Originally, I thought just doing this state would be too narrow which was why I wanted to do the world, but just Pennsylvania is already quite a bit. I shouldn't have been so quick to draw conclusions. I shall proceed onto the actual atlas next week, for my planning is complete. As previously mentioned, the bulk of my atlas will contain physical then political geography. As you shall see below, there is a lot of miscellaneous material that I probably will also add to the atlas at the very front and end so it's not just a book of maps. For much of this cycle, I had been exploring Pennsylvania in general, not just specifically its geography, for though my atlas is primarily concerned with the gegraphy of the state, it is not just that.
Pennsylvania Guys, parody of Katy Perry's California Gurls. If you like this video, I also recommend Pennsylvania Style (parody of Gangnam Style) by the same author. Same disclaimer applies.
1. This is Phil from Punxsutawney: We all know that 2 February is Groundhog (or woodchuck, or whistle pig) Day, when a groundhog determines how much more of winter there will be based on its shadow. Although there are multiple predicting groundhogs, the most well known one is Punxsutawney Phil from Pennsylvania.
2. Philly represent, cheesesteaks are cooking up: The Philly (Philadelphia) cheesesteak is one of the renowned foods from Philadelphia and the state in general.
3. My Pops (works at) Dorney Park: Dorney Park (and Wildwater Kingdom) is an amusement park in Allentown, the third largest city in Pennsylvania. Interestingly, Dorney Park is much older than you might expect, with a history stretching back over 150 years to 1860. In addition, the tallest rollercoaster in the park, Steel Force, is also the ninth longest one in the world!
If you found the Amish Airlines picture funny, here is a link to a "commerical" about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGDGrEYwbWw
Obviously, this makes fun of the old-fashioned lifestyle of the Amish. Lancaster County is well known for its Amish presence. However, the Amish are a very interesting group of people. Their history dates back all the way to the Anabaptists of the 17th century before immigrating to Pennsylvania. The term "Amish" is derived from the surname of the founder, Jakob Ammann. As they are mostly of Swiss or German ancestry, the Amish also speak what is incorrectly known as Pennsylvania Dutch, which is actually a form of German (German in German, which is Deutsch, sounds like Dutch, and the misnomer has stuck around). There even is a related amusement park called Dutch Wonderland.
Therefore, with that in mind, one part of my atlas may also talk about the linguistic diversity of Pennsylvania, said to contain the most distinct dialects of any state in the USA. The two most well known dialects are, of course, named after and centred in the two largest cities of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
Commented on the blogs of: Nathan Leung, Paul Scott, and Jason Shu
It sounds like you're off to a good start! I'm interesting in geography as well, just not enough to actively research it, and so I'm actually pretty excited about your project, because it means I can learn about it without doing much work! (Wow, that sounded lazy...)
ReplyDeleteAnyways, are you planning to take any day trips to any of the locations you mentioned? Some places like Lancaster are within a 2-hour trip, but may contain lots of information, especially if you're looking at political views as well. Plus, there's the history, which I personally find incredibly interesting.
Point is, there are plenty of locations that you can go to for a day to in order to get a stronger idea of the type of people and political views people have there. After all, there is only so much information you can get from reading before you have to start doing!