'Designer Series' Trapper Keeper from the mid-1980s. Both of my sisters and I used this little baby--and still it endures, trapperly-keeping old history notes from The Lady Eve's youth. Those Trapper Keepers were built to last--structurally, at least. Style-wise, not so much.
I just pulled this tasty item out of the bookshelf in my parents' guest bedroom, where I stay when I'm here.
Back in the day, this 'Designer Series' Trapper Keeper binder was de rigueur for a hip (or nerdy) California tween's problem sets and history notes. Over the years, it has trapped three girls' polar graphing exercises, keyhole paragraphs, who-what-when-where-why-how summaries, German and Spanish verbs, and tedious Thomas Hardy essays.
Looking at my old Trapper Keeper, I thought of my cousin C. C. grew up in Katy, TX, where she used to go dumpster-diving for discarded Keds brand shoes, cut the blue rubber Keds insignias from the heels, and glue them to the off-brand canvas sneakers her mother bought. All because certain kids at school would relentlessly torment anyone who dared to wear off-brand rubber-bottomed canvas shoes to middle school. I don't recall any such pressure to own a rainbow Designer Series Trapper Keeper, but I know it was the style at the time (usually with New Kids on the Block, River Phoenix, or even Bruce Willis pasted inside the cover).
So, folks: tell us about an emblematic item from your youth. Did it cause you suffering or joy? Have you recently rediscovered it?
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