On Sunday night, I went to a concert with my best friends. Eventually I had the opportunity to fulfill my childhood dream and see new kids live on the block. Of course, the “kids” were older. I was older. Many of us in the crowd were older. But don’t forget your first love or, in particular, your first boy band. NKOTB’s first album was released in 1986 but they got bigger – then huge, then internationally ginormous – in the late 80’s and early 90’s, just as I was about to start my age. In the smallest corner of my world, every girl knew every word of their songs and all the choreography of their music videos. Each of us had a favorite (which, in today’s phantom language, would be biased). I had Joey.
Decades later, unprepared, and without any backing track, I could easily explode into a new kids track without even finding a word. It’s hard to remember the exact date I got married but, somehow, the lyrics of each NKOTB hit song are embedded in one of the deepest lobes in my brain — probably how to breathe and how to sleep — and I leave this mortal coil right next to the note I will stay there until I leave. “Step by step”? Got it. “Hard”? Instant classic. “Please don’t go girl”? I will not go and I will never learn those songs.
So I didn’t prepare much for this concert. What was there to know? I’m a seasoned concert-gear and I know all the lyrics of all the songs. (The billing included Salt-en-Pepa, Ann Vogue and Rick Astelio, all of those special moments of my life when apparently I had plenty of time to learn songs that I will remember forever.) The concert was in Portland, so I got dressed, comfortable shoes. And I threw a token clean plastic bag in my suitcase with all sorts of things in common, then I no longer thought about preparation. That is, until the day of the concert, when my friend and I looked at the Portland Arena bag policy and realized that it was not a clean bag situation, even a “no big bag” situation – it was “no bag” allowed Not at all“Status. As, no purse. Duration. Beard.
Here’s what I learned about these no-bag policies: They are real. They are uncompromising. And they are spreading. They started during the COVID-19 epidemic. And, although it is unclear how the non-purse novel prevents coronavirus transmission, these restrictions are being put in place to make the stables more secure.
Portland was not the first area to implement it. I don’t know where it started, but the first place I noticed was in Los Angeles, where the Downtown Arena tried to make an announcement. Similar policy in April 2021, You can bring to the stadium only what you can fit in your pocket. Like Portland, the LA policy was announced as part of an overall policy change in the epidemic; In this case, it was Fifth tweet In a thread of the COVID-19 protocol. The rule was widely and quickly ridiculed, and Arena management quickly led to a change: diaper bags and medical bags would be approved, but they would be screened. Later, they would add that a smaller clutch (specifically, 5 inches by 9 inches by 1 inch) would be allowed.
But laughter in the LA courtyard did not stop these policies. They have been popping up all over the country. So far, I’ve found similar bag policy at Anaheim, Las Vegas, Washington DC and Pittsburgh’s Arenas and Boston and Atlanta baseball stadiums and Tamper an NFL stadium. Like the LA, most of these were announced in mid-2021 as part of a new policy to welcome fans during the epidemic.
All of these announcements used more or less the same language. When Trail Blazer began allowing a limited number of fans to watch the games in May 2021, Portland announced its no-bag policy in a press release. The press release states: “Rose Quarter has implemented a no-bag policy to create a non-abrasive and non-contact customer experience.” Look, if we don’t have those cumbersome bags, everything will go fast! And no one has to touch you!
This is why people leave bags to bring. European women’s clothing has a long, frustrating history that does not include functional pockets, which are replicated in most of our clothing today and means that, for no other reason, about 50 percent of the population needs a bag. People also use bags to bring the medical supplies they need to survive, or the things they need to feed their babies, or maxi pads for their periods because we all know that arena bathrooms are garbage, if they are provided here. Of course, these new policies allow bags for medical purposes and for children’s supplies, but they exclude what I saw at the concert in Portland — you have to go through a certain line so that your bag can be screened and that line was very good.
When LA rules were announced, people rightly called them Sexist And Performs. They are still there! And yet that response has not prevented other places from adopting the same policy. Every press release I’ve read says that entry should be “non-friction” or “non-contact” but that doesn’t make sense. No one has to touch me to search my bag. You don’t have to touch my bag; Just ask me to open it and show you the content, which I’ve done countless times, or run it through an X-ray machine. I hate clean bags, but I have several now, so let me use them! And I can’t see how banning bags makes it harder to come and go through stadium security. All you have to do is hire more staff to help check the bags, or buy a few more X-ray machines to scan the bags, and the line should be moved properly.
Except, ah, yes. That will cost money.
Instead, these positions are decided Turn a profit Close our purses by charging a fee for bag checks. In Portland, the Arena management company does not say on its website how much a bag check costs; This KGW8 article states that prices will “vary according to the event.” In fact, none of the stadiums and fields I found with bag bans provided any value information about their bag policies online bag checks, which is terribly inconvenient for consumers who have to decide if they want to bring a bag but this seems like a great venue. Can pay any price.
This is where complete security demands are met. If bag checks are about safety, and security only, then why is the cost going to consumers যারা those who have already shelled out for a ticket (plus fee) and for transit or parking and will pay more for food (because management) Prohibits bringing food), and for free water (because management has banned bottled water)? Conveniently, for management, a bag ban forces consumers to buy whatever they need inside the facility — a ridiculous mark-up. This is not about security. It’s about turning every second of your experience into a profit, mostly for a company owned by a billionaire.
There is hope. The bag ban can be lifted. Denver Arena has announced a no-bag policy In March last year But, when I checked its website this week, it said the bag was allowed. In Philadelphia, the Phillies lifted much of their bag ban when a South Philly resident called for them. Philadelphia Inquirer. Perhaps universal humiliation works.
So what did we do at the Portland show? See, I don’t want to put too much evidence on the page about my friend and how I chose it ExplanationSay, one or two rules. But what I saw in Portland did nothing to convince me that the bag achieved something forbidden. A lot of people on the line didn’t know about it and the time that was spent on informing and then explaining to people who didn’t know about the bag ban at any time that this ban was “reserved” was easily lost on the X-ray line and How bag check works. If these rules are about saving people time and making access easier, they don’t.
The most important thing is that we got up in our seats without incident and had a great time, I dare say a wonderful time. You never get too old to live your childhood dream and cry privately with your favorite band member, even if he or she grows up and you grow up and you are both definitely married.
But as my friend and I walked out of the arena, raining raindrops on his car, I saw all the fans around us clinging to their concert T-shirts that they had kept up all night, the fabric getting wet and getting wet in Portland at night – because Almost no one had a bag to dry them.