-----At first I thought it was different from the one by Hart, and then I decided it was not. It is a continuation in a different style. Where Hart admonishes us to go in the right direction, Lewis reminds us of what is (or should be) in our heart as we do so.
He describes Geography as something alive, something that needs to be alert to all things around it, inquisitive and introspective. Geography is not a solitary being: it needs a surrounding to fully exist and it needs to interact with other disciplines. And as it reproduces, it needs to evolve. (472-4).
-----This article is now old enough to drink and yet worrisome, because I don’t think these 3 points are very visible today. I don’t think that most students (any age) are encouraged enough to develop their minds in a global sense. I know students are not learning the discipline involved in reading and writing. I am often shocked at how little general education most students have. I do not know how comprehensive most university programs in Geography are, but we must guard against specialization starting too soon. The question is that since little (good) geographic instruction happens before college, how much can be integrated in a degree program.
-----The article is still very pertinent today: don’t look for blame (e-mail that message to Washington and many other places!) and redress what is wrong. But the relevance of his message is in taking charge for one’s own education, for one’s own future. Overall Lewis exhorts the cooperation of individuals, many minds toward a common goal: understanding it all, in this case through Geography.
-----What also impressed me in this address was the lyrical and literary quality it demonstrates: where Hart made us feel to some extent that we had been taken to the woodshed, Lewis is giving us a pep talk and exhorting us to do our best in an engaging manner. It is hard to judge how each speech fits into its own time frame and how appropriate they would have been if interchanged. Was Hart’s speech needed before Lewis’ speech could be made? And are they both needed by Geography and most other disciplines to keep our visions on the right path?
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Peirce Lewis on Bellefonte -- Early 70's
-----This required some external work: Look up Peirce Lewis. Look up Bellefonte and State College. Look up lime production in Bellefonte.
----- A good 30 years after the article, Bellefonte's population still hovers at the low 6,000 mark and has declined since the 2000 census, while State College stays over 38,000. Apparently the exodus from Bellefonte to State College has ended.
-----My main reason for looking things up was to find if Bellefonte had attracted new white collar type industries (apparently not). I though maybe the proximity to State College would induce someone to settle there, but that would be like someone settling a business in Sparks for its proximity to UNR. It does not look like Bellefonte has its own college, even as a part of Penn State.
-----Apparently the town made some changes after the article was published (influence of the article?), and halted the destruction of old buidings and got registered as a historic town. It is using its historic past as a center of revitalization. At least the town's websites sound upbeat and purposeful.
-----I would like to be better able to gauge why the town has not become a bedroom community for State College as the real estate prices seem lower and 10 miles is not a great distance, if not for the faculty which may want to stay closer together, at least for the general staff. Is the lime plant still causing unpleasantness? How come some medium company with internet intensive activities has not relaocated there (There is an airport in State College though I was shocked at the prices) ? Also what are the prospect of the town as a retiremement community? It is only a 100 miles or so from Pittsburg, and not that far from Megalopolis. How many other similar towns are there in teh area?
-----Otherwise the article was interesting as we can relate it to so many of the towns in Nevada or even rural California, and the need for an industry - be it prisons or mining, gambling or warehousing - to sustain them. The article is as much historical as geographical, and it definitely stimulate thought as I was compelled to research quite a variety of topics to satisfy the curiosity it aroused, mostly to know about the rest of the story: what has happened since then. I was impressed in how he took a minor town and made it relevent at the national level as a model of an American small town.
-----Side note: I was amused to see that Penn State, though a bastion of Geography, could have such a diversity in the quality of maps for their different locations on their website, and apparently not one map locating all their campuses!
----- A good 30 years after the article, Bellefonte's population still hovers at the low 6,000 mark and has declined since the 2000 census, while State College stays over 38,000. Apparently the exodus from Bellefonte to State College has ended.
-----My main reason for looking things up was to find if Bellefonte had attracted new white collar type industries (apparently not). I though maybe the proximity to State College would induce someone to settle there, but that would be like someone settling a business in Sparks for its proximity to UNR. It does not look like Bellefonte has its own college, even as a part of Penn State.
-----Apparently the town made some changes after the article was published (influence of the article?), and halted the destruction of old buidings and got registered as a historic town. It is using its historic past as a center of revitalization. At least the town's websites sound upbeat and purposeful.
