More Than a Feeling

Abstract

One of the most common items seen across a university campus is the ubiquitous backpack. As fashionable as it is functional, the variety of bags and carrying styles is dizzying. The classic backpack has the two padded straps across the front and a large open storage area. More modern versions of this traditional pack have a webbed cup on the side to hold a water bottle and various small holes in which the wearer can feed cords for headphones. More advanced styles have numerous modular side pockets designed to hold all the electronics that the current crop of students need to carry. Phones, laptops, portable games, charging cables, and even battery banks are just the basics that many students have. In the non-electronic category of items, students transport books, food, water, and even clothing depending on the weather. I feel as some of these students are packing for an assault on Everest as they empty their bags in my classrooms.