b"Matters heart of thematterThingsthat Matter Since 1990 Parting with Featuring Local People, Places and PUBLISHER the Past& EDITOR IN CHIEFEllen DonkerASSOCIATEEDITOR Not so fast!Rosemary MattsonBY ELLEN DONKERSOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER I took priority. So here weTheMP3playersIkeptremindmeofa Rachael EntineADVERTISING CONSULTANTS t was time. Actually its been time Rene Conlon to renovate our basement since weChristmaswhenmyfathergaveeachofour H. Leslie Gilman moved in, but other above-groundthree children a different kind. One was Amy Power projectsSpider-Man-themed; another had con-COPY EDITORS are, 20 years later, having justtrols in the shape of Mickey Mouse Nick Humez sorted through collections ofears. And each player had different Tia Swanson pitch-worthystuffthatweinstructionstoloadthemusic.It saved simply because we had a placesounds easy now, but in 2007 the pro-CONTRIBUTORS to throw it.cess wasnt so obvious and I had three Sara Courtney Picturea105-year-olddank,7-year-olds clamoring to hear their Adrianna Donat dark space with concrete floors, cin- favorite songs on their own devices. Olivia Mack McCool der-block walls and a low open ceilingWhich makes me wonder: just what Cassandra Ratkevich from which all manner of water and gasdid they listen to at that age?Robert Shaffron pipes, A/C ducts, and electrical wires sproutAnitemIwishIhadkeptwasmyfirst Tami StecklerTia Swanson and youll know why it was the perfect dumpingcell phone. As an employee at AT&T when cell Julia Maloof Verderosa ground for half-empty paint cans, tools well never use,phones were first introduced in the early '90s, I ping pong and foosball tables, a crafting table, plastic sleds,got a good deal on one as well as the service. Although it a bench press, plant pots stored under the staircase, pantrymeant carrying a brick-sized phone in my purse, calling a shelves flanking a refrigerator, about six sets of golf clubs,friend during a long commute home was pretty novel, bad maybe 450 golf balls, coolers, folding chairs, garbage cansconnection notwithstanding. for recyclables and some litter boxes.Ive lost count of the cell phones that followed but I did Of course, we tossed/recycled/gifted a lot of it duringsave a fewsuch as my Motorola Razr phone and metallic the process of moving everything to the garage during thepink BlackBerry. Those phones werent any good for tak-Please address all correspondence to: renovation. But there is one category of possessions that Iing photos, so my children were spared having their every Visual Impact Advertising, Inc. couldnt part with. And since they can fit in a smallish box,move captured. But they were the first devices I used when P.O. Box 198 I finally gave myself permission to keep them. I figured out the usefulness of texting. I also kept the first Maplewood, NJ 07040 Imtalkingaboutmyfavoriteportabletechnologyphone my son, Christian, got in seventh grade, when we 973-763-4900 items from the past. parents worried if giving cell phones to kids was a mistake. mattersmagazine.comEven to me it seems odd that I would want any of them.The latestand maybe lastitem to go on the tech info@mattersmagazine.com Theyre not very nice to look at. And I have no place topile is my iPod. Apple ceased its production this year, so Matters Magazine is owned and publisheddisplay them. The only purpose they serve is to help meI believe it deserves a place in my collection. Im not very by Visual Impact Advertising, Inc., P.O.reminisce about times and places that hold good memories.sentimental about it because I didnt use it much; at the Box 198, Maplewood, NJ 07040. MattersCaseinpoint:Igotmyfirstcassetterecorderintime I was up to my eyeballs raising kids and working and Magazine is free, with editions direct mailed 7 times a year to the residents of Maplewoodjunior high school. Its a white Panasonic Take 'n Tape andmaintaining a home. But it was a game changer for por-and South Orange and distributed to busi- I could record myself and my friends as well as songs fromtable music and just plain nifty. nesses and surrounding communities total-ing 16,000. Subscriptions are available tothe radio. I remember holding it next to the radio speakerThe item that started my collection was a transistor radio non-residents for $30 (U.S.), $40 (Foreign)when a good song came on. You can imagine the quality,that only played AM stations. My kids still cant grasp how annually. No part of the publication may bebut I loved it.narrow the music choices were during my childhood. But reprinted or otherwise reproduced without writtenpermissionfromVisualImpactI also kept a slim metal Sony Walkman, the kind thatthere was something nice about most of us knowing the same Advertising, Inc. only played cassettes. Its been broken for years but it putssongs before the music industry became so fragmented. CIRCULATION VERIFIED BY me back on Eighth Avenue in Manhattan when I wouldPerhaps someone can give me a good suggestion on how U.S. POSTAL RECEIPTS. walkamileeachwaybetweenthePortAuthorityandto tastefully showcase my box of memories. Id hate for it READ & RECYCLE 61st Street for my first job in the city. In my head, I hearto end up in another pile in the basement. But with the R.E.M.s (Dont Go Back to) Rockville.renovation, at least it will have a tidy place to call home. 10/ matters magazine / school 2022"