Author: Andrew Merfeld

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Stage 6 – Andrew Merfeld to Riley Filipowicz

I liked how Riley gave a little bit of background to the historical and cultural significance of the Italian community in New York City. I also liked how he talked about how the formations of the different Burroughs that can be found in New York City, I thought the intro was very well done, and thoughtful.

1990’s

I liked the background in this section as well. I thought the description of the traditions in the areas of places like Little Italy, really brought it all together. It was interesting reading about the nostalgia that the Italians felt about their homeland when being in this area. As for the map, I thought it was very helpful to see where most of the Italian population was in New York City. It gives a very good visual of the actual area he is talking about during this time. As you can see, the Italians took up most of the South Eastern part of the city.

2000’s

I, again, enjoyed the historical background provided about the population of the Italians during this time. I liked how he added in the spread of the Italian population, and how they contributed to the cities diversity with food, art, and community spirit. I thought the description of “These areas buzzed with the scent of fresh bread and lively conversations in both English and Italian. Festivals and family gatherings remained essential, offering chances to preserve heritage.” gave me a very good visual of things that would be going on. Likewise, the part about Sopranos was also interesting.

2010’s

I liked seeing how the population grew from the first map provided. I think it really brings together all of the aspects of the community really embracing the Italian population that you mentioned in the 1900’s and 2000’s. You can see that the population really grew, and the Italians began to spread more throughout the city. You can see that throughout this whole time period, the Italian population began to grow throughout the city creating the Italian New York culture that we see today in present-day New York.

I think the whole project was put together pretty well. Riley emphasized that it was hard to get information on this time period, so I think with limited information he was able to put together a pretty good map of the Italian Population in New York City.

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Stage 3 – Andrew Merfeld

Ackland Art Museum. “Art and Cultural Exchange along the Silk Road.” Ackland Art Museum, ackland.org/exhibition/art-and-cultural-exchange-along-the-silk-road/#:~:text=The%20trade%20routes%20known%20collectively,of%20government%2C%20literary%20genres%2C%20musical.

Aj, Sachin & Nayaka, V S & Kalal, Prashant & Sanikommu, Vijay Rakesh Reddy. (2023). spices route and trade. 

Ciolek, T. Matthew. “Silk Road Seattle.” Old World Trade Routes (OWTRAD). Accessed March 28, www.ciolek.com/OWTRAD/DATA/oddda.html.

Creighton University. “Silk Road GIS Mapping Project.” ArcGIS Online, creighton.maps.arcgis.com/apps/mapviewer/index.html?panel=gallery&suggestField=true&layers=9f27e53937994ce488ed775557a8da7b.

DALME. “Cumin and the Silk Road Spice Trade.” dalme.org/features/cumin-and-the-silk-road-spice-trade/. 

“Did You Know: The Exchange of Spices along the Silk Roads.” UNESCO, en.unesco.org/silkroad/content/did-you-know-exchange-spices-along-silk-roads. 

FasterCapital. “Spice Trade: How Exotic Flavors Traveled Along the Silk Route.” fastercapital.com/content/Spice-Trade–How-Exotic-Flavors-Traveled-Along-the-Silk-Route.html. 

Flavor and Fortune. “Several Sources State that Cumin Originated in the Middle East and China, Some Say ‘Cumin Came from India.'” www.flavorandfortune.com/ffdataaccess/article.php?ID=467#:~:text=Several%20sources%20state%20that%20cumin,say%20’cumin%20came%20from%20India.

Geordie Torr. The Silk Roads : A History of the Great Trading Routes Between East and West. Arcturus, 2021. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=shib&db=e000xna&AN=2933078&site=ehost-live. 

Iran Safar. “Silk Road History Facts.” iransafar.co/silk-road-history-facts/. 

Jeffs, Jeremy, and Rebecca Dobbs. Spice Routes and Silk Roads. Alexandria, VA: Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Film. 

Jeremy Jeffs and Rebecca Dobbs. “Spice Routes and Silk Roads.” Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), video-alexanderstreet-com.eu1.proxy.openathens.net/watch/spice-routes-and-silk-roads#channel:story-of-india. 

JOHN NOBLE WILFORD. “Under Centuries of Sand, a Trading Hub: Scientists in Egypt’s Desert Unearth a Maritime Rival to the Silk Road, Complete With Spices and Wine Under Centuries of Sand, a Hub to Rival Silk Road.” The New York Times 2002: F1-. Print. 

NPR. “Is Cumin The Most Globalized Spice In The World?” NPR, 11 Mar. 2015, www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/03/11/392317352/is-cumin-the-most-globalized-spice-in-the-world. 

Seasoned Pioneers. “The Silk Road.” www.seasonedpioneers.com/the-silk-road/. 

Shafia, Louisa. “OFF DUTY — Eating & Drinking: Christmas Dinner by Way of the Silk Road — Sumptuous and Full of Warming Spice, These Persian Dishes Hit All the Right Notes for a Holiday Meal.” The Wall Street journal. Eastern edition 2016: n. pag. Print.

“Silk Road.” Facts and Details, factsanddetails.com/china/cat2/sub90/item50.html. 

Silk Road Spices. “History of the Spice Trade.” silkroadspices.ca/pages/history-of-the-spice-trade. 

Tim Williams. “Mapping the Silk Roads.” ResearchGate, www.researchgate.net/profile/Tim-Williams-24/publication/280096308_Mapping_the_Silk_Roads/links/5716665b08aeefeb022c36a3/Mapping-the-Silk-Roads.pdf. 

