My friend artist Douglas Potter​ found this over at the Times. How many of you have similar ceremonies? I have old address books from the beginning of my career. I used to type on the back of old business cards and paper clip people's info into the book, because my handwriting is large, and people move a lot.

Enter digital address books, which never displayed all the data I wanted to keep together. Then my digital address books started dumping--or the programs became obsolete. This happened when I was ill, so getting things transferred over didn't happen. If I used to have your address? This is why you don't hear from me. I don't have it anymore.

But I can't bring myself to cut off dead Facebook accounts, or toss old phone number lists (I just tried to make myself do it. I think I tucked it back into a box.) I don't envy future scholars. We have made it much harder for them to figure out who the people of the late 20th-early 21st century were. Because we keep remaking ourselves, and corporations don't care if we can carry our past with us.