Energy and Place Project
Essential Questions:
1. How does energy production impact place?
2.How do your sense of place, your environmental ethic, and your understanding of our energy needs influence your perception of man’s use of Earth’s resources and your own lifestyle decisions?
1. How does energy production impact place?
2.How do your sense of place, your environmental ethic, and your understanding of our energy needs influence your perception of man’s use of Earth’s resources and your own lifestyle decisions?
Take Action Project Pictures:
Reflection:
This project was assigned to give us a better understanding of the world around us and what is happening to it. Throughout the project we also learned a lot about ourselves, our environmental ethic, and our sense of place. My favorite portion of the project would have to be writing the essay about my sense of place. I went through a variety of topics and finally realized I had to work what I was passionate about or what called to me into my projects. The different types of connections you can have to a place were very interesting to learn about also.
While I did like writing the essay it was very challenging. I wrote rough drafts of several essays until I finally decided on the topic that worked for me. Another portion that I really enjoyed was writing my "Inspiration Journals". It gave me a creative outlet that I took beyond the assignment in some cases. I enjoy creative writing and they gave me a great opportunity to practice it.
This project has greatly altered the answer I would've given originally to the Essential Questions. The only thing I ever thought about with energy production and place was how much I disliked power lines. Now my entire perception has shifted on the topic. I still believe that there is not a lot we can do about it currently, but I have definitely become much more aware of the present situation.
This project was assigned to give us a better understanding of the world around us and what is happening to it. Throughout the project we also learned a lot about ourselves, our environmental ethic, and our sense of place. My favorite portion of the project would have to be writing the essay about my sense of place. I went through a variety of topics and finally realized I had to work what I was passionate about or what called to me into my projects. The different types of connections you can have to a place were very interesting to learn about also.
While I did like writing the essay it was very challenging. I wrote rough drafts of several essays until I finally decided on the topic that worked for me. Another portion that I really enjoyed was writing my "Inspiration Journals". It gave me a creative outlet that I took beyond the assignment in some cases. I enjoy creative writing and they gave me a great opportunity to practice it.
This project has greatly altered the answer I would've given originally to the Essential Questions. The only thing I ever thought about with energy production and place was how much I disliked power lines. Now my entire perception has shifted on the topic. I still believe that there is not a lot we can do about it currently, but I have definitely become much more aware of the present situation.
Native American Studies Project
The purpose of this project was to learn about and understand Native American culture and ideologies in depth. We did this by choosing a Native American piece of writing, art, or other significant artifact in their culture, and writing a literary analysis or in depth annotation about it. I chose to write a literary analysis on the White River Sioux myth "Rabbit Boy" showing how the mythology of different cultures connect.
When I was finding this myth I read through quite a few others from various Native American tribes. These myths, especially the ones about creation, seem like they had and continue to have a huge impact on the tribe's culture. Unfortunately some of the ideologies represented by the myths and their old culture can no longer be upheld in this day and age. One of these would be the concept of property ownership, something that has been forced on most tribes with things like reservations.
Examining multiple sources can be extremely useful in many situations, mythology is no exception. I have studied several different kinds of mythologies from around the world and studying the mythology of the Sioux was very interesting. The common themes were very intriguing. Mythology is a great way to connect history and creativity. Even at its most basic meaning mythology brings people together in storytelling, provides a creative outlet, and tells a lesson.
Examining multiple sources can be extremely useful in many situations, mythology is no exception. I have studied several different kinds of mythologies from around the world and studying the mythology of the Sioux was very interesting. The common themes were very intriguing. Mythology is a great way to connect history and creativity. Even at its most basic meaning mythology brings people together in storytelling, provides a creative outlet, and tells a lesson.
Wounded Knee Mini-Project
Project Description:
The purpose of this project was to learn how to form our own opinions and piece together a broad understanding of the battle of Wounded Knee. We were given 10 primary sources from the battle. After reading them we were to write a textbook passage about the battle. Then we watched the film Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee and wrote an essay comparing the sources to the movie.
Textbook Passage:
The Battle of Wounded Knee
As westward expansion furthered so did the problems with the Indian’s. Many treaties were made with the Sioux and Cheyanne tribes that pushed them west with the promise of food and farm equipment in exchange for their land and ponies. The Indians begrudgingly went west and gave up their ponies, but the U.S. Government did not deliver their side of the deal in a timely manner. Indians were starving and the conditions for them were terrible. Their land had been cut significantly in size and the buffalo that they fed on had been shot to the point of being nearly extinct by white settlers.
With many of their people dying and conditions getting worse they had very little to turn to. Word spread through the Sioux settlements that it had been prophesied that a savior was coming to rescue them from their oppression and make the white men disappear. This savior would be brought about by performing a dance called the “ghost dance”. The white settlers around the reservation watched the dance and it scared them as they thought it was leading to an attack on them.
