At dinner last week, the conversation turned to a piece of art I've been thinking about buying.
I look at it everyday and keep not pulling the trigger. My friend asked why, and I said what we always say: it's expensive. She looked at me and said, "How many times a day would you see it?" I did the math. It came out to something like fourteen cents a view.
That's the thing about price per view. You do the calculation once and it reframes everything. Not just art — the coat you wear every winter, the dinner that costs more than it should, the trip you keep deferring. The question isn't what something costs. It's what you're actually getting for it.
TODAY’S PICKS
THE FEATURE
What Friendship Looks Like Now.
The friends I have now are the ones I choose — and who choose me. They've seen me mad, in tears, and overjoyed. They ask the hard questions. And sometimes, they give you permission to buy the art.
THE REFLECTION
Wear The Dress.
You know the dress. The china. The good wine you're waiting to open. This is about that.
How Do You Measure Things?
Price per wear? Price per view? With a tape measure?
What's your gut check when you're deciding whether something is worth it?
THE WILDCARD
The Woman Behind Your Dishwasher.
Her name was Josephine Cochrane, and story is better than you'd expect. I almost named my daughter Josephine — now I understand why I should have.
