by Sarah Fonseca

Created on: April 20, 2009

A recent trip to my favorite office school supply store left me wondering: just what happened to my generation's favorite childhood organizational tool, the Trapper keeper? Surely it hadn't been THAT long since LA Gears were all the rage, President Clinton uttered that infamous lie about not having relations with that woman', and the three-ring notebook had once graced the inside of my bookbag.

A marvel in its own right, The Trapper Keeper is not your ordinary binder. Originally created to hold the Mead paper company's line of three-hole punched, ultra-durable line of folders (Trappers'), the notebook soon found success among schoolkids from the seventies onward. A product of the nineties, I can personally attest that it was not the velcro, slew of organizational doodads, or even the sliding plastic rings that piqued my interest - it was the design.

Why settle for a boring 3-for-a-dollar binder when I could have the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Sonic the Hegdehog fiercely staring me down each time I cracked the cover of my language arts notebook? Like an insect to a Bug Zapper. I was drawn in instantly. Now a university student, I have been a fan ever since.

That day at the office supply shop, I was unable to find my beloved Trapper Keeper. I resorted to asking a sales clerk for assistance, and was somewhat surprised when he directed me to the exact spot where I stood several moments before, gazing at a display of bland maroon and olive notebooks, the word "Trapper" stencil-printed along the opening. While the name is still halfway present, the product definitely is not.

What had happened to the notebook of my childhood dreams? The ones with cartoon characters and seizure-inducing graphics? Those that singer-songwriter John Mayer once referred to as "the genesis of obsessive compulsive disorder" for our generation? Why the de-evolution? After all, aren't most things supposed to improve with time?

It's arguable that as time marches on and technology allows one to become more and more efficient, most concrete office items, from encyclopedias to pens to sticky notes will inevitably be rendered obsolete, only to be waxed nostalgic on in popular culture. After all, all one needs to do is tune into an episode of South Park, Family Guy, or Dawson's Creek to catch references to this iconic item from a now bygone era. Meanwhile, I will continue to feverishly search eBay for an ET Edition Trapper Keeper, which will certainly ensure my success in academia.

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