The Truth of War
EXPLANATORY ESSAY
My event is 9/11. I chose this event because it was and is an extreme impact to the American society. Almost 3,000 lives were lost. This kind of impact has highly influenced our presence or “occupation” in Afghanistan. I can’t relate, personally, to this event, but I think it’s affected so many people that it’s a worthy subject to analyze. I, myself, am quite passionate about filmmaking and I believe 9/11 has good potential to become a very entertaining short-film or documentary.
9/11 was a series of plane hijackings by 19 Arab terrorists who flew into the World Trade Center (Twin Towers) in New York City, as well as the U.S Department of Military (The Pentagon) in Washington D.C. There were four planes hijacked in total, and nearly 3,000 people died in the event. The total American expense of 9/11 was 3.3 trillion dollars. Now, 3.3 trillion dollars doesn’t just come from broken buildings. In fact, the physical damage makes up for only a sliver of the expenses, as there are so many other factors that had drained the US government of its money. There’s homeland security, which was at the expense of $589 billion dollars. There’s also future war and veterans care, which would cost 867 billion dollars. And finally, there’s war funding, which would cost over 1.6 trillion dollars.
There were four hijackers on flight 93 who killed the pilot and co-pilot to take control of it. The hijackers, along with all forty of the plane’s passengers, died after around ten brave civilians killed the terrorists. The civilians knew their fate anyway, since the events at the World Trade Center had been broadcasted.
During the first World War, in 1919, the leaders of Britain, France and the U.S. assembled in Paris to discuss what to do with Turkey in the Middle-east. Britain had promised the Arabs a single great nation for them once the war had been won, so the Arabs drove out the Turks for them. Unfortunately, Britain didn’t live up to their promise. Instead, they seperated the Arab lands into many countries that would be controlled by Britain and France. Shortly before these events had occurred, in 1917, Lord Balfour, minister of the British Government, had promised to help the Jews by giving them a home in Palestine in the Middle-east. “Balfour’s Declaration” was an extension of what a Hungarian called Theodore Herzl had previously promised in the late 19th century. Theodore Herzl was a Zionist, meaning he, and many other Jews, believed that God had intended a home for all Jews in Palestine. To achieve this goal, Herzi began the Zionist Movement. However, the problem with Jews settling in Palestine was that the Arabs were already promised that land by Britain. Thus, the two sides had conflicted over land and religious beliefs for many years. What made matters worse was that after the events of Holocaust, which wiped out over six million Jews, the Jews in the U.S. came to Palestine as well. Now, with this overgrowing population in Palestine, the United Nations was responsible to split the land into two seperate states: one for Jews and the other for Palestinians. On May 14th, 1948, Israel was born, and as of then, the US was on their side, and for many reasons: Israel is a democracy, and a large portion of both the Israel and the US population is Jewish. Over the next 25 years, Israel and the Arabs states of Palestine had conflicted in many wars since Israel feared they’d be wiped out. So, they fought for and won more land, which the US demanded that they give back. Israel refused and continued to drive out the Palestinians into nations such as Egypt, Jordan and Syria.
Osama bin Laden was a Saudi Arabian and the student of a few extreme Arab nationalists. He hated Israel and the US since they were practically an undefeatable team. In 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Muslim land in Afghanistan. Muslims extremists from all over the world, including Bin Laden, came together in Afghanistan to fight off the Russian infidels. Surprisingly, the Muslims won the war in 1989. After these events, Bin Laden decided to build a secret base (Al Qaeda) to support future attacks that the Muslims would make against their enemy, Israel.
The Muslim leader of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, invaded another Muslim state, Kuwait. This would cut of oil trade from that area, which caught the attention of the United Nations. The United Nations sent help to fight off Iraq’s forces. Since then, most Arab states supported the United Nations and invited some of their forces to stay in Saudi Arabia to defend them against Iraq. Bin Laden was NOT in support of this. He and Al Qaeda believed that Americans’ very presence in Saudi Arabia was unclean. What drove his hate for America even further were the United Nations’ “precautions” in Iraq, which meant they would enforce sanctions. Innocent people were dying as these sanctions cut medical supplies. Bin Laden was later interviewed by an American news teams, in which he stated,
“Remember how the United States rushed out of Somalia in shame and disgrace.” “We believe that the worst thieves in the world today are the Americans. We do not have to differentiate between military or civilian. As far as we are concerned, they are all targets.” “If the present injustice continues … it will inevitably move the battle to American soil.”
