hilltopics images people features wednesday, january 31, 2001 for comments, contact kristi elliott at 864-4924 or features@kansan.com
8A
it's in the bag
photos by justin schmidt
Georgie P. Athial
Olathe senior in electrical engineering
Describes himself as carefree, outgoing, half-organized confident and liberal
Heather Steen
St. Louis junior in geography
Describes herself as energetic,
youthful, unorganized, faithful
and happy
- Lesly Esperance
- Port-au-Prince, Haiti, sophomore in business
- Describes himself as outgoing, open-minded, organized, friendly and ambitious
Harris, manhattan
■ Des Moines, Iowa, freshman,
undecided major
Mary Mullenix
- Describes herself as organized, outgoing, optimistic, fun and sincere
Try to match the person with their bag. Answers are on page 2B
- Kristopher Baker
- Overland Park sophomore in journalism
- Describes himself as creative, cynical, optimistic, introspective and dynamic
you may look at the faces above, read their major and year in school and instantly be able to match the owner to his or her bag.
However, what we choose to carry around today may not be so easily stereotyped and categorized in the future.
John Hoopes, associate professor of anthropology, said that in 1,000 years, were scholars to stumble onto these bags' contents, they might be more critical of our society.
"We might think the ones with hair brushes and other cosmetics are probably female, but not necessarily because everybody in the future could wear makeup," Hoopes said. "Men in other societies are more concerned with costume and appearance, so it's not necessarily easy to tell whether items are male or female."
Hoopes said that what anthropologists may be most critical of in 1,000 years is what these bags say about our wastefulness.
"In 1,000 years, they might comment on the wastefulness of paper, including the amount of paper that would be readily thrown away."
Water bottle, English, math and health textbooks, planner, highlighters, mini hair brush, mini stapler, class schedule, notebook
A water bottle without a filter and other petroleum-based products probably would puzzle future anthropologists because of the different state the environment would be in in 1,000 years.
Hoopes said that, judging by the amount of paper products, anthropologists would write about this as one of the last societies where not all information was digital.
Worried about how you may be perceived in 1,000 years? Maybe you should carry a candy bar around with you.
"That Snickers bar will still be edible in 1,000 years," Hoopes said.
What future man or woman wouldn't appreciate a chocolate gift from the past?
— Kristi Elliott
Novel, notebooks, granola bar wrappers, pudding, tupperware containers, checkbook,
srotractor, wallet, newspaper
Western Civilization books, notebook, textbooks, planner, old newspapers, highlightter
Mini stapler, medicine, graphing calculator with manual, pencils, computer disk, Snickers candy bar, textbook, mail
Textbooks, notebooks, folders, binder, graphing calculator, French brain teasers book
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