Divya Narayanan

07/08/15
Human Geography
Lesson 3
2. These two diagrams are similar in the sense that I leave home and return home at the same
times. Otherwise, the events and the distance traveled between places are quite different between
the two sets of diagrams. Since I am in high school, my week days are hectic with school,
homework, and extra curriculars. On the weekends, I am more relaxed and there are less
activities which are widely spaced out throughout the day. I travel a lot during the week days to
all the different places where my extra curriculars are hosted. The less events on the weekend
means I travel less, too.
3. The front section of the New York Times includes the datelines of Greece, Washington D.C.
three times, Bolivia, New York, and Florida. These places are major hearths for culture, politics,
and trade. My personal perception of these places are that they are important. These are the
places where things happen. New York and Florida are great vacation spots, but also major
hearths of American culture. Decisions that affect my everyday life are made in Washington D.C.
Greece was once a major cultural hearth, but now is a faltering country that threatens to bring
down the Eurozone. Bolivia is filled with third world problems, but provides half of the fresh
produce I eat. In some cases, these places may seem more important than my own home. Most of
America feels this way, too. That is why mass communication focuses all their news stories on
places like these. They want to reach the largest audience possible, so they mostly ignore the
other small towns. A parade in Arkansas isnt as important as the gay rights ruling at the Supreme
court. This is also why the larger newspapers that focus on national and global news are more
popular than the local newspapers.
4. Since I am a minor, my migration has been controlled by the needs and wants of my parents. I
was born in India and remained there until I was two years old. We lived with my grandparents,
so they could help raise me. However, as my father continued to work at a small business, he
grew tired of the lack of opportunities in India and the poor quality of life. The place utility thus
decreased for my father and he applied for and got a job in America. The push factors for this
voluntary migration are the lack of job opportunity, the poor quality of life, and the
overwhelming presence of my grandparents. The pull factors were job opportunities, a high
quality of life, and independence. After a carefully thought out spatial search, we decided to
move to Ohio because friends of ours lived there. This is a great example of chain migration. We
lived there for a year, but my mother hated the cold and got sick often. The push factor was the
cold weather and the pull factor was the warm weather. With her decreased place utility, we
moved to Southern California and lived there for another two years. My mother got pregnant
with my sister. She craved the comfort of her parents and her homeland. So, we counter-migrated
to India. After my sister was born, we again counter-migrated to Southern California and have
lived there ever since.