Vessel

Foucault has a quote about the desire of scintillating criticism that touched me quite a bit. Not criticism that is destructive or petty, but the kind that makes one hunger for more. I’m hooked on discourse so radical that I feel like a tree in a hurricane. 

The first time I felt this way was at seven years old. We had moved to this town a year prior. I knew that Omaha was south of us and that the plains were to the north of us. The main road would take me all the way to Canada one way and Mexico the other way. Proud of my sense of cardinal directions, I would sit by the road and imagine walking all the way to far off lands that I knew lie there.

Then I had to ruin this by looking at a map. My suburb was south, not north, of Omaha. It couldn’t be true! I knew the way the world lay. I tried to disprove the map by climbing to the top of my house and staring at the horizon. However, I could not actually see Canada or Mexico. 

A map is hardly criticism, one would think. It just tells you what the world looks like. Until you look at maps from the 15th century. Or seen a map today with accurate land proportions as opposed to what I grew up with as a world map. Or the world ‘upside-down’ with Africa, China and South America on top of the page. Or look at the countless infographics that color maps certain ways or size them differently to represent a statistic. 

The experience of realizing the world was completely different than I thought it to be was scintillating. For the rest of my life, like a skydiver, I sought out the thrill of seeing the whole world from a different point of view and plummeting into it. I needed more maps that showed me the social landscape as it really was. I loved the Simpsons as a child, George Carlin and South Park in my teens. In highschool - you won’t be surprised - I was the debate captain and loved it even though I lost all the time. I wasn’t in it to persuade anyone to my beliefs, no, I was in it to hear other people tell me theirs. 

In that class there were many social maps that told me where the mountains and valleys were. Some where absolutely correct and took me to breathtaking views. Others, and mostly the ones that I had clung to from my youth, led me to cesspools. Those I abandoned.

I still seek these thrills. When I was younger, they were a novelty. Now, they are much more serious. To be a pioneer in social advocacy one needs the most accurate maps and weather projections, or end up like the grim depictions in Oregon Trail when one lost the game. I wish to get to unknown lands. Once there I’ll map it out for others to follow.

So here is a list of other’s maps and weather projections that I find gives me the thrill of knowing my world is totally wrong from time to time. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. You’ll have to google their names as right now I can’t properly link any of them. Add yours in the comments as I am always looking for new maps!

Womanist Musings

Jezebel.com

Sociological Images

Zapistas

Gandhi’s principles of non-violence

Ezra Klein and Matt Yglesias

The History of White People by Nell Irving Painter

The Historical Jesus by John Dominic Crossan

Meeting Jesus Again for the FIrst Time by Marcus Borg

Any Terry Pratchett Book

Mother Jones Magazine

Many more…but I want to hear yours!