My name is Mike Orlandi and I am a Tech Ed. (shop) teacher at a public high school on south Vancouver Island. I am currently teaching woodworking, metalworking, and jewellery to various grade levels. Even though I am only in my fifth year teaching, I’ve had to teach almost all Tech Ed. subjects at some point in my short teaching career. So in addition to the courses I am currently teaching, I have taught automotive, power technology, drafting and design, STEM (science, technology, engineering, math), and trade sampler courses. Classic situation of a new teacher with low seniority and taking whatever position I can get. It sure has kept me busy the last couple years. Hopefully I can stay for a while at the school I’m currently at.

Outside of working with my hands and producing a project, another passion of mine is the outdoors. In particular, fly fishing. This is why I have chosen my general fly fishing bag for this assignment. 

The items in this bag slightly change depending on the time of the year and the type of fly fishing I’m doing and/or the river I’m fishing. As the bag stands now, I have a 3” foldable knife used for general purposes, various rolls of tippet (this is put on the end of the fly line and often called a “leader”), tapered leaders which are used for dry flies, a fly box filled with common flies, a spool (allows me to quickly change the line type on my reel), Aquel (which allows dry flies to stay afloat), sinking tips (for fishing various depths), a multipurpose tool, and bear spray. 

In my opinion, these items can be considered “text” because they are all produced from the same (or very close) modern technology and deliver a similar message. That message is to assist in product and/or brand identification, and proper usage/instruction. They are all produced on a digital mass production level. 

My initial reaction when thinking about the text on the items was how meaningless the words have become. I thought about how many people from around the world have held the same items and ran their eyes over the labels, instructions, and information without truly understanding the meaning of the text. The instructions on the bear spray can save one’s life, yet I have the feeling that people (including myself) look at the item and assume how to use it. In contrast, I am currently sitting at my kitchen table looking at a picture of my niece with a handwritten message on it. The words have no effect on my physical safety (although for another individual it may), yet they have so much more meaning to me than the valuable bear spray instructions. I realize when I see mass produced print I overlook its value. 

Unfortunately, the items speak truth to how I communicate and engage with language. The packages of sinking tips and rolls of tippet contain fine print, charts of information and pictures of usage. I recognize the charts and pictures as I have clearly spent time looking at them before. While the fine print I have never actually read. I am not proud of this as I know it contains valuable information. For example, the fine print contains the total length of tippet on a roll. As someone on a tight budget I should be looking at how much I pay for the total length and comparing it to other brands. Instead, I look at the strength to diameter size because it is on a simple and easy to read chart. I think this reflects the text I see on a daily basis and how it has become ingrained in me as to what I look for. It is ironic because to become elite at fly fishing you must embrace the process, be patient, and pay attention to the fine details. Yet I take a different approach to the text associated with my sport/pastime.

The text on the items reveals some of the cultures I engage with and places I inhabit. First, I engage with the cultures of marketing. The product name is of larger and/or different colour then the rest of the text on the item. It’s flashy, and it did catch my eye in the store. There is often text on how the product is superior to the competition. The tapered leader I use has the text “VHT Nylon Technology provides incredible tensile strength to diameter ratio, making it 20% stronger than regular leaders.” In terms of places I inhabit, certain words reappear that are associated. Words such as “safety”, “reaction”, “performance” and “action” can be found more than once in my bag. Thus associating me with doing an activity in the wilderness. I doubt the words would be as profound if I dug through my kitchen pantry. 

I believe an archeologist from the future trying to understand this temporal time period would view my bag as a highly personal form of fishing. Ideally, they would recognize how little text there is on the small products I carry. Fly fishing is low on gear compared to someone on a boat in the ocean trying to catch the same salmon. If future archeologists discovered the content on our modern day deep ocean fishing boats, they would witness a great deal of text. There would be instructions with detailed diagrams on the motors and all the associated gear. So the little text in my bag would lead to the conclusion that the gear does less work in the fishing process. Ideally, the archeologist would come to the conclusion that you do more of the work physically, thus leading to a very personal fishing experience.