[78-L] Pile o' 78s

[Michael Biel]

Robert M. Bratcher Jr. wrote:
>
> Whoever had the idea that ET's should be destroyed needs to have his 
> or her head examined. They were crazy!!
>
>   

Yes there is a medical term for this type of person.  They are known as 
Obsessive-Compulsive.  Everything must be in their exact place.  Every 
rule must be followed to the letter whether it makes any sense or not.  
Open tidy spaces are a must.  If it is of no interest to them it is of 
no interest to anybody. 

A few years ago I heard a Public Radio program in a series called The 
Brain.  It concerned people with "clutter" much like many of us.  They 
determined that the brain waves and brain activity was different for 
these people.  There was an emotional fear of releasing or discarding 
anything.  To solve the problem of one particular test subject, the 
brought in a professional de-clutterer.  In one day she solved the guys 
clutter problem -- and thereby his mental problem -- by tossing 
EVERYTHING but his essential furnature into dumpsters and trucks and 
hauling it away.  MY contention is that they should ALSO have checked 
HER brain waves and brain activity.  It ALSO would have been "different".

It turns out that the guy was a theatrical producer, and the clutter was 
the files, photos, correspondence, scripts, posters, programs, etcetra, 
of his whole life's work and career which went back as far as being one 
of the organizing producers of the Inaugural Balls for JFK in 1961.

But now he had a neat, clean, tidy, and empty apartment.  No 
consideration was made that perhaps the Billy Rose Archive at NYPL 
Lincoln Center might have been a good repository instead of dumpsters.

Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com