Overdue AAG pictures

I'm still here at Ohio Wesleyan, trying to finish out yet another semester. I did get a chance to get away from the college for a little bit. I spent my time in Boston, a place where I had never been before. I left for Boston in mid-April; ironically, this is the time where virtually all of my big papers were due. I had all of them pushed back to accommodate the experience in Boston. Meanwhile, I was working hard on my four ten+ page papers at the Howard Johnson. Anyway, I am in the midst of studying for Finals and I have to make this somewhat brief. Here is a quick overview of the week in Boston.

Monday night- I spent the night in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania. The inn that we stayed in was ritzy and comfortable. Honestly, I was not expecting this stop to be this nice. Earlier in the day, the group of four students and two faculty were stuck in a hour and a half traffic jam on a major freeway. To relieve our boredom, we got out and started to play hacky-sack. Totally random, I know but this is what happened. Some of the pictures show our little adventure in that time period. Other than that, the day was relatively uneventful since we were still on route.

Tuesday- We arrive in Boston mid-day. When I saw the hotel and the area we were staying in, I was not really impressed. I knew that being nearby Fenway Park would be an experience in itself, so naturally I braced myself to people who would be coming to the hotel drunk and rude. A lot of people were residing in the same hotel for the night for the game. I really did not care because most of my time was spent in downtown Boston in the conference area. Anyway, the conference was divided up into sessions and throughout the Marriott, Sheraton, and Westin hotels. Walking through the malls to get to these locations provided quite the exercise especially trying to get to the next sessions.

Tuesday- Saturday- I basically went to conference sessions for the entire time. I did get to go on a field trip to Walden Pond in Concord. I loved walking in the woods and talking about the Walden experiences with fellow Geographers. I was hands (or in this case, feets) on, stepping into a bog section of the area and reaching out to touch the actual pond. Since I did not have my camera, I took pictures on my camera phone. Unfortunately, I was not able to transfer those files unto this blog for you to see. This is a pity because Walden Pond is a very beautiful nice- to think, to reflect, and to experience nature at its finest. I went to a couple of Banquets as well. The first banquet provided an insight on how to make college students aware of the advantages of globalization, which is something I partake in every day at OWU. The other banquet I went to was the awards ceremony. Both were interesting to say the least- I did enjoy the experience of hanging out with 7,000 other Geographers around the world. I remember the first night was a good start for the program when an 80s cover band played and everyone was loose, dancing and having a good time. I chatted it up with grad schools and explored the opportunity for grad schools and their emphasis on Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Although I am still young and have a ways to go in terms of graduate school, I am considering it now so I can plan accordingly.

The programs that I went to are as follows:
Wednesday
Network Analysis and Spatial Optimization of Networks
Geographies of Detention and Confinement: Masculinity, Femininity, Race, and Rurality
Geographies of Media: Musicscapes
Informing GIScience with Indigenous Knowledge
Urban Life and Work
Presidential Plenary: Opportunities and Challenges for Interdisciplinary Research
World Geography Bowl (tough stuff!)


Thursday
Food, Glorious Food
Food Environments: Marketing Consumption
The Body: Embodiment, Politics, and Practice (Didn't Like this Session)
Commuting, Land Use, and Spatial Structure
Scary Cities: Fear of the Other
Subversive Cartographies (OWU's own Dr. John Krygier presented his paper, Are Maps Autistic; I loved this session!)
AAG Banquet- Past President Kavita Bandit gave her address as mentioned in the above paragraph.

Friday
Historical Geography
After my trip, Spatial Analysis of Conflict
The Happy Yodel and the Sad Sigh: Mobility, Scale, and Globalization (Liked the session a lot!!)

Saturday
Mapping the Black Presence
Food Security
AAG Awards Luncheon
Urban Geography: Global Cities (OWU's Own- Dr. David Walker presented his research paper Listening to sounds, talking to people, smelling the landscape: doing fieldwork in the barrio bravo of Tepito, in the Centro Historico de Mexico, D.F.)
The Geography of Health Risk Factors
(To be honest, I did not have my book with me on the Saturday sessions, so I winged it and chose whatever topics I thought would be groundbreaking and interesting simultaneously- boy, did I misjudge that).

I went to a lot of restaurants so I could experience Boston taste in food. I had American food (Champions), Thai (squid curry), Shrimp and Crab Cakes, and Caviar, Lobster, and Filet Mignon (5-star restaurant- The Capital Grille- arguably the best in town) amongst the best and most interesting food places I ate in. I shopped a little (c'mon, I am in Boston on a school day!). I got some new red Puma's and dress socks and a pink tie from the Banana Republic. My time in Boston was ballin'! Personally by Tuesday, I did whatever I wanted. In my time there, I did not spend much time with the rest of the group. I like to do things on my time, my way. I'm sorry if that seems a bit selfish but this is how I best get things I want accomplished. Now, the only thing I am waiting on is my reimbursement for all of the cuisines I ate from. I got the ideas to present a paper for next year's conference in Sin City (oh yeah, Las Vegas- and I will be 21? Oh yeah, it is going down). Vegas, prepare for the H-man!!

OK, seriously, though. I am glad I went to the Association of American Geographers Conference this year. Now that I am seriously considering a career in Geography, I can utilize all of the contacts and the resources I learned about to be active in this field. Now, I am ready for the next step- more classes and an internship/apprenticeship to cater to the education that I am earning in Geography.









Ready to find my passion through Geography,
Your Geography and Urban Studies major,
Hasani Wheat
Class of '10