Hello! My name is Rika Vuong-Lam. You can call me Rika and I identify as she/her. I am an occasional teacher in the Peel District School Board here in Ontario, while completing my third and forth course in the MET program. I am edging towards the end of my maternity leave as my second born reaches one-year by October.
For this assignment, I chose my grab-and-go back that I use when with my children. I had recently cleaned some things out, which I am thankful for since I am presenting it for your viewing. Left in the bag are mostly essentials for that day’s trip such as crackers, water, the toy duck and ball to keep the infant occupied, immunization card for the doctor’s trip, my glasses, sunscreen and wallet filled with money, membership cards of different sorts, debits, credits, IDs, and points cards.
Other additional items remained in the bag such as:
- A spray hand sanitizer and pack of face masks,
- leftover receipt from the mall dated Thursday, September 2, 2021 and an arcade pass,
- a swim badge embriodered “NO WATER OVER MY HEAD, I JUST LEARNED TO TREAD,”
- Wonderland seasons pass,
- and a phone displaying a list of things to bring for an upcoming cottage trip.
These seemingly random items have evoked the most interest in me. You will notice, due to the pandemic and the unprecedented time we are all faced with, hand sanitizers and masks are a daily item I carry with me to enter the school, where distancing is not possible and to fulfill daily duties such as grocery shopping and sanitize my hands upon touching public surfaces. There are no text written on the masks, but on the box they are obtained from, “hospital grade” are large print and important texts, as this type of masks are the only ones allowed for school teachers. Prior to purchasing hand sanitizers, I am sure to review the text, making sure that the alcohol content is 70 percent and above, as Public Health in our area recommends. These two items signify public spaces and outwardly projects my respect for others’ safety as well as my own. It demonstrates doing my part in stopping the spread.
The arcade pass and receipt from the mall occurred on the same day in the same mall. It was the first time I took my 11-month old to the arcade and the first time we have gone at all since the pandemic. It reminds me of the first time I realized how much my daughter loves excitement. It also reminds me of how innocent my children still are compared to their older cousins (11-years-old and 15 years-old) who were fixated on winning rather than just having fun. This may be due to their literacy and ability to understand the affordance of the game.
The swim badge lingers in my bag as it demonstrates my 6 year-old son’s achievement in his swimming lessons. Every Sunday, I take him to his swim lessons and we do family swim right after. Since the start of summer, he has demonstrated frustration and shame in his own inability to tread water. The simple text on the badge reminds him of his success in finally treading water, creating a sense of accomplishment and pride. It also reminds me of the summer-long memories we have created by spending time swimming together weekly.
Wonderland seasons pass is also a reminder of a first. The first time I took both my children (and my husband). A reminder of how I challenged my son’s walking endurance of walking on his own without a stroller or physical support of any sort for 8 hours and the joyous smiles and laughter that occurred throughout the day riding on slow train and car rides or sliding down water slides and running through splash pads. From all of these private items in my bag, it outwardly projects that I am a mother who values activities with my family.
My phone use tells you that I am a digital person. I barely use paper to write notes, lists, messages or assignments anymore. For jotting down ideas or making lists, I am reliant on my phone, mostly cause its always with me. I may utilize notes to make lists and share them with my partner so either one of us can do the shopping or packing. I also use texting and messaging applications to jot down ideas for an assignment or lesson plan and get my partner to remind me the next morning. This habit tells people that my mind is always going and at any time, work and school will inhabit it. I’m also a person of convenience and you can tell that by reviewing my phone, you will find that the rest of the family’s season passes and my debit and credit cards are conveniently stored on my phone wallet.
Text Technology
My phone is an obvious example of text technology since it is both a technology and utilized for text purposes. The way I utilize my phone to write down my ideas differ from how I would use paper. On paper, I’d write main words and point form, but seeing that my typing ability on phone is pretty quick, I would create full, academic sentences to my ideas. Given 10-25 years prior, making notes on a phone was not possible or as convenient as it has become. I rely a lot on language and communication to help me through my personal and work life, whether I communicate with myself through note taking or rely on my partner to help communicate my ideas to me at a different time. I sometimes even set alarms with my ideas to remind me to write them into my papers or plans. My ability to use differing tools in different ways, demonstrates my flexibility in reading and writing. Storing my debit and credit cards on my phone is protected through facial identification and password lock, in which only getting through these digital encryptions would I be allowed to access my digital wallet.
As for the arcade and season pass, these are digitally created and allow for easy access to games and entrance of a park. The season pass stores my personal information and photo to allow for me to access the park year round and allow for employees to quickly check and verify my identity, saving time at the gate but also minimizing communication between patrons and staff. The arcade pass stores tokens and tickets both for us to easily scan and access games and to retrieve won tickets to later trade for prizes. This prevents us from lugging rolls of tickets and buckets with coins around with us while we play.
The receipt and swim badge are digitally created. The receipt from a printer after the employee enters in your purchase and the badge at a factory most likely controlled by a computer that mass produces these badges. Along with the label of the sanitizer and the box that the masks originally come in are also digitally created. It is also important to note my literacy in both English and Chinese that the receipt signifies. Linking to my identity, the Chinese characters or texts on the receipt reveals my culture and the unique foods I eat.
After examining the text and technology in my bag, I come to realize how important these simple text and technology are to me. From the reluctance of discarding the swim badge or putting away the arcade and season pass due to the text written on them or the emotions they evoke, to the importance my phone is to me in keeping me organized or the written text on the sanitizer to assure my safety. Without knowing, text technology has value and is essential in my everyday life.
