books and a song

I began with a book titled Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things by Gail Steketee and Randy Frost. I didn't read the whole book, in fact just a chapter. I still have it, and plan on reading further. I read about a woman named Irene, who was a hoarder, but became aware of her problem and called for help. Many of her tendencies reflect the ones that my mother has, such as organizing things into piles and buying/saving things to give to people as presents or family.

I just checked out the book Salvador by Joan Didion. Mark Strandquist recommended it to me. I am going to read it, because I am very unfamiliar about everything that occurred during the Civil War in El Salvador, with most of the fatalities happening in the 80s when my mother lived there. She has told me stories, but I am unfamiliar, and often confused, with all the political aspects that set this country up for war. I hope to educate myself with this book and learn a lot. Maybe this will help with my concept, otherwise, it'll help me personally to better comprehend the life my mother comes from.

As for song, I am enclosing a link to a song that doesn't fuel my image making. Instead, it is something I would often listen to before I went to bed back in Arlington, when I lived in my house there. Björk has provided me a retreat for years. Many of her songs are mysterious and eerie sounding, and I think they give the perfect embodiment to the work I am creating, because the hoarding lifestyle I come from has always been a mystery and secret to most I have known.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6CassFknGs