Put Your Reader on the Scene: Kanken

Upon opening her brick red Kanken bag, Angela extracted her practical essentials: band-aids, tampons, chapstick, condoms and a power adapter. A flower printed pencil case encased her school supplies, untouched and unused for days. 

One particular item in question stuck out: a stack of vibrantly hot pink flashcards, neatly bound together by mismatching binder clips of different sizes and different colors on opposite sides. There were clearly indications of moderate to heavy use, edges crinkled with dust and condensation. 

It contained knowledge. The Korean alphabet. 

Angela picked up learning Korean again with the help of a friend.

Sentimentality was another item found in this student’s backpack. A shell containing her memory of a beach date with her boyfriend was tucked away safely and carefully. A pair of rings that connected her to her ancestors were also tucked away in a similar fashion, kept clean and preserved without any signs of wear and tear, as if the original owners purchased it just yesterday. 

In her small black wallet contained a snapshot of where she has been in the past year: stamp reward cards of different dessert places, business cards to jog her memory when she recommends to her colleagues, a refillable Metrocard that takes her everywhere and anywhere, her personal identification documents and of course, a perfectly preserved photo of Mother Mary, surrounded by vibrant sunflowers and roses. 

She is practical. She is rebellious. She is Angela Yolanda Perales.

This article was written for a class assignment at Cal State Fullerton for the Spring 2020 semester.