Silver and Pink
-Norma Marcano Mulero

Whenever I come in contact with a plastic bag, I remember mom. She seems to be fond of plastic bags, especially the big, strong, and pretty ones. She always saves those she thinks she can easily reuse and those that are just "too cute to throw out." The ones she keeps the most are from OLD NAVY, for being both pretty and strong. I don't think that her recycling strategy is environmentally friendly, but she does take it seriously. Since I was a little girl she has taught me to save the worthy ones under the bed, so that they won't get wrinkled. We keep them between the mattress and the box spring, being that the most suitable place for storage (or so mom thinks.) I used to hate this ritual after a day of shopping; but I find the supply it produces rather useful when I have to take things to school that don't fit in my backpack.

Several years ago my view of saving plastic bags drastically changed. I still don't like to save bags under my bed, but I now understand my mother's mania, ever since receiving my first plastic bag from CHARLOTTE RUSSE. I guess it's because I found the bag to be so eye friendly, unlike most plastic bags, and couldn't consider throwing out something that looked so good and resembled art more than trash. It was like a token of appreciation the store gave customers for shopping.

Since in middle school this has been my favorite store. It's the only place I always go and like everything; the blouses, jeans, jewelry, shoes, and purses are the best you can find for the price they sell them. The bag was glossy silver with a pink stripe on the middle that held the white letters of the name of the store. The texture of the bag was unlike any other, the silver spaceship color made it look futuristic, but in a old-fashioned way. It was also strong and mid-size, making it really practical to use. Definitely a dreamy type of bag. When needed I proudly used it outside. Instead of dragging along an awful looking supermarket plastic bag, the silver and pink one almost made a fashion statement, provoking many complements from peers as well as teachers.

Even though am not a fashion freak, and don't particularly care much about how I look, I do have issues about carrying an ugly plastic bag in public. I think that most Puerto Ricans don't care much about what type of plastic bag they carry around. I've seen some pretty ugly ones, in bright yellow, for example, with owners that seem to be oblivious to the fact that those are better off not shown out of the context of the supermarket. Or it could be that they don't go to any store that has pretty plastic bags for customers (like silver and pink ones perhaps.) Unfortunately, I have to refer to my CHARLOTTE'S bag in the past tense because they killed that pretty plastic bag. I can't recall the specific time, but they simply and quietly discontinued it. They replaced with a baby blue and aqua-colored bag that resembles the former one only in size. I now don't save my favorite store's plastic shopping bag as happily as before.