Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

"I don’t like the term anti-vaxxer, I prefer disease friendly or pro death." -- Nadine Chemali (femmocollective), 1019-02-12

[Crossposted from Twitter]

Listening to something about European history reminded me about how my sense of direction works. I don't really think North, South, East, West; rather, I think North, South, toward the ocean, toward the mountains. And mostly "toward the Atlantic", though other bodies of water can take over if they're nearby enough -- I've experienced that with the Pacific, Great Lakes, and Mediterranean. So when I want "East", I translate that to "oceanward", point to the sea, and translate that back to "East." Which means that when the nearest sea isn't east of me, I have to consciously remember that, and adjust accordingly.

Why yes, I could retrain myself to think of East as "ninety degrees right of North". And if I ever move someplace "with the ocean on the wrong side", I might have to. So far, I haven't. But in the meantime, this carries over to picturing maps! So it does mean that I have to remember, when reading or hearing "East" and "West" used to describe relative locations in Europe, "No, no, East is away from the Atlantic there; try again."

In the past I've described what it was like visiting Cyprus, where I had to picture where on the island I was, figure out which direction the nearest shore was, and subtract that direction to figure out where East was. Later I started thinking in terms of whatever mountains I could see, because I could see those and do everything consciously, instead of unconsciously feeling where water too far away to see was.

In England, I never left Heathrow, so I don't know how directions would have felt in different places there.

At sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset, I can consciously go, "Oy right, sun's thataway, that must be [East|West]," but before conscious thought kicks in there can be a %^$&ing weird moment when my subconscious is going, "Why is the sun rising in the North?"

Likewise, if I know the time of day and my latittude and the season, and I'm thinking about it and remembering my sense of direction is temporarily misdirected, I can look at shadows and work it out pretty quickly. But again, that requires remembering that I'm someplace where I have to override my gut feeling of direction. I'm usually okay once I'm thinking, instead of just feeling "east is thataway".

What's funny is how far from a sea I need to be before I stop feeling its pull. In Portland, OR, I didn't get anywhere near being able to see the Pacific, but I knew which direction it was, and that kept getting me turned the wrong way relative to the compass. Being just past the Appalachians is a little off because "toward the mountains" and "toward the ocean" are the same direction.

And no, I don't know how I can be so sure which direction water I can no longer see or haven't seen yet is in. I'm not saying it is or isn't some mystical connection to water. Maybe it's a subconscious awareness of something about the lay of the land that I haven't figured out consciously yet. But it's funny how, driving away from Cleveland, there's a few miles where there's a tug-of-war between the lake and the Atlantic, before the ocean takes over as "big water thataway" again. It feels weird inside my head there.

Anyhow, that's one of the weird quirks of how my brain works: unless consciously & deliberately overridden, "East" translates to either toward-the-Atlantic or toward-the-nearest-Big_Enough-body-of-water ... that I probably can't see. I use other cues consciously, but I have to remember to do so. And usually this is fine, because I'm an East Coast girl, so I spend most of my time where "toward the Atlantic" is a perfectly good proxy for East. Within a few hundred miles of the Atlantic and more than ... 60? ... miles from the Gulf or the Great Lakes, my sense of direction is fine.

(I need to go down south again to recalibrate how close to the Gulf I need to be for it to take over from the Atlantic. It's probably farther for that than it is for the Great Lakes.)