Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

How far back in history does the inspiration for this pillar-mural go? Perhaps 2500 years! Here be the descendants of ancient caryatids and telamons, re-purposed to hold up an expressway rather than a building. Look again: It's not a pretzel, it's Interstate 794. [2021]

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

In the city that gave the world mass produced, industrial-era beer, we are now seeing the rise of craft beer and, in this case, craft distilleries. What's even better: Central Standard is rehabbing an historic downtown building. But the name? Both central and standard just wreak of mediocrity and the industrial-era past. But, maybe that's the point. [2021]

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

Seventeen states have already enacted laws that put restrictions on voting. Many in the Wisconsin legislature hope to follow suit, with eleven bills, most of which target absentee voting. None have yet passed, so maybe Milwaukee's new mural will change some minds. Thank you Shepard Fairey! Recognize the name of the muralist? [2021]

Meridian, Mississippi, USA

The historic Threefoot Building was so perfect for its time. It exuded 1920s architectural chic. Meridian is lucky it survived, first, the Great Depression, and, second, the late 20th century decline of downtown. Soon, it will reopen as a hotel, such a perfect refit for its time. It exemplifies the downtown comebacks that are going on all across the country. [2020]

Freeze, Idaho, USA

You are in the Wheat Belt but you are not on the Great Plains. Where are you?  In The Palouse, close to the border between Washington (3rd largest producer of wheat) and Idaho (6th largest producer of wheat). The harvest starts in July and continues into September. [2019]

Gurley, Nebraska, USA

 
What you might be witnessing here is a wheat glut: too much for the grain silos and not enough market demand to reduce the size of the gluten mountains that have added some relief to rail-side topography. Evidence that it has been here for a while: rill erosion turning into gully erosion. Gurley finds itself on the western edge of the Great Plains Wheat Belt. [2019]

Lenexa, Kansas, USA

Centenarians demand respect! Ergo, the defunct Lanexa Grain and Feed Elevator, which was built in 1917, demands respect. The problem is that the surrounding land no longer produces grain. It has been gobbled up by the urban expansion of Kansas City. Nevertheless, the BNSF train whistles a cheery 'hello' every time it passes. Now, that's respect. [2021]

Portland, Oregon, USA

Jane Jacobs tied the safety of cities to maximizing the number of "eyes on the street." The same could be said for the safety of parking lots. Fortunately, this one has a half dozen people watching over it. But wait! They don't seem to be paying much attention to the cars. [2011]

Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Churches have a lock on pride-of-place in many cities. That's true for one of the Methodist Church's founding structures. "Old Otterbein" was built in 1771 as a United Brethren Church and the next year became the place where John Wesley's followers organized Baltimore's Lovely Lane Chapel, now known as the 'mother church of American Methodism.' [2021]

Ellendale, North Dakota, USA

Ellendale's population peaked in 1980 at less than 2,000. Surprise: Stores along main street are still occupied! Where do the customers come from in a town so small? The True Value dealer's displays tell you. They come from farms and villages all around to stock up on hardware or buy a new lawn mower. [2021]

Helena, Montana, USA

The rules for escaping the Corona virus were not as clear as the rules for checkmating your opponent's king in a chess match. One of the rules we tried to follow, however, was avoiding inside parties in favor of outside frivolities. Here's just one example, complete with masks, in Helena's Last Chance Gulch. [2020]

Fort Mill, South Carolina, USA

As a mill town: Fort Mill was one of the many Piedmont towns that brought non-farm jobs to rural areas thanks to its rail line. As a spill town: Fort Mill became one of the many Piedmont towns that brought urban jobs to the spill-over zone of Charlotte thanks to its Interstate highways. [2020]

San Juan Capistrano, California, USA

"The gasoline that flowed through this collection of antique pumps found in San Juan Capistrano, California, transformed the American urban landscape in this century. No other state exalts the automobile as much as California." That was the caption provided for this photo when it was published in a book in 1993. [1988]

