Blog Post #5

Over the past two weeks or so, my group and I put together a map of Northern England.  Our memoir was written by Elizabeth Grundy, and she discussed very important life events in her memoir that we thought needed to include.  The cities in our map are specific places that Grundy mentioned when these events occurred. Events included her sons birth, death, her own death, and when she moved to a different place.  Bodenhamer writes, “The spaces of interest to the humanities also could be personal-emotional space or the body in space-and even metaphorical or fictional…” (21). These events in Grundy’s life were so intense, I believe they could be considered a ‘personal-emotional space’, as Bodenhamer mentions.  Knowing these specific areas where she was, allows us to understand what she was experiencing throughout her journey, and knowing how far she had to travel, and what the areas she was were like. Using StoryMap JS specifically shows the distances between the places, and shows us the exact different spots in the country on the whole map.  We can zoom in out when we would like and see the broader vision if we would like. There were very tough things that happened to Elizabeth Grundy, and knowing how these all went down allow us to feel more connected to her. I really enjoyed making this map, and seeing the finished product was really great. Something that stood out to me in Bodenhamer’s writing was, “Spaces are not simply the setting for historical action but are a significant product and determinant of change” (16).  This connects to Elizabeth Grundy’s memoir, and the map I made, very well because of how it explains the importance of a space. It isn’t just a point on the map, but an event. Compared to the maps we found from the times of Grundy, they have come a long way in advancing them. The maps in the 19th century were hard to read and did not always include every place. There was nothing compared to StoryMap JS in those times, and it is amazing how fast technology changes and how dramatically.  Mentioned in Bodenhamer’s writing, there are so many new ways to explore maps these days. You can become apart of the map, and see everything that is in it. It is amazing how these things are possible, but I think this is such a great thing for discovering different places in the future.