-----I would like to be better able to gauge why the town has not become a bedroom community for State College as the real estate prices seem lower and 10 miles is not a great distance, if not for the faculty which may want to stay closer together, at least for the general staff. Is the lime plant still causing unpleasantness? How come some medium company with internet intensive activities has not relaocated there (There is an airport in State College though I was shocked at the prices) ? Also what are the prospect of the town as a retiremement community? It is only a 100 miles or so from Pittsburg, and not that far from Megalopolis. How many other similar towns are there in teh area?
-----Otherwise the article was interesting as we can relate it to so many of the towns in Nevada or even rural California, and the need for an industry - be it prisons or mining, gambling or warehousing - to sustain them. The article is as much historical as geographical, and it definitely stimulate thought as I was compelled to research quite a variety of topics to satisfy the curiosity it aroused, mostly to know about the rest of the story: what has happened since then. I was impressed in how he took a minor town and made it relevent at the national level as a model of an American small town.
-----Side note: I was amused to see that Penn State, though a bastion of Geography, could have such a diversity in the quality of maps for their different locations on their website, and apparently not one map locating all their campuses!
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Jeffrey Smith 2001-2
-----This is a very dry piece of reading which is redeemed when it reveals the humanity of geographers: the personalities, the diversity of opinions, the dissensions and all the behind-the-scene activities that go on in Academia.
-----The main feature of the article is to give an overall view of Cultural Geography at the turn of the millennium. It is useful as intended. Smith states, "It is hoped that this article will assist prospective graduate students as they decide what to read and perhaps where to complete their studies" (28), though the article only mentions this one goal at the end and reads as a report until then. By then it was clear that this could be one of its use.
-----However, I find 2 things very disturbing though they should be expected in any field of endeavor: There is a self-perpetuating aspect to having a great department attracting great people and therefore producing more great people to keep it a great department, though Smith does recognize that a student finding the right fit in a lesser-known department may do extremely well (Is this what is happening at UNR?), but we need more Zelinskis. Do we need people who are willing to leave the comfort of a secure environment to disseminate knowledge by bolstering aspiring departments? In this day and age of easy communication in travel and information, being in the right place can mean more than a physical location.
-----If retaining the title of being on the **U faculty is that critical, does there exist such a thing as a ‘teaching sabbatical’, where a professor could spend a year in a school that would benefit from that dynamism or expertise?
-----Recognized by Smith is also the self perpetuating aspect of publication: an older, respected, and often published scholar is going to be more easily published and more widely known, and their ideas will keep being disseminated while newer scholars may have trouble breaking through (24). This is nothing new or unique to Cultural Geography.
-----Still overall the article gives a good overview of where the field stands and should be part of a student research when considering graduate school.
-----I actually think that a careful reading my steer a student away from the big names, to use them in the personal setting of a smaller school, while a careless reviewing may dazzle a student into going someplace where they may become lost in the crowd!
-----The main feature of the article is to give an overall view of Cultural Geography at the turn of the millennium. It is useful as intended. Smith states, "It is hoped that this article will assist prospective graduate students as they decide what to read and perhaps where to complete their studies" (28), though the article only mentions this one goal at the end and reads as a report until then. By then it was clear that this could be one of its use.
-----However, I find 2 things very disturbing though they should be expected in any field of endeavor: There is a self-perpetuating aspect to having a great department attracting great people and therefore producing more great people to keep it a great department, though Smith does recognize that a student finding the right fit in a lesser-known department may do extremely well (Is this what is happening at UNR?), but we need more Zelinskis. Do we need people who are willing to leave the comfort of a secure environment to disseminate knowledge by bolstering aspiring departments? In this day and age of easy communication in travel and information, being in the right place can mean more than a physical location.
-----If retaining the title of being on the **U faculty is that critical, does there exist such a thing as a ‘teaching sabbatical’, where a professor could spend a year in a school that would benefit from that dynamism or expertise?
-----Recognized by Smith is also the self perpetuating aspect of publication: an older, respected, and often published scholar is going to be more easily published and more widely known, and their ideas will keep being disseminated while newer scholars may have trouble breaking through (24). This is nothing new or unique to Cultural Geography.
