Welcome to my Humanities Project Page!
This is where I will be posting all about my humanities projects. Go to my Humanities Seminar Page to see the socratic seminars that we have done. Enjoy!
This is where I will be posting all about my humanities projects. Go to my Humanities Seminar Page to see the socratic seminars that we have done. Enjoy!
Here is a link to my kinetic text: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheLoriTeacher#p/u/8/tNR-XiQRvDQ
Final Poem:
War is just something we do,
We have always had war,
We will always have war
It is instinctive,
We don’t have a choice.
But…
Instinct does not provide the planning
Of faultless assassins scanning.
Distinctions as divine as a dossier
We trust to a vindictive valet.
Cunning committees with scalpel precision
Plan perfect pursuits of dogmatic dictators with derision.
Strategies of saving starving regions
Yields to federal funding of futuristic weapon innovations and war collegians.
War is our vice.
We follow our excuse like clambering cattle.
We feed from its energy, the bestiality of battle.
Striving for another fulfilling fix
Despite the consequences of conflicts.
We masterfully, maliciously, mislead ourselves,
Mendacities molding our mind like evil elves.
Sick socialization shoved at us insistently,
Still we carefully covet it constantly.
War is our vice.
Artist Statement:
Many people think that war is instinctual, ingrained in us, so we can’t do anything to stop it. But this is not true, and that is what my poem is about – this lie that we tell ourselves. The content inspiration for my poem was the Seville statement on violence. This is a document about how it is scientifically proven that the need for war is not part of who we are, and if we try it is possible to eradicate war. This idea really made me think at first, because I had never really questioned that war is instinct. But after reading this document, I realized that this isn’t true, and it simply doesn’t make sense. So the Seville statement is what I decided would be my content inspiration. I decided to focus on the specific idea that war isn’t instinct. In the first two stanzas of my poem, I describe how and why it is not instinct. Then, in the next two stanzas, I explore why, if not instinct, we always go to war and use it to solve our problems. These last two stanzas don’t really connect a lot to the Seville statement, but I realized that is what I thought it was missing. I realized that it only told us what war is not, but it didn’t ever say why we kept going back to this solution that always hurt our country. So I decided to go deeper into this idea of war not being instinct by exploring what war really is. And the reason I came up with? War is our vice.
The poem that I chose for my form inspiration is “There is a War Going on for Your Mind”. I chose this poem because of the rich words in it. I noticed that nearly every word was vivid, unique and not a single one was boring, and the ones that were, used in new ways to make you think about something differently. An example of this is “Infecting victims with silicone shrapnel” – vivid words, used in new ways. I love this total manipulation and command of words. With it, you can paint the most vivid pictures, create the most inspiring metaphors, and bring up the strongest connotations. An example of this in my poem is “Plan perfect pursuits of dogmatic dictators with derision.” I think that this is one of the ways to create the strongest poem, and so this became my form inspiration. Of course, there are some ways that I didn’t follow the poem, like with the rhyme scheme. ‘There is a War Going on for Your Mind’ didn’t have any kind of rhyme scheme, but I realized that my poem could be stronger and would be more cohesive if it did. So in the end, my poem has a strong rhyme scheme with rich wording.
My performance inspiration is the same as my form inspiration – ‘There is a War Going on for Your Mind’. There were many reasons that I liked this form. One of these is that I like to use Photoshop and Dreamweaver, both of which are adobe programs and are somewhat similar to After Effects, and I enjoy learning new computer programs. Lastly, probably the most important reason that I chose this form, is the effect is has on the viewers. You are able to read the poem at the same time as you hear it. The way that the words move on the page allows you to push the focus to one word or another, or rush through them faster. Something that they used in ‘There is a War Going on for Your Mind’ is spinning the text on the page while adding more text. I found this a cool way to keep the listener attentive, and that is something that I incorporated into my presentation. In addition, you can formulate and arrange your words to make `shapes or pictures, further enhancing your poem. For all of these reasons, I chose to do After Effects.
