SPRING 2023
Acts of Humanity
by Anna Badkhen
"A mapped landscape is always tailored to reflect the cartographer’s desire, the way when we say “acts of humanity” we mean “kindness,” though humanity is just as likely to commit atrocities. For what is a cartographer? A dreamer of worlds." |
The word “map” entered the English language in the sixteenth century via the French from the Medieval Latin mappa mundi, map of the world. Mappa—napkin, cloth, tablecloth, signal cloth, flag—is said to be of Semitic origin, perhaps related to the Mishnaic menaphah, a fluttering banner, a streaming cloth. But the oldest known maps were series of hollows, scars, notches—portholes—scooped out of bone, chinked into rock. Some of them appear to depict landmarks, some the starry sky. What each map always shows is a relationship between elements of some space; what each map always implies is the observer, you. Each represents our effort to make sense of ourselves in a particular place—and thus, each charts our reach for meaning.
On my last morning in Addis Ababa, two local acquaintances and I stop at a bistro called Keli’s Gourmet Burger, not very far from my hotel. We sit outside on small wrought-iron chairs and order coffee and banana beignets. None of us can imagine as yet the profound suffering the pandemic will bring, and the mind still drifts to petty things: For instance, that this is my last chance to sit at an outdoor café for weeks or maybe months, since Philadelphia, where I am headed, is already in quarantine. [...]
On my last morning in Addis Ababa, two local acquaintances and I stop at a bistro called Keli’s Gourmet Burger, not very far from my hotel. We sit outside on small wrought-iron chairs and order coffee and banana beignets. None of us can imagine as yet the profound suffering the pandemic will bring, and the mind still drifts to petty things: For instance, that this is my last chance to sit at an outdoor café for weeks or maybe months, since Philadelphia, where I am headed, is already in quarantine. [...]
SUMMER 2022
Doubling Back
by Pippa Goldschmidt
"The long stone wall receding into the distance, the words that require me to lean forward and peer closely at them, the gravel beneath my feet, even the air laden with traffic fumes – everything has a weight here, pressing me down. As I stand in front of the names, I feel on display, considered by a silent audience. There is only one of me and so, so many of them." |
A ferry travelling across the North Sea must take account of the tides, the twice-a-day ebbing and flowing of the sea that is caused by the Moon’s orbit around the Earth. At every port along these coasts, including those identified in my grandfather’s German passport, the timing of the tides will affect the precise route of the ferry and the complex manoeuvres needed to bring it safely to land.
My grandfather made the journey across this water that divides England from continental Europe on at least three occasions, recorded by the immigration authorities when he reached England. The dates and locations of his arrivals are stamped in ink in his passport:
12 Sept 36 Harwich
5 Sept 37 Harwich
6 Sept 38 Newhaven
What I find curious about these dates is their periodicity. Each year shortly before the autumnal equinox, my grandfather left his temporary residence in London and travelled to his original home in Germany for a few weeks, before returning. These journeys back east could be considered to be regressive or retrograde motions, like those that become apparent when we observe the orbits of planets. [...]
My grandfather made the journey across this water that divides England from continental Europe on at least three occasions, recorded by the immigration authorities when he reached England. The dates and locations of his arrivals are stamped in ink in his passport:
12 Sept 36 Harwich
5 Sept 37 Harwich
6 Sept 38 Newhaven
What I find curious about these dates is their periodicity. Each year shortly before the autumnal equinox, my grandfather left his temporary residence in London and travelled to his original home in Germany for a few weeks, before returning. These journeys back east could be considered to be regressive or retrograde motions, like those that become apparent when we observe the orbits of planets. [...]
