I do not deserve another one. Buying another blender just makes me part of the system. Buy, break, repeat.

LO! Another option lies ahead! FIX IT. What an idea. If something is broken… fix it. So, thank god for the Fixers Collective in Brooklyn. I haven’t yet been there, but from what I can tell, all I have to do it fill out a form about the thing I need fixed and head on over. AhhhhhMAZING. And, from looking at their web site, if they can’t fix it, they’ll re-purpose it. What’s even cooler is it looks like you get to hang out and help while they tinker with your stuff. How fun is that? I’m going to check it out, and if you’re in Brooklyn, so should you.

Oh, and thanks to our friend and fellow reveler, Kelly Smith, for posting the Fixers’ Collective link on Ye Olde Facebook. You’re our link to awesome, Kelly.