Double bag it...

and I'm not talking about groceries.


I pride myself on being an observant individual. I often find myself fascinated with the behaviors of people around me or random things I notice on a daily basis. I am intrigued by what may seem to be typical behavior to the common eye. My intuitive nature forces me to ask often the question, "Why?" or even, "Good Lord, WHY?"

I've worked at the University of Memphis for a little over a year now. Sometime over the past year, I noticed that many female students carry both a purse and a bookbag/messenger bag. I recently noticed this again, and still now, months after my first observation of this behavior, I am intrigued.

When I was in college, most females carried one bag to class.
~If you were of the higher society variety, you carried one of your many Vera Bradley bags.
~If you were of the lower level higher society variety, you carried a messenger bag.
~If you were of the "I don't really fit in socioeconomically at Bucknell but I get a scholarship and have some student loans" society variety, like myself, you rocked a book bag.

Regardless of what class you belonged to (or pretended to belong to), you rocked one bag.

That's right, uno.

So, I find myself curious as to why the female students at Memphis rock the bag and the purse at the same time? I wonder, what is so important in the purse that it cannot go directly into a Vera Bradley or a messenger bag or a bookbag? To my recollection, each of these types of bags have multiple compartments where one could easily fit those special items that go in a purse - wallet, cell phone, chapstick, tampon, keys.

So, I am perplexed. Why the separation? Can't we all just get along?