Before I read the “mobility” essay by Jody Berland in New Keywords, I didn’t really think about movement up the pay scale or not having physical mobility because of a disability as a form of “mobility.” I only thought of geographical mobility. I thought of people walking from one place to another or people moving/migrating to different areas. I still mainly think of geographical mobility when I think of the word “mobility,” but now I am more aware of the other meanings of mobility.
Above is a picture of a backpack. Backpacks are very useful when you are carrying stuff and moving around. The backpack allows you to carry more stuff because typically your back is a stronger muscle than your forearm (the forearm is used to grip the handle on a suitcase or other piece of luggage). I use my backpack everyday to carry my belongings, and it is very important to me because it allows me to be mobile with my belongings. I stuff almost everything in my backpack, even if there is only a 0.01% chance that I will use an item during the day, I stuff it in my backpack.
The backpack has two shoulder straps that are used to carry the backpack. These shoulder straps are taken for granted, but they are a very important part of the backpack. They free up your arms and hands, so that you can run (it’s harder to run with your hands occupied), and even carry more stuff if you need to.
There are multiple zippers on the backpack that separate the different compartments/pockets or “packs.” The biggest one is located nearest the shoulder straps, and the pockets progressively get smaller as you move away from the shoulder straps. For my backpack, the big pocket contains the big items and the small pocket contains the small items. My backpack has four pockets, which allows me to carry a lot of stuff.
The first pocket contains my textbooks, folders, notebooks, and sometimes, my gym clothes. These items add the most weight to my backpack. The second pocket contains an umbrella (it has rained in summer before), a water bottle, and three peanut butter sandwiches (my lunch). The third pocket contains my TI-86, my iPod, a cell phone adapter (to recharge my cell phone if the battery runs out), an iPod adapter (to recharge my iPod if the battery runs out), deodorant, a flashlight, and a beanie (that I never, never, never wear, but in case my head gets too cold). My fourth pocket contains pencils, pens, a solar powered calculator, a stapler, a pair of scissors, a pack of cards, and two locks that I use to lock up my stuff at the gym. I used to have a ruler, but it broke.
Why put so much stuff in my backpack? Well, it gives me reassurance that if I take my backpack with me, then I’ll be prepared for anything (probably). I am free to go mobile any time I want to.
1 comment:
I really like how you take a common object and parse its contents carefully and in detail. I feel like you could go into a bit more detail at times, especially concerning the intricate design and semiotics of a North Face backpack (it's a cottage industry with so many nuances and specialized flairs!), but still you have managed to isolate this attachment of/for mobility, and describe how it functions. You last sentence is particularly intriguing: "I am free to go mobile any time I want to." It occurs to me that mobility contains this key ambivalence, always both the potential to go and the going itself. The backpack lets you both *be* mobile on a day-to-day basis, and also lets you plan to be unexpectedly mobile under surprise circumstances. This is very interesting, because it reveals indeterminacy about how we plan for the future versus how we live in the present.
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