My Deep Map

My deep map symbol represents two important things about me: one, I love peace, hence the peace sign, and two, I love the earth, hence the 'green' peace sign. The peace sign also allowed me to represent the multi-faceted aspect of who I am, where I am, and what I am supposed to do. In the upper left corner, I have depicted "where I am" by drawing pictures of my house and its surroundings. Above my house is Aurora High School and the Platte River, two fixtures in my life for the past 18 years. Below my house I drew three things: a highway representing I-80 because I have spent a good portion of my life on the road to Lincoln and and teh University of Nebraska. I also included Andrews Hall on the UNL campus, because I have spent a lot of my time there as a graduate student. I'm sure my ghost will haunt those hallways for a long time. I also have the Hamilton County Courthouse because it is a very noticeable historic landmark in Aurora. I put a yellow sun in the corner of that section of the peace sign because being where I am makes me happy.

In the lower section of my peace sign, I depict 'who I am' by splitting who I am yet acknowledging that it is impossible to really separate who I am from a teacher and scholar from a mother and spouse. On the left side, I have the scholar's flame above the mortar board, and I am surrounded by books, and I wrote the words, "Words, words, words" (to quote Hamlet), and books, books, books. On the right side, I am holding a frying pan with bacon, and I have the quote, "I can bring home the bacon and fry it up in a pan." I am also wearing jeans and a t-shirt with WWHD, which represents, "What Would Hamlet Do?" (This is based off a real t-shirt a friend of mine gave me a couple of years ago). I also have two I (Red Heart) symbols. I love my family (with framed family photo) and I love humor, both of which are true. I also have a movie reel that depicts that I love moveis.

In the upper right hand section I depict what my purpose is by drawing a lake (which looks like a tornado, but it's not). In the tornado-looking lake, I have a big black rock which is supposed to depict me, being dropped into a lake, making ripples. The ripple effect is to remind me that each of us has a purpose and that purpose is quite far-reaching, like ripples in a lake, that expand out into a vast area. That is what teaching is all about. We affect one student at a time, but that affect is far-reaching. It is a ripple. That student (for good or for bad, unfortunately) affects another human being, and that person, another and so on. Above the lake, I have a very large sunrise that is reflected or echoed several times, to depict the same affect of the ripple in the reflection off a lake. In a nutshell, my purpose is extraordinary and far-reaching. I then wrote the words, "Blessed is the influence of one true loving human soul on another" by George Eliot. I think those words sum up what I was trying to depict about my purpose or vocation in this life.