The US thought it was unlikely that Bin Laden would actually plan and execute a successful attack on America… but shortly after terrorists had snuck into the country and hijacked the planes, 9/11 would devastatingly occur.
Economically, the events of 9/11 put an enormous hole in the government’s money. 3.3 trillion dollars, mostly for future war funding, was the expense for 9/11. The money, though, wasn’t even the worst of it. The worst of it was that nearly 3,000 lives were lost, scarring others and destroying relationships. 9/11 was an utter spider-web effect. Not just relatives, but friends, colleagues, and even people unconnected to the victim had their hearts shattered. Peter Guza, a 38-year old athlete who lives in
The perspective I chose was Peter Guza, a 20-year old junior at Lehigh university with an engineering major. At 9:00 am on September 11, Peter Guza got a phone call from an old friend, who told him to turn on the television. His father, Phil, a 54-year-old mathematician for Aon Corp., worked in the South Tower of the World Trade Center. Young Peter went downstairs to a room he rarely visited, where he would find his Beta Theta Pi fraternity brothers. They watched the South Tower being hit. Peter assured his friends that his father was probably fine, but a few minutes later, they saw the tower collapse down. Phil was a MENSA member with a PhD from Princeton. Apparently, he was stubborn and loved to work. “He was a classic workaholic,’’ Peter said. “Knowing his work ethic, there’s not a shred of doubt... He was still doing his work. He probably worked to the end."
My event is 9/11. I chose this event because it was and is an extreme impact to the American society. Almost 3,000 lives were lost. This kind of impact has highly influenced our presence or “occupation” in Afghanistan. I can’t relate, personally, to this event, but I think it’s affected so many people that it’s a worthy subject to analyze. I, myself, am quite passionate about filmmaking and I believe 9/11 has good potential to become a very entertaining short-film or documentary.
9/11 was a series of plane hijackings by 19 Arab terrorists who flew into the World Trade Center (Twin Towers) in New York City, as well as the U.S Department of Military (The Pentagon) in Washington D.C. There were four planes hijacked in total, and nearly 3,000 people died in the event. The total American expense of 9/11 was 3.3 trillion dollars. Now, 3.3 trillion dollars doesn’t just come from broken buildings. In fact, the physical damage makes up for only a sliver of the expenses, as there are so many other factors that had drained the US government of its money. There’s homeland security, which was at the expense of $589 billion dollars. There’s also future war and veterans care, which would cost 867 billion dollars. And finally, there’s war funding, which would cost over 1.6 trillion dollars.
There were four hijackers on flight 93 who killed the pilot and co-pilot to take control of it. The hijackers, along with all forty of the plane’s passengers, died after around ten brave civilians killed the terrorists. The civilians knew their fate anyway, since the events at the World Trade Center had been broadcasted.
During the first World War, in 1919, the leaders of Britain, France and the U.S. assembled in Paris to discuss what to do with Turkey in the Middle-east. Britain had promised the Arabs a single great nation for them once the war had been won, so the Arabs drove out the Turks for them. Unfortunately, Britain didn’t live up to their promise. Instead, they seperated the Arab lands into many countries that would be controlled by Britain and France. Shortly before these events had occurred, in 1917, Lord Balfour, minister of the British Government, had promised to help the Jews by giving them a home in Palestine in the Middle-east. “Balfour’s Declaration” was an extension of what a Hungarian called Theodore Herzl had previously promised in the late 19th century. Theodore Herzl was a Zionist, meaning he, and many other Jews, believed that God had intended a home for all Jews in Palestine. To achieve this goal, Herzi began the Zionist Movement. However, the problem with Jews settling in Palestine was that the Arabs were already promised that land by Britain. Thus, the two sides had conflicted over land and religious beliefs for many years. What made matters worse was that after the events of Holocaust, which wiped out over six million Jews, the Jews in the U.S. came to Palestine as well. Now, with this overgrowing population in Palestine, the United Nations was responsible to split the land into two seperate states: one for Jews and the other for Palestinians. On May 14th, 1948, Israel was born, and as of then, the US was on their side, and for many reasons: Israel is a democracy, and a large portion of both the Israel and the US population is Jewish. Over the next 25 years, Israel and the Arabs states of Palestine had conflicted in many wars since Israel feared they’d be wiped out. So, they fought for and won more land, which the US demanded that they give back. Israel refused and continued to drive out the Palestinians into nations such as Egypt, Jordan and Syria.
