rubberbutton | Reasonable Mistake

The other evening a dear friend of mine confessed that she was twenty-one before she realized that the state of Alaska isn't actually an island off the coast of California.

I can understand how one might come to this conclusion as many maps of the US, seeking to save space, depict it floating with Hawaii, usually somewhere in the vicinity of Los Angeles. But how she failed to notice Alaska’s actual location on a world map is a little harder to take.

She’s not unintelligent, and as fucked as public schools might be, I would hope that this point of confusion would have been clarified. If not in twelve years of federally required schooling, then hopefully in four years of higher education. Alas, no.

There were even some hints that perhaps not all was kosher with her world view:

She wondered why Alaska could be so cold when Hawaii is so hot.
And why it had such a ruler-straight edge on its eastern border.
And how the hell a friend who was going to drive down from Alaska was going to manage, since her car doesn’t have aquatic capabilities.