So this young assimilated-negro-to-be who has been staying with me, shook me up with some iconic imagery. I was sitting in the west-wing of my apartment, where I assigned his living quarters, and I noticed that he was rocking the Garbage Bag Luggage Collection™.Now this is iconic imagery for TAN, and I suspect other assimilated negroes, because it left me awash with memories of when I was a young aspiring assimilated negro, and I rolled up on the campus of Choate Rosemary Hall with my own Garbage Bag Luggage Collection™, completely oblivious to my just-raked-the-front-lawn appearance. It was a bag (Hefty mind you, Hefty ain't cheap), and you use bags to hold stuff. And these were the bags we had. Us poor people didn't know about the nuances of luggage with handles, and wheels, and zippers. Nah, we knew about throwing it in the plastic, and if you had a lot of stuff (like an iron) you better make sure you use more than one twist-tie.
But having completed the Negro Assimilation Program (NAP), now I do things like ask the Lions of HH Realty Group to fetch me some outdoorsy living, and, of course, I've also upgraded my luggage. Now I only use trash bags after I catch a body, but seeing that the GBLC™ still lives was a nice nostalgic treat.
The Lions of HH Realty [HH Realty Blog]
I used garbage bags when moving in and out in college after my freshman year. I originally did the whole packing/luggage thing, but soon realized that:
ReplyDeletea.) It was easier to shove clothes in a garbage bag than pack them in an organized fashion when you're hungover/still drunk
b.)It was easier to smoosh into the back of my uncle's minivan.
Cheap? I like to think of it in terms of time efficiency.
well shit, i'm planning on reverting back to garbage bags for a trip to greece next month. they give a nice low-profile look - none of that, "i'm american, lemme run over your toes with my jag bag" action.
ReplyDeleteand just try to force that big roller bag to fit in a tiny overhead space...not gonna happen. but garbage bags: they're my bitches. they do whatever I want 'em to...
Choate was a lot cooler when they were "the judges" and not "the wild boars". Plus when there was a lot of cocaine. Okay, scratch that...boarding school was never cool.
ReplyDeleteI actually have my clothes in a large garbage bag right now while I am travelling in Canada. I am thinking of getting some other luggage...a large brown cardboard box, but the green garbage bag matches my stillettoes and is easier to cram under the seat of a Greyhound bus.
ReplyDeleteI ain't in college or young, oh dear!
I might just have to post my own travel luggage photo on my blog....good idea!
Candy
http://gnosticminx.blogspot.com/
I've outgrown the garbage bag luggage, but I still use garbage bags when moving.
ReplyDeletei still remember stuffing my girbaud jeans into garbage bags when i moved out of my dorm at andover for the summer, while my classmates neatly stacked their items in boxes that were shoved into the back of their parents' massive SUVs along with skis and feather beds. One of the first things I did when I finally started earning money was to buy some real goddamn luggage!
ReplyDeletechas chesterfield - ahhhh The Judges. good times, good times. I actually wasn't up on the switch to the fighting boars. The Judges always felt a little tame, but Fighting Boars doesn't excite me much either.
ReplyDeleteGooooo Judges. Fight Choate Fight!
ReplyDeleteI liked the Judges in their big grey wigs.
and it looks like quite a few folks have dealt with the garbage bag luggage collection. alas, not I. I'm one of the effete choate snobs who stuck her nose up at putting my things in hefty bags.
ah... Cujo was holding down luggage all those years in the "lobby"...
ReplyDeleteOk, seriously? How much does a duffel bag cost? You can get a monstrously huge one that can fit at least five bodies for like fifty bucks at LL Bean. For sixty bucks you can upgrade to a bigger bag that will fit the bodies whole and for an extra five bucks you can have it monogrammed. Maybe it's because I took my first international flight when I was still, quite literally, sucking at my momma's teat, but I've always had luggage or at least access to luggage. And speaking as one who has basically tried 'em all nothing beats the glory of the rolling duffel for moving.
ReplyDeleteThe bag weighs almost nothing (unlike those stupid samosonite hard case suitcases) which is excellent when you're flying, it has wheels which makes transporting it when packed with say fourty pounds of hard cover books, a cinch and properly folded clothes (with a rolling technique) means no wrinkles. Lastly if you're in a rush you can still do the stuff everything and it will close because duffel bags are soft and quite forgiving. They also take almost no space when it comes time to store them and can fit under the closest to the floor beds provided you're not Japanese or pretending to be and you bed doesn't lay directly on the floor.