Genocide: Century of Death
Artist Statement:
The Nanking Massacre included the Japanese and the Chinese. Japan thought they were nationalist so they thought they could take over China. This was also happening during the WWII time period. They then tortured the Chinese by raping women in front of their families and beheading other people; it was a terrible time for eastern Asia. Japan has yet to admit what they did to Nanking and the other “territories” they had taken over.
Our research shaped and informed our project because our genocide took place over years so we decided to do a timeline based project. In 1928-1937 there was 20.000-80,000 women that were raped right in front of their families: “The horrific events are known as the Nanking Massacre or the Rape of Nanking, as between 20,000 and 80,000 women were sexually assaulted” (Nanking Massacre). Showing how ruthless Japan was to Eastern Asia. There was more and more cruelty between 1928-37 for there was somewhere between 200,000-300,000 deaths: “There are no official numbers for the death toll in the Nanking Massacre, though estimates range from 200,000 to 300,000 people.” Such cruelty, it’s a shame.(Nanking Massacre) This research influenced our final form of our project because since it happened over the course of years we thought that it would be, simple, and very informative. I think the timeline was most appropriate because timelines are very informative and Nanking massacre has a lot of information.
The main message we want the viewers to take from our project is that the Nanking Massacre was a terrible and a very terrorizing time for the Chinese and innocent people of Nanking.
Our project will be a timeline based project. It is on two pieces of plywood, on the first piece of plywood it includes, 8 doors with one main idea on the front of the door that will open and have information about the main idea inside of the door. The second piece of plywood will be behind the first one so the information can be actually inside the door. I contributed to this project by doing the painting, pictures, and some of the writing, I find it very important to learn about this genocide because of all the horrible things Japan did to China, Japan, still to this day is denying all acts of genocide.
I can be very artistic and when me and my group came up with the project I was kinda excited because I knew I could show my artistic side with this project. For this project my part was to help with paint the background, and make a list of our main ideas for the front of the door along with the information that goes inside the doors. The thing I like most about our finished product is the looks with the doors and how informative it really is.
Works Cited
“Nanking Massacre,” 21 August 2018. www.history.com/topics/japan/nanjing-massacre. Accessed 20 February 2019
Project Reflection:
1) I'm most proud about the final project because it looks good, we took the time to do it good. We worked really hard on this project for a while. We got all the information we needed and all the pictures we needed to actually show what the brutality of the Nanking Massacre really looked like.
2) If we had one more week to work on our project I would've added more pictures, I would also try and figure out a way for our doors to stay shut but also be easy to open without trying real hard to open them.
3) A difficulty we had while in the process of working on this project was getting the background color right, we first tried purple but that was too bright, especially for a genocide project, so then we added some blue to make a midnight blue. Then we got red and splattered it on our project so it looked like blood splatter. Another difficulty we had was people messing with our project like pouring paint all over our project which added extra work for us, causing us to be behind with our project.
4) The most important thing I learned over the course of this project was teamwork and how people slacking causes the whole project to not be as nice as you want it to look. Teamwork is important because each group member plays a certain role to do each day and if one thing doesn't get done that day it causes the whole group to be behind which in my opinion, isn't good at all for our final project. I also learned work habits which was give all the motivation that you have to your project each and everyday you have to work on it.
1) I'm most proud about the final project because it looks good, we took the time to do it good. We worked really hard on this project for a while. We got all the information we needed and all the pictures we needed to actually show what the brutality of the Nanking Massacre really looked like.
2) If we had one more week to work on our project I would've added more pictures, I would also try and figure out a way for our doors to stay shut but also be easy to open without trying real hard to open them.
3) A difficulty we had while in the process of working on this project was getting the background color right, we first tried purple but that was too bright, especially for a genocide project, so then we added some blue to make a midnight blue. Then we got red and splattered it on our project so it looked like blood splatter. Another difficulty we had was people messing with our project like pouring paint all over our project which added extra work for us, causing us to be behind with our project.
