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Hinche, Haiti

Coordinates: 19 9 N 72 1 W

Population: 23,599 (2003 est.)

People travel for many reasons, but a chance to sample local or “authentic” cuisine often weighs heavily in the decision-making process. In my own peregrinations I’ve sampled stir-fried insects in Thailand, whale carpaccio in Norway, and stink tofu in Taiwan: all things that are harder to come by in the U. S. of A. An uncommon foodstuff that I haven’t tried however, can be purchased for next to nothing in the impoverished Caribbean nation of Haiti. (more…)

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This map was for a book called Marshfield Dreams: When I Was a Kid by Ralph Fletcher. (Click on the map to see a larger version.) It's a beautifully written memoir of the author's life as a child growing up in Vermont, with many poignant and funny moments. I enjoyed doing this piece because, first of all, I loved reading the story-- and second of all, when the editor sent me the manuscript she basically said, "Have fun!"

I love it when that happens!

Among other genres Fletcher has written many books about writing craft for young people. I have a few and I'll attest-- his books are helpful for all ages.

This is a little map of Morocco from a few years ago. Another place to visit someday...

Here are some interesting photographs of Marrakech-- the colors and patterns and designs warm my winter-weary heart! (I just noticed "Marrakech" is spelled two different ways-- "ech" or "esh"-- I wonder why...)

Map of the Battlefields of Arrnhem and Oosterbeek

The battlefields of Arnhem and Oosterbeek in the Netherlands never looked so good as they do in Pink and Teal. The battles were part of Operation Market Garden. It was here that the famous “First Airborne Divison” consisting of more then 8000 men, under the command of Major-General Urquhart, glided down to earth on the morning of Sunday September 17, 1944.

The scaley, snake looking trail in the lower half of the map represents the Rhine River. The battlefields can be seen as the solid patches of brown. I really appreciate how the map designer cut away the airplane and parachute icons from that mass of brown. Simple, effective and creates some interesting shapes within the negative space.

You can read more about Operation Market Garden at wikipedia.

On a sidenote, watched “King of Kong” this weekend. Great flick. Definitely biased in its presentation but none the less Billy still comes off like a really sorry bob. After all the talk of competitive gaming and playing in front of people, I was surprised that he didn’t step up to the challenge at the Guinness event in Florida. Thoughts?

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My very first cat came from North Carolina. Years ago, fresh out of art school, I worked in the art department of a golf trade magazine. One nice perk was that I was able to assist on a golf fashion photo shoot at Pinehurst Resort. (Talk about luxurious... too bad I don't golf!)

We were shooting in the stables one day, where a barn cat had recently had kittens. The hair and makeup woman fell in love! She managed to bring a kitten home in an open box on the plane. (Can you imagine that happening now?) But after about a week back in Connecticut she decided she couldn't handle him any more-- so I took him. His name was Bandit, he was shiny and black, and he was one of the sweetest cats I've ever known.

(*Note: Pinehurst isn't located in Carrboro. Actually, Carrboro has nothing to do with this story, apart from the fact that it is in North Carolina. A tenuous connection, but, hey-- it's Monday.)

This is a map I did about 5 years ago for a book called Holding the Reins: A Ride Through Cowgirl Life, by Marc Talbert and Barbara Van Cleve. (Apologies for the grainy scan!) Sadly, the book appears to be out of print, but it was an interesting story about four different girls growing up and working on ranches in Utah and Colorado, Montana, Wyoming and New Mexico.

Lately I've been reading more and more books thinking-- I wish there was a map in the frontispiece. Flipping back and forth between a story and a map, imagining where a character is when I'm reading-- makes me slow down and savor the story even more.

Mojave, California

Coordinates: 35 3 N 118 10W

Population: 3,836 (2000 est.)

Here in the United States, most eyes are on New Hampshire today, as Democrats and Republicans head to the polls to decide their Party’s candidate for the 2008 presidential race. Further South in New York however, where it’s currently a very sunny 59 degrees Fahrenheit, I find my mind has wandered out west, to Mojave, California. (more…)

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Check out this perfect holiday gift for that map-loving-person-with-a-wicked-sweet-tooth in your life. (Can you actually eat marzipan all by itself?)

The LOLbrarians group on livejournal has been somewhat quiet lately, but I enjoyed this little mockup about the Libirary of Congress and their excellent unique historical map. Reading that made me realize there was a digital version of the map online that I could go look at. Neato.

Greece sounds lovely right about now. (Especially since they're predicting snow for tomorrow.) This is a map of different wine regions. Oh well-- it was fun to do, even if I won't be going there anytime soon!

I’ve been blogging about the Place of the Week for nearly two years now, choosing a new location every seven days that I knew little about but had caught my attention or that appeared in the news. In the last year global warming has become much more than another subject debated within academia; in fact its found its way into our language, popular culture, and even our shopping habits. As I thought about this while I tried to pick my first Place of the Year, I kept coming back to the very visible ways the Earth’s landscape has been altered by the phenomena. (more…)

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Calais, Maine

Coordinates: 45 11 N 67 17 W

Population: 3,447 (2007 est.)

