Peter Bearse

Peter Bearse

In my sketch, I attempted a bird’s-eye view of the Harvard campus from the Harvard Law School to the athletic facilities across the river. Being a second-semester freshman, I was fairly confident with my judgment of the Yard, the Science Center Plaza, and the general area around Mass Ave and Harvard Square. However, I have little more than rudimentary knowledge about locations and streets that I am not required to visit often; areas such as the River houses, the Quad, the athletic facilities across the Charles, and the Law School are not quite on my radar. A comparison of my sketch to a map confirmed these suspicions that my drawing was accurate in some places and less accurate in others. For me, I believe my sketch suggests that I relate to the city as an area of both work and living. As a college student, I essentially work where I live. Thus, I’m more aware of the area around where I both work and live – that is, around the Yard and Science Center Plaza. On the other hand, my lack of knowledge about other areas shows that I do not appreciate the parts of the city where I do not either work or live. So, as opposed to viewing the city in an exploratory manner (as perhaps a tourist would), I view it as both a workplace and an abode.