Synthesis.
This project was based around the thinking skill synthesis. This means that for every portion of your project, art, history, and English, has to be focused around that thinking skill. Synthesis is taking multiple things and turning it into one, or using multiple sources to create something of your own.
The end of the Cold War
The end of the Cold War in the 80s was a stressful and impactful time on a few important countries. This intrigued me, and I decided to do my project on it.
English
For my English portion, I decided to make a few versions of found poetry from speeches spoken by Ronald Reagan, Mikhail Gorbachev, and words of my own. I synthesized them altogether to make it seem as though one leader has one same perspective on the Cold War. Essentially, those two leaders did have similar perspectives. They wanted peace and freedom in the end.
Creating these found poems was very fun and enjoyable, definitely one of my favorite English projects I have done. The first step was taking parts of the speech from Ronald Reagan at the Berlin Wall and writing down powerful and key parts that I thought would work well into my poem. After I listened to that and transcribed some of it, I researched words of Gorbachev and his stance on the end of the Cold War. Interestingly enough, the words were strikingly similar. After I wrote down the key parts of what he said, it was time to synthesize the two leader's views together.
Here is what the information looked like before I joined them:
Creating these found poems was very fun and enjoyable, definitely one of my favorite English projects I have done. The first step was taking parts of the speech from Ronald Reagan at the Berlin Wall and writing down powerful and key parts that I thought would work well into my poem. After I listened to that and transcribed some of it, I researched words of Gorbachev and his stance on the end of the Cold War. Interestingly enough, the words were strikingly similar. After I wrote down the key parts of what he said, it was time to synthesize the two leader's views together.
Here is what the information looked like before I joined them:
The Divorce
The wall stands between East and West. The East, failing to flourish. In the West today, a free world, A level of prosperity Unprecedented in all human history. Bring the parts together. The inhabitants can enjoy life In one of the greatest cities. Symbols of love, of worship, Cannot be suppressed. The question alone remains open, The question of freedom for all mankind. Tear down the wall. The whole world is living through this watershed situation. Relations that are a part of this divide Should be abandoned. Mistrust, Psychological and ideological struggle, Things of the past. East and west do not mistrust each other because we are armed, We are armed because we mistrust each other. Love- love profound and abiding. Pushing forward a new civilization, Never again the intellectual error Of interpreting victory as victory for oneself, Way of life, Values. Development of humanity, Leading to destruction. Conflict is the inevitable opponent between good and evil. There stands before the world one conclusion: Freedom is the victor. HistoryFor my history portion, I wrote another poem. This poem is synthesized by taking the perspective from a person who actually lived through the end of the Cold War, and the United States' perspective on the end of the Cold War. The two perspectives synthesized together was interesting to say the least, because there were emotions coming from a citizen, and a boastful victory coming from a country. Putting them together was a bit of a challenge, but the final product turned out well.
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Freedom is the Victor
The Berlin Wall stands between East Berlin and West Berlin. The East side is governed by the soviets, following a communist style government that is failing to flourish. But in the West today, we see a free world, that has achieved a level of prosperity, and well-being unprecedented in all of human history. Let us work to bring the Eastern and Western parts of the city closer together, so that all the inhabitants of Berlin can enjoy the benefits that come with life in one of the greatest cities of the world. Berlin, like the city itself, symbols of love, Symbols of worship, cannot be suppressed. It is not the German question alone that remains open, but the question of freedom for all mankind. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall. The whole world is living through this watershed situation. As for the U.S. Soviet relations that are a part of this divide, between Berlin, The characteristics of the Cold War should be abandoned. The arms race, mistrust, psychological and ideological struggle, all those should be things of the past. East and West do not mistrust each other because we are armed; We are armed because we mistrust each other. But on a smaller scale, Berlin is just a representation of the relations between the United States and the Soviet Union. So in a word, I would submit that what keeps you in Berlin is love- love both profound and abiding. And in pushing forward to a new civilization we should under no circumstances again make the intellectual, and consequently political, error of interpreting victory in the Cold War narrowly as a victory for oneself, one’s own way of life, for one’s own values and merits. The development of humanity was becoming slowly congealed and leading us to destruction, and the conflict is presented as the inevitable opponent between good and evil. After these four decades, then, There stands before the entire world one great and inescapable conclusion: Freedom leads to prosperity. Freedom replaces the ancient hatreds among the nations with comity and peace. Freedom is the victor. |
Misguided Triumph
Victory.
A premature victory.
A victory for democracy,
Pumping our chests to the world.
Although our sighs were of relief,
We were angry and fearful.
Engaging in arbitrary disputes,
We still had our mind on the past.
Communism,
Aggression,
Disbandment.
Disbandment of a divided nation.
Things had flourished once again.
Our pride was too strong to let this be the end,
So we acted on others when others acted on us.
Preconditioned to expect the worst,
We acted on our own imperatives.
Policing the world but losing our power,
Another nation’s prosperity began to sour.
Unaware of the nature of our actions,
We were blinded by our own light.
Victory.
A premature victory.
A victory for democracy,
Pumping our chests to the world.
Although our sighs were of relief,
We were angry and fearful.
Engaging in arbitrary disputes,
We still had our mind on the past.
Communism,
Aggression,
Disbandment.
Disbandment of a divided nation.
Things had flourished once again.
Our pride was too strong to let this be the end,
So we acted on others when others acted on us.
Preconditioned to expect the worst,
We acted on our own imperatives.
Policing the world but losing our power,
Another nation’s prosperity began to sour.
Unaware of the nature of our actions,
We were blinded by our own light.
art
For my art portion, I decided to create a piece on chipboard combining cartography, phrases said during speeches during the Cold War, and parts of the Berlin Wall. I laser printed the Soviet Union and Berlin and synthesized them together in my piece, and used the different country's colors inside the outlines to represent who was in control over what territory. Some phrases I included are "Love," "Tear down this wall," and "Kein Europa ohne Berlin," which translates to, "No Europe without Berlin" in German.