Tagature: Literary Graffiti
"The concept of the Tagature project is simple: to thoughtfully select quotes from literature and use them to create an ongoing conversation through tags, graffiti and street art in the 11th grade commons." For more information, visit my teacher's digital portfolio project page.
Freedom or Sin?
“Some tourists think Amsterdam is a city of sin, but in truth it is a city of freedom. And in freedom, most people find sin.” John Green from The Fault In Our Stars (Page 157)
The inspiration behind this tag comes from The Fault In Our Stars by John Green. When I first read this quote I began to think about the meaning of freedom and sin and their relationship. In the novel we are introduced to Hazel, an innocent sixteen year old girl who is slowly dying from lung cancer, something that she has no control over. She has never lived a “normal” life and has never experienced true freedom. Hazel is constantly being confined mentally and physically due to her illness, overprotective parents and lots of uncertainty. In the novel, she visits Amsterdam where she is immersed in complete freedom and for a moment lives what a “normal” teenage life is like. For the first time, Hazel has her first drink of alcohol, stays out late without supervision in an unknown city and has sex. Although Amsterdam allows behaviors which are illegal here it does not make them inherently sinful. Rather it is without limits that people typically find themselves sinning. Hazel explores this newfound liberation. She breaks the shackles that have weighed her down and within that unlimited environment finds herself doing things that can be viewed as corrupt. It is my hope that my audience will consider the connection between freedom and sin. Are they mutually exclusive or do they go perfectly hand in hand?
Within & Without
"I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life." F. Scott Fitzgerald from The Great Gatsby (Page 35)
This is my favorite quote from The Great Gatsby, as it fully captures the personality of the narrator, Nick Carraway. Nick makes this statement when he is drinking with Tom, Myrtle and a few friends at their apartment. Nick has been “drunk just twice, and the second time was that afternoon.” (29) While the rest of them chat about travelling and their awful marriages, Nick is conflicted and uncertain. He feels like an outcast among his “friends” and subsequently drank more than he normally would due to his surroundings. He “wanted to get out and walk eastward, but each time I tried to go I became entangled in some wild, strident argument which pulled me back, as if with ropes, into my chair. Yet high over the city our line of yellow windows must have contributed their share of human secrecy to the casual watcher in the darkening streets, and I was him too, looking up and wondering.” (35) My favorite thing about reading is finding a character you relate to, one whose thoughts and feeling resonate. For me that was Nick Carraway. I discovered many similarities between the two of us especially that we are people pleasers who constantly compare ourselves to others. Because of this, there always feels a need to be at a distance from the crowd, a self imposed separation. Nick seems to be pretty good at hiding his feelings which I am too, whether that is a good or bad thing. In this tag I wanted to show that Nick desired to be included and was intrigued by Gatsby, with his parties and large lifestyle but, ultimately, it doesn’t fit his personality. I tried to recreate the scene where Nick is at one of Gatsby’s extravagant summer parties that included many excesses; drinking, dancing and women. Nick received an invite, which was unusual as people typically weren’t invited but rather showed up unannounced. Upon arrival he immediately feels out of place, “I wandered around rather ill at ease among swirls and eddies of people I didn’t know.” (42) Although Nick is seduced by Gatsby’s famous social life, it only serves to illuminate the differences between them and make him feel even more excluded, a stranger observing from the outside.
Go Ask Brooklynn
"I wish I were popular and beautiful and wealthy and talented." Anonymous from Go Ask Alice (Page 84)
The motivation behind this tag came from my connection to the anonymous book, Go Ask Alice. I chose to read this book for an honors assignment and thought it was very interesting. The theme that stood out the most to me was how empty Alice felt. She never felt good enough and strived for popularity, beauty, wealth and talent. It was very easy to connect with Alice. What teen hasn’t had these same feelings? Unfortunately, we all have those voices in the back of our minds telling us that we are not worthy and will never be accepted. When we compare ourselves to the person next to us, we look past our good qualities and focus instead on what we do not like or do not have. I wanted to show this feeling of competitiveness with a strange similie to gingerbread cookies. On the plate I showed three different gingerbread men. One with a microphone to represent talent, one with a top hat and cane to show wealth and one with a bow tie to show simple beauty. Although they look a bit different from one another on the outside, when all the “extras” are stripped away they are all just plain gingerbread men. Each very similar to the next. Their thoughts surround them in a vicious cycle represented by the plate that they are laying on. Next to the plate is a glass of milk that is filled up halfway labeled self esteem. It seems as though Alice and these gingerbread men look at the glass as half empty rather than half full. They do not see the good in themselves because they are constantly looking at others. Ultimately, I think that happiness is a choice and I hope that this is shown through this tag. You can compare yourself to others or you can find happiness in the things that you have. You can live life looking outward for validation or you can seek the beauty within. This book has encouraged me to do more inward reflecting than outward comparing.
Internship Endeavors
"I left a child, returned an adult and got to check “visit Big Ben” off my bucket list all while sharing my knowledge about project based learning." Brooklynn Bucky from Ampersand
The inspiration behind this tag comes from my contribution to our published class book, Ampersand. Ampersand is a collection of student internship experiences that allowed us to reflect on our challenges and accomplishments. My internship took place at a school called Sir Bernard Lovell in Bristol, England. At the school I helped develop projects, learned about their educational system and gave lots of presentations about how to transition to a project based learning school. I collaborated with the other intern and pitched a project idea to a group of teachers who were very impressed and inspired by our professional work. It took about two hours to create a seven hour lesson plan to be taught over the course of six days. We created a rubric for the students which included performance, visual and content requirements. Our project was created to fit within the current curriculum of the geography of Bristol. Each group was to design an informative poster and give a two minute presentation. To aid the students in feeling more comfortable, and display the requirements, the other intern and I presented our sample project first. At the end, each poster was hung up to remind the students to be proud of their hard work. I was very impressed with the quality of the work that the students produced. I am also very glad that we took the time to reflect on their achievements. I can confidently say that our work benefited Sir Bernard Lovell and I hope they are successful in their transition to a completely project based learning school. I had lots of ideas for this tag but narrowed it down to a British flag with a pencil as a flag pole. I created this to show the balance between the work that I did at internship and the fun things that I did in London. The flag is to represent the experiences that I had while I wasn’t at school and the pencil as the flagpole is to represent the work that I produced and a creative way to show that I was teaching. I learned so much about myself and got to really step out of my comfort zone. When we first arrived we had three days of touring London which was some of the best days of my life. I tried new foods, saw the iconic Big Ben and got closer to the five other students. Once we were all separated to our host families I knew the real work was about to begin. However, my host family spoiled me and we did so many cool activities on the weekends including bowling, walking across the Clifton suspension bridge and shopping around town. I could not have chosen a better host family to spend my time with. We quickly bonded over our love for boy bands and pizza. One highlight during my stay was our late night pajama party where we dressed in onesies, watched movies and talked for hours about life. We all cried on my departure at the train station but have been great at keeping in touch thanks to Snap Chat and Skype.