Give It Up!

Give It Up!

Adult nonfiction
"One morning, while trying to decide which pair of shoes to
wear, I was behind schedule and was clearly going to be late for
work. To make matters worse, while reaching for my black sling backs,
an avalanch of designer shoe boxes hit me squarely on the head. For
some people, a subtle signal can lead them to a change in life; others
need a stronger message. In my case, it was being literally hit over
the head with my own shoes. This was my wake-up call."
Mary Carlomagno, author of Give It Up!, had hit a point where
she felt that something was missing. Her life was too complicated by
a plethora of distractions. Nothing really satisfied her. She read
the entire newspaper to be up on water cooler conversation topics
rather than out of curiosity. Shopping was getting way out of hand.
It was time for a change.
Carlomagno was familiar with the concept of Lent. As a child
she'd regularly given up candy or soda. She wondered if she could
give up some of the things that seemed so necessary in her life.
"...Would it be possible to live without a hundred boxes of designer
shoes, costly microbrewed coffee, or the ever present cell phone that
fueled my everyday existence?"
Carlomagno embarked on a year of Lents--12 to be exact. Each
month she temporarily gave up something chosen to move herself out of
her comfort zone and force herself to really look at her life. Her
experiences form the substance of the book.
Give It Up!, however, is more than a description of
deprivation. Each chapter yields thoughtful insight. The month she
gave up alcohol, after being startled by how much her social life
revolved around booze, she became more confident of her decision
making and able to say no when appropriate. A moritorium on shopping
led her to do so only when necessary. Giving up tv helped her
discover more creative alternatives. She ended up feeling privileged
rather than martyred.
Give It Up! is a very worthwhile read even if you lead a very
different life style. (The majority of my social life, for example,
revolves around UMaine campus activities and involves nothing harder
than cranberry punch. My shopping is all thrifts and yard sales. And
television doesn't tempt me in the least.) Give it a try. You might
discover aspects of your life you want to tweak.
On a personal note, I'm enjoying my Clean Sweep break. Yesterday I
decided to tackle all the bags and boxes of food that were donated.
Bodwell Center runs Clean Sweep. They're the go to people for
connecting students with campus and community volunteer
opportunities. They also operate the Black Bear Exchange which is a
clothing exchange and food pantry. Sadly in this country there are
rising numbers of homeless and food insecure students. You can't just
put any old food on the shelves. Containers can't have been opened.
And food can't be past its expiration date. Looking for those little
numbers is time consuming. So I sorted the good stuff, tossed the bad
stuff, and organized snacks that were safe but didn't meet standards
into a snack bar for my coworkers and me. True confession: I took
some of the candy home. Plus a bag of lollipops and three boxes of
gum for the neighborhood kids.
A great big shout out goes out to my Clean Sweep coworkers and our
peerless boss, Lisa Morin.
jules hathaway



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