The things we carry.

In college, I was required to read an extremely raw yet touching piece of contemporary lit called The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien.

The book was about war, and it affected me as much as the movie "Saving Private Ryan." The title of the book stemmed from the items found in soldiers' backpacks, and the stories those items told about the person, the function, the duty, and the life.

Thankfully, the things I carry each day (in containers and in life) are not nearly as physically or emotionally heavy as what soldiers have to deal with.

But I still found the newest exhibit at the Louisiana Art & Science Museum (LASM) very interesting, since it deals with the history of what women have carried throughout the years. (Of course, it certainly didn't hurt that the featured item is one of my very favorite things: purses!)

My sweet friend Erica and I checked out the exhibit entitled Purse and the Person: A Century of Women's Purses last weekend, and we thoroughly enjoyed it!

Disclaimer: I'm not making light of what our military does (and carries) by comparing that to

what women have carried and how they've carried these physical and mental items over the years. The exhibit was educational and thought-inspiring, as both Erica and I pondered questions about how women went about certain daily but difficult tasks without anything to hold pertinent items. No place for not only fun things like lipstick, but also for the essentials (especially back in the day) like money, snacks and toys for kids, a pencil or pen, etc.? So foreign to us.

I strongly encourage you to go to LASM and check out this fun and informative exhibit! There are tons of purses from throughout the decades displayed creatively, as well as thought-provoking written descriptions displayed throughout the exhibit. And there's a whole room dedicated to shiny objects (Judith Leiber's infamous beaded, bejeweled, and bedazzled bags -- one of which is pictured below in the shape of a butterfly)!

If you're not into purses, then clearly, there's something very wrong with you -- hee hee ;-) -- but there are still many other fun things to see at LASM, including a MUMMY!

I hope you enjoy checking out LASM, just one of the Red Stick's many cultural (and AIR-CONDITIONED) opportunities that are within arm's reach.