Washington, DC, USA

Home is not a place. It's a feeling. How does this silhouetted house and full-form garden make you feel about our national capital as home? It is our political home, the place where the Constitution resides and where the institutions of government sit. It is also the seat of our collective memory, embodied by The Smithsonian. See it? [2021]

Falls City, Nebraska, USA

These are the raw materials of all great literature and all higher mathematics. Everything comes down to 26 letters and 10 numerals. Letters ⇒ Words ⇒ Expressions ⇒ Sentences ⇒ Paragraphs ⇒ Books + Poems + Plays ⇒ William Shakespeare ⇋ Virginia Woolf ⇋ Jack Kerouac. See what you can do with limited resources! [2007]

Knotts Island, North Carolina, USA

High school commencement ceremonies are now over, and graduates have been released into the world. Those from Knotts Island will have stories to tell that are different from most. These grads had to take a bus to the county's only high school, but the bus had to be ferried across Currituck Sound. That's a 45 minute ride every day, each way. What fun! [2021]

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

What can a city planner do to liven up a parking deck? Add some color! This one looks like a rainbow crashed into a wall and fractured into a set of interlocking polygons. Somehow it seems to complement the heart-shaped polygon that is part of the CVS logo. [2021]

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

"Love is love." And, Philadelphia is the perfect place to demonstrate what those words mean. Remember that Philadelphia translated means "City of Brotherly Love," now with its own Love Park thanks to Robert Indiana. Few sculptors have created anything with such staying power or such a global reach. [2021]

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Question 1: On this date, five years ago, the deadliest attack on the LGBTQ community in American history took place in what city? Orlando (Pulse nightclub). Question 2: What three flags (one is a twofer) are visible in front of this Philadelphia row house? US, Rainbow, and Transgender. Question 3: What is special about June? It's LGBTQ Pride Month. [2021]

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Geography is all about locational analysis. Why has a mock elephant come to occupy this particular location? Why has this young man chosen to take a nap on this particular patch of grass? Why are these two species able to co-occupy the same space without conflict? [2016]

Delhi, India

Mother and infant: Rhesus monkeys are all over Delhi and widespread across India. In fact, they flourish in most of India's urban areas. Yes, these primates are attracted to cities just like their human cousins. And, yes, the Rhesus monkey was the first primate to be cloned. What species will be the second? [2011]

Beni Mellal, Morocco

Today, there are 60,000 camels in Morocco, and the population is growing thanks to so many newborns (see the calf who loves to stay close to his mother?). Camels are especially suited to long-haul transport in arid and semi-arid lands, and they are more "Ram Tough" than the Big Horn. [1989]

Fuheis, Jordan

Markets in the Euro-American world don't typically offer hens for sale. Yet, only a century ago even town dwellers had a few chickens in the back yard so they could have fresh eggs in large quantities and chicken soup now and then. For Americans, seeing what's available in Middle Eastern suqs is a bit like turning the clock back a hundred years. [2001]

