Month: October 2020

Winning the War: A Paradigm Shift Paper Reflection

 

We are on the final push for our paradigm shift papers and what a process it has been! I have learned more about World War I than I could have imagined, and my research has only reinforced my initial claims about the war.

This project has strengthens both my research skills and my writing. With the help of my peer reviewers, I was able to present the vast amounts of information I gathered on World War I in a manner that was organized for the reader. They gave strong support not only for my evidence and context, but also the transition sentences that I separated different themes with. I was able to identify areas of improvement, such as the introduction from their comments, and I believe their assistance will benefit my final draft immensely.

As I said previously, I have learned a lot about World War I through my large amount of sources. Here is a collection of fun facts that I have learned.

  • Gas attacks used to be commenced by releasing canisters from the edge of a trench. However, the wind could change, which would bring the gas back into your trench and bring agony to your comrades. Gas cartridges were redesigned to be shot across no man’s land to the enemy trenches, and the problem was solved.
  • Before becoming the Red Baron, Manfred von Richthofen was enlisted in a German cavalry unit. He was reassigned to the air squadrons when cavalry units were phased out of the conflict.
  • A nurse stationed on HMHS Britannic, a sister ship of the infamous RMS Titanic, is the only known person to survive the sinking of both of these ocean liners, she was a steward on the Titanic back in 1912 and would survive both ships and the war.

World War I has often been overshadowed by World War II, an event that is heavily connected to it. The objective of my paper is to remind the reader that if it were not for World War I, the political and military structures of Europe would be much different, and World War II may not have been a reality. World War I brought down centuries of political order in countries through the abdication of their monarchs, and the rules of war were rewritten, a decision that made the campaigns of World War II so destructive.

Many people would still overlook World War I when viewing modern conflicts, citing World War II as the most damaging human conflict in history. It was my mission as a writer to show the audience that the shifts that occurred in World War I has much more dramatic effects on Europe and the rest of the world. I believe that I have succeeded through my extensive research and analysis of the war, the weapons it was fought with, and the monarchs who abdicated because of it.

 

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Building a Play that Goes Wrong

How does one build a set that is supposed to break every show? It may have been a pain, but our stage crew team was able to do just this during Fall of my Junior Year.

The production was based on The Play that Goes Wrong, and our objective was both simple and terrifying: Build a set that can break in every way and form, and still be reused throughout the production. This was a whole new ball game.

At first the tasks at hand seemed simple:

  • Build panels over the fireplace that can be punched out
  • Attach the paintings to magnets so they can fall down during the middle of the show when the magnet is pulled from behind.
  • Build a rotating bookcase that would function as a secret  hideout.

Then we turned through the rest of the designs and stood back in shock.

  • Ensure that the back walls of the set are able to fall at the end of the show.

How do you create falling walls that won’t be pulverized at the end of each show? The work began.

 

What a production! The set stole the show, and the audience laughed from opening to closing. Nothing broke too! How did we do it?

The falling walls were a pain to design and construct, but by the beginning of the production, we had mastered their operation.

We took large sheets of 1/4 inch thick lauan plywood and attached them to a light frame made out of 1×3 wood planks. These “walls” were then covered with wallpaper, a process that can be seen in photo three of the montage.

Once were had built a sturdy rear frame for the structure of the walls, which can also be seen in photo three, we needed to find a simple way to get these fake walls to fall properly on every occasion. We addressed this issue by attaching wall anchor loops to the fake walls and the stage floor. These loops were connected with zip ties to ensure that the walls remained close to the main supports when they fell.

After many days of testing, we were able to find this system that worked reliably. Now the biggest question remained: How do you keep the walls from falling until the end of the show? This was the most ingenious and terrifying solution of them all.