Project Reflection:
For this project, we studied poetry. First, we studied how to write poetry – the devices and techniques used. We studied in depth the usage of these devices in multiple poems, and analyzed how they affected the message. Then, we were taught techniques to analyze the message of the poem, and interpret the true and alternate meanings. We discussed if there was a correct way to interpret the meaning of a poem, because everyone interprets it differently. Then we studied a poem called ‘Dulce et Decorum Est.’ by Wilfred Owen, analyzed the message and devices used, how they affected the message, and then we seminared on it.
Then came the next phase of the project where we apply what we learned previously and write our own poems. They had to be on some specific aspect of war, peace, or violence, and we had to have some kind of content inspiration that inspired us from what we have studied this past year. I chose the Seville Statement on Violence, which is a document written by a group of scientists for the national year of peace. In it, they scientifically prove that it war is not a part of who we are – it is not instinct. This idea inspired me to write my poem about how war is not instinct. The next step, after we wrote it, was to decide how to present it. There were many options, including kinetic text, spoken word, art pieces, and more. I chose to do a kinetic text. Then came the finale of the project – exhibition. For this exhibition, we changed our classroom into a poetry café and presented our poems.
During this project, I have learned so much about poetry and manipulation of words. One of the most important things though, was I gained an appreciation for poetry. Before, I didn’t really enjoy poetry that much, and certainly didn’t like to write it. But as we learned more and more about poetry – how to analyze it, devices, etc – I began to enjoy reading it. Then, I realized that writing it is fun as well. There are so many words out there to work with, and so many ways to make you message strong, I realized that poetry is a great outlet for emotions and opinions.
As far as the performance of a poem, I discovered that this plays an important part of how a poem is received. For example, a spoken word poem often enhances the feeling and intensity of the poem, making hearing the poem a much more emotional experience. On the other hand, there could be an art piece, which perhaps gives a different meaning to the poem, or goes deeper into the message. Then there is kinetic text, which allows the listener to not only hear the poem, but also see the words, further reinforcing the words. You can animate the text, to give it a deeper meaning, or just to keep the reader interested. You can change how fast the text goes by, giving different feelings to different parts of the poem. So there are many ways to perform a poem, and each has its own way of enhancing the meaning of the poem, and after this project, this became much clearer to me.
November 2010-January 2011 - 20th Century Genocides
In this project, we studied genocide - the stages, the psychology, and more. We first applied this to the Rwandan Genocide, and then we got to choose another to focus on. We could then focus on one aspect of that genocide, and do a project on it that could be anything. I chose to do a sort of exhibit. Below the pictures is my artist statement, which basically outlines my project, and what each thing stands for.
Here are some pictures of my project:
This is me with my project:
The Fire of Genocide
In April of 2009, David Bahati proposed a bill to the Ugandan parliament that would ban acts of homosexuality and, depending on the offense, make it punishable by death or by life in prison. In addition to this bill, there have been other incidences where gays have been targeted. One of these was when a Ugandan newspaper printed a list of ‘known homosexuals’, their pictures, and their addresses, and next to them, it said ‘hang them’. The combination of these things make many people believe a genocide will happen in Uganda.
I think that if people understand the influences that lead to genocide, it would be easier to prevent it. That is one of the reasons that I decided to do this project – if you don’t understand something, you can’t prevent it effectively. Also, because this is a potential genocide there is still the possibility of preventing it.
In my project, fire is genocide. The logs represent the influences of the bill and the potential genocide. Below the logs is a big match that says ‘The Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009’ on it, which is the name of the bill that may be passed. So, figuratively, if the bill was to be passed, it would set the whole thing on fire, resulting in genocide. Above all of this are clouds that represent the resistance to the bill passing. These clouds could put out the fire if it was to start.
