Where is Cheryl? Cheryl is here at Gila Hot Springs. (Courtesy of Cheryl Howard)

Geography begins at home

Teaching and Learning and Caring Blog

EL PASO – Geography begins at home, with skin, with blood, with bones. We are road maps to our own accumulated histories, the places we have been, decisions we made. Check the blood: antibodies to things that didn’t kill us, vitamin deficiencies, rheumatoid factor, genetic markers, ancestral clues. Check inside with X-rays, ultrasound, MRI and CT scans: deformities, broken bones, pregnancy, slipped disc, torn cartilage, gallstones. The skin, the largest organ: a history of sun exposure, too much alcohol, acne, chickenpox, smallpox vaccinations in persons of a certain age, stretch marks, surgical scars.