I’m trying to get out of the habit of saying, “Americans.” As a society, we are really a self-centered lot. North America is comprised of both Canada and the United States. Technically, a Canadian could call herself an “American,” as she lives on the continent of North America. But, would that make people living in…
Geography is so much a part of our everyday lives we take our experiences for granted. Being a geographer is not enough; we are still susceptible to bias and not immune to being oblivious. However, I would submit the holistic nature of Geography allows trained geographers to see, interpret, and question patterns many others would…
I have grave concerns over the future health of Ahmed Rashid. Pakistan is not friendly towards journalists, aid workers, politicians, business people, or anyone critical of Pakistani leadership. Since 1992, 42 journalists have been killed in Pakistan (CPJ.com.) April 20th, 2012, Mutaza Rizvi was found murdered in Karachi, the southern port city of Pakistan. Rizvi…
Trafficking in children is one of the greatest underground tragedies of our modern age. Politics, the lives of entertainers, sports, and the general background noise of our daily lives buffers us from the tragedies taking place literally in front of our eyes. In April of 2010, a Tennessee woman, Torry-Ann Hansen, pinned a note on…
I never really thought about fat people burning hotter. Sounds morbid. In fact, I think thinking about the obese corpses of dead people burning defines “morbid.” My World Geography students keep journals. They scour English-language foreign newspapers for informational tidbits which can be tied to geography. Since we cannot take a field trip, we cannot…
I grapple with the paradox of my post title daily. Think about those words. The Uneducated do not create or implement educational policy at any level. Degreed people do. “No Child Left Behind” was not developed by non-degreed folks, yet inarguably NCLB has been the worst “education reform” since President Reagan declared ketchup a vegetable.…
Only yesterday I became the proud owner of a 5-year old Macbook 3. For years, the mere thought of owning anything Apple was anathema to me. I did not want to belong to any snooty Apple clique, change my wardrobe to include turtleneck shirts nor thick high-collared sweaters seen adorning male models in an L.L.…
Escape From Camp 14, by Blaine Harden, published by Viking. Hardback. $26.95 Shin Dong-hyuk still remembers his first execution. In a North Korean prison camp, attendance at executions is mandatory, regardless of age. The prisoner had rejected an opportunity of redemption, and was bound to wooden posts in a grassy field. The man’s mouth was…
If one can set aside personal religious dogma and indoctrination, the Universe represents a fascinating field of study. I have never been able to reconcile the vastness of the Universe with religious traditions, teachings, or Faith on a personal scale. Nor have I been able to achieve any relationship at scales below atoms, neutrons, protons,…
I can’t imagine I’m particularly popular with bureaucrats. I like things to make sense, I enjoy logical consistency. Incongruities upset my fragile disposition. I’m no linguist, but “bureaucracy” may derive from the Greek’s words for ‘borrow’ and ‘crazy,’ as in “let’s borrow another entities crazy idea and implement the idea here.” Allow me to outline…
Constant Geography 
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