Each of the seven logs represents a different influence of the bill – the larger the log, the more long term the influence. The smallest log is ‘DAVID BAHATI’, who is the creator of the bill. Without him, there would be no bill, so I originally thought that he must be a horrible person to come up with a bill like this. But after reading an interview with him on WarrenThrockmorton.com, I realized that I was wrong. In this interview he says, “There has been an outcry on the punishment of death that is something that one would be willing to, if there is an amendment, that one would be willing to accept that and move on.” Before reading this quote, I thought that maybe his goal was to get a genocide to start, but I then realized that he was just trying to do what he believed was right. In Uganda and most of Africa, there are many common misbeliefs about homosexuals, which is one of my other logs (‘COMMON BELIEFS’). Some are that being gay can be cured, gays increase rape rates, and “cause higher rates of divorce, child abuse, and HIV/AIDS”. (Political Research Associates) Some even believe that gays are trying to take over the world. These people have been socialized for most of their life to think these things by the missionaries that converted much of Africa to Christianity. That is another of my logs – ‘MISSIONARY LURES’. Missionaries come in and help communities by helping them get fresh water, raising literacy rates, working for HIV prevention, etc. But brought with these are negative prejudices and ideologies – like homophobia. Actually, only a few months before the bill came out, there were three US evangelicals who came to Uganda and gave a series of talks about how being homosexual can be cured, and how gays are challenging family values. This is the log that says ‘GAY CURING TALKS’. While they were there, many people saw them, so some people blamed the bill on these three people. They tried to distance themselves from it, but shortly after that, it was found out that a couple of them had actually helped draft the bill. At this event, they said, “The gay movement is an evil institution whose goal is to defeat the marriage based society and replace it with a culture of sexual promiscuity.” (Jeffrey Gettleman) This basically summarizes their argument that could have been a helping factor in making the anti-homosexuality bill.
According to the US department of state, 85% of Uganda is Christian, which could be another factor that helped to develop this bill. Not all Christians believe that homosexuality is bad, but there are many in Uganda who do, and because so much of Uganda is Christian they are more likely to believe the evangelical missionaries. This is another of my logs – ‘CHRISTIANITY’. These US evangelicals still have a large influence on much of Africa, including Uganda, which is a log – ‘US EVANGELICALS’. Someone who is still actively converting and helping with communities is Rick Warren, a US evangelical. In an article by the Political Research Associates, he says that, “In Africa, ‘family’ expresses the idea that to be human is to embedded in community, a concept called Ubuntu.” This is one reason why many Ugandans think that gays pose such a threat to their community and family. It is possible that I would feel the same way about homosexuals if I thought that they were going to take away my family and challenge everything I believe. Because so many other countries in Africa have the same types of beliefs as Uganda, it isn’t surprising that many of them have laws against homosexuals. That is why my last log is ‘PEER PRESSURE’. Many of these countries have extreme punishments, and some even have the death penalty, including Sudan, which is right next to them. I think that this could have a pretty strong effect on the bill, and if this turns into a genocide or not.
If it does, there will be clouds to put out the flames – things that people have done to prevent the bill being passed. Each cloud says something different – Protests, Condemnation, and Petitions. On the back of the ‘protests’ cloud there are some of the different protests and demonstrations that people have conducted against the bill. Protests are important because they generally get lots of attention from legislators and people who can really do something about it. The next cloud is ‘Condemnation’. On the back of this cloud, it says ‘US’, ‘Europe’, ‘UK’, ‘Religious Leaders’, and ‘Sanctions’. The places are countries or general areas with countries within them who have publically condemned Uganda for trying to pass this bill. Some of them have also threatened withholding funding and Sanctions, which is another of the words on the cloud. One of the main religious leaders that have condemned it is the leader of the Ugandan Catholic Church. He has rejected it because “it is ‘at odds with the core values’ of Christians.” (The Box Turtle Bulletin) The more people that condemn and threaten sanctions, the better the chance of it not passing. The last cloud is ‘Petitions’. On the other side, it has some specific petitions and other categories of resistance.
Gay rights are something that has always intrigued me. I am not homosexual myself, but I don’t see why people should be punished for something they can’t control. Why do people think that they are so different from us? Why should they be punished for that? These are some of the questions that I sought to find the answers to with this project, and that is one of the reasons that I chose this particular genocide. Surprisingly, the idea for this project didn’t take very long to come up with. I had to decide overnight what I was doing for my project and I had no idea. I was in bed, thinking about it, and I just kept repeating to myself “building up to a genocide”. Then the idea of a fire, with logs building up to it came to me. Although this is a very dark and sad topic, I thought that I would be able to make my project cool and fun to balance out the darkness. I haven’t actually had experience with any kind of sculpture or exhibit making, which is one of the reasons why this project was so enjoyable for me. I always love to explore new things, so this project was a good challenge for me, and I loved making it and delving deeper into interesting topics.