Osama bin Laden was a Saudi Arabian and the student of a few extreme Arab nationalists. He hated Israel and the US since they were practically an undefeatable team. In 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Muslim land in Afghanistan. Muslims extremists from all over the world, including Bin Laden, came together in Afghanistan to fight off the Russian infidels. Surprisingly, the Muslims won the war in 1989. After these events, Bin Laden decided to build a secret base (Al Qaeda) to support future attacks that the Muslims would make against their enemy, Israel.
The Muslim leader of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, invaded another Muslim state, Kuwait. This would cut of oil trade from that area, which caught the attention of the United Nations. The United Nations sent help to fight off Iraq’s forces. Since then, most Arab states supported the United Nations and invited some of their forces to stay in Saudi Arabia to defend them against Iraq. Bin Laden was NOT in support of this. He and Al Qaeda believed that Americans’ very presence in Saudi Arabia was unclean. What drove his hate for America even further were the United Nations’ “precautions” in Iraq, which meant they would enforce sanctions. Innocent people were dying as these sanctions cut medical supplies. Bin Laden was later interviewed by an American news teams, in which he stated,
“Remember how the United States rushed out of Somalia in shame and disgrace.” “We believe that the worst thieves in the world today are the Americans. We do not have to differentiate between military or civilian. As far as we are concerned, they are all targets.” “If the present injustice continues … it will inevitably move the battle to American soil.”
The US thought it was unlikely that Bin Laden would actually plan and execute a successful attack on America… but shortly after terrorists had snuck into the country and hijacked the planes, 9/11 would devastatingly occur.
Economically, the events of 9/11 put an enormous hole in the government’s money. 3.3 trillion dollars, mostly for future war funding, was the expense for 9/11. The money, though, wasn’t even the worst of it. The worst of it was that nearly 3,000 lives were lost, scarring others and destroying relationships. 9/11 was an utter spider-web effect. Not just relatives, but friends, colleagues, and even people unconnected to the victim had their hearts shattered. Peter Guza, a 38-year old athlete who lives in
The perspective I chose was Peter Guza, a 20-year old junior at Lehigh university with an engineering major. At 9:00 am on September 11, Peter Guza got a phone call from an old friend, who told him to turn on the television. His father, Phil, a 54-year-old mathematician for Aon Corp., worked in the South Tower of the World Trade Center. Young Peter went downstairs to a room he rarely visited, where he would find his Beta Theta Pi fraternity brothers. They watched the South Tower being hit. Peter assured his friends that his father was probably fine, but a few minutes later, they saw the tower collapse down. Phil was a MENSA member with a PhD from Princeton. Apparently, he was stubborn and loved to work. “He was a classic workaholic,’’ Peter said. “Knowing his work ethic, there’s not a shred of doubt... He was still doing his work. He probably worked to the end."
"Big World" Screenplay
Music plays over the following:
INT. DAY - HOUSE
PETER (9 YEARS OLD) walks through the hallway and into the kitchen (TRACKING SHOT UNTIL STOPPING AT THE BEDROOM DOOR). He pours a bowl of cereal, brings it to the dining table, and begins eating.
PETER:
DAVE, ARE WE GONNA RUN THIS MORNING?!
No answer.
PETER:
ARE WE GONNA RUN, DAVE?
No answer. Peter walks to the bedroom door.
PETER:
DAVE, ARE YOU STILL SLEEPING?
Peter enters the bedroom. He looks and walks around, but doesn’t find DAVE. WE SEE DAVE DEAD IN THE BATHROOM IN THE BACKGROUND. Peter exits the room and continues eating his cereal at the dining room table. THE SHOT RETURNS TO ITS SPOT NEXT TO THE DOOR. Peter’s dad, PHIL, enters the frame and the kitchen to make some coffee.