Each of the three falling walls was held to the rear support frame by two fishing lines, one located on each upper corner of the fake walls. This fishing line was fed through wall anchor loops on the support frame and attached to the rear wall of the stage to keep the walls up. When the cue came, crew members backstage would cut the lines, and the walls would come crashing down, and they did just that! They could easily be reset by feeding the line back through these loops, hoisting the walls back into position, and reattaching the lines to the rear walls.

This was without a doubt the most complex set I have ever built, but it is one of the most memorable as well. For a play that was scripted to go wrong, everything went right for the stage crew. We were also stars of the show for designing such a ridiculous set, and I will always look back on this production with happiness.

Sometimes, all you need for success is fishing line (and prayers).

Paradigm Shift Paper Outline

I. Introduction

In the renown movie The Sound of Music, Georg von Trapp, a retired Austrian Navy Captain, is recruited by Nazi German officials to join the Fuhrer’s navy. This conflicted man is torn between his pride in his Austrian homeland, the safety of his family, and the fear of disobeying the occupying Nazis. Von Trapp’s strong distrust of the Germans leads him and his family to flee the country to the United States. Georg von Trapp upholds the traditions of Austria and refuses to promote the rise of Fascism, which contradicts many of his values. His struggle represents the old society of Europe and its incapacity to fend of the rising tide of evil. Many had lost faith in the continent’s established order several decades earlier and allowed for institutions to be fully consumed by tyranny. Figureheads of nations such as Kaiser Wilhelm II, Franz Joseph, and Tsar Nicholas II were replaced by Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Josef Stalin. This shift resulted in millions of deaths and a divided Europe for the remainder of the century. The Great War had brought an end to these monarchs’ dynasties, and the void left after it changed history. Society may define World War II as the most horrific of human conflicts, but they often overlook the war that directly led to it. World War I brought about changes in the rules of warfare and the hierarchy of Europe that allowed for dictators to rise and rip apart the continent.

II. Body Paragraphs

A. “Literature review” or a review of the shift

    1. Definitions (if necessary)
    2. a. Define Europe under the old world order
    3. b. Establish context about the royal houses affect by the War: (Romanov: Russia, Habsburg-Lorraine: Austria, Hohenzollern and minor thrones: Germany, Saxe-Coburg Gotha: United Kingdom).
    4. c. Establish context on the former rules, traditions, and strategies of warfare: the use of cavalry, single shot rifles, sabers, open-battlefield warfare, decorative uniforms.
    5. d. Outline the industrialization of Europe during the late 1800s and the products of this new production: machine guns, U-Boats, airplanes, tanks.
    6. 2. Establish the before/after of the shift — make observations from primary texts i.e. speeches, popular culture, ads, TV shows, magazines, political discourse–debates, highbrow magazine articles (New Yorker, Harpers, Atlantic, etc.)
    7. a. Demonstrate the rise of nationalism in Europe.
    8. b. Use English satire and propaganda pieces to show the country’s resistance to Germany’s rise in influence.
    9. c. Explain the changes that occurred in Russia in 1905, and the tension that nearly caused the Tsar to give up the throne.
    10. d. Show how the rise of the Bolsheviks in Russia led to the Red Scare in the United States and other countries.
    11. e. Address how the foreign policy of the United changed as a result of the war.
    12. f. Show how the League of Nations and other groups put tight restrictions on Germany, which led to the rise of Nazism.
    13. g. Show how technology and strategies developed in the Great War led to changes in World War II and future conflicts: (Unrestricted submarine warfare, trenches, tanks, aerial bombardment, gas attacks, automatic weapons, etc.).

 

B. Analysis of Causes

    1. What reasons do scholars give for the shift?: Scholars cite technological advancements for leading to the new methods of warfare in World War I. a. Expand on events such as the Sinking of the Lusitania.
    2. Expand on context established through definitions in previous paragraphs. Countries needed a scapegoat for the losses of war. Absolute monarchs and other figureheads served as the primary leader to punish. These leaders who had established stability were replaced with radicals who reshaped the institutions of their respective countries.
    3. What evidence exists to support analysis of the causes?: Research newspapers, political documents, and war strategy to give the reader insight.