Genocide Project Reflection:
#1. When you think about this project, what are you most proud of and why? This could be a particular aspect of your final product, part of your work process, a specific revision you made…
I think that the aspect of this project that I am the most proud of is the analogy that I came up with for genocide – fire. I think that I said this in my artist statement, but it was the night before we had to come up with what our project was going to be. I had no ideas on what to do, so I kept repeating ‘building up to a genocide’ in my head. Then, the idea of a fire, with logs being influences popped into my head. I have gone with that idea ever since, and built on it (with the clouds and words). I think that this analogy works really well for my genocide, and for all genocides in general.
#2. If you had 1 more week to work on this project, what would you change/add to make it more amazing?
I think that I would put real varnish on the logs. The spray varnish kind of worked, but I would have liked it if there was a nice lacquer on the outside, that looked nicer and was shinier. I think that this would have made it much more professional, and more aesthetic overall. I also might’ve made the words on the clouds nicer and more professional.
#3. Of the categories on the rubric, which do you think your project is strongest in? Explain your answer with specific examples from your project, and explain how you were able to make this so strong.
I think that the category that my project was strongest in is connections. I don’t know if I made it super clear that it was Uganda on first glance, but I integrated my research and knowledge into my project quite a bit. For example, all of the logs with the specific words on them, and the clouds with words on them. While it might not at first seem like this shows research, if you ask me about each word, I can tell you what each of them represents, and why they are there. If I had a lot of time, I would’ve put more specific things on the logs, maybe with lots of text, wrapping around the logs, but I didn’t have nearly enough time, and I’m not sure how I would’ve executed that. I think that the main reason I was able to make this so strong was because I did in-depth research, and I knew it really well.
#4. Of the categories on the rubric, which do you think your project is weakest in? Explain your answer with specific examples from your project, and talk about why this is the case. You should also talk about what you could have done to improve this aspect.
I think that the category that I was the weakest in was Professionalism. I think that it was professional, but like I said before, the logs still looked kinda like they were raw – the spray varnish didn’t work as well as I had hoped. Again, to improve this, I could’ve put multiple layers of actual varnish on them. I want it to look like a fire, but still a nice exhibit that looks refined, and I think that the fact that the logs looked raw didn’t help that much.
#5. Score yourself in each of the 4 categories. Then explain what you think the final grade should be for your project, based on your scores on the rubric. Give a letter grade and percentage.
I think that in professionalism, I think I got an A – 94% ish. This is for reasons discussed above. In connections, I think I got an A – 98%. Again, for reasons above. In focus, I think that I got an A – 93%. I don’t think that the message was really clear, but I think that you could probably figure it out after looking at it. But I do think that it draws on research, and is based in evidence. In Audience Engagement, I think that I got a A – 98%. I think that my exhibit was interesting to look at, and the fact that it was very tactile made it more engaging to the audience. I think that my overall grade for this project should be an A – 95%. I think that I did really well, and my project was very refined, but there were a few things that I could’ve improved on.
October - WWII: Slaughterhouse-Five SeminarThis wasn't a true project, but we studied WWII, and read Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut. Then we had a seminar on it. For more on the seminar, go to the seminar page.
September - WWI: The Propaganda Machine
For the first part of this project, we studied propaganda and the effect that it has on us and society in general. Then we studied the techniques that are used in propaganda, and how they are used. The second part to the project is what connects it to WWI. First, before we could connect the two topics, we studied WWI, the causes, and the effects. Then, we combined our knowledge of the two things, and created a poster that related to WWI and that fit with the time period. We had to use our knowledge of propaganda and the techniques used, and weave them into our poster. We then wrote an analysis that explains the techniques used, how our poster fits into the historical context of WWI, and how we think propaganda influences society.
