Map Skills
I failed Map Skills in third grade. I had no concept of North, South, East and West. A girl named Alana used to let me copy the answers out of her booklet. It wasn't until sixth grade that I understood the directions, explained by a boy I had a crush on. "12, 3, 6, 9. Never Eat Sour Watermelons." In twelfth grade when my parents and I set out on a college tour of upstate New York to see what schools I should apply to, my father tossed the map over to the back seat, and told me I had to navigate. My heart sank. Maps are not my forte.
However. I live in the BAY Area. On the East Coast there's the tri-state area, comprised of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. The Bay Area is comprised of .... well, I don't exactly, aside from San Francisco, the East Bay (there's no West Bay, because wouldn't that be in the Pacific Ocean?), the South Bay ... I don't recall ever hearing of a North Bay. But surely, if you're in the Bay Area, wouldn't you assume that the Bay, the San Francisco Bay, would be part of that experience? How could you be sittin' on the dock of the Bay, without the Bay itself?
Yesterday when I was on the way to the supermarket/bookstore, I was standing on the platform, waiting for the train. Two girls stood next to me, and one of them said, "Oh! Look at the ocean!" I smiled at her and agreed, saying "The Bay is really pretty today." The Bay *did* look pretty - there were quite a number of sailboats out, the sun was shining, water was sparkling.
She fully turned to me, and explained, "I'm from Ohio - all we have is the dumb lake. But this ocean is beautiful!" I nodded as if I knew what lake she was talking about, and replied, "It really is beautiful. This is the Bay, and that's (pointing up) the Bay Bridge. The Pacific Ocean is on the other side of the city."
She continued looking out at the water. She then turned to her friend and suggested they walk, so they could walk along the ocean. I tried. I wonder if she failed Map Skills out in Ohio.
However. I live in the BAY Area. On the East Coast there's the tri-state area, comprised of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. The Bay Area is comprised of .... well, I don't exactly, aside from San Francisco, the East Bay (there's no West Bay, because wouldn't that be in the Pacific Ocean?), the South Bay ... I don't recall ever hearing of a North Bay. But surely, if you're in the Bay Area, wouldn't you assume that the Bay, the San Francisco Bay, would be part of that experience? How could you be sittin' on the dock of the Bay, without the Bay itself?
Yesterday when I was on the way to the supermarket/bookstore, I was standing on the platform, waiting for the train. Two girls stood next to me, and one of them said, "Oh! Look at the ocean!" I smiled at her and agreed, saying "The Bay is really pretty today." The Bay *did* look pretty - there were quite a number of sailboats out, the sun was shining, water was sparkling.
She fully turned to me, and explained, "I'm from Ohio - all we have is the dumb lake. But this ocean is beautiful!" I nodded as if I knew what lake she was talking about, and replied, "It really is beautiful. This is the Bay, and that's (pointing up) the Bay Bridge. The Pacific Ocean is on the other side of the city."
She continued looking out at the water. She then turned to her friend and suggested they walk, so they could walk along the ocean. I tried. I wonder if she failed Map Skills out in Ohio.
posted by Green at 8/14/2006 08:01:00 AM
8 Comments:
Well, c'mon...it's still the ocean water, right? :)
(yeah, all I have is a lake too)
There *is* a North Bay, Marin County. People refer to it as "north Bay" or "Marin" pretty interchangeably. And they call the west Bay "the Peninsula", I can only assume because the people who live there are snooty. Oh, and because it's actually a peninsula.
I suppose, technically, a bay is part of the ocean. Right? A gulf would be, too. (Right? Right?)
Ok, true story. D and I went on a Bay cruise a few weeks back and he was telling me that people who jump off the GG bridge will often end up ashore in Pacifica because of the tides. I told him to stop joking around and he gawked at me.
I GREW UP here and didn't know it was the same body of water. I definitely failed something to have missed that...
Galveston bay is generally considered part of the Gulf of Mexico even though it's on the other side of Galveston Island. Uh, at least I do:)
For the record, I've never heard the Peninsula referred to as "the west bay." Is that kinda like how the less scuzzy part of the Haight is called Cole Valley (a name that probably wasn't on any map 30 years ago...)?
I'm kinda glad to be back in the B.A. because I had no idea where the hell I was at any given point when I was living in PDX.
The "North" bay also includes Sonoma county. I've heard it's very nice there. There are many financial refugees who grew up in Marin but can't afford to live there.
Someone I know who was a geography major in college, put the compass rose backwards on the term project.
to build on patti's comment, the south bay is the lower half of the peninsula, from palo alto down to san jose. and the west bay does indeed exist - it is SF itself, known as the west bay to people who live in the east bay. it's all relative to wherever you are... so if the center of your existence is oakland, then SF is the west bay. if your life revolves around SF, then "west bay" makes no sense. perhaps to those oakland-centric folks, "west bay" includes the top of the peninsula as well - everything across the bay from them, down to menlo park/EPA or something.
The Gulf of Mexico is as much ocean as I had ever seen, when we moved to Texas from Iowa. To me, it *was* the ocean, but now I know better. It's all relative, I guess.
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