I was very intrigued by Greg Patton’s task names, especially the one for the Attention Economy. After reading his task, I wanted to know more, who is Greg Patton? How is he so witty? So, I decided to get to know him the best way we can in ETEC 540, through the contents of his bag.
When I started my task about What’s in your bag, and thought about the purpose of the task, it was a challenge for me. I have two bags that I carry, my bag to go to work and my diaper bag for my sons. Clearly, the diaper bag wouldn’t tell you much about me, so I chose my work bag, yet I felt that this bag wouldn’t tell you much about me. What I carry in my bag is the “essentials” and I am sure that if you were to pick up the bag of many people, you will find the same items as in mine. As I started to read Greg’s task I realized that he started by describing his work bag by carrying pretty much the same as I do in my work bag. He says “yes, I do carry a bag to and from work, but it basically carries a computer, charger, water bottle and lunch”. Greg unlike me chose to move away from his work bag and chose a bag he spends more time thinking about what he puts in there. He chose his biking bag, a fanny pack, as his daughter describes. This bag gives us an opportunity to get to know Greg more, he is adventurous, he enjoys biking, he is prepared, and he uses technology, among other things.
When I was writing about the contents in my bag, at some point I thought what else can these items say about me. So I focused on the concept of privilege, how the items in my bag are as simple as it looked to me, as regular as it looks to me, where just regular for someone who is privileged. I have a job, a house, a car and a family. Greg’s post was more interesting, yet even after moving away from his work bag, he found in his bike bag items that demonstrate privilege as well. He is employed, he has a house, he has a credit and a debit card, and his pastime of mountain biking is not an inexpensive sport. This connection was very interesting to me, because Greg mentioned this aspect of privilege as well in his post.
I really like how Greg extrapolated the contents of his bag as text and technology, and how well he made this connection. Clearly, Greg has a literacy about mountain biking that I lack. I honestly don’t know much about bikes and haven’t used one in a few years. I also like how Greg included some paragraphs about him that allowed me to get to know him better, even if it was not necessarily connected to the items in his bag. I feel that I could have added that into my post, if I would not have been so strict at focusing only about what is in my work bag.