THE BACKSTORY ~ Posted on the 12th Anniversary of Geographically Yours, 4 August 2022: Amazing how few pictures of Jordan have been posted on Geographically Yours! Amazing because I lived there for three months in 2001 (still looking for the pictures I took). I was a visiting scholar at the American Center of Oriental Research in Amman. My project was on the Christian population of Jordan. Every day, I would return to the library at ACOR and type up my field notes for the day. These are from March 16, 2001: “Passed up the Friends of Archaeology Tour to go to Fuheis. The mini-bus there costs only 150 fils. Fuheis is not far, just on the other side of the ridge from Suweillah. It is a Christian village. From several sources I have now heard that Muslims do not own property in Fuheis, although they live there. There seems to be a ‘conspiracy’ among the Christians to keep the town totally Christian. I am told there is a mosque, but I did not see it. You arrive in the square (a roundabout with a statue of St. George) in the middle of the village. There is a toy/trinket store, a grocery, a lunch take-away (where they gave me a free bottle of Coke), and a liquor store (yes, it sells arak along with many other liquors; you can tell it is a Christian place; and it’s not the only one in town). In the trinket store, I met the owner, Riad Jreisat and his two sons, both of whom were born in the United States. I took a picture of him and his son Ali (a Christian name?) and promised to send him a copy. The Christians in town are of three churches: Latine [essentially Roman Catholic], Roum Orthodox [Greek Orthodox], and Roum Catholic [Greek Catholic]. The medinah churches are the Latine and Orthodox churches. I took a look inside the Orthodox church, splendidly colorful icons and usual iconostasis; cruciform in shape. There must have been choir practice at the Latine Church; I could hear singing when I went by. The Greek Catholic Church is apparently upslope; I did not see it. Took a picture of the wadi, fed by a powerful, gushing spring, now channeled in concrete. Flat bottom with a small trickle of water along the side, but it must fill up in wetter weather. Trees were planted on the flat bottom land. There was a wire mesh over the stream but I could not find out why. Along the watercourse, you could see the remains of the Ottoman buildings, many of which were no longer being used. There are new houses on every vantage point all around town: suburban sprawl. I met a young man from Iraq, a village near Mosul. He was Chaldean Christian and his home village was all Christian. I think that is why he took up residence in Fuheis. The Iraqi Christians are trying to get to the US, Canada, Australia, or Denmark. They do not see themselves as permanent residents of Fuheis. The Chaldeans worship in the Latine Church – because they are catholic.  He pointed out some passing young woman who he said would be going to Canada. They need money to get into these countries though, or a sponsor. Someone told me that Jordan would only have them for 6 months. There are 50-60 Iraqi Christians in Fuheis.” D.J.Z.

Nicosia, Cyprus

Abandonment and decay: That's what you typically see in a buffer zone set up to keep two warring factions apart. This one cuts through Nicosia to separate the Turkish north from the Greek south. It should really should be called the Humpty Dumpty Zone since no one has been able to put Cyprus back together since the two sides went to war in 1964. [2004]

Punda, Willemstad, Curaçao

You may call it a knock-off, but geographers see it as the end result of stimulus diffusion. Ideas spread, but they change along the way. The idea here was that being open from 7 am to 11 pm would be the ultimate in convenience, thus the name 7-11. But the idea changed on its way to the Caribbean, where the name became 7_even.  [2017]

 

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Exactly forty years ago today, the U.S. Center for Disease Control became the first institution to officially report on a set of symptoms that would soon become known as AIDS, or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. Later that decade, Australia seemed to be taking the pandemic seriously, but you would never have seen a billboard like this in the U.S. [1988]

Half Moon Bay, California, USA

What will get rid of this infestation of dinosaurs? (a) They will devour each other. (b) They will be decimated by oxidation. (c) They will be taken home as family pets. (d) They will be wiped out by a 7-mile wide asteroid. If your answer was oxidation, it looks like the dimetrodon will survive. [2010]

Hurricane, Utah, USA

If you miss the age of dinosaurs, if you want to scare the birds away from you garden, if you want to give all the kids on your block something to talk about, all you have to do is buy a Mesozoic monster from you local metal smith! You may also want to buy a posy or two in case you don't have a green thumb. [2019]

Pataha, Washington, USA

Is there a smile on his face? That must mean this plate-metal dinosaur just left some very important person's eighth birthday party. While he was there, birthday boy counted the number of plates it took to clothe him in scales. Then, he counted the number of pounds he weighed when he got on the scales. [2019]

Nashville, Tennessee, USA

It seems a shame to celebrate Tennessee's 225th birthday here at the state capitol without also celebrating something musical. So, here's 'The Story': Country+ singer Brandi Carlile has a birthday today, as well. Although not born in Tennessee, she can still pack the Ryman auditorium, and native-born Dolly still gives voice to her lyrics. [2019]