How much Sassy memorabilia does the magazine’s founding editor Jane Pratt still own? You might be surprised by her answer as she reveals to host Rachel Kramer Bussel her approach to what to keep and what to leave behind.

In this deep dive into how she thinks about her belongings, Pratt, now the editor of Another Jane Pratt Thing, shares the backstory of having multiple storage spaces and why she hasn’t visited them in years, her approach to saving both personal and professional things, why she’s just as likely to give away a beloved object to a friend as keep it (even if she sometimes regrets that decision), how she gets a new perspective on her home when she needs to relax, and why she believes objects emits vibrations.

Visit the episode page at Open Secrets Magazine to read a transcript.

About our guest:

Jane Pratt graduated from Oberlin College and was the founding editor of the iconic Sassy magazine at age 24, and has since gone on to edit the magazine Jane, the website xoJane, and currently, Another Jane Pratt Thing. She hosted Jane Radio on SiriusXM for six years and is the author of the books Beyond Beauty and For Real.

Another Jane Pratt Thing

Instagram: @janepratt

Instagram: anotherjaneprattthing

Sassy shirts online store

Finders and Keepers is hosted by Rachel Kramer Bussel and is a production of Open Secrets Magazine. Thank you to Sound Off Network and Dan Schroeder for audio production support. If you like the podcast, we’d greatly appreciate if you’d leave a rating and review wherever you listen to podcasts and tell your friends about it to help us reach new listeners. Want to share your own stuff story, tell us who we should interview next, or share your own most treasured possession? Contact us at findersandkeeperspod@gmail.com or leave a voicemail at speakpipe.com/findersandkeepers

For more about our attachments to our belongings, read the personal essays in the Object-ives and Stuff-ed sections of Open Secrets Magazine at opensecretsmagazine.com, where you can also submit your own essays.

What would you take with you if your home needed sudden repairs and you weren’t sure how long they would take? That’s exactly the situation Lara Starr found herself in in June 2021, when, following an earthquake, a tree fell on her rented home, where she’d been living for 15 years.

Starr didn’t know at the time that the repairs would ultimately take two years, so she did her best to take what she thought she’d need for several months, living out of two suitcases. Find out how Starr made her temporary stays feel like a version of home, whether at a corporate hotel and during house sits and sublets, thanks to yard sales and Buy Nothing groups, which sentimental items she left behind, what it felt like to be reunited with her belongings, and how the experience has made her look at her possessions in a new light.

Visit the episode page at Open Secrets Magazine to read a transcript.

About our guest:

Lara Starr is a publicist, Substacker, Charm School Principal, sometime cookbook author, former radio producer, low-key activist, and semi-pro thrift shopper. You can learn more at larastarr.com, and follow her antics on Substack, It’s Kind of Long Story…

Lara Starr’s website

Charm School with Lara Starr

Lara’s Substack

Finders and Keepers is hosted by Rachel Kramer Bussel and is a production of Open Secrets Magazine. Thank you to Sound Off Network and Dan Schroeder for audio production support. If you like the podcast, we’d greatly appreciate if you’d leave a rating and review wherever you listen to podcasts and tell your friends about it to help us reach new listeners. Want to share your own stuff story, tell us who we should interview next, or share your own most treasured possession? Contact us at findersandkeeperspod@gmail.com or leave a voicemail at speakpipe.com/findersandkeepers

For more about our attachments to our belongings, read the personal essays in the Object-ives and Stuff-ed sections of Open Secrets Magazine at opensecretsmagazine.com, where you can also submit your own essays.

Can a childhood memento bring good luck and inspiration decades into the future? For comedy writer Alrinthea Carter, who’s held onto her MC Hammer doll from the 1980s, the answer is an emphatic yes. In this episode, Carter discusses her pop culture favorites from the 80s and 90s, what MC Hammer meant to her then (and now), why the doll has pride of place on her talisman shelf (along with a Prince candle), and how she makes sure the doll never gets lost during a move. Take a stroll down memory lane to learn about how Carter’s storytelling prowess was nurtured early on by the stories she told about MC Hammer and her Barbie dolls while acting as a “little kid showrunner” and how that active play and MC Hammer’s artistic example helped lead to her future career as an Emmy-nominated writer on shows like Yo Gabba GabbaLand! and A Black Lady Sketch Show.

Visit the episode page at Open Secrets Magazine to read a transcript.

About our guest:

Alrinthea Carter is an Emmy-nominated comedy writer (Yo Gabba GabbaLand!, A Black Lady Sketch Show), photographer, and improviser based in Los Angeles, CA. She has studied improv and sketch comedy on stages across the country, including Alchemy Comedy Theater, The Second City, and The Pack Theater, and currently serves on the Board of Improv Utopia. When not writing or making up stuff on stage, she is an obsessive plant mom and Kitchen DJ. Her patron saint is and will always be Prince.

Blog: alrintheacarter.com

Instagram: @alrinthea

Finders and Keepers is hosted by Rachel Kramer Bussel and is a production of Open Secrets Magazine. Thank you to Sound Off Network and Dan Schroeder for audio production support. If you like the podcast, we’d greatly appreciate if you’d leave a rating and review wherever you listen to podcasts and tell your friends about it to help us reach new listeners. Want to share your own stuff story, tell us who we should interview next, or share your own most treasured possession? Contact us at findersandkeeperspod@gmail.com or leave a voicemail at speakpipe.com/findersandkeepers

For more about our attachments to our belongings, read the personal essays in the Object-ives and Stuff-ed sections of Open Secrets Magazine at opensecretsmagazine.com, where you can also submit your own essays.