RI’s Place in the ‘United States of Awesome’
Wednesday, June 08, 2011
Only on the Internet, where smart and creative people find all the tools they need to mash up information and art, do such maps find a home, and then a life. Such is the case with The United States of Awesome, a fantastic, old-fashioned-looking map that Ilya Gerner popped up on Tumblr utilizing a batch of upbeat indicators, from health and well-being to economics, from environmental and educational issues to what can only be summarized as moral distinctions.
Of course, every indicator needed to be a statistical thumbs-up of sorts, and Gerner chose "Lowest Coal Consumption Per Capita" as RI's claim to awesome fame. Interesting that we sit next to Connecticut, awesome for Lowest Carbon Emissions. Massachusetts is awesome for "College Grads" (whatever).
Are we jealous that Oregon has the "Most Breastfed Babies," or envious of Iowa's distinction of having the "Highest Library Usage?" Maybe. Do we yearn for Kentucky's awesomest quality being "Best Armed?" Or are we ready to quibble that Oklahoma's claim to awesome fame is "Best License Plate?"
A retort to a nation of shame
The United States of Awesome actually came in response to the United States of Shame, a pessimistic mash-up that first appeared on the Web site Pleated Jeans in January. After reading a blogger for the Economist cite the map and demean the US for a bunch of bad indicators, Gerner sought a response.
Meanwhile, what Pleated Jeans had sought to do was to defy the cruel saying that 49 governors wake up every morning grateful they do not live in Mississippi, which often ranks last in national assessments. With the notion that every state must be the worst at something, Pleated Jeans created a map of shameful finishes.
On that cheery-colored cartography of bad news, Rhode Island gets a shame shout-out for ranking the worst in the country when it comes to illicit drug use, according to the author's research, cited here. That may sound bad, but wait until you see what Massachusetts was nailed for. Ready?
Worst drivers.
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