idyl collective

Maps facilitate the course of empire. By creating imagined landscapes, which, readers believe, arise out of a desire to represent the truth, maps epitomize an imperial logic. Cartographers distill the excesses of representation by judiciously redacting and making geography legible. Maps can be held in the hand, as if the world were available on a human scale; maps divide lands into tracts indicating possession, through the double act of naming and placing a rational grid of knowledge over the location depicted; maps edit out that which interferes with their supposed subject; maps enforce an ethos of total and complete perception through a visually mediated ideology of what the reader conceives of as an axiomatic understanding; and, finally, maps, as J. B. Harley has so astutely observed, envisage empire through their formulation of “myths which would assist in the maintenance of the territorial status quo. The flood of maps available to Americans that attended the imperial project in the Philippines is significant. Those created about the Philippines during the early colonial period could be found in popular newspapers, magazines, academic journals, government sources, and atlases. Historian Susan Schulten explains that the Spanish-American War brought “critical changes” to American “cartographic culture.” These documents appear to be innocent surfaces where the sole purpose is to provide the reader with information about the Spanish-American War, the Philippine-American War, or other facets of the early colonial period. However, by assessing these maps, and the cartographic imperative that incited their design and production, we can determine the role these images played in the creation of American empire. Maps were a cartographic scape that helped instigate and further the objectives of American imperialism in the Pacific. By analyzing maps found in the popular press, maps created by the United States military, and maps of Philippine bodies (done through photography, diagrams, and corporeal measurements) this chapter details how the visual power of delineation allowed Americans to create a visually based assessment of the Philippine colony.

Mizuki Shigeru’s Seven Rules of Happiness. #7 – Believe in what you cannot see – The things that mean the most are things you cannot hold in your hand. #6 – Take it easy – Of course you need to work, but don’t overdo it! Without rest, you’ll burn yourself out. #5 – Talent and income are unrelated – Money is not the reward of talent and hard work. Self-satisfaction is the goal. Your efforts are worthy if you do what you love. #4 – Believe in the power of love – Doing what you love, being with people you love. Nothing is more important. #3 – Pursue what you enjoy – Don’t worry if other people find you foolish. Look at all the people in the world who are eccentric—they are so happy! Follow your own path. #2 – Follow your curiosity – Do what you feel drawn towards, almost like a compulsion. What you would do without money or reward. #1 – Don’t try to win – Success is not the measure of life. Just do what you enjoy. Be happy.

Ottawa sends body bags to Manitoba reserves

“Cadaanka iska ilaali.”