Illinois as drawn by Sen. Durbin (D-IL)
by Corey Alderdice
I would be willing to wager that–as an extemper–you could identify every US state on a map. We even think you’re smart enough to name all the state capitals in five minutes.
US Senators, well, that’s another story. To help kick off Geography Awareness Week, National Geographic invited all 100 U.S. Senators to draw a map of their home state from memory and to label at least three important places. Here’s the gallery of maps from the brave Senators who took the challenge. The maps reveal home-state pride, personal history, and even some geographic humor.
The National Geographic Blog has some fun insight into the experiment:
But we knew that senators could offer additional insight with their own sketches, and they didn’t disappoint. We haven’t heard from all 100 yet, but the first batch of responses are great fun! Our fledgling mapmakers highlighted hometowns and natural wonders, local sports teams and major industries, the birthplaces of their children and their own childhood hangouts. Even comic book heroes showed up: See the contribution above from Richard Durbin of Illinois, who put the self-proclaimed home of Superman on the map.
Check out the growing map yourself. If you’ve got a minute or two to spare, keep on reading to see a video of Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) draw a map of the United States from memory.