It can be hard to find love in the big city, and things are made even harder when all your friends are posting about their own wonderful relationships on social networks. Genevieve Blau is one of those loved-up individuals who is only to happy to share the joys of being with someone special. Her Instagram account is packed with photos of her and her beau out on dates, having fun at home, and even some shots of their private time together.
Nothing all that unusual, except she’s dating a pink JanSport backpack. Sorry, we’ll say that again. Not a person. A pink JanSport backpack.
Despite first appearances, it’s all a big, highly amusing, and very satirical joke. According to Blau, who spoke to the Daily Dot, she got the idea for the pictures when she visited an upmarket restaurant holding the backpack. Feeling out of place, she came up with the backpack-dating idea as something fun to do when dining alone. It took a couple of glasses of wine before asking the waiter to take the ‘first date’ photo, but the affair has spiraled since then.
For the last month, there has been a steady stream of photos posted showing the pair together, and they are quite wonderful. Blau cleverly pokes fun at all those generic dating pictures many of us regularly see, but there is also a serious point behind all this. She told The Mirror newspaper, “It’s important for people to know how to be by themselves, and it’s something we are becoming less and less comfortable with as a society.”
The cynical may see Blau’s relationship with her pink JanSport rucksack — which doesn’t seem to have a name, other than JanSport, which is a shame — as a bitter attack on a relationship she doesn’t have. It’s quite the opposite. “If the right human man comes along, I will be happy to make room. Let’s face it, JanSport, while a wonderful partner is, at the end of the day, a backpack,” she told The Mirror, “We are both realistic and know that there are things that JanSport can’t give me. That said, we are super happy and totally in love.”
Make sure you check out the entire Instagram page here.
