A Palace made of Corn
"It's weird how when they made the states, they made them so square. How did they do that?"
That's how the following tale started. That was my supervisor. He meant it. He was confused. I turned around in my seat and saw him staring at the map on his cubicle wall in awe of the "shapeliness" of the states.
I ignored him. You know how you ignore scary things and hope they go away?
"Really. I mean, it's not like they had maps back then when they were making the states."
Heidi couldn't restrain herself. "Actually, they *did* have maps by that time…"
We glanced at each other…both of us hoping that had quelled his questions.
"But, still!-I mean, how did they do that without seeing it?"
::sigh::
Heidi started to explain math, protractors, compasses, right-angles…anything she could to make it so he understood or became too confused to care anymore. It wasn't working.
I'm usually the one who steps in to explain things. I'm a bit of a know-it-all. I turn around in my seat and, my voice dripping with sarcasm, said:
"Actually, it was much different than what Heidi said. There used to be walls everywhere. So, they would take a long piece of string and walk from one wall to another. And when they got there, they'd measure how long the string was which they then transposed onto the map. It turns out most of the distances were nearly square. The Native Americans built the walls before we got here..."
Heidi says, "Yeah, because the Native Americans were so big on dividing up the land, of course."
He picked up on our sarcasm. But, asked anyway, "What did they do with the pieces of the wall when they made states?" I responded, "Used them to build the first houses."
Heidi looks at him and says, "Sometimes they used corn." I chuckled to myself and jokingly asked her, "to build their houses?" Without missing a beat she states, "No…to build walls and we later used that to sow crops." I thought she was finished but she tacked on, "You can make a palace out of corn…"
I lost it at that point. I doubled over in laughter. Our supervisor didn't seem amused by our antics. He dropped it until he got ready to go home when he stated, "I'm gonna go home and find out how they made the states."
I kept giggling for a long time about what I THOUGHT was Heidi's random comment about a corn palace. Moments later, I receive an email from her with a link: www.cornpalace.org
I laughed even harder.
That's how the following tale started. That was my supervisor. He meant it. He was confused. I turned around in my seat and saw him staring at the map on his cubicle wall in awe of the "shapeliness" of the states.
I ignored him. You know how you ignore scary things and hope they go away?
"Really. I mean, it's not like they had maps back then when they were making the states."
Heidi couldn't restrain herself. "Actually, they *did* have maps by that time…"
We glanced at each other…both of us hoping that had quelled his questions.
"But, still!-I mean, how did they do that without seeing it?"
::sigh::
Heidi started to explain math, protractors, compasses, right-angles…anything she could to make it so he understood or became too confused to care anymore. It wasn't working.
I'm usually the one who steps in to explain things. I'm a bit of a know-it-all. I turn around in my seat and, my voice dripping with sarcasm, said:
"Actually, it was much different than what Heidi said. There used to be walls everywhere. So, they would take a long piece of string and walk from one wall to another. And when they got there, they'd measure how long the string was which they then transposed onto the map. It turns out most of the distances were nearly square. The Native Americans built the walls before we got here..."
Heidi says, "Yeah, because the Native Americans were so big on dividing up the land, of course."
He picked up on our sarcasm. But, asked anyway, "What did they do with the pieces of the wall when they made states?" I responded, "Used them to build the first houses."
Heidi looks at him and says, "Sometimes they used corn." I chuckled to myself and jokingly asked her, "to build their houses?" Without missing a beat she states, "No…to build walls and we later used that to sow crops." I thought she was finished but she tacked on, "You can make a palace out of corn…"
I lost it at that point. I doubled over in laughter. Our supervisor didn't seem amused by our antics. He dropped it until he got ready to go home when he stated, "I'm gonna go home and find out how they made the states."
I kept giggling for a long time about what I THOUGHT was Heidi's random comment about a corn palace. Moments later, I receive an email from her with a link: www.cornpalace.org
I laughed even harder.