This assignment happened to be the same weekend as a back\packing trip. Of all the things in my dorm, I had to choose what was important enough to carry for four days.
·
N Nonessentials (stuff I didn’t take with me on the backpacking trip)
o Recycling Bin and garbage can
o Books Papers
§ For Classes:
· Textbooks, sheet music, handouts, lab notebooks, binders, notes
· ChBi, AmCon, Stats for Econ, Chinese, Piano, Voice
§ The Book
§ The millions of papers I was handed during week one
§ Map of the natural lands, map of Northfield
§ Spare time books: Left Hand of Darkness by Ursala Le Guin, another novel, a nonfiction about neuroscience, two scientific Americans, piano and guitar music
o Laptop
o Office supplies: pens pencils, stapler whole punch etc
o Sewing Kit
o Bike Patch kit
o Electronics: Camera, shaver, sundry chargers, batteries, calculators
o Spare glasses
o Decoration: Picture of Spock, Poster on door (Escher meets landscape), national park postcards, picture and David Wagner
o Half a bike computer
o Parts for an electric motor
o Tool kit
o Fan
o Floor and desk lamps (but only one light bulb)
o Toiletries
o Flip flops and dress shoes
o Most of my clothes
o Music stand
o Air filter
o Guitar +accessories
o Skis+accessories
o Panniers
o Helmet and St Olaf hat
o Bed and bedding
o Snow boots
o First aid kit
o Suitcase
o Hangars
o Plate, fork, cup
o Towels
o Frisbee
o Laundry soap
o Glowstick
o Tea, hot chocolate, and popcorn, electric kettle
o Antique MP3 player+headphones
o Swimming trunks
o Lab goggles
· Essentials (I carried these for four days)
o 3 coats, long underwear, snow pants, gloves, etc
o Walking shoes
o Messenger bag+1 improvised bag made out of duct tape
o Bowl, spoon
o Duct Tape
O Glasses
O Glasses
o Water bottle
o Lot and lots of food
o Wallet, cell phone, keys, Ole card
o Toothbrush, toothpaste, soap
o Flashlight+batteries
o Sleeping bag
o Chapstick
o Change of clothes+what I was wearing
o Carabineer
The only thing revealed by the division between things I brought and didn't bring on the trip is that most of the items in my dorm room are not survival essentials. That I am not battling for survival has profound consequences, but is obvious.
The presence of items that store information--books, laptops, calculators, posters, MP3 players, etc--doesn't say a lot about the owners. (Again, the abundance of information items has profound consequences, but is obvious.) What is more revealing is what information is stored in those items. It says something that I have two calculators. More revealing is that I've spent hours programming them to perform impractical tasks. A lot of students have books beyond schoolbooks. The content of mine is somewhat unusual: a novel that questions patriotism and gender, nonfiction about neuroscience, a novel I haven't read yet, and two issues of Scientific American. I could continue for all sheet music and other electronics, but that would be a separate exercise: an inventory of all the information you've made readily available to yourself. What webpages do you usually visit? What books do you have? This would tell you about the person but not the society. Making a physical inventory tells us things about society (not worried about day to day survival, information is important).
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