Spring Regional Spotlight: History, Geography, and Maps of Middle Earth
Join us at the Spring Regional Meeting to hear Charles Green from St. Croix County talk about History, Geography, and Maps of Middle Earth.
Maps can help make a fantasy world more tangible to us. While some may argue that fantasy isn’t “real,” to Tolkien, the world he created has at least some truth to it. The world he created has a sense that it all existed in his imagination. What he created was linguistic in inspiration because he simply needed a reason, a place, and a history for the Elvish languages he created. Tolkien could tell you how tall the Misty Mountains or how vast the Dead Marshes were. There are fantastical elements to Middle Earth, sure, but Tolkien’s fantastical languages, world, and geography are based upon our world and his travels during World War I. Since ESRI now offers a Middle Earth “Style” labeled as “My Precious Style,” what better time to learn about the stories, geography, and maps that brought fantasy into the mainstream As Gandalf says, “all we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us,” so I couldn’t be more thrilled that WLIA wants to spend their time listening to me speak about the History, Geography, and Maps Middle Earth.
Charles Green is the GIS/Planning Technician for St. Croix County. Over the last 2 years, he has spent most of his time working on parcel fabric maintenance and preparing planning maps while expanding his GIS skills and experience. Charles Graduated from UWSP in 2019 with Degrees and certificates in Geography and Cartography. He also earned a minor in Anthropology and spent time doing GIS work for the Ho-Chunk nation before Covid. Charles has many personal interests and is a self-described utilitarian, philosopher, aspiring comedian and writer, historian, archivist, gardener, and paddleboarder. He is a lover of the culinary arts and appreciates stories, movies, video games, music, lyricism, and poetry. Of course, this is when these are done well, which is less often than he would prefer, so you could also add critic to the list. Born in Rockford, Illinois he would move to Amherst, WI he grew up in a coffee shop. His post High School years were spent in Stevens Point as a former sushi server, yoga instructor, and a painter (of houses, not canvases). He currently lives in Hudson and has plans to give a LOTR inspired speech at local libraries and Universities on or near Hobbit Day (Sept 22nd, Bilbo and Frodo's birthday) and Tolkien Reading or Appreciation Day (March 25th, the day the ring was destroyed). This WLIA “Fantasy and Culture series” video will be uploaded to YouTube after the conference for all WLIA members to enjoy as well as the public.
Make sure to register for the Spring Regional Meeting, so you can hear Charles and others speak at the meeting! Additional details, including the full agenda, can be found on the event page.