The Truth of War
Art Piece
Artist Statement
Things Change
Digital Media, Photoshop
With the use of these images, I decided to convey that one of the concrete facts of war is that it changes things. People, places, countries can all come out of a war unrecognizable as what they once were. I used the same image for the before and after pictures, which is an actual picture of Vietnam from a travel website. I edited in a rainbow to emphasize the peaceful message of the first image. For the second, I turned the image black and white, and added in soldiers and helicopters to represent war. They flowed into each other over 12 frames, the first glitching into the second, and then back again. It’s showing the transition of a peaceful Vietnam into a war-torn country with a much sadder tone to it. The final piece ended up being the third version that I had made, after re-animating it twice.
Kira Ewing
January 2016
Digital Media, Photoshop
With the use of these images, I decided to convey that one of the concrete facts of war is that it changes things. People, places, countries can all come out of a war unrecognizable as what they once were. I used the same image for the before and after pictures, which is an actual picture of Vietnam from a travel website. I edited in a rainbow to emphasize the peaceful message of the first image. For the second, I turned the image black and white, and added in soldiers and helicopters to represent war. They flowed into each other over 12 frames, the first glitching into the second, and then back again. It’s showing the transition of a peaceful Vietnam into a war-torn country with a much sadder tone to it. The final piece ended up being the third version that I had made, after re-animating it twice.
Kira Ewing
January 2016
Interview Transcript
Essay
Reflection
Project Description
In this project we investigated the truth of war through studying the Vietnam war. We recorded an interview with a real-life local veteran, wrote a timed essay in class, and will be making an art piece after winter break.
Interview Reflection
Our group used the app Storycorps to interview a veteran from the Vietnam war, named Teddy Jack. We interviewed him about his time in the military service, as well as before and after his time in Vietnam. He talked about how his journey changed him as a person, and it was very interesting to hear from a person who was actually there and had real experience with the subjects that we are studying. First-hand experience is much more important than just reading an overview of what happened. It makes it feel more realistic to see and talk to a person who was actually there, and makes a person realize that it is not just an event in some long-ago history book, and that it was actually fairly recent, in my parent’s lifetime. Some of the subjects our veteran talked about were difficult to listen to, and probably even more difficult for him to talk about. The app was difficult to use, also, since I hadn’t practiced with it before the interview. It took a very long time to get the interview uploaded, since the app would not let me publish it for unknown reasons. During this process, I learned that no one really knew what they were getting into when they signed up for the war, or got drafted. Nobody approved of the war by the time it was over, especially people who had been there. When the veterans got home, they were met with disrespect and aggression from the Americans who had not fought, and our veteran actually got kicked out of his mother’s home for drinking too much. I had never really thought about what happened to veterans when they got home, beyond the PTSD. It was kind of eye-opening to see what people thought of the veterans, since now everyone treats veterans with the utmost respect, and they are regarded as the protectors of our country. I’m glad we interviewed this veteran, and I am glad that I had the opportunity to learn more about the Vietnam war.
Seminar Reflection
This seminar was based off the book The Things They Carried by Tim O’brien. We discussed the book’s deeper meanings, as well as how it could relate to modern days and our lives. In this particular seminar I did a good job at not dominating the conversation, by not talking over anyone, I also listened actively, and I offered new ideas to the conversation. I need to work on contributing more, by responding to others and asking relevant questions. I don’t contribute very often in seminars, but I always respond when asked things directly. Moving on, the book itself talked a lot about the truth in war, and how war affects soldiers and families. He talked about how many war stories weren't actually true, but had truth in them. Whether or not they actually happened was not relevant to a story being true. The truth of war is that it can’t be generalized into one specific category, and it has many conflicting aspects. Tim O’Brien talks about how war can be peaceful, violent, beautiful, gory. Just like life, it goes on, and things keep changing, and war is a part of life. The other cold truth of war is that it is terrible, and very difficult to forget, not to mention life-changing. As evidenced by this book being written, the memories don’t ever fully fade, there is no forgetting, and there is no getting over it. He talks about how writing it is cathartic, and how writing distances him from what happened, so that he could look at it objectively, instead of personally. He doesn’t want to face it head-on, and even though he says he never had nightmares or anything, the same cannot be said for everyone. The truth of war is that it happens, and nothing can ever change history to make it not happen. And when it happens, there’s no changing it, and there’s no forgetting it.
