(from older PlaceWorks blog)

Growing up in rural Vermont, as I did in the late 1950s, the arrival of National Geographic (the magazine) in the mail box was cause for monthly or semi-monthly celebration, followed by hours of poring over great photos and reading about places so exotic as to be barely imaginable. But most exciting was the once-in-a-while inclusion (two or three times a year?) of a full sized wall map! To be honest, I am not sure how to explain my fascination with these maps. Was it their size (took up most of the kitchen table), somehow commensurate with the vast land and sea areas depicted?  Or their color schemes, or the tiny print offering up unpronounceable place names?

Whatever their attraction, these maps made very far away places feel both more real and more accessible to a 12 year old schoolboy. By stretching, really stretching, one could reach all the way from Capetown to Cairo! Or, in the case of the most treasured map-of-the-whole-world, from Norwich, Vermont (my hometown) to Moscow or Antarctica! Continue reading Maps →