Acknowledgments vii

1. Introduction 3

2. The Entries 37
My Life with Things 37
Learn to Love Stuff 38
Banky 40
A Digression on the Topic of the Transitional Object 42
Cebebrate! 56
My Purple Shoes 58
Newspapers 61
Rose Nails 63
The Window Shade 67
Napkins 69
My White Man's Tooth 72
Should I Be Straighter 76
Cyberfucked 79
Knobs 80
Glasses 82
Curing Rug Lust 85
Window Shopping Online 89
Catalogs 92
Other People's Labor 95
Making Roots/Making Routes 98
My Closet(s) 101
Joining the MRE 108
Fun Shopping 114
Preschool Birthday Parties 114
Xena Warrior Consumer Princess 118
I Love Your Nail Polish 120
Little Benches 123
The Kiss 126
Are There Malls in Haiti? 127
Baby Number Two Turned Me into Economic Man 129
Pictures of the Rice Grain 132
Panting in Ikea 136
Capitalism Makes Me Sick 139
My Grandmother's Rings 147
Anorectic Energy 157
Mi-Mi's Piano 162
Dream-Filled Prescriptions 169
The Turquoise Arrowhead 170
Turning The Tables 173
Minnie Mouse Earring Holder 176
Make Yourself a Beloved Person 181

3. Writing as Practice and Process 187

4. This Never Happened 203

Notes 221

Bibliography 227

Index 235