Ukraine was invaded by Russia three years ago. Since the new president of the United States is in full surrender to Putin mode and wants to blame Ukraine for starting the war, I am posting this map, from February 27, 2022. It is to remind anyone that needs reminding of who started this war. via AP - source: VOA News This one shows what Russia has gained (in red) in three years of war. Much of that area will likely be ceded to Russia if a “peace” deal is made without Ukraine. via Institute for the Study of War

Mapping Prejudice is a project by a team of scholars and activists at the University of Minnesota. The project maps racial covenants, clauses that were inserted into property deeds to keep people who were not White from buying or occupying homes.  The mapping page has an animation that show the growth of these covenants in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area from 4 in 1910 to over 32,000 in 1963. Or you can see all of them with their details. The green color does not stand out great again the gray background though. There are also some static maps showing racial covenants in the area. This one does a good job of showing how they cluster around the Minneapolis city boundaries. This is an ongoing process and you can volunteer to help find racial covenants in deeds and participate in community mapping sessions.

When white people like me write about Black History Month, it can seem quite performative. However, in an era when our “leaders” are trying to erase black history, it is important for all of us to keep it visible. This poem map was inspired by a Langston Hughes poem called “Let America be America Again”, the full text of it can be found here.  Map help from Project Linework

Last week we lost our dog, Luko (a shortened version of an overly long-winded name he came with.) Lots of people will tell you they have the best dog but he was truly one of a kind. Completely sweet and a delight to all who have known him. A few years ago I made a colored pencil map of his world. I didn’t think it was very good at the time so I never posted it here. It also was a bit problematic because I used a very light pencil so even after contrast and brightness adjustments, it’s a bit hard to read. The photos were added after the fact and placed close to where they were taken. North is not up on this map, uphill is up. This is dedicated to his memory. Enjoy.