What’s in Your Bag?
Hello ETEC 540! I’m Nicole Mellow, and I am an education developer at the Insurance Institute of Canada (IIC) in Toronto. This is a very recent career move for me; today marks the end of my third week on the job. Before this role, I worked in higher education publishing at Pearson Canada for over 15 years, planning, developing, and managing course programs with a focus on digital learning. For more details, you can look at my profile on LinkedIn.
I was part of the Great Resignation of 2021. I left Pearson to start the MET program and re-evaluate my career path. I am happy to say that was one of the best decisions I ever made! I am enjoying being a student again and my new role in adult learning.
For this task, I chose my everyday “go-bag”: a Longchamp Le Pliage tote. It sits right by my front door, and if I am leaving the house, it is usually with me. This tote is a cult favourite for good reason: it is both practical (roomy and made of durable, washable nylon) and stylish (the leather straps, leather closure, and gold zipper make it a bit fancy). It fits all my stuff and a laptop if needed. Once I bought this bag, I noticed them everywhere!
What you see in the picture are all the things I have been taking with me now that I commute to an office two to three days per week. Do I need all this stuff every day? No. But do I want to have all these things at hand to feel prepared to go into the office? Yes.
- Compact umbrella. It was raining when I left the house on Friday.
- Sunglasses and case. The sun came out eventually.
- Presto card. Toronto transit’s cashless payment system.
- Building security pass.
- Wallet with debit/credit cards, loyalty cards, cash, random receipts, ID.
- Mask and hand sanitizer. Masks are still required on public transit and at the office.
- iPhone and Airpods.
- The BEST lip balm.
- A small pouch for personal grooming items that come in handy when you’re away from home. I pulled out a few for this photo: cuticle balm, tissues, lip gloss, nail file, toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, sunscreen, scrunchie. Not pictured: mini lint roller, Tide to Go, wipes, lipsticks, more lip gloss, eye drops.
- Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr. This is my book club’s pick for June. I am trying to use my commute time to read, either for this course or for fun.
- Notebook, pen, and Sharpie.
You can also see items that should have been removed or recycled a while ago. My bag needed a clean out, and this exercise helped me finally get around to that task! These are the things that were buried at the bottom:
- A receipt for a Cobb salad I ordered last week using the Ritual app. I don’t have to waste my precious lunch hour standing in line!
- A welcome letter from Hockley Valley Resort, a wedding invitation, and a box of matches. I went to a wedding on the long weekend, and the box of matches was part of the wedding favour.
- A grocery shopping list from maybe three weeks ago? I’m not sure, but it looks like we planned on making macaroni and cheese.
- A roll of dog poop bags. We needed an extra roll for a trip out of town with the puppy, and they got tossed in my bag instead of the dog’s weekend bag.
Text Technologies
The most apparent evidence of text and technology in my bag is Cloud Cuckoo Land. I have a Kindle, and I have the Kindle app on my phone, but I decided to read this book in print. I think this shows my age a bit because sometimes I simply prefer reading longer, more challenging books in print. When I fell in love with reading, print was the only text technology I had, and part of that love is bound up in that familiar sensory experience. My teenage kids do not have this experience, as they have been reading in print and digital formats for their whole lives. They do not favour one form over another. Buying this book in hardcover also indicates its worth to me – I did not wait to purchase the cheaper paperback. Sometimes I question this decision simply because it is heavy and takes up a lot of room in my bag. However, I love this book so much that it is worth the extra weight. Doerr masterfully weaves (yes, weaves like the origin of the word text/texture) three disparate storylines together: 14th century Constantinople, present-day Idaho, and a spaceship in the future. It is a love letter to libraries, an examination of how stories are captured and assembled (or disassembled) in text, and an imagined future where all texts, learning, and even planet Earth are experienced virtually. I think many of the themes in this book will apply to this course.
The next evident text technology in my bag has to be my iPhone. I use the Kindle app to read books. The print receipt in my bag was generated from an order placed on my phone in the Ritual app. I told my husband to text me the shopping list or a photo of the list instead of putting that piece of paper in my purse (I knew it would end up buried). I make lists using the Notes app. I consume the writings of others on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter on my phone. I read the New York Times and do the crossword in the app, I use the NYT Cooking app when I make dinner, and I no longer have print subscriptions to magazines because I read them all in the Apple News app. That charming wedding invitation you can see has very little information on it, but it does have a URL of a wedding website. I used my phone to log in to that site, RSVP “yes,” and make our dinner selection. I love my phone, but I hate feeling tied to a screen. That’s part of the reason why I buy print books, and I carry a notebook and pens. Sometimes I want to escape from technology’s hold over my everyday life. Perhaps an archeologist would see the evidence of technology and print in my bag and think that I live in an era of transition from the physical to the digital. So many things in my bag could be digitized and available on my phone: the shopping list, wedding invite, the book, the notebook, the loyalty cards in my wallet, and even cash and credit cards. And yet I still carry around so many physical texts. Perhaps an archeologist would be able to guess my age as someone who isn’t a digital native but still embraces technology in many ways.
Fifteen years ago, my everyday go-bag would have been entirely different. It would have been a giant diaper bag, and everything in that bag, other than an old LG texting phone and a wallet, would have been in service to my two young kids. I was a stay-at-home mom and a freelance editor during nap time. There would have been diapers, wipes, a changing pad, sippy cups, multiple snacks, crayons, small toys, Play-Doh, and a change of clothes for the kids. There would have been very little evidence of text technologies and lots of evidence of a mom with small children, but not a lot to represent who I was. I am glad to see the elements of who I am in my current bag, although when I look at the contents objectively, I think they represent someone who is more cautious and conservative than I think I am. I’m not a risk-taker at heart, but the notebook from an insurance organization, the toothbrush and sunscreen, the mask and hand sanitizer seems to belong to someone more staid and sensible than the self I think I project. That being said, I am the kind of person who likes being prepared: I will have floss or stain remover or sunscreen, and I’ll happily share it with you. But I’ll also get you out on the dance floor at a wedding. And responsibly clean up after my dog.