Suspended in A Sunbeam
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. (Carl Sagan, May 11 1996)
No matter how much one tries to enlarge this photo, or how much one attempts to zoom in, the arrow will still be pointing at a "Pale, Blue Dot." This dot should certainly not be overlooked for it is the home of every plant and animal known to exist. This dot is Earth. The robotic space probe named Voyager 1 captured this image commonly referred to as "Pale, Blue Dot" in 1990 from a record distance of 3.7 billion miles. According to Nasa, the Earth takes up about 0.12 pixels of the entire picture. This particular photograph is part of a 60 image mosaic project intended to create a family portrait of the solar system that includes Earth. I believe this image holds great geographic significance because it reveals all that we know and all that we take for granted in a spatial context. It also possesses a great deal of analysis when involving the five various types of Geographic Questions. Applying those questions on a personal level this image helped me appreciate the opportunity and privilege of my attendance at a location like UCLA, my associations with the diverse people that possess diverse beliefs, and my intentions that I hold in my interactions with people. It helped me put my life and my purpose in perspective and it also solidified the curiosity I hold with geography and GIS. Carl Sagan said it best, "Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand."
San Francisco, San Francisco, You Muttering Bum in a Brown Beat Suit
This is a "lit map" of San Francisco. It contains several literary artists from various cultural and countercultural movements, including the "Beat Generation," whose works are heavily associated with this city. The distribution of quotes on this particular map correlates with the quotes' reference t the location. For example, in the upper left side of the map there is a quote boxed in green that says, "The dance and the debutante met on the sly, Finding secluded spots in the new Golden Gate Park to kiss and grope, The nearby bison grumbling in their corrals." This quote, by Andrew Sean Greer, is intentionally placed within the borders of the green backround because that section is the location and extent of Golden Gate Park. I found this map very intriguing because virtually all of the quotations observed on this map display the poetic interaction these artists experienced with the area they described.
"If Geography is Prose, Maps are Iconography"
-Lennart Meri
http://yoga108.org/images/blog/2007/383.jpg,
Although I'm sure that this map was not intended to be pulled down from a whiteboard during a geography lesson in a grade school classroom, it still possesses some educational value. This map can be viewed politically; one may argue it depicts a Texan's ignorant view of the US. I also chose this conspicuously distorted map because it emphasizes the significance and the power a cartographer holds when constructing a map. It reminds me of the various names given to different countries, like Persia/Iran and Burma/Myanmar, that involve historical power struggles, which were, or still are, tied to what certain people prefer to call them. The preference is rooted in a righteous audacity and has an influential power that is commonly and heavily underestimated. Thus, why I believe it is important to be weary of such power and influence that is ranked in the study and the application of Geography and GIS.
