Jessica Tuckerman

Dr. Wolff

Visual Rhetoric and Multimodal Communication

February 13, 2014

Altas of Us

What is a map? Is it just an picture, an image, which shows the roads, lakes, and other landmarks of a given place? Are maps

only a geological tool or can they also be art? Maps are also pictures which show the different parts of something. In writing we have

many types of maps like plot maps, character maps, and brainstorming maps. They are forms of communication which help readers

navigate through a given abstract or concrete area.

Maps can show details outside the realm of geography. They can show how ideas related to each other and aid in defining the

abstract. They tell a story. Dennis Wood says in his book Everything Sings that “every map has its own tale to tell.” (9) Woods

questions the possibility of cartography as an expressive art and creates the idea of poetic cartography in order to stop asking where a

place is and to start asking what a place is.

Wood also says that maps are “denied by science, resisted by modern art” (11) and reminds us all that the objectivity

connected to reading the maps as a narrative is not created by suppressing the subjective experience. If you are not connected with an

area does that mean you have less of any experience when observing a map? If the point of a map is to glean information on

something with which you are unfamiliar—does it matter what your subjective experience is so long as you understand it?

I asked 6 people to draw a map of themselves. I was asked about many variations of what that meant. Did I mean a map of

their physical body, personality, or their average day? Ultimately I responded “If you had to draw a map of yourself, a guide for other

people which described you and showed who and what you are, how would you do it?” I believe a map of me shows my personality,

my history, my negative and positive character traits, my physical abilities, and my areas of knowledge. Some of the maps are visual

and others (from those without artistic skills) are simply ordered text. All of the maps tell a story about a person. Can someone truly

create one image which encompasses the idea of the self? The following maps attempt to make a concrete image of an abstract idea.

My interpretation of these maps is biased because of my relationships with the cartographers, so I have listed the maps

on their own pages so that you might interpret them on their own before I analyze them.

Amanda J. Cook, 26

Amanda’s map is a representation of Atlas, the Greek

Titan who held the world on his shoulders as punishment for

siding with the Titans. The body which is holding the globe is

comprised of the surface level descriptions: wife, me, I am

Amanda Joy Cook, Manda Panda. These words create a

semantic unit (Hall 149), a thing which expresses meaning.

The shape the gray font creates helps to create a concrete idea

for Amanda’s outward shell, but her Atlas is holding many

personal things which define her as a person. Amanda has

color coded her life into sections: gold, for jobs and varying

positions of responsibility including “Office Executive,”

“Office Bitch,” and “Dropper of the Thingy;” pink, for

Amanda’s favorite things like “Crock Pots,” “Girl Scouts,” and

“Cats;” dark blue, for insecurities and general negativity in her

life such as “Not Fitting In” and “Anxiety;” and green for

personal traits like religion and personality traits like “Crazy.”

The words are all juxtaposed together, showing their

relationship to one another. Although Amanda is confident, she

also has low self esteem. In her map she expresses that she is

simultaneously loves, lonely, and does not fit in. Her entire

world is outlines by a quote from the Broadway musical

Wicked’s “Defying Gravity,” (“Something has changed within

me/something is not the same/I’m through with living by the

rules of someone else’s game./Too late for second guessing/too

late to go back to sleep/it’s time to trust my instincts/close my

eyes/and leap/I think I’ll try defying gravity”) a song about

becoming a stronger person and learning to believe in one’s

self.

Gail A. Tuckerman, 50

Gail is a self-proclaimed work-a-holic and her map

exemplifies this. Her map is strictly the events of her day and

not her personality. There is very little on her map which is not

work related outside of the sarcastic comments about her job

and the people who work with her. The comments are written

in shorthand and only some include her thoughts on the actions

of the day. This distances her from fully describing herself as

person and defines Gail by her job only.

It does not matter where you begin on Gail’s map, you

will find yourself back at that action. In fact, there is no

indicated starting point on the circle. Her days are spent

performing the same tasks including those few tasks which are

not work related. Gail’s time outside of her job is spent doing

chores, which is just more work.

