Claire Collins

Claire Collins

Two major things strike me about the official mapping of Harvard square. First and foremost is the level of detail; every path through the yard, every street and alley, every one of the endless engineering and science labs behind the science center is included, along with the names of all these places. The second major thing is the indifference with which it is all presented. The residential neighborhoods to the west of Harvard Yard, the Houses along the river, Cambridge Rindge & Latin are all depicted with the same level of detail, their impact on the place solely relative to the amount of space they take up. In contrast, I could not even attempt the residential streets just off campus, and, for the sake of clarity, I only noted the buildings that I most often visit.

The angle of the river is a little bit off, Mt Auburn Street is a little cut off to the West of JFK, and everything should be oriented a bit more towards to the north east. This last note really speaks to the relativity with which we orient ourselves in space. I know that the yard is north of the river, and thus that Mather to the east, Eliot to the west, but I could not point due north with any particular degree of accuracy.