-----Still overall the article gives a good overview of where the field stands and should be part of a student research when considering graduate school.
-----I actually think that a careful reading my steer a student away from the big names, to use them in the personal setting of a smaller school, while a careless reviewing may dazzle a student into going someplace where they may become lost in the crowd!
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
The West Oil Fields of California and Sheep Ranchers
I tried several times, but I can't make myself read these two, though I would like to picture his writing style in regard to his book on India.
The difficulties reside in the font chosen for the articles, and how they scanned, something to keep in mind when it comes to my own work. Even on the computer, they are hard to read. I will have to wait for a chance to read them in daylight to see what happens.
Sorry.
The difficulties reside in the font chosen for the articles, and how they scanned, something to keep in mind when it comes to my own work. Even on the computer, they are hard to read. I will have to wait for a chance to read them in daylight to see what happens.
Sorry.
Losing Asia
Lessons: From Wallach, including his foray into Pakistan: Know how to limit your topic. Know your topic.
Determine whether you are writing a romantic travel log, or a professional journal. Do not mix the two.
Compare the comparable: labor and mechanization in Californian and Indian agriculture are antithetical.
Considering all the topics covered, is the book comprehensive enough?
On the reviewer: Recognize that this is not the book that you would have written with the data that was gathered, but is the book transparent enough (See title?) that average readers will recognize its romantic flaws?
Determine whether you are writing a romantic travel log, or a professional journal. Do not mix the two.
Compare the comparable: labor and mechanization in Californian and Indian agriculture are antithetical.
Considering all the topics covered, is the book comprehensive enough?
On the reviewer: Recognize that this is not the book that you would have written with the data that was gathered, but is the book transparent enough (See title?) that average readers will recognize its romantic flaws?
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
50 and 1 people who could save the planet
From the list, I pick Bj rn Lamborg for not jumping on the band wagon on one side or the other, instead looking for raw data; and Rajendra Singh for reminding us that wisdom of the ages can still be valid.
Not on the list, I pick all the ordinary people that do, or choose not to do, the little things that make a difference while struggling to make sense of it all.
Not on the list, I pick all the ordinary people that do, or choose not to do, the little things that make a difference while struggling to make sense of it all.
Agnew 1999 and Hart 1981
-----My reaction as I started reading Agnew's introduction was that Russia may be gone, but it is still present as a region, just different for different reasons. The legacy of its past will influence a substantial area of the world for many years to come, on economical and environmental grounds to just name two.
-----Agnew is on to something when he objects to the three world designation. They were adequate for a start-up system, but so much of Geography is about people that the discipline has to evolve with them as well as advance as a discipline in itself.
-----So it would behoove us to do what is already done, notwithstanding Mr Agnew: to recognize that regions are always in flux; that the extent of regions varies according to what is categorized; that especially today, regions can overlap: For example, India, and even China, present all the stages of development in a country, and that even a place like the US can have elements more commonly associated with countries at a different stage of development.
-----Agnew himself questions the reality of neat categories when he describes how regions can connect widely dispersed centers into a network (95), so a region could be a network instead of a compact area.
-----I must, however, admit that I did not find his paper appealing. It does expose the humanity of people that need to categorize intangible or subjective material, and who cannot agree on one system, of people who want to be right, when it may not be about being right, but about finding a way to make progress of one kind or another.
-----But mostly, what turned me off was the language in which the paper was written. Even if the paper was written for his peers, I questions the need for such complex language as is found in section II, like he is either trying to say too much with too few words, or he is fishing for a meaning in a pond of fancy words.
-----The sequence of reading could not have been more fortuitous to place Hart right after Agnew. Though Hart’s address predates Agnew’s report by 17 years, I felt that it was written with Agnew in mind, so the issue of clarity must be an ongoing problem. The footnote on page 6 seemed particularly relevant.
-----Otherwise, this address should be required reading of anyone majoring in Geography, and could also be used for any discipline as the general topics Hart discusses are found in some form or another in any discipline. When I read his section of "Our Obligation to Society," the phrase, "Geography of the People, by the People, for the People" popped in my mind. I wonder what kind of disarray the geography world was in that such a shake up was needed, and whether his admonitions were out of character with other annual speeches.