On December 29th 1890 after a large group of Indians were rounded up at Wounded Knee and ordered to surrender their weapons a shot was fired. There were few Indians that still had weapons but immediately after the shot was fired both sides began exchanging gunfire. The Indians, being heavily outnumbered and mostly unarmed quickly scattered, the women and children in a different direction than the men. The surrounding soldiers, armed with rifles and Hotchkiss guns fired at all of them. When they tried to seek shelter by running through a gully soldiers ran along either side of it firing down at them. The estimated death toll was 300 out of the original 350. The beginning of the day had been sunny but very quickly after the massacre a blizzard arose. When help arrived days later along with a photographer they found the scene completely frozen in place.
Response Essay:
Bury My heart at Wounded Knee Response
The Battle of Wounded Knee was a terrible battle for the Native Americans fighting to keep their lands in South Dakota and the surrounding area. From this battle, are many primary sources such as the Dawes act, Black Elk’s account, and the official report of the commanding General at the battle. Another account of the story was the movie Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. After reading the primary sources and watching the movie it became clear that Hollywood took so many artistic liberties that it tainted the story in order to just make money.
When starting the movie I expected a film that would provide a broad view of the events described in the primary sources. What I found was a modern day Hollywood action packed movie loosely based off of the battle of Wounded Knee. Added to this movie was enough emotion to make it both more intriguing and a powerful story of human emotion and tragedy. It was just a very different story that accurately referenced events.
One thing that I found very different between the movie and primary source was the personality of General Miles. In his report he sounds sympathetic to the Indians and blames the government for them acting up, referring to the Cheyanne he says “their supplies were insufficient, and they were forced to kill cattle belonging to white people to sustain life.” He says this blaming the civil agents for not giving them enough supplies. In the movie he rants about them being less than human and promotes violence against them. This shows a bias in the filmmaker’s views along with a bias that appears throughout the film of being biased against the Americans.
The most disturbing things done in the movie was the lack of soldiers deaths portrayed. When in the letter from William J. Small who fought in the battle he mentions many deaths and speaks about how long it took to clean up the dead. And even after going through it all they were attacked even more, “We had gathered up our wounded and dead and put them in the quarter master wagons and we started back to the agency. We were attacked 2 or 3 times during the night by prowling bands”. This entire document is something that would have been great for the filmmaker to have been great for the filmmaker to have read.
Overall I believe that creating a movie about a historical event from the perspective of real people is terrible. There are some events that can be shown in a great way through historical fiction, but something like a massacre or battle such as this cannot have fact and fiction mixed like it was. This provides a solely biased view of the battle that should at the very least not be the only source studied to learn about this terrible time in U.S. history.
The purpose of this project was to learn how to form our own opinions and piece together a broad understanding of the battle of Wounded Knee. We were given 10 primary sources from the battle. After reading them we were to write a textbook passage about the battle. Then we watched the film Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee and wrote an essay comparing the sources to the movie.
Textbook Passage:
The Battle of Wounded Knee
As westward expansion furthered so did the problems with the Indian’s. Many treaties were made with the Sioux and Cheyanne tribes that pushed them west with the promise of food and farm equipment in exchange for their land and ponies. The Indians begrudgingly went west and gave up their ponies, but the U.S. Government did not deliver their side of the deal in a timely manner. Indians were starving and the conditions for them were terrible. Their land had been cut significantly in size and the buffalo that they fed on had been shot to the point of being nearly extinct by white settlers.
With many of their people dying and conditions getting worse they had very little to turn to. Word spread through the Sioux settlements that it had been prophesied that a savior was coming to rescue them from their oppression and make the white men disappear. This savior would be brought about by performing a dance called the “ghost dance”. The white settlers around the reservation watched the dance and it scared them as they thought it was leading to an attack on them.
On December 29th 1890 after a large group of Indians were rounded up at Wounded Knee and ordered to surrender their weapons a shot was fired. There were few Indians that still had weapons but immediately after the shot was fired both sides began exchanging gunfire. The Indians, being heavily outnumbered and mostly unarmed quickly scattered, the women and children in a different direction than the men. The surrounding soldiers, armed with rifles and Hotchkiss guns fired at all of them. When they tried to seek shelter by running through a gully soldiers ran along either side of it firing down at them. The estimated death toll was 300 out of the original 350. The beginning of the day had been sunny but very quickly after the massacre a blizzard arose. When help arrived days later along with a photographer they found the scene completely frozen in place.
Response Essay:
Bury My heart at Wounded Knee Response
The Battle of Wounded Knee was a terrible battle for the Native Americans fighting to keep their lands in South Dakota and the surrounding area. From this battle, are many primary sources such as the Dawes act, Black Elk’s account, and the official report of the commanding General at the battle. Another account of the story was the movie Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. After reading the primary sources and watching the movie it became clear that Hollywood took so many artistic liberties that it tainted the story in order to just make money.
