What’s up, Geography Education Blogosphere? My name is Cedar Attanasio, and I’m psyched to be interning here at the National Geographic, blogging about my favorite subject: geography. You and I will be swapping stories, links, information, analysis and opinions for the next few months, so I figured I’d give you all some idea of who I am and where I’m coming from. 

I grew up around northern New Mexico between Santa Fe, Ojo Sarco and Las Vegas. I also spent most of my childhood off the grid, which I talk more about in this audio profile. 

Like most American kids I didn’t do any geography in school after 4th grade. That all changed in my senior year, when I started I.B. geography at the Li Po Chun United World College of Hong Kong. Geography was my favorite course, not only because of the content but also the context: out of 20 kids in the class, around 15 were from different countries, and I was the only American. 

Fast forward to the present day where I am a super senior (one semester left) at Middlebury College, pursuing a double major in Geography and Spanish. While I did enjoy my time tromping around Asia, my regional focuses in college have been Latin America, West Asia, North Africa, and Iberia.

Living in a border state and having many immigrants in my immediate family, transnationalism, migration, and labor issues are very close to my heart. With the ACLU in New Mexico and the Alianza Latina y Caribeña club at Middlebury I’ve channeled that passion into activism, as well as various volunteer projects working with Latino/Hispanic/Latin migrants. Other academic topics on my radar include Medieval Islamic history and colonialism in the Americas (I’m interested in how these intersect), as well as Spanish translation and the history of cartography. 

Outside of the classroom, I write for the news section of my college newspaper and edit the features section. I also publish non-fiction work on my own blog, TheCedarBoard. Outside of computers, I love to travel, hike (no GPS!), scuba dive, and read. I’m also a bit of a movie buff, and like to act and work my favorite filmmakers in my free time.