All My Life for Sale
Matthew Juan 9/26/10
The Life of EBay
In the essay “All My Life for Sale”, John Freyer explained how he sold all of his possessions in his apartment to move out for college. Those items had some sort of sentimental value to people who purchased them and gained a vague relationship with them. One way he expressed himself, is when he sold his first wave of objects on eBay. He asked the highest bidders if they could update him on how his things were doing. He wondered if his buyers were taking good care of his things. Freyer is the type of person who would hold on to things hoping they would get used or fixed one day. He got a community started on his website allmylifeforsale.com. Over time, Freyer started to receive messages containing photographs about the stories from people who were a part of the project. He also requested if people could send him their address so he could come and visit. Not too long after, an invitation from the person who purchased Freyer’s salt shaker invited him to their house in Portland, Maine. The six thousand dollars that Freyer made from his selling his things helped him start his journey to visit people all over the country by car. “As I met more people, the awkwardness of meeting strangers started to wear off… Some may say too comfortable… I would help myself to food in the high bidder’s refrigerator without a second thought” (85) He started to think they were more than just strangers. For example, he acted like a kid who walks into his parent’s fridge to get something to drink.
Soon after September 11, Freyer starts to mature. “I stopped caring so much about the objects that I was visiting and started caring more about the people who invited me”(86). This personifies that he is growing up in a sense that he is paying attention to the things that really matter in this world.
“Although I hadn’t made it to everyone who had invited me to visit, I knew that it was time to stop driving.”(86) Freyer
The Life of EBay
In the essay “All My Life for Sale”, John Freyer explained how he sold all of his possessions in his apartment to move out for college. Those items had some sort of sentimental value to people who purchased them and gained a vague relationship with them. One way he expressed himself, is when he sold his first wave of objects on eBay. He asked the highest bidders if they could update him on how his things were doing. He wondered if his buyers were taking good care of his things. Freyer is the type of person who would hold on to things hoping they would get used or fixed one day. He got a community started on his website allmylifeforsale.com. Over time, Freyer started to receive messages containing photographs about the stories from people who were a part of the project. He also requested if people could send him their address so he could come and visit. Not too long after, an invitation from the person who purchased Freyer’s salt shaker invited him to their house in Portland, Maine. The six thousand dollars that Freyer made from his selling his things helped him start his journey to visit people all over the country by car. “As I met more people, the awkwardness of meeting strangers started to wear off… Some may say too comfortable… I would help myself to food in the high bidder’s refrigerator without a second thought” (85) He started to think they were more than just strangers. For example, he acted like a kid who walks into his parent’s fridge to get something to drink.
Soon after September 11, Freyer starts to mature. “I stopped caring so much about the objects that I was visiting and started caring more about the people who invited me”(86). This personifies that he is growing up in a sense that he is paying attention to the things that really matter in this world.
“Although I hadn’t made it to everyone who had invited me to visit, I knew that it was time to stop driving.”(86) Freyer