PHIL:
HEY PETEY.
PETER:
HI DAD.
PHIL: WELL, YOU’RE UP PRETTY EARLY, AREN’T YA? WHERE’S YOUR BROTHER?
PETER:
I DON’T KNOW.
PHIL: HE’S PROBABLY JUST SLEEPING IN.
PETER:
HE’S NOT IN HIS ROOM.
PHIL: HE’S PROBABLY OUT ON A RUN, THEN, ISN’T HE.
PETER:
HE SAID HE WOULD TAKE ME WITH HIM TODAY!
PHIL:
ON A RUN?
PETER:
YEAH!
PHIL: OH, DID HE NOW? HOHO, WELL THEN I’D BETTER HAVE A WORD WITH HIM WHEN HE COMES BACK.
PETER: DEFINITELY.
Peter drinks the milk out of the bowl and takes it to the sink where he rinses it. Phil walks into the living room.
CUT TO:
INT. DAY - HOUSE
PHIL sits down on the sofa with his coffee and turns on the television (MEDIUM SHOT, NEUTRAL). THE CAMERA SLOWLY PANS PAST THE BEDROOM DOOR AND FOLLOWS PETER as he walks into a hallway. In the hallway is another door. Peter turns the handle and finds that it’s locked. FOLLOWED WITH A PAN, Peter walks into DAVE’S BEDROOM. He turns left to the bathroom and screams.
CUT TO:
EXT. DAY - FOREST
TITLE IS SHOWN. PETER (20 YEARS OLD) JOGS.
CUT TO:
INT. DAY - COLLEGE DORM
PETER enters his dorm and takes off his hat. He fixes a cup of coffee. His roommate is in a bed, reading a book.
ROOMMATE:
ENJOY YOUR JOG?
PETER:
YES, I DID.
Peter drinks his coffee and gets a text from his dad, saying: “WANNA GRAB A BITE?” Peter texts back, puts down his phone, grabs his keys and leaves.
PETER:
SEE YA.
ROOMMATE:
SEE YA, PETE.
CUT TO:
EXT. DAY - TACO BELL!
Peter and Phil sit at a table in a taco bell, eating their food while talking and laughing. Their whole conversation is inaudible while a group of teens are shouting and horsing around.
CUT TO:
INT. DAY - CAR
Peter and Phil are sitting in the car together.
PHIL:
OH HEY, I JUST REMEMBERED! WE SHOULD GO TO A GAME TOMMORROW! TICKETS ARE ON ME.
PETER:
ALRIGHT, DAD. SEE YOU THEN.
PHIL: LOVE YOU, PETEY.
PETER: LOVE YOU.
Phil gets out of the car.
CUT TO:
INT. EVENING - COLLEGE DORM
Peter lay in his bed, reading, just like his roommate. Then he closes the book and goes to sleep.
CUT TO:
INT. EVENING - WORLD TRADE CENTER
THE CAMERA DOLLIES THROUGHOUT THE WORLD TRADE CENTER. People are working left and right, making phone calls and working on their computers. Finally, we see Phil, who is on the phone.
CUT TO:
INT. MORNING - COLLEGE DORM
Peter gets out of bed and walks to the kitchen. He opens the fridge, looks, and closes it. He turns to the pantry where he grabs some cereal. He makes the cereal and sits down at a table. His phone rings. Peter answers:
PETER:
HELLO? WELL, HEY THERE, HOW HAVE YOU BEEN? WHY?
Peter walks to a room downstairs. Most of his Beta Theta Pi fraternity brothers are there watching the television. Peter is astonished as he watches the World Trade Center crumble.
CUT TO:
EXT. DAY - FOREST
Peter jogs.
Music plays over the following:
INT. DAY - HOUSE
PETER (9 YEARS OLD) walks through the hallway and into the kitchen (TRACKING SHOT UNTIL STOPPING AT THE BEDROOM DOOR). He pours a bowl of cereal, brings it to the dining table, and begins eating.
