Ten Interesting Facts About Brockton

Here is a map showing ten interesting things in the city of Brockton, MA. Many of which people may not be aware of, including residents of this city.

Whenever I get a chance to visit a national/state park I jump at the opportunity! Ever since I was a kid I loved taking long hikes through park, it was always interesting to take a new path and see where it led me. state and national parks have always given me a sense of peace in a chaotic world, in these parks it is quiet, serine, and full of wonder.

A cooler, Oakley sunglasses and a Abu Garcia make a great day.

A cooler, Oakley sunglasses and a Abu Garcia rod is all I need to have a great summer day. Salt water fishing is one of my favorite hobbies and every year my brother and I pick a place to visit on our list. On this map are locations where I have friends who also love to fish and are waiting for me to explore that fishing site. The areas in green are chosen places I have already visited and the areas in red are places I have not explored yet. This summer of 2016 while I was away in military training I still managed to sneak in a fishing session out in Virginia Beach and it was a beautiful time. I am hoping to expand this map and locations as I continue to fish every year. When I complete this map I will create another one with newer locations to explore. If you love to fish I highly recommend some of these places as they are the most exciting places to fish in.

Where Did I Come From?

This is a map depicting the ancestry of my family, both past and present. There is quite a lot that is still unknown about my family's past, especially with my paternal grandmother's side as my grandmother passed away at age 50. I hope that viewing the map is an enjoyable experience, getting to see just how diverse my family tree is.

Legend:

The blue stars represent my Paternal Grandfather's ancestry while the blue points represent my Paternal Grandmother's ancestry. The blue squares represent where in the world my father's extended family currently resides.

The coral stars represent my Maternal Grandfather's ancestry while the coral points represent my Maternal Grandmother's ancestry. The coral squares represent where in the world my mother's extended family currently resides.

The yellow square represents where my soon to be in-laws reside and the yellow point represents where they are from.

The purple points represent my immediate family, where we were born and live today.

Road Trip to Cali

Everyone loves a good cross country road trip. This is a map of a road trip I planned for my best friend and myself to take after graduation. we start in Boston and cross 12 states on our way to California. On the map you can see our beginning and ending locations, our stops- highlighting my love for baseball and her love for haunted places. All together it would take us five days to drive to Las Angeles while stopping at these locations. After crunching numbers for hotels and camp sights as well as the plane ticket back plus all other expenses we would need we decided that to do this road trip we each needed to raise $2,000.

Bridgewater Triangle

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.8960269,-71.3649804,10z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!6m1!1s1aQUJOeYCjHqRTujSGd9UdwAHEps?hl=en




Mysterious enough to receive the title, the Bridgewater triangle(Bermuda triangle reference), this area in Southeastern Mass has been home to many bizarre and mysterious events. Supposed UFO and bigfoot sightings along with numerous reports of hauntings, murders and mysterious events, and even cult activity has given this area the unnerving reputation it deserves. The area has several zones where abnormal negative energy exists.

Avast! Happy Halloween

Dr. Hayes-Bohanan, as Captain Ahab, takes a break from a short field trip to look for that white whale!

One of the major themes of geography is the importance of a concept known as "sense of place" -- the ways in which people identify regions and their connections to them. Given the proximity of Bridgewater to the historic whaling city of New Bedford, therefore, Captain Ahab was a natural choice for my Halloween costume this year.

Actually, I do not usually wear a Halloween costume, putting more emphasis on The Day of the Dead for my Geography of Latin America course. But with my increasing interest in whaling (historically and geographically, not in real life!) in general and in New Bedford in particular, I decided to try a Captain Ahab costume. (I left my harpoon at home. Yes, I have a harpoon.)

When Dr. Hellström saw me in the middle of the day, he decided there should be a photograph. I then terrorized his class briefly, as I broke in and shouted "Avast! Avast! Have you seen the white whale?" Dr. Hellström was not surprised at all, but student reactions ran the gamut from amused to puzzled to intrigued to concerrned, maybe a bit scared. Good teaching is all about taking chances, they say.

Later I realized that I would be taking my Honors First-Year Seminar on Climate Justice to have a look at one of our department's several unusually large maps.This one -- located amidst our faculty offices -- is a combination political-physical map that also highlights several dozen of the world's indigenous peoples (out of several thousand that could be shown). Since our seminar topic today was indigenous knowledge, this was a good time to explore the map. And since everyone looks better in front of a map (try it, you'll see!), I asked a student to snap the photo above. Another student helpfully positioned my white whale for the camera.

Following along in my Portuguese edition, between fellow readers State Rep. Cabral and Portuguese Consul Cardeiro.

What does this have to do with geography? Everything. The fictional tale of Moby Dick begins in New Bedford, about 30 miles directly south of Bridgewater (that is, sharing a meridian of longitude). Earlier this year, I had the privilege of participating in the first-ever public reading of a Portuguese version of Moby Dick at the Whaling Museum in New Bedford. The Portuguese version was added to the 20th annual reading of the original English version, taking place at the same time. I was very pleased to be reading a chapter entitled "O Pulpito" -- "The Pulpit" -- describing a fictional structure inside a very real chapel directly across the street from where we were reading. Herman Melville himself attended the Seamen's Bethel, but described a nautical-themed pulpit that did not exist until a century later, for the benefit of fans of the film version of his book.

For the past four years, I have learned a lot about coastal geography simply by spending time on the water in and around New Bedford, as a member of one of the three clubs that regularly row modern repicas of the boats that were used in 18th- and 19th-century whale hunts. I wrote about some of the learning that comes from this hobby in my Harbor Learning blog post when I first started rowing in 2012. Time on the water has also helped me to learn many things about tides, including the fact that I will never really understand them!

Image: Whaling City Rowing

Finally, the Captain Ahab get-up gives me a chance to promote a new course I am offering in the summer 2017 session -- New Bedford Fortnight. Because I have enjoyed teaching Geography of Brockton in the past, I decided to offer this two-week immersion in Whaling City. Each afternoon of the course will begin with a local institution -- such as the Whaling Museum or a community organization -- and then continue with explorations by van, on foot, and on boats. One session will include a visit to my family's "Whaling House" in nearby Fairhaven.

This course will be open to geography majors and non-majors alike. Check the course blog for more information; scheduling details will be posted soon.

~~ Dr. James Hayes-Bohanan, aka Coffee Maven