Putting Curiosity on the Map

“Maps are used to ground truth.” ~ Alison Davis-Holland

Artist-naturalist Ellen Meloy wrote, “A map, it is said, organizes wonder.” Neither cartographer Alison Davis-Holland nor I could put it better, although we did try.

Listen to Choose to be Curious #78: Putting Curiosity on the Map, with Cartographer Alison Davis-Holland

Ellen Meloy also wrote, “In the desert there is everything and there is nothing. Stay curious. Know where you are, your biological address. Get to know your neighbors, plants, creatures, who lives there, who died there, who is blessed, cursed, what is absent or in danger or in need of your help. Pay attention to the weather, to what breaks your heart, to what lifts your heart. Write it down.”

That seemed like the perfect bridge to a conversation I had with Capital Naturalist founder Alonso Abugattas — and so a Curiosity to Go segment was born!

Listen to Curiosity to Go #51: Know Where You Are

Check out Alison Davis-Holland’s wonderful maps and story maps here… 

…and the maps of ESRI.

Theme music by Sean Balick.  Research and support by Caroline Kish.

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*Any purchase from the Choose to be Curious shop supports Arlington Independent Media. Please also consider making a donation at wera.fm. Thanks!

Taking Curiosity in Stride

“Few people know how to take a walk. The qualification are endurance, plain clothes, old shoes, an eye for nature, good humor, vast curiosity, good speech, good silence and nothing too much.”  ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

A quick pitch: this is Spring Fund Drive at Arlington Independent Media (AIM). I learned to record, edit, produce and do just about everything else associated with this show at AIM. That’s what they do, and they need our support — yours and mine — to keep doing it. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to AIM at wera.fm. Thank you!

In honor of National Walking Day, we take a stroll with Eileen and Allen, who’ve decided they’re going to walk every street in the County. They neither know — nor really care — how many miles that is. They just want the journey.

I walked with them one Saturday.

Listen to Choose to be Curious #77: Taking Curiosity in Stride.

This isn’t the first time I’ve built a show around walking. I celebrated my 50^th episode by walking to places nearby that I’d never visited — a little like Eileen and Allen, choosing to be curious about the place I call home…

Listen to Curiosity to Go, Ep. 50: Walkabout

Check out the great walking resources from WalkArlington. It’s Cherry Blossom seasons in DC — try the Cherry Blossom Walk! (here & below)

Theme music by Sean Balick.  Research and support by Caroline Kish. Thanks to Antonio Villaronga for capturing the sounds of our walk.

Thanks to The Walkaways for use of their song “Calm Summer Night” in Episode #50, and reprised in our CTG segment this week.  “More music thanks to Blue Dot Sessions: “Walking Shoes” by Skittle, “Home Home At Last” by Warmbody; “City Limits” by  Albany, NY; “OneEightFour” by Skittle; “Three Stories” by Skittle; “Strange Dog Walk” by  Castro; “Pedalrider” by Skittle; “Perspiration”  by The Balloonist; and “Glass Beads” byThe Ballonist. 

More from me about walking here, here, here, here, & here. You get the idea,…

You can subscribe to Choose to be Curious on Apple Podcasts/ iTunes and Stitcher.

Check out the Choose to be Curious shop!*

*Any purchase from the Choose to be Curious shop supports Arlington Independent Media. Please also consider making a donation at wera.fm. Thanks!