PETER:
DAVE, ARE WE GONNA RUN THIS MORNING?!
No answer.
PETER:
ARE WE GONNA RUN, DAVE?
No answer. Peter walks to the bedroom door.
PETER:
DAVE, ARE YOU STILL SLEEPING?
Peter enters the bedroom. He looks and walks around, but doesn’t find DAVE. WE SEE DAVE DEAD IN THE BATHROOM IN THE BACKGROUND. Peter exits the room and continues eating his cereal at the dining room table. THE SHOT RETURNS TO ITS SPOT NEXT TO THE DOOR. Peter’s dad, PHIL, enters the frame and the kitchen to make some coffee.
PHIL:
HEY PETEY.
PETER:
HI DAD.
PHIL: WELL, YOU’RE UP PRETTY EARLY, AREN’T YA? WHERE’S YOUR BROTHER?
PETER:
I DON’T KNOW.
PHIL: HE’S PROBABLY JUST SLEEPING IN.
PETER:
HE’S NOT IN HIS ROOM.
PHIL: HE’S PROBABLY OUT ON A RUN, THEN, ISN’T HE.
PETER:
HE SAID HE WOULD TAKE ME WITH HIM TODAY!
PHIL:
ON A RUN?
PETER:
YEAH!
PHIL: OH, DID HE NOW? HOHO, WELL THEN I’D BETTER HAVE A WORD WITH HIM WHEN HE COMES BACK.
PETER: DEFINITELY.
Peter drinks the milk out of the bowl and takes it to the sink where he rinses it. Phil walks into the living room.
CUT TO:
INT. DAY - HOUSE
PHIL sits down on the sofa with his coffee and turns on the television (MEDIUM SHOT, NEUTRAL). THE CAMERA SLOWLY PANS PAST THE BEDROOM DOOR AND FOLLOWS PETER as he walks into a hallway. In the hallway is another door. Peter turns the handle and finds that it’s locked. FOLLOWED WITH A PAN, Peter walks into DAVE’S BEDROOM. He turns left to the bathroom and screams.
CUT TO:
EXT. DAY - FOREST
TITLE IS SHOWN. PETER (20 YEARS OLD) JOGS.
CUT TO:
INT. DAY - COLLEGE DORM
PETER enters his dorm and takes off his hat. He fixes a cup of coffee. His roommate is in a bed, reading a book.
ROOMMATE:
ENJOY YOUR JOG?
PETER:
YES, I DID.
Peter drinks his coffee and gets a text from his dad, saying: “WANNA GRAB A BITE?” Peter texts back, puts down his phone, grabs his keys and leaves.
PETER:
SEE YA.
ROOMMATE:
SEE YA, PETE.
CUT TO:
EXT. DAY - TACO BELL!
Peter and Phil sit at a table in a taco bell, eating their food while talking and laughing. Their whole conversation is inaudible while a group of teens are shouting and horsing around.
CUT TO:
INT. DAY - CAR
Peter and Phil are sitting in the car together.
PHIL:
OH HEY, I JUST REMEMBERED! WE SHOULD GO TO A GAME TOMMORROW! TICKETS ARE ON ME.
PETER:
ALRIGHT, DAD. SEE YOU THEN.
PHIL: LOVE YOU, PETEY.
PETER: LOVE YOU.
Phil gets out of the car.
CUT TO:
INT. EVENING - COLLEGE DORM
Peter lay in his bed, reading, just like his roommate. Then he closes the book and goes to sleep.
CUT TO:
INT. EVENING - WORLD TRADE CENTER
THE CAMERA DOLLIES THROUGHOUT THE WORLD TRADE CENTER. People are working left and right, making phone calls and working on their computers. Finally, we see Phil, who is on the phone.
CUT TO:
INT. MORNING - COLLEGE DORM
Peter gets out of bed and walks to the kitchen. He opens the fridge, looks, and closes it. He turns to the pantry where he grabs some cereal. He makes the cereal and sits down at a table. His phone rings. Peter answers:
PETER:
HELLO? WELL, HEY THERE, HOW HAVE YOU BEEN? WHY?
Peter walks to a room downstairs. Most of his Beta Theta Pi fraternity brothers are there watching the television. Peter is astonished as he watches the World Trade Center crumble.
