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A Story Behind Every Backpack

This week we reported on the history of the school backpack, and it got a lot of you talking. If you missed the post, check it out here.

It turns out that most backpacks come with a story, and we wanted to hear some of those stories.

We asked for pictures of your first, current or favorite backpack using the hashtag #nprbackpack. Here are some of our favorites:

Some backpacks double as travelogues:

Other backpacks represent personal timelines:

All backpacks seem to represent their owner. Almost like an extension of their personality:

Also, the classic "off to school" shot:

And we even got a short lesson on the history of school backpacks in Sweden:

On Facebook some of you tried to one-up my editor Steve Drummond with your own "in my day" experiences:

"No one used backpacks in later years (I'm 68), but in elementary school, when I rode a bike to school, I used an olive drab WWII surplus backpack, from my father, I think. He later told me it was actually the pack a paratrooper wore strapped to his front." - Marion Moïse, on Facebook

"Was recently telling my kids that if a boy liked you, he'd carry your books (I graduated from high school in 1986)!" - Kim Hallemann Crank, on Facebook

"We didn't use backpacks when I went to school. We carried our books on the backs of dinosaurs." - Eileen Noel, on Facebook

And a certain debate emerged in our comment section about whether you were a "one-strapper" or "two-strapper":

"Do you wear it over both shoulders or just swing it over one?" - Thorfinn Skullsplitter, NPR.org

"I graduated HS in 1979, and used a backpack from middle school on. We would NEVER have put it on our backs - the cool way to wear it was slung over one shoulder. The only exception was while you were riding your bike, as long as said bike was a fancy 10-speed with the 'ram's horns' handlebars." - mayya, NPR.org

"I think the two-strap thing came about because more weight was being carried in backpacks, too much to be comfortably carried on one shoulder." - Joseph, NPR.org

"Oh, the contemptible double-loopers." - Denise Powers, NPR.org

It turns out that Slate even wrote an article about the one-strap/two-strap phenomenon. Check it out here.

What inspired the article? A scene from the movie 21 Jump Street, which is definitely worth a look:

So, which one are you? One-strap or two?

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Lee Hale began listening to KUER while he was teaching English at a Middle School in West Jordan (his one hour commute made for plenty of listening time). Inspired by what he heard he applied for the Kroc Fellowship at NPR headquarters in DC and to his surprise, he got it. Since then he has reported on topics ranging from TSA PreCheck to micro apartments in overcrowded cities to the various ways zoo animals stay cool in the summer heat. But, his primary focus has always been education and he returns to Utah to cover the same schools he was teaching in not long ago. Lee is a graduate of Brigham Young University and is also fascinated with the way religion intersects with the culture and communities of the Beehive State. He hopes to tell stories that accurately reflect the beliefs that Utahns hold dear.
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