When starting the movie I expected a film that would provide a broad view of the events described in the primary sources. What I found was a modern day Hollywood action packed movie loosely based off of the battle of Wounded Knee. Added to this movie was enough emotion to make it both more intriguing and a powerful story of human emotion and tragedy. It was just a very different story that accurately referenced events.
One thing that I found very different between the movie and primary source was the personality of General Miles. In his report he sounds sympathetic to the Indians and blames the government for them acting up, referring to the Cheyanne he says “their supplies were insufficient, and they were forced to kill cattle belonging to white people to sustain life.” He says this blaming the civil agents for not giving them enough supplies. In the movie he rants about them being less than human and promotes violence against them. This shows a bias in the filmmaker’s views along with a bias that appears throughout the film of being biased against the Americans.
The most disturbing things done in the movie was the lack of soldiers deaths portrayed. When in the letter from William J. Small who fought in the battle he mentions many deaths and speaks about how long it took to clean up the dead. And even after going through it all they were attacked even more, “We had gathered up our wounded and dead and put them in the quarter master wagons and we started back to the agency. We were attacked 2 or 3 times during the night by prowling bands”. This entire document is something that would have been great for the filmmaker to have been great for the filmmaker to have read.
Overall I believe that creating a movie about a historical event from the perspective of real people is terrible. There are some events that can be shown in a great way through historical fiction, but something like a massacre or battle such as this cannot have fact and fiction mixed like it was. This provides a solely biased view of the battle that should at the very least not be the only source studied to learn about this terrible time in U.S. history.
Rhetorical Discourse Project
Project Reflection:
For the last several weeks my humanities class has been working on a Rhetoric project. We were required to make a convincing, strongly opinionated, and powerful project on the subject of a big issue in the modern world. We were able to use whatever format of project we wanted. The subject that I chose was the mistreatment of the mentally ill or sick in today’s society. The format that I chose to use was a spoken word poem with a factual conclusion. The rhetorical device that I used the most in my project was pathos. Throughout most of my presentation I aimed to move people emotionally to support my cause.
I liked this project a lot because it allowed me to research and present about any topic. For a long time I have been interested in how medication is affecting the people taking it for mental diseases. After researching this extensively I felt genuinely inclined to share this new found knowledge with other people as it is something that I feel passionate about. This project allowed me to do just that. Another thing that I really enjoyed about this project was being able to choose any format of project. I am not really good at writing essays or speeches but this project allowed me to pursue poetry which is something that I do enjoy and is something that I am good at.
As enjoyable as this project was it was definitely not a continuously smooth project process. I felt like the research was designed to be at a level where it was stifling to the creative flow of the project. There were some aspects of the research notes that did not seem applicable to my project and I felt that it actually made it more difficult for me to complete the project on time. With the work required currently for this project I would have preferred more time for this, but I would recommend making the research less structured.
Throughout the preparation, process, and presentation of this project I learned a great deal about rhetoric. During the lectures before the start of the project it was very interesting to learn about the rhetoric and fallacies that are used on us during everyday life. It really makes watching political speeches far more interesting listening to how deceitful politicians can be without lying to us at all. Overall I really enjoyed this project and hope to continue learning about rhetoric.
Link to Video of Presentation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGeqHji7D0o
For the last several weeks my humanities class has been working on a Rhetoric project. We were required to make a convincing, strongly opinionated, and powerful project on the subject of a big issue in the modern world. We were able to use whatever format of project we wanted. The subject that I chose was the mistreatment of the mentally ill or sick in today’s society. The format that I chose to use was a spoken word poem with a factual conclusion. The rhetorical device that I used the most in my project was pathos. Throughout most of my presentation I aimed to move people emotionally to support my cause.
I liked this project a lot because it allowed me to research and present about any topic. For a long time I have been interested in how medication is affecting the people taking it for mental diseases. After researching this extensively I felt genuinely inclined to share this new found knowledge with other people as it is something that I feel passionate about. This project allowed me to do just that. Another thing that I really enjoyed about this project was being able to choose any format of project. I am not really good at writing essays or speeches but this project allowed me to pursue poetry which is something that I do enjoy and is something that I am good at.
As enjoyable as this project was it was definitely not a continuously smooth project process. I felt like the research was designed to be at a level where it was stifling to the creative flow of the project. There were some aspects of the research notes that did not seem applicable to my project and I felt that it actually made it more difficult for me to complete the project on time. With the work required currently for this project I would have preferred more time for this, but I would recommend making the research less structured.
Throughout the preparation, process, and presentation of this project I learned a great deal about rhetoric. During the lectures before the start of the project it was very interesting to learn about the rhetoric and fallacies that are used on us during everyday life. It really makes watching political speeches far more interesting listening to how deceitful politicians can be without lying to us at all. Overall I really enjoyed this project and hope to continue learning about rhetoric.
Link to Video of Presentation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGeqHji7D0o