Michigan and Wisconsin have been tussling over the use of the term “mitten” to describe geography. Michigan long has explained its shape (at least for the Lower Peninsula) as a mitten. Wisconsin recently decided it liked the mitten idea and started promoting the idea on its TravelWisconsin site.
In no surprise, plenty of Michiganians find the garment grab the antithesis of pure.
The satirist known well by youtube users even took on the cause, managing to drag Ohio into the squabble in the process. (Warning: Language may not pass muster in some workplaces.)
What I find remarkable about this episode is the energy, the intensity on what boils down to a matter of geography.
I’ve had a lifelong fascination with maps — not to the level of hobbyist expertise, but certainly to the point that I stop and peruse anytime I encounter a wall-size map. In a post at slate.com, Seth Stevenson reports on the winner of a map-making competition I didn’t even know existed. This cartographer — a one-man band — beat the map-making heavyweights with a U.S. map deemed the best of the year.
Stevenson also notes the trend in our culture away from actually using full-size maps. He’s right on point there. At times it seems most people have lost their ability to navigate or orient themselves without the aid of an electronic device.
I’m not a complete Luddite. Mapquest, GPS devices and the like are marvels of technology. Still, I think a slavish reliance on them erodes a person’s innate sense of place.
We get protective of Michigan’s “mitten” not just because it’s a clever description, but also because it represents who we are, where we live.
I only hope that, 20 years from now, there are still plenty of people who can spot Michiganon a good, old-fashioned wall map.
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