November 8, 2019
Dear Everyone:
Way back, when I was a college student, in the early 1970’s, I had a lot
of books to carry around with me.
I never knew when I might have a few minutes of “free” time to
spend studying one thing or another.
At that time, I was cross-majoring in Anthropology and Middle Eastern
Studies. Which meant, among
other things, I was learning to read and speak Arabic.
And that meant keeping two full-size dictionaries with me at all
times. One was the Hans
Wehr (pronounced hahns-VER) Arabic-to-English dictionary.
The other was the Elias English-to-Arabic dictionary.
And, of course, there were other books for other subjects.
A case study of the Tiwi Islanders of northern Australia.
And a treatise on what the author called the “Urban Nomads of the
United States”, what most people called “hobos and bums”.
Not to mention the Penguin Atlas of Medieval History,
which showed who was invading where in the Middle Ages, always useful to
know.
So how did I manage all those books, and more?
I used a backpack, decades before it became fashionable.
It was your basic nylon bag with a large zipper and one or two
added pockets to hold small things, like my wallet.
I pretty much never went anywhere without it.
Fast-forward a decade or two…
And I didn’t need to carry so many books.
Instead I used the usual purse or handbag to transport all the
stuff that women can’t live without.
Some bags worked better than others.
At one time, I even designed and made my own bags, usually out of
canvas or corduroy. The
advantage to these was that I could include pockets specifically meant
for certain things. One
pocket that only held the current BART* ticket.
Another managed my company identity badge.
I could even swing my hip a certain way and the badge would pass
in front of the reader and authorize my entry into the building without
the need to take it out of the purse.
Over time I graduated to more stylish, and expensive handbags.
Each one had pros and cons.
The Pro was usually that it was large enough to carry everything
I needed for the moment, plus all the things meant for emergencies, like
a small penlight and a set of keys to “Jeannie’s” home and car.
The Con was that the bags were usually large and somewhat
unwieldly.
Last year, I decided to try using a small roller bag, meant for air
travel, instead of a traditional purse.
On the one hand, it meant I didn’t need to carry it.
Although I did have to lift it into and out of the car.
Of course, I would have to do the same with any other bag.
But over time, it became a chore to always have to walk around
the car to herd the bag in and out.
Also, it required at least one hand to push and/or drag it this way and
that. This meant one hand
for the bag and one for the inevitable cane that I still use.
This leaves zero hands for anything else.
Over time, I became disillusioned with the roller bag and decided
to take another stab at using the once-and-future backpack.
There were lots around.
In fact, every afternoon, when the local middle school lets out, scores
of kids head for the nearest store for snacks and drinks.
Many stores now have a “no backpack” rule.
Consequently, the kids shed the backpacks as soon as they enter
the establishment, dropping them on the floor and leaving an ad hoc
obstacle course for the rest of us to navigate.
I went to the Big Office Supply Warehouse Store to look for backpacks.
The helpful representative guided me to the aisle where the “Back
To School!” offerings were all on Sale!
However, they were intended for kids and teenagers.
I was hoping for something a little more mature.
On the back wall, I found a collection of bags intended for one of two
things: Exercise apparel and
equipment; and young executive wannabes with large laptop computers to
wrangle. I found a backpack
with some athletic logo on it.
It was on sale, of course.
Plus, with all the other things I was picking up that trip, and
some coupons, the cost of the bag was equal to the amount that I had
saved. So it was essentially
free.
It was really a series of large enclosures sewn together, with zippers
and a couple of outside pockets added on, plus the shoulder straps.
It was made of some kind of polyester or nylon; and the zippers
were nearly all covered for some reason, which caused them to jam rather
easily. It would be ideal
for holding swim trunks and a towel; or handball gloves.
Once I filled it with all my stuff, it was basically about 25% occupied,
with the rest all empty space at the top.
Pretty much everything sank to the bottom of each enclosure,
making finding anything in a hurry out of the question.
Nevertheless, I decided to give it a try.
At first, it was a delight not to have the roller bag to contend
with, leaving at least one hand free.
But I quickly became dissatisfied with the large bag’s
awkwardness.
After a couple of weeks, I determined to try again.
This time, I went to a different office supply store and quickly
discovered a new backpack designed by a well-known manufacturer of
handbags. This one was more
well thought out. It had
lots of internal compartments and pockets-within-pockets.
Everything fit, with room to spare, but all in places that held things
in place, instead of letting everything shift to the bottom.
The zippers were much better quality and opened and closed easily
instead of fighting every inch of the way.
As for overall weight: The
roller bag weighed nearly eight pounds, empty.
The new backpack, fully loaded, weighed less than seven.
So I’ve lost a pound and gained a new bag that, so far, is
working out great.
Love, as always,
Pete
*BART: Bay Area Rapid
Transit
PS. Those two dictionaries.
I knew that I couldn’t donate them to a local public library.
And a used book store was also probably out of the question.
Then, a few years ago, the Powers
That Be assigned a young man to our workgroup.
He was a member of a well-to-do Arab family.
Having been born in Michigan, his English was excellent.
In time, he entered into an arranged marriage with a young woman
from Algeria.
She spoke flawless Arabic and French, but was understandably struggling
with English. I gave him the
two dictionaries to give to her.
They were much appreciated.
And that’s better than throwing them into the recycle bin.
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