An argument can be made that the times are a type of

legend because they help create order on the map. The map is

like a clock, and even the direction we are guided to reading

the order of events is clockwise adding to the feeling of

repetition.

Megan Ann Lamiotte, 28

On Megan’s map, the images create regions of her life.

They are all connected to each other by a large circle showing

that all areas of her life are interconnected. The text in the

center defines what the images represent to Megan. They are

her soul, being, love, life, peace, inner self, and her reality.

Megan is not a religious person, but she is spiritual. It is not a

surprise to see many spiritual and religious symbols on

Megan’s map since it is a ubiquitous aspect of her life.

In the upper right corner of the map is a peacock, fully

displaying his feathers. The peacock is a symbol of pride and

beauty. The male peacock displays his plumage in order to

attract a female. Beneath the peacock is the hindu symbol

Aum. Aum represents three worlds: earth, celestial space, and

heaven; the gods: Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva; and three sacred

scriptures: Rg, Yagar, and Sama. The symbol is used in

devotional acts such as prayer and meditation. The symbol at

the bottom center of the map represents religions of the world.

It includes symbols for Christianity, the dove; Judaism, the Star

of David; Hinduism, the Aum; Taoism, the Yin Yang;

Sikhism, and Catholicism, the cross. The bottom right image

shows the seven chakras of the body: root, sacral, solar plexus,

heart, throat, third eye, and crown. The seven chakras of the

body are points in which energy flows through the body for

varying effects. The root chakra deals with survival issues, the

heart chakra deals with love and inner peace, the throat chakra

is our ability to communicate, and the crown chakra deals with

our inner and outer beauty and our connection to spirituality.

Megan’s map shows her spiritual beliefs as well as how

interconnected important areas of her life are.

Kiel James Henderson, 28

Kiel’s map’s legend is based upon his virtues and sins. The

map includes what he believes are his strongest, most defined

character traits: charity, chastity, diligence, envy, gluttony, humility,

patience, pride, sloth, temperance, and wrath. Kiel’s map is titled

“The 14 Words of Kiel James Henderson,” but there only 12

headings.

The map resembles an outline of a paper. There is a topic

heading, such as Chastity, which is then given supporting ideas like

“devote my time to other people/ always help someone move/

gracious tipper.”

Only 5 of the headings are among the seven cardinal sins.

Although Kiel admits to being envious of others’ possessions he

labels Envy as the least of his sins. Under Gluttony, Kiel uses the

slang “OMNOMNOM” to note his large appetite and also makes

note of his excessive use of modern media. Greed, hold the first

notable contradiction on the map. Kiel states that he “desires money/

craves possessions/ demands people’s attention;” however, under

Humility, Kiel states that he “doesn’t want people’s attention.”

Contradiction is a vital part of the human experience. It creates

situational criteria for our flaws and virtues. Kiel does not always

want everyone’s attention but he does crave it at times. Under Pride,

Kiel says he is proud of what he has accomplished and the he is

“easily hurt and manipulated.” Looking at his virtues, Kiel is prideful

of being a gentleman. He is charitable, humble, and patient and the

moments when he is most hurt and humiliated are times when he is

accused of not exemplifying those virtues.

The second virtue listed on the map is Chastity, under which

Kiel lists his desire to not have bastard children. Chastity also

includes the first reference point where the reader is told the “refer to

Lust” which is not listed on the map, because it is not a sin which

Kiel has.

Stephanie Peters, 28

Stephanies map is a collage of meaning over a road

map of her neighborhood. Stephanie identifies with the area

she grew up in and embraces the location as part of her.

In the top left corner is a collection of images that

represent Stephanie’s self-esteem. In one image a young girl is

looking into a mirror which simply reads “ugly,” another image

shows another young girl crying but holding up a smile mask,

the tarot card “The Hermit,” the angry rage comic meme face,

and a happy face. The two images featuring young woman

show Stephanie’ s problems with body image and depression.

