Saturday, September 24, 2005

What's in Your Fanny Pack?


Recently, I was fashionably-inspired by a man that I respect. His sense of style is absolutely fearless. It caused me to wonder ... am I being hypocrytical when I urge others that they can pull of anything as long as they wear it with confidence, when I myself tremble at the thought of revisiting the 80s and strapping on a fanny pack?

His black leather fanny pack caused me to remember my own neon orange pack. Ah, those were the days! I remember when I was 9 or 10 having a yard sale where I was getting rid of most of my toys. At one point during the day, I had over $300 dollars strapped around my skinny, little waiste. I wonder what was in his? ... a calculator? ... a protractor? ... an unfinished manuscript for his next publication?

So I put the following questions to you.

1. What did your fanny pack look like? (notice that I did not ask if you had one. I know that you did!)

2. What was the most interesting thing you remember keeping in it?

3. What do you think is in [insert a favorite professor/mentor's name]'s fanny pack?

For those interested in a comprehensive history of the fanny pack, click on this link.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

well, i am certainly glad you asked!!! my fanny pack (which should have probably been called a skinny waist pack) was hot pink. why? because hot pink was the coolest, and when i was nine i was a really really cool girl. i mostly remember carrying my camera around in my skinny waist pack when we would go on holiday. i could just whip it out and snap a photo of the giraffe crossing the road or the view from atop table mountain. i also kept my hard earned allowance in my skinny waist pack so i could buy really cool stuff like lip gloss which would then in turn also live in my skinny waist pack. now that i think about it, i wasn't really that cool at all. if i had been really really really cool, i would have stored my tots in there.

as for what that what's-his-name stores in his belly pack, i mean, fanny pack, well my guess would be leftover meat pies from dinner, or possibly a joey. he's probably conducting some sort of experiment on whether or not a 2 day old baby kangaroo can survive in a fanny pack or not. who knows. i once had a hamster who lived in my fanny pack.

having said all that, i think the important question here is....is it really necessary for anything to have the word "fanny" in it's title???

Donna S. said...

ALL RIGHT ALL RIGHT!! I CONFESS!!!

My name is Donna and... and ...I...had.. a... hot pink fannie pack... with neon green trim.

There. I said it.

My use for the fannie pack would change daily. Some days I would try to wear it around the neighborhood feeling very cool and sporting some of my favorite stuffed animal buddies while riding my pink Huffy 10-speed. The rest of the time I was using it to pretend that I was on a day-long hiking trail (actually, it was around the couple of acres that we owned -- sometimes I would sneak into our neighbor's pastures as well - don't tell!). I would pack it full of snacks and stuff I thought would be necessary for the trip and out I went, ready to catch frogs and tame wild beasts.

What would Dr. Parker have in his fannie pack? A concealed weapon. (Don't all Texans carry guns?)

Anonymous said...

1. Neon green with a black strap.
2. Dwayne Wade-style flip-shade sunglasses (think of the show "Different World").
3. Mobile phone circa 1998, Captain's Wafers, fountain pen, business cards

Jenn said...

Well, my fanny pack was actually hot purple, with a section of flower print in the middle. I guess really I only had klenex tissues in there.
I actually just bought a NEW fanny pack from Cesky Budjeovice, Czech Republic, when I went to visit the Budvar brewery, it's red with their logo on it. Now I use it for my cell phone, ID, keys, etc. when I go to the gym.

It's very handy indeed!!! Why did they ever go out of style!?

BTW, Budvar (in the U.S. Czechvar) is the ORIGINAL Budweiser beer. Some German ripped it off and came to America long time ago, thinking that he would bring over a "subliminal" reputation of good tasting beer. Whatever, I know that to me, the new advertisements for, "This is Budweiser. This is beer." should be changed to, "This is Budweiser. This is urine."
I mean, who ever has gone and tasted the REAL Budvar can say that it's true! Sorry if I offended any beer drinkers out there. . . .

Anonymous said...

Is it really a fanny pack, when it keeps falling off because of a lack of fanny? I had to run it through a couple of my belt loops to make it stay on. And it was black and blue, just like my body after the "cool" kids beat me up for wearing it. The contents: candy and rocks. I just recently bought a cool air foil (kite) and it came in a blue pack for the fanny. I'm probably still going to get beat up....

I think Dr. Parker is carrying ninja throwing stars and a bow staff in his.

ckjolly said...

Dr. Parker? I realize that he is a very passionate and opiniated man ... but violent?

Anonymous said...

wow! those were the good ole days huh? Fanny packs, wow. Yeah, well let's see ... mine was neon green, you know the radioactive, nuclear green, the green that was so bright it was like a slap in the face. Yeah, that was the color of my fanny pack.

And i kept, hmmm... what did i keep in there? i've always been sort of a minimalist - now that i think about it i don't think i really kept anything in there - it's more like just something i had to be cool. i'm sure i put something in there, like money or a camera or something just to have something in it. Wow, i was walking around with an empty fanny pack all those years (wait, it wasn't years was it?!?!) That's a little sad.

Your prof, he's just a fashion icon - there's nothing in that fanny pack of his; he's just a trendsetter, he's ahead of the curve, bringing back the bag. Oh yeah, fashion guru AND college prof - what a package - he's the whole deal - no wonder he's your american idol, Christine.

Nikki Leigh Daniel said...

You better BELIEVE that I had a New Kids on the Block Fanny Pack! I also had NKOTB sunglasses (bright yellow). Oh, and a NKOTB phone (seriously) and sleeping bag. And I currently have 3 NKOTB CDs. And a Christmas tape. And I'm done.

J. C. Ashby said...

Flashback (circa early 1990's):

I'm trapped on a loaded Turner Coach trekking the vast Hoosier countryside field-trip bound. It's like FIFTH grade - and we're journeying forth into the great unknown and heavily-populated abyss that IS:

Chicago, IL - harbinger of Science Museums, Art Galleries, and manic Cub fans (watch out, they spit!).

With only my trusty black fanny pack (with the swanky hot pink trim) - filled with my freshest collection of Genesis and BeeGee's cassette tapes - to shield me from the nasty glances of Paul Tanoos and Tommy Jeffers in the back row, I studied classmate Kimberly Harrah as she systematically committed Vanilla Ice's "Ice-Ice Baby" to memory THE ENTIRE FLOGGING TRIP!!!

If Dr. Block had been there, he would have whipped his faithful roll of heavy-duty DUCT TAPE from his fanny pack, and exclaimed:

"BEHOLD! Silence is sweet...and Vanilla Ice is a one-hit wonder."

FIN

Lisa said...

Ha! Jen, your words a priceless.

Attention all, J Wojak has left the building!

Anonymous said...

can you do sunvisors next? They're cool and awaiting a comeback