CUT TO:
EXT. DAY - FOREST
Peter jogs.
REFLECTION
Let me begin my reflection by saying that it was not my original intention to even write a screenplay as my creative piece. I REALLY wanted to shoot an entire short-film, though as you can imagine, that came with some difficulty. I started making the film, however, we had technical difficulties along the way. Plus, I knew that making a quality short-film required some resources I didn't have, a vital one being money. Not just that, though. It takes a lot of initiative to make a movie. Money can be an issue sometimes, but I'm aware that I was still totally capable to make my film. I just didn't have the courage to dive in and shoot it. Another challenge I faced was creating a proper storyboard. I had never made a storyboard before for one of my films, and trying it this time was more than frustrating. It was bloody agony. There are so many things wrong with drawing a storyboard for a budget-less amateur filmmaker like me. So I scrapped it. Writing a screenplay was something I pretty much HAD to do to make the film, and to be honest, it's easier than a storyboard; tough work, though. I wrote the screenplay, and honestly, I don't think it's bad, and I don't think it's good, either. My main character, Peter Guza, is the son of a 9/11 victim. Fortunately for him, he says that he was glad to have spent good time with his father after his brother had killed himself. NOTHING BEATS THIS GUY! Unfortunately for me, this didn't give me the greatest character. It seems like he doesn't want anything. Sometimes it seems like he doesn't even have feelings, so I couldn't make a whole lot of quality dialog. What I COULD do was describe the specific shots I would use to intensify the sad scenes. Yes, it would be much better presented on film, but my procrastination got the best of me. I ran out of time, and I was forced to go with what I have. Overall, I think my project is alright. While I could have done better on my creative piece, the research I did on 9/11- the background knowledge I acquired- was pretty thorough. I think I took some fairly in-depth notes on the causes of 9/11, and related events prior, all of them taking place in the Middle East. That's the bit I'm most proud of. Ultimately, I believe I'll look back onto this project and be happy with it.
Let me begin my reflection by saying that it was not my original intention to even write a screenplay as my creative piece. I REALLY wanted to shoot an entire short-film, though as you can imagine, that came with some difficulty. I started making the film, however, we had technical difficulties along the way. Plus, I knew that making a quality short-film required some resources I didn't have, a vital one being money. Not just that, though. It takes a lot of initiative to make a movie. Money can be an issue sometimes, but I'm aware that I was still totally capable to make my film. I just didn't have the courage to dive in and shoot it. Another challenge I faced was creating a proper storyboard. I had never made a storyboard before for one of my films, and trying it this time was more than frustrating. It was bloody agony. There are so many things wrong with drawing a storyboard for a budget-less amateur filmmaker like me. So I scrapped it. Writing a screenplay was something I pretty much HAD to do to make the film, and to be honest, it's easier than a storyboard; tough work, though. I wrote the screenplay, and honestly, I don't think it's bad, and I don't think it's good, either. My main character, Peter Guza, is the son of a 9/11 victim. Fortunately for him, he says that he was glad to have spent good time with his father after his brother had killed himself. NOTHING BEATS THIS GUY! Unfortunately for me, this didn't give me the greatest character. It seems like he doesn't want anything. Sometimes it seems like he doesn't even have feelings, so I couldn't make a whole lot of quality dialog. What I COULD do was describe the specific shots I would use to intensify the sad scenes. Yes, it would be much better presented on film, but my procrastination got the best of me. I ran out of time, and I was forced to go with what I have. Overall, I think my project is alright. While I could have done better on my creative piece, the research I did on 9/11- the background knowledge I acquired- was pretty thorough. I think I took some fairly in-depth notes on the causes of 9/11, and related events prior, all of them taking place in the Middle East. That's the bit I'm most proud of. Ultimately, I believe I'll look back onto this project and be happy with it.
The Mask Project
In the early stages of the Mask Project, we had many assignments, which gave us the background knowledge needed regarding Sociology to create a final product. We learned many concepts of Sociology during this time, as we were assigned several readings that informed us about the Cycle of Socialization, social norms, and the influences made on society by the media. These are just examples. Some more specific topics we took note on early on in the project were: sanctions, culture, subcultures, values, norms, and The Looking Glass Self. All of this eventually tied into my final essay, and the information was most useful along the way.