UNESCO. “What Are Spice Routes?” UNESCO, en.unesco.org/silkroad/content/what-are-spice-routes. 

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Andrew Merfeld Blog 8

The article starts out by explaining the AI chatbot created by Microsoft. At first, the AI chatbot was working well, until the Chatbot got into an algorithm that made it post inflammatory and racist content. In my opinion, the reason that this is at the beginning of the article is to show that algorithms are not neutral, and they actually reflect on how humans act. In today’s day and age, we are lucky enough to have AI technology that can help in many aspects of life, but we can also see the bad things that are still happening today like racial discrimination and inflammatory language being used by real humans. The only way for the chatbot to be put into that algorithm is by seeing and analyzing these sayings and words used by real humans in real-time, showing there is still a lot of racial discrimination going on today. 

Going into the “Lynching in America” map, the thing that stood out to me the most was the use of the color scheme. This is a very frightening topic, and I think the use of grayscale and bright reds exemplified the seriousness of the issue. Likewise, the interactiveness of the map is something that stood out to me. I like being able to visualize and interact with some of the states and counties that are depicted on the map. When looking at the map as a whole, however, you can see there is “a sea of red” along the Mississippi, Alabama, and Arkansas borders that all touch. I think that this has to do with different ideals, laws, and regulations from county to county. As you get further away from these areas — except for a portion of Florida — you don’t see as many bright red counties. Another thing I think could play a role in this, is the idea “If I see someone doing it (lynchings), it’s okay for me to do so as well” and I think the border lines of Mississippi, Alabama, and Arkansas truly show that. 

Like the “Lynching in America” map, it displays recorded lynchings in the states, most predominantly in the southern states. However, the map also shows the lynchings that were taking place elsewhere. The second map, I think, focuses more on the widespread lynchings, rather than trying to use a color scheme to horrify the lynchings just in the south. In one of my other classes, we talked about lynchings, carnivals, parades, etc… that took place outside of the Southern Region (Like Omaha) and I found that very interesting because I never knew that these things were taking place essentially all over the United States. That’s what I think the Monroe map is showing, is more of the widespread severity, as compared to the southern severity, and trying to make it more severe with the use of the greyscale and bright red color scheme.

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Dust Bowl and ArcGIS Online – Andrew Merfeld

The key change between the 3 time periods of 1880, 1900, and 1940 is the fact that the total cultivated land grew exponentially over this time period. As you can see in 1880, just the eastern portion of Kansas was mostly cultivated, and a just a little bit into Texas. As time goes on, you see the gap narrow between the two states of uncultivated land into cultivated land. The cultivation even goes more westward into areas of Colorado and New Mexico

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Stage 2 – Andrew Merfeld

Andrew Merfeld

  1. Scope of the Project: I hope to figure out the historical background of the cultures that were formed due to the Silk Road. I plan to look more deeply into the areas of East Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, and the Mediterranean region. The time period that I am thinking about studying would be from about 130 BCE until roughly the 1400’s.
  2. Possible Sources: I plan to use primary historical documents that are available on Blueline to help me take a deeper look into the cultures created during this time period. When looking through the online database, there were a couple of documents that stood out to me when looking up “Silk Road Culture” in the online database. Hopefully these documents can give me a better idea of some of the cultural exchanges that were cultivated due to the Silk Road.
  3. As of right now, my plan is to use QGIS and do some sort of interactive web map through the program. I’m hoping I am able to pin point some of the cultures and where they were, and if they still exist and turn that into some sort of interactive map.
  4. I am hopefully able to offer insight on the connectedness of some of the countries and areas that were along the Silk Road. I think it will be interesting to see if some of the values, beliefs, and practices are still alive today. I’m hoping that I can find reasons as to why some of the cultures that were around back then are no longer a thing, and vis versa.
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Andrew Merfeld – Heat Maps and Voronoi Polygons

Like we talked about in class on Monday, I think heat maps and Voronoi Polygons could be useful in agriculture planning. Doing so would allow farmers and people looking to farm where certain crops can grow, as well as where they can buy land to grow. It could be hard for farmers to find spots to farm, but with a heat map, I think it could be a good indicator of beneficial places for farmers to buy land.

In terms of my final project, I think it could be used to determine where certain races are, and how that race could have shaped or formed the culture that is still in that area today. If there is any relationship, I could easily see where the hot spots are and try to make inferences about the data shown.

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Week 9 Blog – Andrew Merfeld

In the Book “On the Great Plains” Cunfer starts the chapter by explaining the early life of Elam Bartholomew. As a young child, Elam lived in Illinois on his family’s farm. As he grew older, he decided to leave his family to try to claim a homestead in Kansas. During the time of when Elam tried to make this transition, the ecological issues of the Great Plains. Elam took time to really develop his land, as it said that he worked long, hard hours with his brothers and his neighbor’s horse out on the plain. After a slow and painful process for Elam and his horse were finally able to convert the plain into cropland.

The chapter then goes on to talk about the western parts of North Dakota. The experiences between the two regions were very similar. In North Dakota, the conversion of the prairie started in 1872, and reached didn’t reach equilibrium until 1925, with only about 45%–55% of the land remaining unplowed.

In the first photo, you can see the percentage of grassland in the Great Plains region in 1925 was 80%. In the second photo, you can see there are very few areas that are darker green, indicating that most of the area is more unsettled than settled.

I think that the moral of the chapter is the resilience of the Great Plains farmers. With the ever-changing conditions of the regions and the limitations due to ecological factors, the farmers never gave up, just so they could live the farm lifestyle.

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