4) The most important thing I learned over the course of this project was teamwork and how people slacking causes the whole project to not be as nice as you want it to look. Teamwork is important because each group member plays a certain role to do each day and if one thing doesn't get done that day it causes the whole group to be behind which in my opinion, isn't good at all for our final project. I also learned work habits which was give all the motivation that you have to your project each and everyday you have to work on it.
Poetry
Slow
Cold, with the urge to sit up but just can’t
She wanted to be okay, so she told me
To let her be, I just couldn’t
I called the ambulance, told them that she couldn’t,
Just couldn’t do anything
They rushed but didn’t rush enough
Laying in our living room in her hospital bed
I wake up every morning before school,
Tell her that I love her and that I’ll see her soon
She held my hand tight trying to talk but couldn’t,
I shook my head and said “I know”
I went to comfort her, her hands were cold
I held on lightly letting my hand enfold
Her wrinkled skin so fragile and old
Slow breathing
Slow heartbeat
Slow processing skills
She was hurting;
I couldn’t bear to
Imagine that pain
The days went on
She felt better but wasn’t getting any better
The pain she was in was all in our hearts
She wasn’t able to do anything for herself,
She couldn’t even speak
She continued to get weaker
It was my grandfather’s birthday
She couldn’t make it another day
I told her good morning
I got no response
Not even a hand squeeze
I tried and tried waking her up
My mother heard me
She put me in my room
A couple hours went by
She wasn’t there
The nights got lonely and she was gone
No one to hold me when I couldn’t sleep
No one to tell me everything will be okay
No one to help me through life
No one to give me advice
No one to support me
No one to come to school events
No one in the end.
A few months later
My mother had a baby
We call her Natalie
Although my grandma never met her
We all know she is watching
Over her family
It was then that I realized
It was never the end
She is still here helping
Watching our family
And getting me through life.
I had my mom and dad
Getting me through my teenage years
It’s been hard
But worth it
In the end, I believe everything happens
For a reason
Even if that reason is unclear
Artist Statement:
Kandice Marquez
My poem came from a very personal experience I had when I was seven years old. It was the death of my grandmother. She had ovarian cancer and they didn’t catch it soon enough to give her treatment. When we first found out she had cancer, we lived in Hermosa, CO. It was a small trailer, there wasn’t enough room for us to take care of her as we needed to. We moved to a house in Aztec, NM. It was a pretty nice house, with a big living room, there were three bedrooms and two bathrooms, it was big enough for us to take care of her. At the time it was only me, my little brother who was about three years old, and my parents. My mother was about five months pregnant with my little sister. My mom was the one who took care of my grandma while she was still alive. My grandma couldn’t do anything for herself, literally nothing. She couldn’t get up to go to the bathroom on her own, she had to wear diapers which my mother would change for her. My mother also washed all her sheets and blankets, gave her baths, and did what she could to take care of her, it was a really hard time for my mom and I. I will never forget the day she passed away. It was March 14th, 2011. She was such a strong independent woman until this happened.
As an artist, I always look for inspiration from my family or my past. Being seven years old wasn’t the best at all. I went through a lot and developed hate for my real dad because of what he did to me and put me through, and never in my life will I ever forgive him. I’ve learned that I have really grown from all that has happened, I learned that I am a strong person and can get through about anything that happens. I have always loved to draw, I’m not good at it but I’m also not bad either. When Lori first introduced poetry I thought, “Wow Lori, you couldn’t do something better?” but when we started getting into writing, I learned something about myself, and that was: I love writing poetry. I really got into writing my poem. At the end of the day, I am really glad that I chose Animas. I have been doing so much better, especially with all the teachers help with getting me through sophomore year.
