Map at my Work.

I face the north wall of my building at work. On the one section of wall that lies directly in my line of view is taped a General Map of THE WORLD (or so says the map). The map itself looks old, thanks to the yellowed antique paper it was printed on. While it should exude a grave historic seriousness, I peg the style immediately as “kitsch,” and the kind of paper they sell at stationary stores for three dollars a sheet. The different countries are nicely distinguished by their own washed-out and subdued colors: Pepto-Bismol pink (Canada), sage green (the United States), and butterscotch (Greenland) among others. Africa is nice to look at because from 5 ft. away and with an acute astigmatism it looks like a really nice colorful patchwork quilt. On the other hand, just northeast of it, Russia looks like a splattered mess of peach shit. This makes me feel bad for Russia, if only because this is probably what other people think when they look at the map.