Here is my poster:
Here is my Analysis:
Would You Rather Be... A Hero Or Dead? Enlist Now!
Enlist Now! Would this poster make you want to? You might think that just 'Enlist Now!' wouldn't make someone want to join the army, but there are many other things that play into this poster that will make you want to. In my poster, I used the propaganda techniques of direct order, fear, flag waving, oversimplification, and demonizing the enemy. Some of the text that is on my poster says ‘Enlist Now!’. This is the most direct of orders – it tells you exactly what it wants you to do. This isn’t a very subtle propaganda technique, but I do think that it works - it’s important for you to know what an ad is trying to say, but I think that the more subtle techniques do more than half of the work. Fear is another really important piece of my poster. On it, there are two sides – one with a bunch of people cheering in victory, and the other is with Kultur, a gorilla that Germany UK Germany , and (as I mentioned before) it is portraying Germany Germany
In my poster, I use the historical figure of Kultur – who was used sometimes in WWI propaganda. Most of this poster is in black and white, with the exception of Kultur, the words, and the British flag, which are for emphasis. But even the parts that do have color aren’t in bright colors, they are more faded, like they would be if they were done in that time period. Also, I have a cutout filter on the whole piece that makes it seem like it is drawn by hand, then copied into posters – rather than being done on the computer. I have seen other WWI pieces of propaganda that use many of the techniques that I used, with a similar style to mine (mine is a combination of many of them, along with my own additions).
I think that propaganda has made a very big impression on the whole of history. Honestly, I wonder just how much impact propaganda made back in WWI, and how much it was circulated. Today, we are constantly bombarded with some form of propaganda or another. I think that all of this sometimes overwhelms us, and the propaganda doesn’t have as much of an impact as it is meant to, but I’m sure that many of the messages sink into our subconscious – whether we realize it or not. I think that today, propaganda influences us much more than we believe that it does. It makes you wonder how much of our opinions are actually ours, and how much of them are simply what we believe because of propaganda. As far as that, I think that a large percentage of our decisions and the way that we perceive the world does come of propaganda. As far as how much propaganda influenced the people who lived through WWI, I really can’t say. I would think that it would have had quite a bit of impact, but maybe not as much as propaganda of today does. I think that we have more forms of propaganda now than we did then and that makes more of an impact on us. I think that it’s the amount of stuff we get told, how it’s told, in addition to the information that makes propaganda effective. That being said, the effectiveness varies depending on the issue and many other things. For example, if you were really set in your ways, or if your friends think one thing, the propaganda probably wouldn't be very effective (or not as effective as it would be otherwise). The effectiveness of the propaganda also depends on the way that the propaganda is made, how it is distributed, and if it applies to you or not. Even though there is propaganda everywhere, and we often think that there is too much of it, I think that we need propaganda in some ways. Propaganda is an outlet for us – it allows us to project our opinions and try to have other people to do what we want them to do. I think that is human nature, or at least what we have been socialized to do – let other people know our opinion, and try to make other people do or think the way we want them to think. Even if we didn't have propaganda, we would find other ways to project our opinions. Whether propaganda is a postitve or negative force is debateable (I go back and forth), I think that it is necessary, whether we like it or not.
If my piece of propaganda was to go back in time, I like to think that it would make a difference, be effective and fight for the cause, but I really don’t know – I hope so.
Here is my project reflection:
WWI Propaganda Project Reflection
The Propaganda Machine. A very intriguing title for a very cool project. Interestingly, it only mentions half of the project. For the first bit of it, we studied propaganda and the effect that it has on us and society in general. Then, we studied the techniques that are used in propaganda, and how they are used. The second part to the project, the part that isn't mentioned in the title, is what connects it to WWI. First, before we could connect the two topics, we studied WWI, the causes, and the effects. Then, we combined our knowledge of the two things, and created a poster that related to WWI and that fit with the time period. We had to use our knowledge of propaganda and the techniques used, and weave them into our poster. We then wrote an analysis that explains the techniques used, how our poster fits into the historical context of WWI, and how we think propaganda influences society.
