SKANEATELES - Kihm Winship was in his early 20s the first and only time that he was forced to swallow hair. And lint. And mop string.
Sam Tenney / The Citizen
Laurie and Kihm Winship walk their dog Gus through Austin Park in Skaneateles the evening of Aug. 28. Kihm writes a daily blog about the trash that he finds while walking in Skaneateles.
Laurie and Kihm Winship walk their dog Gus through Austin Park in Skaneateles the evening of Aug. 28. Kihm writes a daily blog about the trash that he finds while walking in Skaneateles.
Being in the Air Force has many perks, but when you're responsible for making sure the area outside of your barracks is spit-spot, and when your training instructor forces you to eat any garbage if he finds it first - let's just say it was a good thing Winship was able to locate the dead blackbird on the ground before his instructor did.
Is it any wonder, then, that Winship, now 60, has such an aversion to litter? He dislikes it so much that three months ago, he created Litter in Skaneateles, a blog in which he writes daily about everything from improperly discarded soda bottles to half-eaten food that for some reason hasn't made its way to the bin. He's had more than 900 visits to his page since late June.
Winship says that 90 percent of Skaneateles' litter can be traced to three primary sources.
“It's mostly about smoking, drinking or eating candy,” says Winship, who has lived in Skaneateles with wife Laurie for nine years.
Winship makes most of his litter finds while taking his dog Gus out in Austin Park or walking the 1.5 miles to and from his job as a copywriter at ChaseDesign on Route 20.
Calling himself a litter hound, he writes about Skaneateles' litter in a whimsical way, crafting stories from the receipts and wrappers that he finds and subsequently tosses. His favorite loot came on Aug. 12, when he located an empty pack of RMD Gutkha, an Indian product not likely found on the shelves at most local supermarkets.
A former librarian, Winship began researching Guthka, which he tells blog readers is a “smokeless product containing betel nuts, catechu, tobacco, lime, saffron and flavoring.” He then proceeds to talk about the product spokesperson and also integrates a factoid about India's problems with oral cancer.
“I am just fascinated by the stuff,” Winship says of all the goodies he finds.
According to Winship, the areas with the most litter around town are the sidewalk from Byrne Dairy up to Austin Park, and between P&C and the back of the fire station on Fennell Street.
Winship says that he can tell when and where people have finished or tired of their food (for example, the cup with the remnants of a chocolate milkshake in Austin Park). Water bottles and Gatorade - containers not covered under the bottle bill - are popular, as are beer cans (light beer, Winship notes, is the Beer of Litterers).
He's thrown away everything from raisin boxes to chip bags, ticket stubs to old mouthpieces. Golf balls (“Austin Park - my gosh, it's like a driving range!”) go to his neighbor, and anything that can be recycled is.
But Winship does have his limits.
“I don't pick up cigarette butts because they're just too disgusting,” says Winship, who sometimes walks with a bag and other times shoves the litter in his pockets. “I've found stuff wrapped up in paper towels that I did not open.”
Though the act of picking up garbage may not necessarily be enjoyable, trying to determine the tale behind the trash is.
“It is sort of fun to figure out who this person is, what they were doing,” says Winship, who also writes one other blog and has a Web site, the latter which features dozens of writings dating back three decades.
Those Halls wrappers that Winship finds outside of St. Mary's of the Lake every Sunday? There is a woman who doesn't want to cough and interrupt the service, Winship reasons, noting that “apparently it's fine to litter if one does so in the service of preventing the greater sin of coughing.”
The paper bag with a receipt in it for a bottle of wine? That would be someone who purchased a last-minute gift and ditched the evidence in the parking lot.
And the numerous receipts and bank statements with slices of people's personal history on them? These give Winship an inside look into what and where residents are eating - and how much they have in their savings accounts.
“I think his blog gives him a great way to turn it (litter) into a more positive thing,” says Laurie Winship, who frequently goes on walks with her husband and has started to look for exotic litter herself. “He delights in finding more unusual things, makes everywhere he goes look better, and gets to write about it to entertain other people.”
Winship has no grandeur visions about his blog changing the world - he says that his motives for the litter blog are somewhat selfish in that he lives across the street from Austin Park and wants to see it clean.
At the same time, however, he says that he doesn't want to be a doppess, a Yiddish word for one who complains about something and then does nothing. And he is hopeful that increasing awareness about littering will have a positive effect.
“Litter breeds litter,” Winship says, and people think it's all right to add to the pile if they see other garbage on the ground.
“I figure if I pick up one piece, I can prevent the next five pieces from hitting the ground,” he adds.