 

C. Critique of the shift: What are scholars saying about the consequences/implications of the shift?

    1. Possible questions to explore: Is there a consensus or disagreement about the implications of the shift?  What are points of contention? What do these points of contention indicate? How might points of contention be resolved?
    2. – Should monarchies have been upheld after the war?
    3. – Did war strategy already change before the war?
    4. – Could World War II have been prevented if different measures were taken after World War I?
    5. – Is Europe in need of monarchies today
    6. Use historical texts and interpretations to analyze these questions and their answers.
    7. Possible questions to explore, continued: What is the greater significance of the shift? Why does this shift ultimately matter?
    8. World War I not only killed millions of individuals, but also led to millions of further deaths in World War II and the conflicts surrounding the Cold War.
    9. Europe was thrown into disarray for eight decades because of this conflict, but eventually came to peaceful terms.
    10. Centuries of European history were torn down through eliminating country’s monarchies, as well as the physical damage that would occur in countries in both World Wars with the adoption of total war.

III. Conclusion

The war to end all wars brought about major technological changes and shifts in political systems that would lead to further conflict in the following decades. It is difficult to see what the world would be like if World War I had never occurred. If the driver chauffeuring Archduke Ferdinand had not taken a wrong turn in the streets of Sarajevo, the life of the Austrian heir would have been saved and the conflict may have been averted. However dramatic these events and changes were for Europe, the continent should still seek to uphold its established traditions. Monarchies are ultimately meant to unite the population of a country around common figures and values. When Europeans threw away their long-held identities, they were overtaken by sinister forces, who preyed on their insecurities. World War I led to dramatic changes in the fabric of Europe and proved that deconstruction is not the best method to reform a country with. Europe has shifted towards peace since, the fall of the iron curtain, but its society is still plagued by the decisions that came about from this mentality.

World War I: The Forgotten War

1. Identify your chosen focus for the Paradigm Shift project. Indicate the boundaries of your intended focus as clearly as possible. What is the story that you seek to tell? As you now envision it, how long of a time period is covered by the expected focus – several centuries, just the last decade? Remember that the story should end in the present day.

If any member of society were to state a horrific conflict that has occurred in human history, the answer would most likely be World War II. Images of genocide, kamikaze attacks, and the wholly evil Adolf Hitler come to mind whenever this war is mentioned. World War II’s effects on the world were tremendous, but they are small in comparison to its predecessor, World War I.

The war to end all wars is often overshadowed by the conflict that followed it, but it led to many more significant changes in society, and brought about World War II as a result.

I will describe how this conflict changed the rules of war, and how it changed the balance of power in Europe indefinitely.

This will be a sad tale, one of a driver who took a wrong turn in Sarajevo and indirectly got millions of people killed. It is one of mustard gas, tired emperors meeting death, ruling parties being wiped out by revolution, and injustice that leads to further conflict.

I will look at the history of Europe and the world from a very different society in 1914 to the present day. Many events happened in the twentieth century, but a large portion of them have roots in the Great War.

2. Why is this specific shift significant enough to merit your close investigation and the attention of your audiences? Why does this shift need to be explored and understood?

World War I changed the course of human history, yet it is often ignored, as society looks to World War II and more recent conflicts to define evil in the world. The world would have been a different place if Archduke Franz Ferdinand left Sarajevo unharmed, and I seek to prove the immense fallout of this conflict to the audience.

“Now I am become death, the destroyer of sets”

The stage crew build process is a long and strenuous one. The entire set needs to be completed before the technical rehearsals start for the production, and the team quickly shifts to maintaining and operating the set during the show. What happens to the set after the show?

The stage crew construction cycle can be described by two simple metaphors:

  1. Rome was not built in a day.
  2. Hiroshima was destroyed in a day.

The crew shifts from dedicating large amounts of time to carefully piecing together a set and upkeeping it to leveling it in a three hour period.

