Regular maps have few surprises; their contour lines
Reveal where the Andes are, and are reasonably clear
On the location of Australia, and the Outer Hebrides;
Such maps abound; more precious, though,
Are the unpublished maps we make ourselves,
Of our city, our place, our daily world, our life;
Those maps of our private world
We use every day; here I was happy, in that place
I left my coat behind after a party,
That is where I met my love; I cried there once,
I was heartsore; but felt better round the corner
Once I saw the hills of Fife across the Forth,
Things of that sort, our personal memories,
That make the private tapestry of our lives.—Angus Lordie, in Love Over Scotland, Alexander McCall Smith
I’ve been working my way through the 44 Scotland Street series. So far, each entry in the series has concluded with a party at the titular address, at which Angus Lordie, eccentric portrait painter, sometime poet and owner of Cyril, the gold-toothed dog, stands up to deliver a poem.
Angus muses, as McCall Smith does throughout the books, on the small, everyday interactions and decisions that make up our lives. In most chapters, nothing particularly grand or dramatic happens to the characters as they move through Scotland Street and the rest of Edinburgh. Rather, they go to work or school, visit their favorite cafes or bars, interact with family members and friends, face the small crises and irritations we all face in the course of a given week. This series is no epic tale: it is a tribute to the small beauties of the quotidian, the “private tapestry of our lives.”
Since moving to Boston, I have been piecing together my own mental map of the city, first as a means of navigating unfamiliar terrain: this subway line will take you here, these streets intersect at a certain point, this highway exit will lead me home. When I began working downtown, spending my weekdays close to the Common, the map grew infinitely more detailed and colorful. I can point you to my favorite hill on the west side of the Common, my favorite stand at the Copley Square farmer’s market. I grew to recognize the employees at my favorite bookshop, the corner burrito joint, the Starbucks in my building. I have a particular knowledge of that tangle of streets I roamed for two years.
Since starting my new job in Harvard Square, I have been drawing a new map: different routes to work from the subway station, good places to grab lunch or a cup of tea or a chai latte, bookshops and boutiques to browse. Now that the weather is warming up, I am noticing budding trees, electric yellow forsythia, bright pink azaleas. Every week I discover something new. None of these discoveries are particularly earth-shaking, but they are important, and they are mine.
Last week’s terrible events left me, along with other Bostonians, shaken and bewildered, tense and sad. We still don’t understand (we may never understand) why Boston, why the Marathon, why the bombs. But we are back at work, riding the subway, walking across the Common and Harvard Square, cheering on the Red Sox at Fenway, going about our lives. We are pulling out, and adding to, those maps of our private worlds, so quotidian and also so precious. We are heartsore, but we are still here, still living. And we are grateful.
Oh darling, do I hear you… I’m also shaken, numb, scattered. But I cherished every bit of this post and the map you are making. A friend from Harvard recently wrote a book on mapping your memories and has a site by that name. Look it up (esp the Harvard square map!), find the related Brain pickings piece (http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/04/02/mapping-manhattan-becky-cooper/) and dream on…
Nice post on maps. I hope everyone maps lead them to a peaceful world.
:)lovely nice
What a wonderful idea, thinking about your daily life as a map to your favorite or important things. thanks for sharing!
I love the No. 1 Ladies Detective series by McCall Smith. I’ll have to try 44 Scotland St. I’m also in Boston, and everyone is a bit solemn. I was going to add Trinity Church in Copley to my inner map, and I had planned to attend Evensong with my kids two days after the Marathon. That didn’t happen. It’s still closed. It’s being visited by Inspection Services to see if it has sustained structural damage. I have my Starbucks, my Whole Foods and my kids’ school on my map.
It’s always difficult when the places we love are hit by darkness. I recently had friends from a summer camp I worked at die in an accident – and I know Boston’s a bit bigger, and more people are effected. However, similar to your sentiments, we remember those we lost but we also keep on living and celebrating the places we are.
Brattle Bookshop is just fantastic. Good post.
I recently finished Sunshine On Scotland Street too and I love the part at the end where Angus speaks of “an infinitely precious band of souls.” And that “each of us …has a rich hinterland of value.” I love how his books are a lovely little slice of life with simple plots, but lots of food for thought.
[…] The Maps Of Our Private Worlds: “Everybody, welcome to the tour of my private world! Here, take these maps. Now, over here we have the ‘Things I’d Like To Light On Fire’, and over there we have the ‘Episodes Of Gilmore Girls that I secretly liked’, and- HEY! Who just went in the ‘Cavern Of Infinite Yaoi’?! Do you have any idea how hard it is to get out of there?!” […]
Congrats on being Freshly Pressed! I haven’t heard of these books but they sound good.
great post..
Great Post. Thanks for sharing. Definitely an interesting read….
http://tshirtlegend.com/
brilliant and how creative!
congratulations!!!
May your maps lead you on wonderful roads!
nice blog. very creative and insightful. thanks.
Awesome! Congrats!
This is an interesting take on ones daily life and how we can make maps. Thanks for sharing! And I am sorry for you and the others about the incident that happened where many people call it home!
You personal map is a very good idea. thanks for sharing. I’m not from Boston but i’ve many thoughts for you these days.
Reblogged this on AncesTrees and commented:
When I read this outstanding post by Katie Noah Gibson, I was excited at the possibilities. Of course, I immediately thought of mapping my family tree.
My plan is twofold: on a fundamental level, I will get a ginormous map of the world and stick tiny color-coded labels representing each direct-line ancestor.
The second stage of my plan is more complex and would probably require individual maps. It involves tracing each of those people as they moved about in their lives. I envision a criss-crossing of lines and colors which will be a visual feast of family group movement.
I’m expecting to learn so much more about my ancestors by mapping their lives. In addition, this process will no doubt inspire new discoveries, new questions, new opportunities to engage other family members in leafing out our family tree.
If mapping your family tree sounds like a great idea, let me know your plan and share your progress.
love the quote! and your post 🙂
🙂
Very poignant writing!
Beautiful, and so true. If I could see my footsteps on this planet these 35 years, from up in space that would be quite a map!
I love this. You’ve helped me think of maps in a wonderful new way. Thanks from a map collector:)
I really appreciate your posting about how the marathon bombings has affected you and the city. This post in particular really spoke to me as I have been saying, in trying to explain to people why this was such a personally devastating attack for me and my fellow Bostonians, that every inch of that 15-block “crime scene” holds hundreds of memories of my 28 years of living here in Boston, from college to the present. That’s a kind of map-making in itself. In the context of loving books and reading, for example, I’ve been here long enough to remember the wonderful, late Buddenbrooks Bookstore on Boylston Street in the late 80s, where I discovered P.G. Wodehouse and an anthology of Ludwig Bemelmans’s stories about his young life as an employee/apprentice of a grand luxury hotel. I’ve been here so long I remember what used to be there before it closed and some new store or restaurant opened up to occupy the same space. That’s means that my map has multiple layers, more akin to an archaeological cross section map than a flat one. Thanks for your lovely, evocative writing.