Winship says that litterers think that other people are going to pick up their garbage. And he believes that if children think it's OK to toss things willy-nilly now, the habit will only continue later in life.
“People who litter when they're 10, when they're 40 will think nothing of 'let's clear-cut that national forest,” he says with a smile.
Not all litter is bad, however. Since Winship moved to Skaneateles, he's kept a tally of the money he's found. He's now up to $52.82.
“If you feel compelled to litter,” he says, “please, dollar bills.”
On the Net
Visit Kihm Winship's litter blog at http://kihm.wordpress.com/
Kihm Winship has been posting a daily blog about Skaneateles litter for three
months. Some excerpts:
Aug. 15, 2007 at 6:42 a.m.
I am beginning to wonder, with all the light beer cans I'm finding, if
litterers think that tossing away trash constitutes personal weight loss. “I
ate a big lunch and LOST two pounds!“ On the way home yesterday, a Keystone
Light can, a half-full Pepsi bottle at State Street, a UPS InfoNotice (blank).
In Austin Park, a Halls wrapper from the person who doesn't want to cough at
St. Mary's, a bright red Doug's Fish Fry cup with the lid and the dregs of a
chocolate shake, probably tossed from the passenger side of a car traveling
north out of the Village, and the large square plastic lid from a “cole slaw
for 50, to go“ container, in the same spot, suggesting someone with an appetite
for lots and lots of slaw.
Aug. 9, 2007 at 10:31 a.m.
This morning, a flattened Arby's cup that tells me, “Happiness is just a curly
fry away.“ Somehow, I thought there was more to it.
July 2, 2007 at 10:21 a.m.
In the street, a wrapper from one lozenge of NICORETTE (mint flavor), which
brings to mind a former co-worker who didn't smoke, but chewed NICORETTE for
the rush. He was a veteran of the Gulf War, where he was on a TOW
(Tube-launched, Optically guided, Wire command link guided) missile crew,
targeting Iraqi tanks. I asked him if anyone ever shot at him; he smiled and
said, “Not for long.”
June 22, 2007 at 12:51 p.m.
Originality reached epidemic proportions this afternoon with the discovery of a
wrapper for Harley-Davidson Road Food Beef Jerky ORIGINAL, sold by the Byrne
Dairy and best consumed by May 9, 2008. The buyer beat that deadline with
months to spare, emptying the bag just after reaching the corner of Elizabeth
and Jordan Streets. Also, a Charleston Chew wrapper, suggesting a dessert item.
And found in the cut-through between the P&C and Village Landing, a P&C sales
slip that included not one but two containers of donut holes, plus quantities
of Diet Mountain Dew, Diet Coke and Labatts Light. Good to see someone's
watching their diet.
Is it any wonder, then, that Winship, now 60, has such an aversion to litter? He dislikes it so much that three months ago, he created Litter in Skaneateles, a blog in which he writes daily about everything from improperly discarded soda bottles to half-eaten food that for some reason hasn't made its way to the bin. He's had more than 900 visits to his page since late June.
Winship says that 90 percent of Skaneateles' litter can be traced to three primary sources.
“It's mostly about smoking, drinking or eating candy,” says Winship, who has lived in Skaneateles with wife Laurie for nine years.
Winship makes most of his litter finds while taking his dog Gus out in Austin Park or walking the 1.5 miles to and from his job as a copywriter at ChaseDesign on Route 20.
Calling himself a litter hound, he writes about Skaneateles' litter in a whimsical way, crafting stories from the receipts and wrappers that he finds and subsequently tosses. His favorite loot came on Aug. 12, when he located an empty pack of RMD Gutkha, an Indian product not likely found on the shelves at most local supermarkets.
A former librarian, Winship began researching Guthka, which he tells blog readers is a “smokeless product containing betel nuts, catechu, tobacco, lime, saffron and flavoring.” He then proceeds to talk about the product spokesperson and also integrates a factoid about India's problems with oral cancer.
“I am just fascinated by the stuff,” Winship says of all the goodies he finds.
According to Winship, the areas with the most litter around town are the sidewalk from Byrne Dairy up to Austin Park, and between P&C and the back of the fire station on Fennell Street.
Winship says that he can tell when and where people have finished or tired of their food (for example, the cup with the remnants of a chocolate milkshake in Austin Park). Water bottles and Gatorade - containers not covered under the bottle bill - are popular, as are beer cans (light beer, Winship notes, is the Beer of Litterers).
He's thrown away everything from raisin boxes to chip bags, ticket stubs to old mouthpieces. Golf balls (“Austin Park - my gosh, it's like a driving range!”) go to his neighbor, and anything that can be recycled is.