Here is how it is done:

First, you will need a few tools and resources.

  • A sledgehammer
  • A crowbar
  • A VERY LARGE dumpster
  • Vacuum cleaners
  • Power drills
  • Muscle and grit

Destruction day still remains my favorite stage crew ritual, as it gives the team a new slate to use and allows for a recycling of materials. Most of the wood that we use in shows is reused to the point where it is structurally deficient, and screws are guaranteed to serve in several productions, until they are completely stripped down. Besides that, everything goes. The fun begins.

We mostly love and take pride in the structures we build, but there is always a piece that irritates everyone on the crew, to the point where it deserves a spot in hell.

What does a teenage crew armed with sledgehammers and crowbars do to these obnoxious structures?

We send them to the flames below

Nothing is as satisfying as pulverizing construction project with a sledgehammer, but we only reserve this measure for the worst items.

The remainder of the set is carefully dismantled using power drills, and the recycled wood and screws are sorted out from the waste. The remainder of the supplies meet the full power of the sledge hammer to be compressed for the dumpster.

Within three hours, our monuments to the show productions are reduced to a pile of wood in backstage and sawdust for the dumpster and vacuums. It seems depressing to put so much work into a project, only to have it torn apart by children wielding weapons of mass destruction.

This is what the reflection following the demolition is structured to combat. We reflect with the cast of the show on the high and low points of the production, and how we grew as actors and crew members because of them. The crew members usually mention the countless stories that came up during the build, and prove how we overcame hurdles to craft a set that blew the audience away.

Each set is both literally and figuratively built on the materials and knowledge gained from the previous set. We enjoy destroying our sets in such as small timeframe, because it gives us the opportunity to quickly remember our growth and look forward to the next shiny set design that we will be presented with. A phoenix rises out of the ashes.

 

 

I Would Rather_________ Than Watch a Recording of Myself Public Speaking

 

I am comfortable with speaking in public, but watching a recording of myself doing it has been too much for me up to this point. Now I know that these reviews are for my own benefit, and I welcome them.

1. What do you feel you did well on?: I felt that I knew the material that I was presenting very well. My father’s story about the 747 was very easy for me to recall. I am also an air travel enthusiast, and the 747 is a commonplace at airports. I have had the priviledge of flying on the jet and learning about it over time, so the historical information I presented was  very familiar to me.

I also felt that I kept the speech at a reasonable pace. I was not rushed, and the speech was not significantly over the limit.  In all honesty, I could have talked about this plane all day, and I am proud of myself for compressing so much information into a limited time frame.

2. What are some areas to improve?

As I stated in my post presentation comments, I did not know where to look for this  speech. With an in-person audience, it’s easy to gauge where to look throughout your time at the podium, but this new setup threw these guidelines out. The camera view of the audience were located below my presentation slide, so I spent my time looking between there and the camera. I did not want to spend my time fixated on the camera, as that may have broken my concentration when I needed to refer to photos.

There were a few pauses scattered throughout the speech, but they were not detrimental to the message and overall presentation of the speech. I paused when I commented about my grandmother, as it is an emotional scene considering her condition. I would much rather pause to collect myself, rather than going on with upended emotions.

3. What are three things that happened that you weren’t aware of?:

  1. I thought that my class camera view tab would be visible to the audience, but it is not. If it were displayed in the location lower on my screen, it may have been easier to see why I directed a lot of my eye contact in that direction.
  2. My voice was not monotone! I always thought that my voice would be monotone in speeches as it has deepened. However, I was able to emphasize points with emotion and make my pronunciation cohesive and easy to understand.
  3. I did not use my hands excessively for gestures. When I am very comfortable in a speaking environment, and I know my material well, I can become animated with my gestures. I wanted to sit on my hands as a preventative measure, but it turns out that I did not need to. I kept my hands lower down, and placed all of my photos on one slide so I did not need to move my hands upwards. This could have been a temptation for me to keep them there.