The connections I have with my poem are very personal and close to my heart. Writing this poem has been an emotional roller coaster. I have tried very hard not to cry every time I added on to it. My main focus was on my grandmother, she was always there for me. She would take care of me when my parents wanted to have alone time. She was always a shoulder to cry on when I got hurt or had an ouchy, she would always kiss it better and say “stiffen’ that upper lip,” and that is one thing I will never forget about her. I just couldn’t imagine how she would be now with all the boys that are in my life now. The process I went through to create my poem started off on getting stuck, because I didn’t know if I wanted to do a poem about something that has happened to me, or do I want to do something happy that has happened. The first step I took in writing was creating a paragraph of what I wanted to write about. Then I showed Lori and she gave me feedback about what I should include in my poem, and that was a great first step for me because I had an idea of what to write. My inspiration was my grandmother, when Lori told us that we were writing our own poems, I instantly thought about my grandma, because it was then I knew I could take it to a deeper level with a deeper meaning, which I have worked on really hard to make my poem have an understanding, touching message.
My poem came from a very personal experience I had when I was seven years old. It was the death of my grandmother. She had ovarian cancer and they didn’t catch it soon enough to give her treatment. When we first found out she had cancer, we lived in Hermosa, CO. It was a small trailer, there wasn’t enough room for us to take care of her as we needed to. We moved to a house in Aztec, NM. It was a pretty nice house, with a big living room, there were three bedrooms and two bathrooms, it was big enough for us to take care of her. At the time it was only me, my little brother who was about three years old, and my parents. My mother was about five months pregnant with my little sister. My mom was the one who took care of my grandma while she was still alive. My grandma couldn’t do anything for herself, literally nothing. She couldn’t get up to go to the bathroom on her own, she had to wear diapers which my mother would change for her. My mother also washed all her sheets and blankets, gave her baths, and did what she could to take care of her, it was a really hard time for my mom and I. I will never forget the day she passed away. It was March 14th, 2011. She was such a strong independent woman until this happened.
As an artist, I always look for inspiration from my family or my past. Being seven years old wasn’t the best at all. I went through a lot and developed hate for my real dad because of what he did to me and put me through, and never in my life will I ever forgive him. I’ve learned that I have really grown from all that has happened, I learned that I am a strong person and can get through about anything that happens. I have always loved to draw, I’m not good at it but I’m also not bad either. When Lori first introduced poetry I thought, “Wow Lori, you couldn’t do something better?” but when we started getting into writing, I learned something about myself, and that was: I love writing poetry. I really got into writing my poem. At the end of the day, I am really glad that I chose Animas. I have been doing so much better, especially with all the teachers help with getting me through sophomore year.
The connections I have with my poem are very personal and close to my heart. Writing this poem has been an emotional roller coaster. I have tried very hard not to cry every time I added on to it. My main focus was on my grandmother, she was always there for me. She would take care of me when my parents wanted to have alone time. She was always a shoulder to cry on when I got hurt or had an ouchy, she would always kiss it better and say “stiffen’ that upper lip,” and that is one thing I will never forget about her. I just couldn’t imagine how she would be now with all the boys that are in my life now. The process I went through to create my poem started off on getting stuck, because I didn’t know if I wanted to do a poem about something that has happened to me, or do I want to do something happy that has happened. The first step I took in writing was creating a paragraph of what I wanted to write about. Then I showed Lori and she gave me feedback about what I should include in my poem, and that was a great first step for me because I had an idea of what to write. My inspiration was my grandmother, when Lori told us that we were writing our own poems, I instantly thought about my grandma, because it was then I knew I could take it to a deeper level with a deeper meaning, which I have worked on really hard to make my poem have an understanding, touching message.
Growth as a Poet:
My message has grown in a way I didn’t think it would. While I was writing the first couple drafts of my poem the message never truly changed, the message strongly grew. In my final poem I said “In the end, I believe everything happens for a reason, even if that reason is unclear,” and to me that was a very personal thing that I continually think about, if something bad happens or something good, there was a reason that it happened, even if we don’t know what that reason is. In my rough draft there wasn’t much of a clear message, other than my grandmother is no longer here helping me through this thing called life. The ending of me rough draft poem was,
“The nights got lonely for she was gone
No one to hold me when I couldn’t sleep
No one to tell me everything will be okay
No one to help me through life
No one in the end.”
To me and probably a lot of my peers thought that was a kind of hopeless ending. I then started thinking, “What if I shifted the tone? Maybe that will make the audience be like, ‘wow, I didn’t expect that,’ I’m gonna try that,” after that thought process, I tried adding the fact that I’m a big sister with not only one sibling but two. I embedded that into words and in my opinion my final draft was really good and had a clear and understanding message.
