What’s in your bag?

I’m Danya Sprott and I am currently taking my fifth MET course. I am from Geneva, Switzerland, but I attended Queen’s University for my undergrad and have recently arrived in Huntsville, Ontario to spend some time with my brother.

I found this activity particularly interesting because I remember that, when I was a teenager, I was gripped with the ‘What’s in your bag’ pages found in countless magazines. Out of curiosity, I looked it up and it seems as though quite a few magazines continue to release articles on what celebrities have in their bags (The Verge, Us Weekly) and some even release them as videos on YouTube (Seventeen).

I think I was just curious about what someone’s bag contents would say about them. Now that I have had the chance to do this activity myself a few years later, I feel like the contents of my bag, at first glance, are not exactly breath-taking. However, after putting a bit more thought into what I can say about the contents of my bag, I see that they say a lot about me.

Necessities

These would be the items that I rarely leave the house without.

• iPhone (set to French) – to contact my family and friends. Most importantly while I’m travelling, I tend to use Google Maps quite a bit as I don’t like feeling lost
• Sunglasses
• Agenda – I hardly ever leave this behind. I have a terrible memory and I don’t like using the calendar or reminders on my phone
• Wallet
  • Driver’s license
  • Debit/Credit card
• Small blue bag
  • Plaster/hand cream/glasses cleaner/hair tie/hair clips/essential oils/lip balm
• Car keys/house key/mail key
• Water bottle
• Hand sanitizer
• Mask
• Tissues

Extra items

These items seem to be more unique to me. They aren’t essential, but I choose to take them with me either out of preference or temporary necessity.

• iPad (set to English) – I only carry this around with me when I have readings to do and know I will have time to read. I try to save paper, so I do not like printing out my readings.
• Postcards – I love receiving and sending postcards. Something about them being handwritten means a lot to me. These three postcards are the last ones to be sent out and their final destinations are Paris, Lausanne, and London.
• Pencil case – I love handwriting thoughts and notes and prefer to carry a pencil case than loose pens and pencils in my bag.
• Reading book – I enjoy reading and am currently reading Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl. I almost always carry a book with me.
• Notepad – I had this notepad in my bag because I wanted to leave a message on my aunt’s door. She lives close by.
• Library card – I have not been to the Huntsville library in a few years. I tend to carry it on me when I’m in the area in case I ever want to go in. Interestingly, I do not go there to rent out books, but classic movies.
• Boater’s license – In the summer and early fall, I love spending time on the boat. I tend to forget to take my license, so now I always keep it on me.
• Headphones – I used to hate forgetting my headphones as I loved listening to music, but now I mostly take them with me if I expect long wait-times. I listen to audio books and podcasts.
• Polaroid picture of my sister and me.
• Passport – I needed to bring my Swiss passport to my aunt’s house so that I could scan it to myself. Generally, I wouldn’t use it as my everyday ID.

Texts

The Oxford English Dictionary (n.d.) defines ‘text’ as the “wording of anything written or printed”. There are quite a few items in my bag that would be considered ‘texts”. More apparent would be the book I am reading, which is telling a story through written text, my agenda where I take notes and write down my schedule, and the post cards I have written. I would also add that, although the notepad is currently blank, I would consider it as a ‘text’ in the sense that its purpose is to write something down on it.

Another category of ‘texts’ would be my phone and my tablet. Most of what I do on these electronics involves either writing or reading even though they have multiple other uses. Next, I would have these items as ‘texts’ in the sense that they provide a small amount of important information about myself. My driver’s and boating license state that I am legally allowed to drive cars and boats (at least in Ontario). My debit and credit cards allow my banking information to be accessed and used. My library card allows me to rent out books and videos and links me to their system. Finally, my passport states that I am a citizen of Switzerland.

The last category of ‘text’ would be things that purely provide information, but that I don’t read anymore. This would include the hand sanitizer, tissues, essential oils, glasses cleaner, hand cream and lip balm. I maybe read them once when I bought them, now I no longer need to as I know what they are.

These items would probably allow someone to conclude that I speak French (iPhone) and English (iPad), that I enjoy reading (book) and writing (agenda, notepad, postcards), that I am Swiss (passport), and that I have international friends (postcards).

Text technologies

After taking a close look at the items in my bag, I could only find five items that did not have a single piece of text. These were the blank notepad, my face mask, my headphones, my hair tie, and my hair clips. My glass bottle technically wouldn’t have had any text on it, except that I placed a sticker that says “Get it” on the side. Out of every single other item in my bag, only one of them only has handwritten text and that it the polaroid picture. I wrote the date on the back. Every single other item has text that has been written using technology, either printed or stamped. Some items use both handwritten and digitally written text such as my agenda (my notes), the reading book (a note from my dad who offered me this book), the debit and credit cards (signatures), my passport (signature) and the post card (the written note).

It is interesting to think about the technology linked to ‘text’ beyond what is visible on the items. For example, my credit and debit cards link to my banking information. My passport is biometric, so it has a chip that links to my facial measurements and travel information. My library card links me to my account which determines what I have checked out and my address. Finally, my iPad and iPhone allow me to connect with anyone I want to connect with and find almost any information I may be looking for.

Narratives

I find it interesting to think about the narrative the contents of my bag portray. Thinking back to those ‘What’s in your bag’ articles I loved to look at, I just wanted to see the unique and individualised items in their bags. Obviously, these contents say a lot about my nationality, my address, my schedule, my credit card, what car I drive, my prescription, etc. This seems like a lot, but, at the same time, I feel like the contents of my bag do not say that much about me. Something my bag does not say about me is that I love spending time outdoors, my family is extremely important to me, I am a teacher, I am vegetarian, I love playing music, and I have a dog named Molly. I do not outwardly project all these things, but I think these are things people know about me when they meet me.

Past and future

15 years ago, I would not have carried this same bag or contents around with me. In high school, I had a black Eastpak backpack, no smart phone or tablet. At the time, I liked to read, but only really spent time reading books for school. I had no credit cards, car keys or licenses, and my parents would have kept my passport at home. I would have carried around my Swiss identity card. In my bag I would have had my mp3 player with a set of headphones (not wireless), a bigger agenda and a bigger pencil case. I was not very good at drinking water, so I probably did not have a bottle. Finally, I never would have carried a mask or hand sanitizer with me in my bag.

The mask and hand sanitizer would maybe be an important indicator for an archaeologist rummaging through my bag in the future. My agenda would be of interest in the sense that it would indicate the year. The phone and tablet model could be of interest as technology is continually evolving. Passports could change format again. Physically stamping passports will most likely become irrelevant in the future. In my phone, my music playlist could be of interest. Perhaps languages will evolve enough for the English used on my items to be of interest linguistically.

 

References

Oxford University Press. (n.d.). Text. In Oxford English Dictionary. Retrieved September 9, 2021, from https://www-oed-com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/view/Entry/200002?rskey=hSy3jz&result=1&isAdvanced=false#eid