What's So Cool About This Globe?

I've wanted a globe for a very long time.  It took me awhile to get one because there are so many different kinds, and I never found quite the right one.  Do you remember that episode of Friends where Phoebe was dating a man who worked at the United Nations?  She asked Monica if she had a map or an atlas, so she could see where this man's country was.  Monica thought for a second, left the room, and came back bursting with excitement - proudly bearing a teeny weeny globe PENCIL SHARPENER!!!

 Last week I bought this globe at a garage sale.  I told you it's a globe with a secret.  You're probably wondering what's so cool about it.  For one thing, globes in general are just plain cool.  They are old-fashioned 3-D.  Somewhere in the years between maps that showed dragons at the edges of Earth and GPS on smart phones, Homo sapiens invented and fell in love with their globes.

You can spin them.  You can admire the colors.  You can see the equator, which gets you to thinking about the Coriolis effect and opposite seasons in the different hemispheres.  You can trace flight patterns of aircraft.  You can spatially relate to the distances between countries or seas.  You hold the world in your hands.   You feel connected...

  This is one of my newest quilts.  Its name is One World and it measures 13" x 13".  The continents are floating in different positions than they do in reality.  This quilt is MY version of global reality.  Since I was the designer, I could move the continents around like chess players.  I wanted to shake things up, to get them talking to each other in a new way.  And, since I was in control, I could tell them the rules of playing nicely:  Remember that this is One World and there shall always be Peace, not just across continents, but within them as well.

 I made this magical Peace Pillow used by the people of One World.  It's sort of like the Tooth Fairy, only instead of waking up with money under your pillow, you wake up filled with Hope, Love, and Faith in the goodness of Humankind...

 ... and with a sense of peace.

 So, to answer the question - What's so cool about my new globe?  All of the above, plus IT'S A LAMP!!!

Homework Assignment:
A future post will continue with our theme of connections.  Your assignment is to go back and take another look at the One World quilt and see if you can find the outward connection from Earth to ... (to be continued).