The first important change that I made in my poem was in my third draft and that was adding on to the end. In the third draft it ended without a twist and a very dark ending,
“No one to hold me when I couldn’t sleep
No one to tell me everything will be okay
No one to help me through life
No one in the end,”
so I decided to add more of a tone shift at the end of my final draft that lifted the mood a little bit, “A few months later
My mother had a baby
We call her Natalie
Although my grandma never met her
We all know she is watching
Over her family
It was then that I realized
It was never the end
She is still here helping
Watching our family
And getting me through life.
I had my mom and dad
Getting me through my teenage years
It’s been hard
But worth it
In the end, I believe everything happens
For a reason
Even if that reason is unclear”
I felt that this needed to change because it was too short and too simple, so by adding a tone shift I felt that this would not only give me but the audience a better, more understanding feeling about my poem.
The second thing I felt need to change was how I put certain stanzas into words, for example in my third draft I said, “She was hurting; more than anyone
Could imagine” and to me I felt that the way I put it into words didn't exactly flow with my poem, so instead of that line I put different words to make it flow better, “She was hurting;
I couldn’t bear to
Imagine that pain.” I felt the need to change that because of the flow of the poem.
The final change I made to my poem was in the first draft in the first stanza I said, “She was there laying on the bed
Telling me she was alright,” I didn't think that it would exactly make sense with the message and because there wasn't enough detail, I then changed the first stanza with more detail that made the message start to come out, “Cold, with the urge to sit up but just can’t
She wanted to be okay, so she told me
To let her be, I just couldn’t
I called the ambulance, told them that she couldn’t,
Just couldn’t do anything,” to me this improved my poem greatly because there was more detail for the message to come out.
“The nights got lonely for she was gone
No one to hold me when I couldn’t sleep
No one to tell me everything will be okay
No one to help me through life
No one in the end.”
To me and probably a lot of my peers thought that was a kind of hopeless ending. I then started thinking, “What if I shifted the tone? Maybe that will make the audience be like, ‘wow, I didn’t expect that,’ I’m gonna try that,” after that thought process, I tried adding the fact that I’m a big sister with not only one sibling but two. I embedded that into words and in my opinion my final draft was really good and had a clear and understanding message.
The first important change that I made in my poem was in my third draft and that was adding on to the end. In the third draft it ended without a twist and a very dark ending,
“No one to hold me when I couldn’t sleep
No one to tell me everything will be okay
No one to help me through life
No one in the end,”
so I decided to add more of a tone shift at the end of my final draft that lifted the mood a little bit, “A few months later
My mother had a baby
We call her Natalie
Although my grandma never met her
We all know she is watching
Over her family
It was then that I realized
It was never the end
She is still here helping
Watching our family
And getting me through life.
I had my mom and dad
Getting me through my teenage years
It’s been hard
But worth it
In the end, I believe everything happens
For a reason
Even if that reason is unclear”
I felt that this needed to change because it was too short and too simple, so by adding a tone shift I felt that this would not only give me but the audience a better, more understanding feeling about my poem.
The second thing I felt need to change was how I put certain stanzas into words, for example in my third draft I said, “She was hurting; more than anyone
Could imagine” and to me I felt that the way I put it into words didn't exactly flow with my poem, so instead of that line I put different words to make it flow better, “She was hurting;
I couldn’t bear to
Imagine that pain.” I felt the need to change that because of the flow of the poem.
The final change I made to my poem was in the first draft in the first stanza I said, “She was there laying on the bed
Telling me she was alright,” I didn't think that it would exactly make sense with the message and because there wasn't enough detail, I then changed the first stanza with more detail that made the message start to come out, “Cold, with the urge to sit up but just can’t
She wanted to be okay, so she told me
To let her be, I just couldn’t
I called the ambulance, told them that she couldn’t,
Just couldn’t do anything,” to me this improved my poem greatly because there was more detail for the message to come out.