Exploring Geography

Caitlin H.

January 21, 2010 - 9:13 AM

Week 3 has become a week of tests I never anticipated - health tests; blood work; the works. After a week with no relief, even after visiting Urgent Care over the weekend, I found myself crawling into the University Health Center for more answers on Wednesday.

At the health center I was pleased to discover I was in the care of professionals who seemed truly keen to find me an answer and find me some relief. I had been satisfied enough with the Urgent Care clinic, but the health center was clearly what I was searching for.

I have mono. Mononucleosis. I didn't know something that feels so terrible could sound so...benign. Being sick has taken its toll on my academics, my work and my extracurricular activities. As I feel myself slipping further behind I'm starting to rethink that crazy, busy schedule I generally keep. How do I ever find the time?

The blessing in disguise here is I have been given the gift of focus for my online class in Geography. There aren't lectures to miss anyway and the guidelines are as clear as I can ask for while I'm feeling ill. It is the only class I can complete entirely from home. Slowly I'm making progress through the course.

Geography 471: North American Historical Landscapes has been a course that has gotten me thinking. The first readings have brought me back to thinking why I chose geography as a major in the first place. The following passage is from the introductory topic to the course:

Working at grass-roots levels in the areas of environmental policy, urban planning, social justice, patterns of crime, feminist issues, and historic preservation, geographers often have been members of interdisciplinary teams. With this multifaceted involvement, a generally accepted definition of geography ceased to exist. It still was presented in textbooks as regional description, forcing students to memorize lists of place names but its practitioners were quite diverse in their own understandings of the field. Some geographers focus on regions of the earth in a descriptive style while perhaps working in the real estate, land development, the travel industry or in international business.

But, by far, the largest number of geography degree holders are educators. The gap between professional geographers---who usually are university professors, or in the public sector, or in private business---and classroom teachers often is a deep and almost unbridgeable chasm. Fortunately, recent successes in getting geography into the public eye and raising interest for the subject in schools are changing this.

Place matters! Geography pulled me in for its interdisciplinary nature and technical skills that could be applied to most (if not all) research topics. I am fascinated by spatial patterns in the use of explaining other natural and human phenomena. It is shocking how much I find the importance of place and space has escaped conversations and research in both global and local issues. It is fascinating to consider how mobile the world has become and the role ‘place' has to play in what the world means to people. I'm looking forward to exploring these issues more thoroughly as the course continues.