The Final Post

I wanted to use this last post to talk about the map project. Although there was a lot of work involved in creating a map, it taught me a lot of lessons. The first is how hard it is to make a map. Going around to every building on campus and surveying it took countless hours but it was well worth it because I'm familiar with nearly every building on campus. This brings me to the idea that map makers really know the layout of what they're drawing when they create a map. It's one thing to look at an area and map it out on a piece of paper, but it's another to know by heart and memorize each and every part of that land and be able to recreate the map at any given time. I'm thankful that I did this project because now I know where the best places to study on campus are and I use this information everyday to my benefit when I'm walking around campus and looking for a place to hang out. This class also taught me that there's more to maps and cultural imagery than what's presented to the audience. We really have to dig deep and figure out what happened in that time period to understand different perspectives and why those people perceive it that way. For example, the World's Fair incorporated many countries into their attractions which could show that the United States is respectful to their nationality and the individual foods / inventions that they bring to the world but at the same time, that country could see how big their building is in comparison to the other countries at the fair and feel like they've been belittled or have not received enough recognition.