-----Though I am unfamiliar with exact issues that are inherent to Geography as a discipline, it would appear that they are similar to those of any large body of people, and what Hart apparently does, is identify some of these issues and create a blueprint to bring people back on track. He also warns us against fashion and narrow-mindedness. He must have made some people squirm, and some other snicker when he first delivered his address, and some people must have been outraged and offended (especially the ones into fashion and narrow-mindedness!) Hopefully, he also renewed the courage of the many who were aiming for an enlightened path, and set the confused one toward a right path.
-----This is the kind of speech that needs to be read again and again, even when one is set firmly upon one’s path, as both a source of direction (whether agreeing with Hart or not) and as a self check.
-----Notes: Several references are made to Hartshorne in such a way that I will have to look him up as soon as I am not tied up in current reading :)
------------And why did ‘compage’ not take as a word?
On the comment on Hart's address and Hart's reply:
-----I have a movie runing in my head of the discussions at UCSB that gave rise to the letter. The actors are all male, French and Italian, older and average heigth (for French and Italians.) The background music is a low rumble of outraged grumbles with spikes of "non, non, non", and there is much movement of hands, shrugging of shoulders, and pointing of fingers ... .
-----From Dr. Hart's office can be heard a big sigh.
-----Agnew is on to something when he objects to the three world designation. They were adequate for a start-up system, but so much of Geography is about people that the discipline has to evolve with them as well as advance as a discipline in itself.
-----So it would behoove us to do what is already done, notwithstanding Mr Agnew: to recognize that regions are always in flux; that the extent of regions varies according to what is categorized; that especially today, regions can overlap: For example, India, and even China, present all the stages of development in a country, and that even a place like the US can have elements more commonly associated with countries at a different stage of development.
-----Agnew himself questions the reality of neat categories when he describes how regions can connect widely dispersed centers into a network (95), so a region could be a network instead of a compact area.
-----I must, however, admit that I did not find his paper appealing. It does expose the humanity of people that need to categorize intangible or subjective material, and who cannot agree on one system, of people who want to be right, when it may not be about being right, but about finding a way to make progress of one kind or another.
-----But mostly, what turned me off was the language in which the paper was written. Even if the paper was written for his peers, I questions the need for such complex language as is found in section II, like he is either trying to say too much with too few words, or he is fishing for a meaning in a pond of fancy words.
-----The sequence of reading could not have been more fortuitous to place Hart right after Agnew. Though Hart’s address predates Agnew’s report by 17 years, I felt that it was written with Agnew in mind, so the issue of clarity must be an ongoing problem. The footnote on page 6 seemed particularly relevant.
-----Otherwise, this address should be required reading of anyone majoring in Geography, and could also be used for any discipline as the general topics Hart discusses are found in some form or another in any discipline. When I read his section of "Our Obligation to Society," the phrase, "Geography of the People, by the People, for the People" popped in my mind. I wonder what kind of disarray the geography world was in that such a shake up was needed, and whether his admonitions were out of character with other annual speeches.
-----Though I am unfamiliar with exact issues that are inherent to Geography as a discipline, it would appear that they are similar to those of any large body of people, and what Hart apparently does, is identify some of these issues and create a blueprint to bring people back on track. He also warns us against fashion and narrow-mindedness. He must have made some people squirm, and some other snicker when he first delivered his address, and some people must have been outraged and offended (especially the ones into fashion and narrow-mindedness!) Hopefully, he also renewed the courage of the many who were aiming for an enlightened path, and set the confused one toward a right path.
-----This is the kind of speech that needs to be read again and again, even when one is set firmly upon one’s path, as both a source of direction (whether agreeing with Hart or not) and as a self check.
-----Notes: Several references are made to Hartshorne in such a way that I will have to look him up as soon as I am not tied up in current reading :)
------------And why did ‘compage’ not take as a word?
On the comment on Hart's address and Hart's reply:
-----I have a movie runing in my head of the discussions at UCSB that gave rise to the letter. The actors are all male, French and Italian, older and average heigth (for French and Italians.) The background music is a low rumble of outraged grumbles with spikes of "non, non, non", and there is much movement of hands, shrugging of shoulders, and pointing of fingers ... .
-----From Dr. Hart's office can be heard a big sigh.
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