Day two of the grad school experiment finds me willingly adhering to stereotypes - ate leftover thai food and some sort of terrible non-dairy milk beverage with granola (because it was there, and I had no desire to leave the house), drank copious amounts of coffee, and read until the lines blurred together.
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Regarding the title, I wasn’t aware until today that my interest in place names in fact has a name - toponymy. My former residence was named Azrou, as many of you may know. It can mean ‘big rock’ in Tamazight. The neighborhood I’m currently in is called East Rock, which is somehow appropriate. Prior to Azrou I was in Skoura, which is a type of pigeon, depending on who you ask - and it was located on the side of the mountain called Tichoukt, which I’ve been told at some point meant ram’s horns. Amazigh peoples are pretty creative with their toponymy.
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My brother and I used to play “Country, City, State” on road trips - we would go to the back of our National Geographic World Atlas and memorize the best looking flags (I was partial to Sri Lanka) and capitals (Madagascar) - and we would try valiantly (though generally fruitlessly) to find Carmen Sandiego in time. What a beautiful way for curiosity and the initial stages of scholarship to manifest themselves. I think this is called Nostalgia.
