{"id":20699,"date":"2017-06-01T19:10:56","date_gmt":"2017-06-01T19:10:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/?p=20699"},"modified":"2017-06-01T19:10:56","modified_gmt":"2017-06-01T19:10:56","slug":"kentuckians-guide-detroit-pt-9-lesson-hand-based-cartography","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/kentuckians-guide-detroit-pt-9-lesson-hand-based-cartography\/","title":{"rendered":"A Kentuckian’s guide to Detroit Pt. 9 – A lesson in hand-based cartography."},"content":{"rendered":"

Michiganders are a hearty, versatile bunch. Michigan is a classic state possessing confident, endearing Midwestern values\u00a0that\u00a0prides itself on\u00a0its\u00a0capabilities of simply getting shit done and being hilariously helpful, and nice, in the process. Yeah, they can be a bit off<\/em>, but that\u2019s no bother, when you grow up in Kentucky, you\u2019ve witnessed\u00a0every shade of weird.<\/p>\n

One of my favorite examples of this remarkable sense of self-culture is the speed at which a Michigander will reference another location in the state by using their hand.<\/p>\n

They will take their hand, fingers pointed upward (this example is for the Lower Peninsula, the Upper Peninsula also has its own version)<\/em>, and us it as a sort of map. Ever careful of properly aligning due North, they’ll then point out their intended location on this sort of make-shift map. Yes, it really is that straightforward. To the inexperienced, it could seem a touch childish, but the\u00a0practical\u00a0usefulness this practice offers quickly overshadows any disparaging comments.<\/p>\n

Other states bemoan this practice. That is simply because the geographic outline of their state is not such that would behoove this festive activity, and all they can do is bellyache about it. Even my home state of Kentucky tried in earnest to have a sort of cockeyed hand positioning which could be used to reference areas of the Bluegrass state, but, alas, it never gained much traction.<\/p>\n

Below is a picture of my hand and example locations of some of my favorite locations around the state of Michigan.<\/p>\n

Note- There are two approaches when people use their hand as a reference map. Some people will hold their right hand up with the palm facing out, and others will hold there left hand up, but with the back of their hand facing out.<\/p>\n

Both methods properly accommodate for the thumb to be on the \u2018proper\u2019 side. You\u2019d think this wouldn\u2019t much of a point of contention, but there is. So much so, it\u2019s to the point where I just had several opinionated\u00a0exchanges\u00a0in my office and now have to put this section in so people don\u2019t start hollerin\u2019 at me.<\/p>\n

Be good y’all.<\/p>\n

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Michiganders are a hearty, versatile bunch. Michigan is a classic state possessing confident, endearing Midwestern values\u00a0that\u00a0prides itself on\u00a0its\u00a0capabilities of simply getting shit done and being hilariously helpful, and nice, in the process. Yeah, they can be a bit off, but that\u2019s no bother, when you grow up in Kentucky, you\u2019ve witnessed\u00a0every shade of weird. One […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/133"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20699\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}