Essay Reflection
During our Truth of War project, we wrote an essay, recorded an interview, and will make an art piece. Our essay was focused on the Gulf of Tonkin incident, which was what many people consider to be the true start of the Vietnam war. Our objective was to figure out the truth of what really happened at the Gulf, and whether or not the Vietnamese attack was provoked by the U.S.A. We started by investigating nine different source documents, some before the incident and some after. Most of the documents were from America’s point of view, with only one from the Vietnamese. We went through each document, and figured out everything about it using historical thinking skills such as contextualizing, sourcing, and reading the tones and silences. I thought that I did a pretty good job at the contextualizing and sourcing, to decide whether or not the source was complete and reliable. I was not as good at using my background knowledge, mostly because I didn’t have that much and most of what we learned was new to me. I learned more about how war is really complicated, and neither side is ever really morally sound. I also learned a lot about how the media twists facts to manipulate the country. They blamed the entire incident on the Vietnamese, even though other sources clearly said that the U.S. was already attacking them, and they also admitted that the incident was more of a retaliation than a real attack of war. The essay as a whole went really well, I finished it early and got an A on it, so I am proud of it.
In this project we investigated the truth of war through studying the Vietnam war. We recorded an interview with a real-life local veteran, wrote a timed essay in class, and will be making an art piece after winter break.
Interview Reflection
Our group used the app Storycorps to interview a veteran from the Vietnam war, named Teddy Jack. We interviewed him about his time in the military service, as well as before and after his time in Vietnam. He talked about how his journey changed him as a person, and it was very interesting to hear from a person who was actually there and had real experience with the subjects that we are studying. First-hand experience is much more important than just reading an overview of what happened. It makes it feel more realistic to see and talk to a person who was actually there, and makes a person realize that it is not just an event in some long-ago history book, and that it was actually fairly recent, in my parent’s lifetime. Some of the subjects our veteran talked about were difficult to listen to, and probably even more difficult for him to talk about. The app was difficult to use, also, since I hadn’t practiced with it before the interview. It took a very long time to get the interview uploaded, since the app would not let me publish it for unknown reasons. During this process, I learned that no one really knew what they were getting into when they signed up for the war, or got drafted. Nobody approved of the war by the time it was over, especially people who had been there. When the veterans got home, they were met with disrespect and aggression from the Americans who had not fought, and our veteran actually got kicked out of his mother’s home for drinking too much. I had never really thought about what happened to veterans when they got home, beyond the PTSD. It was kind of eye-opening to see what people thought of the veterans, since now everyone treats veterans with the utmost respect, and they are regarded as the protectors of our country. I’m glad we interviewed this veteran, and I am glad that I had the opportunity to learn more about the Vietnam war.
Seminar Reflection
This seminar was based off the book The Things They Carried by Tim O’brien. We discussed the book’s deeper meanings, as well as how it could relate to modern days and our lives. In this particular seminar I did a good job at not dominating the conversation, by not talking over anyone, I also listened actively, and I offered new ideas to the conversation. I need to work on contributing more, by responding to others and asking relevant questions. I don’t contribute very often in seminars, but I always respond when asked things directly. Moving on, the book itself talked a lot about the truth in war, and how war affects soldiers and families. He talked about how many war stories weren't actually true, but had truth in them. Whether or not they actually happened was not relevant to a story being true. The truth of war is that it can’t be generalized into one specific category, and it has many conflicting aspects. Tim O’Brien talks about how war can be peaceful, violent, beautiful, gory. Just like life, it goes on, and things keep changing, and war is a part of life. The other cold truth of war is that it is terrible, and very difficult to forget, not to mention life-changing. As evidenced by this book being written, the memories don’t ever fully fade, there is no forgetting, and there is no getting over it. He talks about how writing it is cathartic, and how writing distances him from what happened, so that he could look at it objectively, instead of personally. He doesn’t want to face it head-on, and even though he says he never had nightmares or anything, the same cannot be said for everyone. The truth of war is that it happens, and nothing can ever change history to make it not happen. And when it happens, there’s no changing it, and there’s no forgetting it.
Essay Reflection
During our Truth of War project, we wrote an essay, recorded an interview, and will make an art piece. Our essay was focused on the Gulf of Tonkin incident, which was what many people consider to be the true start of the Vietnam war. Our objective was to figure out the truth of what really happened at the Gulf, and whether or not the Vietnamese attack was provoked by the U.S.A. We started by investigating nine different source documents, some before the incident and some after. Most of the documents were from America’s point of view, with only one from the Vietnamese. We went through each document, and figured out everything about it using historical thinking skills such as contextualizing, sourcing, and reading the tones and silences. I thought that I did a pretty good job at the contextualizing and sourcing, to decide whether or not the source was complete and reliable. I was not as good at using my background knowledge, mostly because I didn’t have that much and most of what we learned was new to me. I learned more about how war is really complicated, and neither side is ever really morally sound. I also learned a lot about how the media twists facts to manipulate the country. They blamed the entire incident on the Vietnamese, even though other sources clearly said that the U.S. was already attacking them, and they also admitted that the incident was more of a retaliation than a real attack of war. The essay as a whole went really well, I finished it early and got an A on it, so I am proud of it.