Yes, yes, I know that "Maps" stands for My Angus Please Stay. Such a good song... (link) Yeah Yeah Yeahs "Maps"
Growing up, my mother listened to NPR all of the time--so of course my brothers and sisters and I got quite an earful ourselves; we loved it. When my sister (who is now 10) was about 3 or 4, she met her favorite radio host, Lois Reitzes, (WABE Atlanta) and she was absolutely thrilled. Fabulous :) I recently began listening to public radio again. At 24, after about 7 years of trying to catch up with pop culture (I honestly had no idea who Brad Pitt was until I was 20) I've gone back to my roots. Of course, I still do love classical music. I'm that girl who kept all of the cds from freshman "Music Appreciation" class and happily added them to iTunes. But NPR has more to offer than the classics. PRI world news is so good. In school, geography was my least favorite subject. I loved learning about people and places, but show me a map and my brain shut down. My ancient history professor nearly gave me a heart attack when, for the exams, she handed out a blank map of the region between the Black and Mediterranean Seas and asked us to fill in the names and locations of ancient civilizations. Are you kidding me? I can barely list the 50 states and you expect me to know where the Hittites lived? A light bulb came on after I left the U.S. for the third time. The first time was a mission trip to the Bahamas--yes, it was a mission trip not a vacation. Cross the bridge from Atlantis and the poverty is heartbreaking. Geographically speaking, I was content knowing that the islands aren't too far from Florida. My second trip was to Belize. Central America, check. The third trip was across the ocean to Ukraine. From Switzerland to Ukraine my seatmate was a young Swiss man who spoke fluent English and four other languages and he seemed to know something about everything. He knew all about the U.S. and the countries surrounding Switzerland, and countries not surrounding Switzerland, and we both agreed that The Bourne movies are pretty much amazing. I was duly impressed. A friendly Ukrainian man on the day train back to Kiev was well informed about the latest sports news from the U.S. and Canada, and he told us various facts about his country and the former Soviet Union. I don't know much about sports and at the time I knew precious little about the Soviet Union except that it was communist and no longer existed. What I did know however surprised him. He was sharing a tale about a treasure hidden inside of a chair and after listening for a minute, I said, "I think I know that story!" and finished it for him. Geography may not be my strong point but stories, I know. No, I've never seen the 1970s Mel Brooks movie. He also told us all about Georgia and their difficulties with maintaining independence. Not too long after I returned to the U.S., the Georgia-Russian conflict over South Ossetia erupted and I thought, "hey, I know Georgia!" (link) Georgia-Russian Conflict 2008
I was glued to the news. I read every article I could find. And...I began looking at maps. Suddenly, they became real to me. I was fascinated. All of the countries I'd heard about over the years from missionaries and exchange students and well-traveled teachers--they were right there and I could see how they connected. I've always enjoyed traveling and experiencing different cultures-- I was blessed to grow up in a very multicultural environment--but now I actually care about geography. And what do you know, I love maps. Now if only I could figure out how not to get lost...
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