After my first draft of my poster, which was made with a pencil and stick figures, I went kind of crazy over the weekend, trying to make it look like it was photoshopped without going on the computer (I don't have Photoshop at home). I cut out the little pieces, pasting them on top of one another, so that they looked kind of like the image in my mind. It is amazingly frustrating to have an image of a poster in your head, and knowing how you are going to do it in Photoshop, but not being able to do that – only being able to cut and paste. During that critique, I didn't really get any good feedback. It was all just 'make this black and white', or 'make it clear what flag is here' (I had pasted a British flag on a American flag). My critiquers mentioned everything that was obvious, but that you can't do without Photoshop. After that draft, I began to put everything into Photoshop, and realized that I wouldn't be able to use my pictures unless I put some kind of a filter on it – they would be too pixilated. This was a major change in my poster plan – something I hadn't anticipated. The other major revision that I had to do was to mess with my text. The words 'a hero' and 'dead' were having trouble standing out. Everybody that I had critique it mentioned that. I changed it many times, but no matter what I did, it still wouldn't stand out. Finally, I asked Lori if she had any revisions when I was done with the poster and that was the only thing that she mentioned. But this time, she came up with the idea of making a box around them to make them stand out more. Instead of this, I made each of the letters be surrounded by black. This made them stand out much more than they stood out before, and mostly fixed the problem. The thing that helped me the most on my analysis was the feedback that I got from Lori. She brought up quite a few good points of how I needed a catchy opening sentence, how I missed a technique, and mentioning what I left out of the last paragraph. I addressed the first thing by making a catchier opening sentence and phrase. I now think that it is quite good, and will grab the reader’s attention, rather than just thinking that it is just another analysis. For the forgotten technique, I included it in my list, and used it to analyze my poster even more. In the last paragraph, I talked about if I thought that propaganda was a positive or negative force, and how the effect of propaganda varies – all things that I had forgotten before. In addition to these things, I revised other parts of the analysis to make it as good as I could get it.
I think that this poster turned out really well – much better than I thought it would. Because this was such a short project, I didn’t think that my poster would turn out very well, but it is amazing how much you can get done in a couple full class times. I really liked the way that my backgrounds turned out. I put the same filter on all of the pictures, and I made them all black and white except for the pictures of Kultur and the British flag. I was worried that the black and white wouldn’t turn out the same, and that the parts that weren’t black and white would stand out too much and not look realistic. I don’t think that this happened at all. I think that it all blended together just right, and it turned out just like the picture in my head. I’m not sure that I am entirely happy with the text. I think that if I had looked harder, I would have been able to find a better font that would have fit with my poster better. Also, I think that where I put the black around the text, it looks a bit too cartoon-ish. I really enjoyed this project, because it was short and to the point. We didn’t really linger on anything, and got through a lot of stuff about WWI and propaganda. I like snappy projects like that. You don’t think that you can possibly get it all done in time, but most of the time you can, and then you feel like you have really accomplished something.
During this project, I have learned so much about WWI. Before, I didn’t even know how or why it was started. Now, I know a lot about it, and I know more about what was happening at that time, and the more subtle reasons of why it happened. I have also learned about propaganda. Not only how to identify the different techniques used, but also how to analyze it and how to make it. I think that this project really made me realize just how much you can get done and how much you can learn in a short amount of time. I am now able to recognize different techniques being used in propaganda. It’s kind of like socialization all over again. We learned so much about the media, and I haven’t really seen it the same since. This project has made how I see the media even more different from what it was – even after the socialization project. Another very good lesson that I learned was to write down the URL for any picture you get off the internet. I remembered on all but one, and now I have no idea where I found that picture. (I was searching tons of different ways to phrase the same thing, because I couldn’t find what I wanted when I found it. Now I don’t know what search phrase I used.)
If I could do this project over again, I would probably make the text (‘a hero’ and ‘dead’) have a box around it. At the time, I didn’t have enough time to do that – it was easier to put the black around it instead. There were probably other things that I could have done, but that is the main one that will probably bug me every time I look at my poster. I think that it looks fine just as it is, but it will still get on my nerves. Although there are many things that I could have done better, I think that my poster turned out great, and there aren’t any really major things that I would change.
