JUNE ENTRY: Perry

[pyrandon]

Okay, friends: Let me start by saying I love the little town in which I live, Perry, Michigan. Small, homey, safe, traditional values, great schools, etc. etc. etc. I deliberately choose to live (& work) here!

BUT...

As with anyplace, Perry contains many idiosyncrasies. Therefore, the map I'm entering in the June challenge is designed to satire my home town. Actually, I imagine it also satires most rural American towns.

This map is less geography than it is ideology, although I have followed the competition guidelines in that when placed side-by-side with a "true" map the similarities will be apparent. I realize this is an atypical map for the competition and our Guild in general, but I sure had a good time creating it! (Extra credit for you if you can name my fantastical cartographic inspiration!)

Thanks & good luck to all of June's "Challenge" entrants!

[RPMiller]

LOL I like it. I reminds me of some of the Pulp maps of old.

[ravells]

I love the way you find new mapping styles. This one is really cute and fun. You should print it out, frame it and hang it on the wall in your house! I take that there there are a lot of 'in-jokes' in the place names which locals would appreciate!

My favourite: 'Here there be reasons not to go here'

Ravs

[pyrandon]

I take that there there are a lot of 'in-jokes' in the place names which locals would appreciate!

lol...Yes, I realized when I made it that only "Perryites" would "get" a lot of them, but like I said, this was a very self-indulgent map.

For example, our school's mascot is the Rambler (an old jalopy--powerful symbol, eh?...), and the town next door (and I mean, like, less than 2 miles down the road!) are the Morrice Orioles; and our towns have been feuding since the great railroad station debacle of 1880, when Perry built a station overnight in order to undercut Morrice's almost-completed station! Hence, to many of us, they are the "Evil Birds."

Just one more oddity for your reading pleasure: In our little homey community there is a huge porn store called The Lion's Den. I kid you not. A few years ago the proprietors cleverly & semi-deceitfully snuck their building permit past the zoning board by saying they would be a "discount clothing & movie store" of some unknown variety. Well...now we boast one of the biggest porn stores in mid-Michigan, right on the highway, fully visible as people drive into our town. Great selling point. On my map I have it a conspiracy by the Evil Birds.

There's a lot more, too, but in general I'm poking fun at our xenophobic and rural ways in the map. I hope everyone gets at least a giggle from it!

PS: I can't believe no one has guessed the map that inspired this. Here's a hint: it's a classic novel series, over 100 years old... and a classic movie almost 70 years old...

[RPMiller]

PS: I can't believe no one has guessed the map that inspired this. Here's a hint: it's a classic novel series, over 100 years old... and a classic movie almost 70 years old...

Someone up above *cough*me*cough* mentioned the old pulp style maps. Unfortunately I can't think of a specific one, but Flash Gordon comes to mind for some reason.

[ravells]

The layout of the different regions within a square does look hauntingly familiar, but I have no idea what the series of novel and film are. I thought at first of the Wizard of Oz and return to Oz, but I never read the books (well only the kiddies pop-up version), and I don't recall a map in the films.

:Edit: Ah HAH! Good old Google!!


Ravs

[pyrandon]

DING DING DING!

[RPMiller]

Ravs gets the prize! Thanks for the map as well.

[heruca]

Great entry, and a fun map.