But Winship does have his limits.
“I don't pick up cigarette butts because they're just too disgusting,” says Winship, who sometimes walks with a bag and other times shoves the litter in his pockets. “I've found stuff wrapped up in paper towels that I did not open.”
Though the act of picking up garbage may not necessarily be enjoyable, trying to determine the tale behind the trash is.
“It is sort of fun to figure out who this person is, what they were doing,” says Winship, who also writes one other blog and has a Web site, the latter which features dozens of writings dating back three decades.
Those Halls wrappers that Winship finds outside of St. Mary's of the Lake every Sunday? There is a woman who doesn't want to cough and interrupt the service, Winship reasons, noting that “apparently it's fine to litter if one does so in the service of preventing the greater sin of coughing.”
The paper bag with a receipt in it for a bottle of wine? That would be someone who purchased a last-minute gift and ditched the evidence in the parking lot.
And the numerous receipts and bank statements with slices of people's personal history on them? These give Winship an inside look into what and where residents are eating - and how much they have in their savings accounts.
“I think his blog gives him a great way to turn it (litter) into a more positive thing,” says Laurie Winship, who frequently goes on walks with her husband and has started to look for exotic litter herself. “He delights in finding more unusual things, makes everywhere he goes look better, and gets to write about it to entertain other people.”
Winship has no grandeur visions about his blog changing the world - he says that his motives for the litter blog are somewhat selfish in that he lives across the street from Austin Park and wants to see it clean.
At the same time, however, he says that he doesn't want to be a doppess, a Yiddish word for one who complains about something and then does nothing. And he is hopeful that increasing awareness about littering will have a positive effect.
“Litter breeds litter,” Winship says, and people think it's all right to add to the pile if they see other garbage on the ground.
“I figure if I pick up one piece, I can prevent the next five pieces from hitting the ground,” he adds.
Winship says that litterers think that other people are going to pick up their garbage. And he believes that if children think it's OK to toss things willy-nilly now, the habit will only continue later in life.
“People who litter when they're 10, when they're 40 will think nothing of 'let's clear-cut that national forest,” he says with a smile.
Not all litter is bad, however. Since Winship moved to Skaneateles, he's kept a tally of the money he's found. He's now up to $52.82.
“If you feel compelled to litter,” he says, “please, dollar bills.”
On the Net
Visit Kihm Winship's litter blog at http://kihm.wordpress.com/
Kihm Winship has been posting a daily blog about Skaneateles litter for three
months. Some excerpts:
Aug. 15, 2007 at 6:42 a.m.
I am beginning to wonder, with all the light beer cans I'm finding, if
litterers think that tossing away trash constitutes personal weight loss. “I
ate a big lunch and LOST two pounds!“ On the way home yesterday, a Keystone
Light can, a half-full Pepsi bottle at State Street, a UPS InfoNotice (blank).
In Austin Park, a Halls wrapper from the person who doesn't want to cough at
St. Mary's, a bright red Doug's Fish Fry cup with the lid and the dregs of a
chocolate shake, probably tossed from the passenger side of a car traveling
north out of the Village, and the large square plastic lid from a “cole slaw
for 50, to go“ container, in the same spot, suggesting someone with an appetite
for lots and lots of slaw.
Aug. 9, 2007 at 10:31 a.m.
This morning, a flattened Arby's cup that tells me, “Happiness is just a curly
fry away.“ Somehow, I thought there was more to it.
July 2, 2007 at 10:21 a.m.
In the street, a wrapper from one lozenge of NICORETTE (mint flavor), which
brings to mind a former co-worker who didn't smoke, but chewed NICORETTE for
the rush. He was a veteran of the Gulf War, where he was on a TOW
(Tube-launched, Optically guided, Wire command link guided) missile crew,
targeting Iraqi tanks. I asked him if anyone ever shot at him; he smiled and
said, “Not for long.”
June 22, 2007 at 12:51 p.m.
Originality reached epidemic proportions this afternoon with the discovery of a
wrapper for Harley-Davidson Road Food Beef Jerky ORIGINAL, sold by the Byrne
Dairy and best consumed by May 9, 2008. The buyer beat that deadline with
months to spare, emptying the bag just after reaching the corner of Elizabeth
and Jordan Streets. Also, a Charleston Chew wrapper, suggesting a dessert item.
And found in the cut-through between the P&C and Village Landing, a P&C sales
slip that included not one but two containers of donut holes, plus quantities
of Diet Mountain Dew, Diet Coke and Labatts Light. Good to see someone's
watching their diet.
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