The tarot card “The Hermit” represents a need to pull away

from society but also a longing to share one’s individual

knowledge with the world. The face which appears to be

screaming is an image from the popular memes called rage

comics and denotes that something is aggravating. This shows

Stephanie’s need to let her stress go.

Despite these negative aspects, Stephanie also included

positive images like the tart card “The Fool,” music, and even

images from her favorite media. Despite its name, “The Fool”

is not a negative card; it represents change as well as the need

to question one’s individual motives in a situation.

Rob Cook, 28

Rob’s map is only one in this atlas with a definitive

legend. His map, which looks like a tourist’s guide to Rob’s

mind, features buildings as the “concepts” of the “library,”

“processing,” “observatory,” and “character dormitory” and

includes labels in Latin. The geology of Rob’s map is

divided into Foris, which means outdoors or outside, and

Nox, which means night and can be navigated by the

compass in the lower right. Rather than the tradition north,

south, east, and west, Rob’s compass is labeled Arcanus,

which means hidden, Publicus, which means public, Sensus,

which means sentimental, and Logicus, which mean rational.

In Foris, are the Library, the Observatory, his Real

Estate knowledge, and a small building for Storytelling and

Audiology. The Library contains no applications or points of

interest. It stands alone as a representation of knowledge and

memory. The Observatory contains knowledge on teaching,

theology, philosophy, and reason. The Socratic Lounge is

outside the Observatory. The areas of knowledge and skill

reside on the most Logicus side of the map. They are logical

and rational skills.

In the most Arcanus section of the map is

Processing. These are all hidden skills like storytelling,

engineering, visual arts, syntax, and music. These are

passive skills which take effect when creating projects like

fiction novels, stage props, and songs. Processing is also in

the Nox region of the map. I think this means that these are

activities which take place at night after the working day is

over.

Erin Mackey, 27

Erin’s map contains concrete descriptions of herself. These are all things which could shown to you if you asked.

The map starts with Adalynne, Erin’s soon to be 6 year old daughter. Motherhood is an important part of Erin’s life. The next

image that the reader is led to on Erin’s treasure map, is the beach, which is labeled as Erin’s favorite place.

Eventually we are led to Erin’s bad cooking skills and then followed by her skills at baking brownies.

The map ends with a picture of Erin, because that is the image which best represents her.

Adalynne Mackey, 6

Adalynne’s map resemble a brainstorming map and she is the central concept. Her map includes her favorite things, in

varieties of colors, like tacos, dancing, her iPad, and candy. Her map also includes the important things in her life, like her mother.

The map also has concrete items like the fact she is in kindergarten and how old she is (although she is not 6 years old just yet). The

most important concept on Adalynne’s map is NO NAP’S (apparently it’s a possessive nap). Not only does she not want to take them

anymore, she doesn’t have to.

Jessica Tuckerman, 26

This is my map. I attempted to create a legend with the

fonts and the colors. The only font and color combination

which repeats itself represents negative aspects of my life. My

anxiety is caused by a number of things which are constantly

present in my mind; this is why the things which cause me to

be stressful are entwined with Anxiety, and also why the black

Impact font reoccurs through my piece.

Literature and Writing are huge parts of my map and

my life. The Literature section is comprised of my favorite

books and book series. The size of the text is not only how

much I enjoyed them but how often I re-read them. The

Writing section is not only made up of titles which I have

written but also spaces in which I write. Some of the titles are

from essays and scholarly piece, others are from creative

pieces.

There are two sports related sections of my map:

Archery and Kinetics. They are also accompanied by negative

regions. I very frequently have trouble sleeping, but the regions

which are surrounding it, Archery, Literature, and Kinetics,

help me to overcome that. This is the same with all of the

negative sections of my map, and also why they are the

smallest regions.

My map contains both concrete and abstract portions of

myself. You can see me dance, go shooting at the range, or

hear me speak or watch me write any of those languages

(although I will do so poorly, I never said I was fluent in those

languages) but you cannot see me dream, you cannot see my

low self-esteem, and you cannot really see me be a daughter,

sister, or friend.