I believe I’ve always had trouble with organization, and not just in this class. I have tried to stay organized in my life but problems have always come up for me regarding either not planning or not keeping my work in order. This was my primary challenge for the earlier stages of this project, as we had many smaller assignments rather than one big one. It’s easier for me to organize myself when working on one thing instead of keeping track of several. In terms of generating ideas, however, it was mostly easy and even a little fun. Idea-generating and deep-thinking happened most during class talks like socratic seminars, which I love. As for actual project-work, on my mask, that was the only time I had struggled with coming up with something that encapsulated me through symbols. That was the big assignment. We all had to make a mask that represented how we had been socialized. I didn’t totally know how I had been socialized, so I took a different approach and instead decided to make a mask that represented a group of people, specifically targets in our society. To be honest, I think this is a result of my laziness. I made a worse alternative to what my mask could have been because I “gave up” halfway through the process. I also had not even known that we were supposed to represent ourselves early on in my mask-making, so there was a huge lack of advocacy and a large delay on my mask. Despite these challenges, I think I can say that I persevered through writing my essay as well as finishing my mask, even though it wasn’t the best it could be. I can say with all honesty that I was proud of the final result.
Beforehand, I’ve always thought about most of the topics we covered in this project. I was already aware of, not the cycle of socialization, but the idea of it. It’s pretty clear to me that we are born without bias or opinions, and the next steps along the way. Something I had not completely realized, however, are the signs of oppression hidden throughout media, culture and general entertainment. It had never occurred to me that, for example, black people are dehumanized by hardly playing the role of a leading character in a film. This is also the most interesting thing I learned during this project, as it affects us in our everyday lives.
Overall, I’m proud of my final product. I believe that my mask and essay reflected my learning this semester very well, as it was positively reviewed at exhibition. I put in much effort in finishing my essay at the time of exhibition as well, which was a very stressful sequence of this project. I think that through this entire process, I developed strongly in my ability to take initiative on my assignments, and to finish them completely. I’ve grown as a student.
I believe I’ve always had trouble with organization, and not just in this class. I have tried to stay organized in my life but problems have always come up for me regarding either not planning or not keeping my work in order. This was my primary challenge for the earlier stages of this project, as we had many smaller assignments rather than one big one. It’s easier for me to organize myself when working on one thing instead of keeping track of several. In terms of generating ideas, however, it was mostly easy and even a little fun. Idea-generating and deep-thinking happened most during class talks like socratic seminars, which I love. As for actual project-work, on my mask, that was the only time I had struggled with coming up with something that encapsulated me through symbols. That was the big assignment. We all had to make a mask that represented how we had been socialized. I didn’t totally know how I had been socialized, so I took a different approach and instead decided to make a mask that represented a group of people, specifically targets in our society. To be honest, I think this is a result of my laziness. I made a worse alternative to what my mask could have been because I “gave up” halfway through the process. I also had not even known that we were supposed to represent ourselves early on in my mask-making, so there was a huge lack of advocacy and a large delay on my mask. Despite these challenges, I think I can say that I persevered through writing my essay as well as finishing my mask, even though it wasn’t the best it could be. I can say with all honesty that I was proud of the final result.
Beforehand, I’ve always thought about most of the topics we covered in this project. I was already aware of, not the cycle of socialization, but the idea of it. It’s pretty clear to me that we are born without bias or opinions, and the next steps along the way. Something I had not completely realized, however, are the signs of oppression hidden throughout media, culture and general entertainment. It had never occurred to me that, for example, black people are dehumanized by hardly playing the role of a leading character in a film. This is also the most interesting thing I learned during this project, as it affects us in our everyday lives.
Overall, I’m proud of my final product. I believe that my mask and essay reflected my learning this semester very well, as it was positively reviewed at exhibition. I put in much effort in finishing my essay at the time of exhibition as well, which was a very stressful sequence of this project. I think that through this entire process, I developed strongly in my ability to take initiative on my assignments, and to finish them completely. I’ve grown as a student.