This project, although it feels like it lasted a lifetime, in essence was quite short. We started by reading the book Things Fall Apart, written by Chinua Achebe. We read our books, while answering reading questions, and based on the information learned we then went about choosing countries in Africa to research. We were given the freedom of choosing different countries, and after completing a large amount of research we dove into the writing aspect of our projects, where we’d be writing historical fiction short stories based on research. I studied the Democratic Republic of Congo, and in addition to my research I also conducted an interview to further increase my knowledge. Before this project, the idea of ‘imperialism’ was completely unknown to me, yet after completing research and going the extra mile to improve my learning and my story, I have come away with a very competent understanding of imperialism. Imperialism, as I have come to learn, is the extending of a nation's power through military force, or the occasional diplomacy. Although the majority of African countries are free of their protectorates, there are still a small amount that remain under the control of their imperialist countries, and so the legacy still continues. As for the writing aspect of our projects, through our reading of Things Fall Apart, we were able to learn the ingredients of a strong story, the most of which being the ability to show not tell (descriptive writing). The title of our project, The Danger of a Single Story, came from the idea that a single story is not enough to get a good sense of a person, and so we cannot make assumptions based on hearing a single story, which causes it to be dangerous. Ultimately the lasting legacy of imperialism, though it is almost one hundred years later, has left several countries in ruins, and some in high wealth. Through the slave and working process, countries like The Democratic Republic of Congo have been left in ruins to clean up the mess of imperialism. Countries such as Nigeria have been left better off than ever before, through there production in oil, imperialism has helped them to become the wealthiest country in Africa, and one of the wealthiest countries in the world. | (The picture above is from the reading exhibition, where we read excerpts from our stories) |
The writing aspect of our project was very strenuous, and required a lot of work to get to a point of professionalism. I feel most proud of my ability to represent dialogue, which I have always struggled with, and because my story relied so much on the dialogue of my two protagonists, I felt a strong responsibility to create an accurate and realistic dialogue. As for the most difficult aspect of this project, I would definitely accredit much stress to all of the revision that we completed. I found that editing so much of the story, although extremely beneficial, caused me to feel stressed and was a large challenge. Looking back now, I realize that my story, because it was short, did not allow me to convey all of my points, and I feel that my rising action and climax were less prevalent than others. If I could go back, it would most certainly be to add a stronger climax. My writing has definitely grown throughout this project, and the most accurate way to show that is through giving a quotation from my story. The quotation you are about to see is important to me as it uses an accurate amount of research and detailed writing. It uses detailed writing and, and also introduces the subject that the rest of the story follows:
"Akinyi had grown up surrounded by a strong dislike of white people. Her grandparents had lived in an age where the white men ruled the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the King Leopold had used trickery and deception to commit genocide on Akinyi’s people. When her family would walk on the streets of their village, they would encounter the occasional white person, and her family would keep their heads bowed and would even go so far as to stop walking to let the white men women and children pass. From a young age she was taught to mistrust the white man."
As for the cover of my story, I felt I put a large amount of time into creating a cover that accurately represented my story in an accurate and beautiful sense. My most powerful design choice was using a shaded airplane, flying above the yellow sun of Africa, which represented two major parts of my story. I am most proud of the effect that I used in Photoshop to enable a dropped shadow on the plane, as it not only create a whole new element of dimension, but I feel it made the whole cover look much more refined. The most prevalent that I feel I had to overcome was the actual process of downloading Photoshop! I can confidently use Photoshop with total ease, but I had not installed it on any of my computers, and so I had to download a version of Photoshop off of the internet, which proved to be quite tricky. I feel that maybe incorporating the city that I mention in my story into the cover would have made it better, and If I could redo it I would put the city faded into the background of my cover.
I’ve learned multiple life lessons through my time at Animas High School, yet the ability to not judge upon first sight or talk, to keep an open mind, is by far the most important lesson that I have encountered. The Danger of a Single Story depicts the ability to create stereotypes, faster than we can say ‘hello’. I feel I have been able to bring awareness to this aspect, and try to be more open minded upon meeting new people. So, in all, my advice is TO NOT JUDGE A BOOK BY IT’S COVER!
"Akinyi had grown up surrounded by a strong dislike of white people. Her grandparents had lived in an age where the white men ruled the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the King Leopold had used trickery and deception to commit genocide on Akinyi’s people. When her family would walk on the streets of their village, they would encounter the occasional white person, and her family would keep their heads bowed and would even go so far as to stop walking to let the white men women and children pass. From a young age she was taught to mistrust the white man."
As for the cover of my story, I felt I put a large amount of time into creating a cover that accurately represented my story in an accurate and beautiful sense. My most powerful design choice was using a shaded airplane, flying above the yellow sun of Africa, which represented two major parts of my story. I am most proud of the effect that I used in Photoshop to enable a dropped shadow on the plane, as it not only create a whole new element of dimension, but I feel it made the whole cover look much more refined. The most prevalent that I feel I had to overcome was the actual process of downloading Photoshop! I can confidently use Photoshop with total ease, but I had not installed it on any of my computers, and so I had to download a version of Photoshop off of the internet, which proved to be quite tricky. I feel that maybe incorporating the city that I mention in my story into the cover would have made it better, and If I could redo it I would put the city faded into the background of my cover.
I’ve learned multiple life lessons through my time at Animas High School, yet the ability to not judge upon first sight or talk, to keep an open mind, is by far the most important lesson that I have encountered. The Danger of a Single Story depicts the ability to create stereotypes, faster than we can say ‘hello’. I feel I have been able to bring awareness to this aspect, and try to be more open minded upon meeting new people. So, in all, my advice is TO NOT JUDGE A BOOK BY IT’S COVER!