Hidden Spaces, New Possibilities -- Jerz's Literacy Weblog (est. 1999)

I’ve often had dreams about returning to a former home and discovering a hidden room there. When I was a kid, the local TV station trimmed a couple minutes out of every rerun of Star Trek, so as an adult I would occasionally be surprised by a few minutes I had never seen before.

A couple weeks ago, the zipper on my computer bag broke after 10 years. When my new bag arrived last week, I spent a few happy minutes deciding which would be the new pocket for my phone charger, where I would put my spare glasses, where I would put my tiny emergency umbrella, and so forth.

Yesterday I was chilling in the food court at the mall when I noticed I had completely ignored an entire zippered pocket that had no analogue on my previous bag. That new pocket has further compartments inside it.

I am still kind of overwhelmed. I have no idea what to put there.

Snacks? An emergency paperback book? A little first aid kit? The Rainbow Loom Spock my daughter created circa 2014? A roll of gaff tape? A USB flashlight? One of the “What would Jerz do?” bracelets the newspaper staff made a few years ago?

All of these things… and more?