Where the Party At?

 Geographers ask three questions: Where is it? Why is it there? So what? 

Followers of this blog know that I apply these questions to all kinds of things in both the human and natural realm. Today. write simply to share a "Where?" question with very little insight about the "Why?" or the implications -- at least so far.

The hedonistic scene above is from a short video on BBC, representing decades of escalation in the party atmosphere of the Spanish island of Ibiza. I found it after hearing The Nightclub that Changed Ibiza, which was today's 4:50 am (Boston time) segment of Witness History. 

I think that this story got my attention because the place transitioned from a hedonistic counterculture to a place reserved for the extremely wealthy.

Since neither the audio nor the video include a map, I add one here. It does begin to address the "Why?" question. Ibiza is part of Spain, but far enough from the mainland to have served as a refuge in the Franco dictatorship. It is surrounded by water and by definition has the Mediterranean climate that is so good for relaxation: mild winters and low-humidity summers. The map also reveals that the island is part of the Balearic archipelago, which features several other party destinations.

Burn Pits of Iraq

On NPR's Morning Edition, journalist Leila Fadel interviewed anthropologist Kali Rubaii of Purdue University about her research into the ongoing health problems experience both by U.S. veterans and Iraqi civilians, because of the unregulated burning of mixed waste during the wars there.

In the 1970s and 1980s, newly emerging environmental laws were widely ignored on military bases in the United States. This changed at some point in the 1990s, personnel were retrained, and those bases began to come into compliance. The case of Iraq, however, highlights the long-term damage done by war.

Children in Mosul, from Professor Rubaii's 2020 article
Birth Defects and the Toxic Legacy of War in Iraq

This is a particularly difficult example that illustrates the severe damage done by long-term exposure to toxic chemicals. It is as if we either learned nothing from Love Canal or chose to ignore what we did learn.

City Champions

As I prepare a full slate of classes for the fall semester, I enjoy planning the weekly activities of Discovering Brockton, a First-Year Seminar I offer to students in the Commonwealth Honors program at Bridgewater State University. 

Class chat in Brockton City Hall. Photo: Brian Benson, BSU

In 2019, we were fortunate to have Brian Benson of our university publicity office join us for a day. His article City Champions remains the best summary of what we try to do in the class. 

For two semesters during the pandemic, I offered this class fully online. I was grateful that so many collaborators in the region helped me to have meaningful video class sessions in which they shared various facets of the community. Videoconferencing, however, did not provide the kinds of insights that arise from driving or walking around a place with a geographer. 

For that, I created a series of Windshield and Sidewalk Surveys, with the help of my artist son who happened to be visiting for a few weeks as the 2020 semester was about to begin. See the playlists Windshield Surveys, Sidewalk Surveys 1, and Sidewalk Surveys 2 to join some of the fun.

Lagniappe

Championing the City of Champions (2012)

Geographic Lens on New Bedford (2017)

Brockton Honors (2020)

Monterrey COIL Project: Livable Cities (2022)

And more news about the Department of Geography.

Students tour City Hall in 2007, the second time 
I offered this course. See my Geography of Brockton 
web page, which I can no longer update.

Wall Street Over Haiti

 In The Ransom, NYT outlines nearly two centuries of interventions by France and the United States that -- combined with the collusion of internal elites -- have perpetuated debt and disarray in Haiti. Even coffee is implicated.

US Military in Haiti, 1920 Image: NYT