a Geographer's Place

My number one reason for being a Geographer can be summed up in one word: Fieldwork. While I've written on that topic previously, I want to expound a little more on the subject and explore Field Studies . At it's core, a "field study" means you are conducting some kind of fieldwork with a specific purpose. This is why I do what I do. So I can drag people into the field with me, help them see the landscape anew! Currently, I run two international field study courses: Sustainability in the Caribbean , where I spend a couple weeks with students on the Island of Grenada, and Geography by Rail ® , a program I designed (and trademarked!) to explore landscapes using the quintessential mode of transport: the train. Both represent exciting, but different, field study programs. Students at Levera beach, Grenada, excited at the opportunity to study on a tropical island! Regardless of which they partake in however, students overwhelmingly enjoy the opportunity t...

Fieldwork. MY kind of fieldwork involves two things: working hard and playing hard. Yes, there’s also safety, planning, getting equipment and funding, etc., etc., blah, blah. But it all comes down to working and playing. It’s my goal to instill the kind of fieldwork I learned into the hearts of my students—those brave enough to embark on excursions with me. Because the only way to really learn it, is to do it. Fieldwork can be trying, rigorous, dangerous, challenging, and frustrating. In my eyes at least, it should also be fun. Sure you may get very hot or super cold, be extremely dry or soaking wet, and sweat like a puerco estacado . But you’ll also be richly rewarded...if not with good, usable data, then with experience that will, hopefully later, lead to wisdom. So here I am, in my little apartment on my beloved Island of Grenada in the Caribbean while students scamper around the Island on the annual G.R.E.N.A.D.A. ( G o, R un, E xplore N ew A nd D iverse A reas). All part o...

Yesterday the Valley of the Sun SMASHED its previous May record for Temperature. We hit 110 degrees. To get a sense of 110 degrees in a “dry heat”, try this: Set your oven to 110. When it reaches the appropriate temperature, sit in front of the oven and open the door. The term “dry heat” is silly, when you think about it. That implies there must be a “wet heat”? I mean, anything over 98 degrees is hot—even if you’re naked. Anything over 110 degrees is BLOODY hot (even if you are naked)! And studies show that after 117 degrees, the body stops functioning normally. Having lived in both “dry” and “wet” heats (the US Southwest, the Amazon, Grenada), I would have to say each “form” of “heat” is equally (in)tolerable. I’m convinced this is the reason natives in “hot” regions are naked or nearly-naked. When I was in the Amazon Jungle for example, as soon as I shed my “modern” clothes for a yanchama (bark skirt of the Bora Tribe), I immediately felt cooler. LOTS cooler. So, “dry heat”...