Not to be confused with the much larger, older, and better known French city, Calais, Maine is nonetheless significant for several reasons: a French settlement established in 1604 by Champlain on nearby St. Croix Island was one of the first in North America, and as a point of entry into the United States, it’s the eight busiest northern border crossing. (more…)

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Patagonia, Argentina

Coordinates: 45 0 S 69 0 W

Approximate area: 300,000 sq. mi. (770,000 sq. km)

Perhaps best characterized as a sparsely populated, expansive arid region situated almost literally at the ends of the Earth, Patagonia once teemed with an impressive range of flora and fauna. Of course to fully appreciate the abundance of life that once called this piece of South America home, it helps to have a degree in paleontology. (more…)

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Afyon, Turkey

Coordinates: 38 45 N 30 33 E

Elevation: 3,392 feet (1,034 m)

When speaking of edible plants (and their medicinal properties), the opium poppy tends to get a bad rap. Most likely this is because while its harmless leaves, oil, paste, and ripened seeds can be found in various Turkish, Arabian, and Persian dishes, the narcotic properties of unripe poppy seeds have made it a lucrative black market crop in recent decades. (more…)

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Pentecost Island, Vanuatu

Coordinates: 15 42 S 168 10 E

Area: 190 square miles (492 sq. km)

Whether or not they should be classified as wholly fascinating or purely frightening, you’ve likely heard of skydiving, bridge jumping, and cliff diving. Less familiar may be the practice of land diving, a ritual performed by the men of Pentecost, one of a chain of about 80 volcanic islands that compose the Republic of Vanuatu. (more…)

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Regular readers of "It's All Good" know that I've been working with the good folks at Adventure Cycling Association on marketing the Underground Railroad Bicycle Route to and through libraries. Now, Adventure Cycling is offering a special gift for libraries. This information is courtesy of Julie Emnett, the Associate Development Director for Adventure Cycling Association.

GET A FREE COPY OF OUR LEWIS AND CLARK MAP SET FOR YOUR LIBRARY

In 2007, Adventure Cycling received a grant from the National Park Service to update, reprint and distribute our Lewis & Clark bicycle route maps, originally created to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the epic journey of Meriwether Lewis & William Clark.

Our maps give information about cultural interests and natural history, interpretive information and the location of bike shops, grocery stores, camp sites, motels and libraries and more — all services cyclists look for while on a bicycle tour.

Thanks to the National Park Service, Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail Program, Adventure Cycling will be giving away 275 of the eight-map sets.

Adventure Cycling Association would like offer the members of WebJunction an opportunity to order one of the free Lewis & Clark Bicycle Trail route sets. Simply follow this link and complete the form by including the code GT-0001 at check-out and we will send you your free Lewis & Clark map set.*

*Limited to stock hand of the 275 original map sets. Only one per library. No exchanges or refunds will be offered.

http://www.rethinkingschools.org/just_fun/games/mapgame.html

Sark, United Kingdom

Coordinates: 49 25 N 2 22 W

Approximate area: 2 square miles (5 sq km)

Times change, and with them, people and places are carried along on the tide of modernization. But not always. On the tiny island of Sark in the English Channel, feudalism has clung, virtually unnoticed, to its rocky shores since the Middle Ages. In fact, this hereditary form of rule hung on long enough to make it the only feudal territory left on Europe, a continent known (among political geographers at least) for its microstates and puny principalities. (more…)

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Gog and Magog

Everybody can probably rattle off a religious myth, or name an urban myth or two, but what about those of the cartographical variety? They aren’t so common anymore, and yet for centuries much of what was known about the world was little more than the figment of a mapmaker’s imagination. From about the seventh century, European maps went so far as to locate Paradise on the eastern edge of Asia, surrounded by a wall of flame, or later, simply water. (more…)

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Upper Saranac Lake and Middle Saranac Lake.

I'm a big fan of maps.

That was probably the dorkiest statement I've made today. Sorry about that.

Here are the states I've visited.

What can I say? Long road trips used to be a way of life! Think Blue Highways by William Least Heat Moon. (Thanks to Tricia, at The Miss Rumphius Effect, for the link.)

create your own personalized map of the USA
or write about it on the open travel guide

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On a completely different note, Yahoo! is preparing to launch Yahoo!Teachers. "Get ready! It's coming...The easy-to-use site and peer network designed by and for teachers. Get ready to create, modify and share standards-based curriculum." Like Bud the Teacher (thanks for the link), I'm still a little leery about this (and, no, my school isn't in their network, either). Additionally, BtheT brings up some other details/angles/slants about which I wasn't even aware...Google Certified Teachers? Yahoo Teachers of Merit? Here's a little peer networking: if you need to belong to a group of really smart literacy educators, all you really need is Choice Literacy. Sign up for the free weekly newsletter. You'll see.

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This has to be ab.so.lute.ly the CUTEST baby picture ever! Can you tell that mom is a member of the Kidlitosphere?!? Congrats, Stephanie (Children's Literature Book Club)!

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And this fun find comes to you from the lobby of the doctor's office. I was in for a "how many ways can you start to fall apart" kind of appointment on Friday morning. A mother, grandmother, and two little (3 years? 4? I can never tell...) twin boys were leaving just as I sat down to wait. One of the boys approached the automatic sliding glass doors, raised his arms and said, "OPEN, SESAME!" And, like magic, the doors opened. Mom said, "Let 'Other Kid' do these," and the other boy magically opened the second set of doors.

Let's not forget that magic is real and alive and it's as close as the doors in the doctor's office. In case you don't walk around with twin preschool boys to show you the magic, you might need to get in touch with your own inner preschooler to find it, but it's there. The magic is there. It doesn't leave when we grow older. We leave it. But it's still there, waiting, any time we're ready to say, "Open Sesame!"