There was
a time when geography was memorizing chief crops, major bodies of water and
picking out countries on a map. Knowing that cloves came from places like Zanzibar
and Madagascar
or locating the Caspian Sea seemed all there was to this
study. Not today.
Anne Knowles, a geography professor at Middlebury
College, is using geographic
information systems (GIS) to learn more about the Civil War and the Holocaust.
St. Michael’s College professor Richard Kujawa is looking at the public benefit
of conservation easements and the complex relationships that tie places
together. We look at geography in the 21st century with
both of them.
Plus, Vermont will get a new Supreme Court justice in the coming year as
Denise Johnson steps down. Vermont Law
School Professor Cheryl Hanna explains the process and the pressure on
judges throughout Vermont’s court system.
And we hear a recitation from Vermont’s
reigning Poetry Out Loud champion Claude Mumbere of Burlington
High School. The competition is a national
project supported by the Poetry Foundation and the National Endowment for the
Arts. Claude recently represented the state at the national competition in Washington
D.C.