3 Ring Binder

Two dimensional representations of our three dimensional world have long fascinated me. This year I'm seeing a few noteworthy additions to the map world in a fashion item I've long ignored: jewelry.  I still don't care too much for jewelry, but the following finds would make awesome gifts for map geek girl (or guy) in your life. 1. Urban Gridded Earrings (or Necklace) by Aminimal Studios . 2. Subway Map Cuffs by Design Hype 3. And if you're more interested in the path you've taken, Meshu allows you to turn your tours or special places into interesting bits of abstract wearable art. I love it!  Check out how it looks in its facet and radial gallery here .

by Samuel Walter Foss (1894)     Bring me men to match my mountains;     Bring me men to match my plains, --     Men with empires in their purpose,     And new eras in their brains.     Bring me men to match my praries,     Men to match my inland seas,     Men whose thought shall pave a highway     Up to ampler destinies;     Pioneers to clear Thought's marshlands,     And to cleanse old Error's fen;     Bring me men to match my mountains --     Bring me men!     Bring me men to match my forests,     Strong to fight the storm and blast,     Branching toward the skyey future,     Rooted in the fertile past.     Bring me men to match my valleys,     Tolerant of sun and snow,     Men within whose fruitful purpose     Time's consummate blooms shall grow.     Men to tame the tigerish instincts     Of the lair and cave and den,     Cleans the dragon slime of Nature --     Bring me men!     Bring me men to match my rivers,     Continent cleavers, flowing free,     Drawn by the

I saw this image on Facebook this morning. This juxtaposition of maps (top of the 2012 election results vs. bottom, the slave vs. free states prior to the Civil War) implies that the people in red states voted with the collective-vestigial mind of the ante-bellum south: the idea that a vote for “not Obama” is the equivalent of thinking that blacks should still be slaves.  Perpetuating this image as a "stop and think about it" moment is not only a bit dismissive, but further, a serious slander of near half of the population of the United States. What might have been a funny quip based on image correlation is shamelessly offered as causation; this conveniently furthers the hateful narrative that people who don’t think Barack Obama is a good President are racist. I’m not racist. I’m disgusted.