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.