User:Ekmceachern

Emily McEachern

Overview

At WPI I have taken 2 history courses and 1 philosophy course: HI 1332, HI 2332, and PY 1731. In London I completed 2 history milestones and 1 philosophy milestone. My first milestone was a collaboration with Andrew Kacherski regarding the history of two transportation systems of London, the Tube and the double decker bus. After taking two classes on the history of technology at WPI I wanted to continue this study and really enjoyed completing this first project. My second milestone was a comparison of the political philosophy of John Locke and Thomas Hobbes. I chose to do this project because in the philosophy class at WPI we did not read or learn much about political philosophy which is something that really interests me. My final milestone, and HUA capstone, was about the history of counterculture. In this project I identified examples of countercultural movements throughout history and also attempted to identify some countercultures of today. Overall, I learned so much that I never would have if I had done my HUA requirements on campus not only through my own projects but hearing other people talk about what they did and reading through their milestones.

Milestone 1

History of Transportation
Objective: How did methods of transportation, such as the London Underground and the double-decker bus become so iconic in the city of London?

Andrew and I collaborated on this project together because we were both very interested in the history of the Tube and Double-Decker buses. The goal of this project was to discuss the history of transportation, compare London's transport systems to similar systems in other countries, and finally to predict where the future of public transport is headed. Public transportation plays such an important role in any city lifestyle, and we wanted to understand why London's transport systems have become so iconic to London. The London Transport Museum was a huge help to us while we were completing our research and definitely helped us come to our final result.
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Milestone 2

British Political Philosophy
Objective: A comparison between the political philosophy of John Locke and Thomas Hobbes.

The goal of this project was to make comparisons between the political philosophy of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke. These two men represent very different opinions of political philosophy and this project will explore the reasons for these differences. Most people have different opinions on Politics and political philosophy due to its controversial nature. In my opinion it is very important to understand the reasons behind people's opinions in order to be able to make an informed decision about ones own political truths.
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Milestone 3

Counterculture Through the Ages
Objective: Understand what counterculture is, where it can be seen throughout history and attempt to identify today's counterculture.

This project aims to give an understanding of what counterculture is and its complexity through the use of examples found in history. Also, it attempts to identify the various countercultures of today. When people think of counterculture most of the time hippies and the 1960s will pop into their head, but time periods like the Enlightenment are also considered counterculture by its definition. I hope that after reading this project people will understand the complexity of counterculture in the 1960s as well as in other time periods.
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Activity Journal

The activity journal represents an ongoing log of reflections gained through each and every project activity on the calendar.

Westminster Abbey

After getting lost on the tube, we eventually found our way to Westminster Abbey. Westminster Abbey does not directly relate to any of my milestones but there was a lot of prime ministers/politicians buried there and my second milestone is about British Political Philosophy so some of these people's viewpoints may end up being a part of my project. We visited many different grave sites and memorials such as the ones of Charles Darwin, Isaac Newton, and St. Edward. I thought it was really interesting that even though Charles Darwin wasn't sure if he thought God was real he was still buried in a church. We also saw the chapter house and the cloisters where monks were buried. The chapter house was a beautiful room where decisions about how to run Westminster Abbey were made in the past. It isn't used for that anymore and I couldn't imagine trying to conduct a business meeting in such a beautiful room. Our tour guide also explained to us that the all boys choir sings the evensong each night (except for Wednesday's) in front of the church and I am planning to go see this at some point later in the week when I have time. When I read that one of the scavenger hunt items was to capture the evensong I was a little bit confused about what that meant but after his clarification I am excited to see it. I contributed a section about memorials and edited the overview on the wiki page for Westminster Abbey linked here.

The Tower of London

After we went to Westminster Abbey a group of eight of us took the tube together to the Tower of London, and luckily this time we did not get lost. Inside the Tower of London we saw the battlements, some of the ravens, and the crowned jewels, among many other things. Similar to Westminster Abbey the Tower of London doesn't directly relate to any of my milestones but it was an extremely interesting place to visit. I thought that the myth behind the ravens was particularly interesting. The myth is that there must always be a raven at the Tower of London or the British monarch will fall. Personally, I don't believe this story but it's funny to me that people actually did believe this in medieval times. The Crown Jewels were really cool to see as well because i didn't realize how extravagant they actually were. The Wakefield tower was interesting as well because that is where the exhibit on the torture of prisoners was located. Some of the things they did to prisoners actually shocked me, like attaching their arms and legs to two ends of a machine and stretching them. Or even worse, putting them into the Scavenger's Daughter and crushing their body. I added a section to the Tower of London page about the Tower's ravens.

The British Library

The final thing we did today was go to The British Library. We realized that the library is an extremely busy place and it is difficult to find a place to sit and do work inside on a weekday in the afternoon so we just sat outside and did work there. We also looked into getting library cards and realized that we need to have specific books that we need that are at the library in order to get a card. So I will be researching what is there and identifying specific books I need from the library so I can be approved for a library card.

Natural History Museum

Today our group went to the Natural History Museum which I personally thought was amazing. We saw almost all of the exhibits including the ones about dinosaurs, volcanoes, and human evolution. The exhibit about human evolution was very interesting and I enjoyed the part at the front entrance where all of the skulls of different humans over time were displayed. The exhibit that started from the beginning of time until the present was kind of overwhelming but again very interesting. It had a timeline from the time the Earth was formed until now and I never realized just how little humans had been on Earth until I saw that. It honestly made me feel a little insignificant. Later that night I also attended evensong at Westminster Abbey and I thought the choir was amazing.
This activity did not directly relate to any of my milestones, but still had a lot of interesting information and I learned a lot. I contributed a section to the Natural History Museum page about the dinosaur exhibit found here and also wrote the overview for this page.

The National Gallery/London Transport Museum

Today we went to The National Gallery and walked around for quite a while. The gallery itself is a beautiful building with amazing architectural design. It always amazes me at art museums how large the paintings themselves actually are and I always wonder about where they have been hung prior to being given to the museum. Each painting clearly has their own extensive history and I am always curious about the story behind each painting. I also noticed at this museum that there were many different depictions of similar scenes, like the crucifixion of Jesus. It was interesting to compare the different perspectives of artists on the same event. This museum was very interesting but it did not directly relate to any of my milestones. I contributed a section about Raphael and one about Diego Velasquez to The National Gallery page.
Later in the afternoon I went to the London Transport Museum to help gain information for the background of my first milestone, which is about the Tube and Double-Decker buses and how they have become such an iconic feature of the city of London. This museum was absolutely amazing, it had so much helpful information and I really enjoyed seeing it. I am hoping to go on a tour at some point in June of the museum's depot which is located in Acton. This part of the museum has many more old trains and buses that cannot fit into the main location of the museum, which I am very excited to see. I edited the Transport Museumpage after we visited.

The British Museum

Today I went to the British Museum which has so much to see that I wasn't able to get to it all. I enjoyed seeing the Greek Parthenon exhibit and I thought that the sculptures hung up on the walls of a fight between a Centaur and a Greek man were particularly interesting. I liked the way that the series of sculptures told a continuous story. It amazes me how intricate the detail on the sculptures was for the time that they were made. Another part of the museum that I really enjoyed was the Japanese Galleries. I liked looking at the pottery and comparing it to other cultures and time periods shown in the museum. I contributed a section to the British Museum page about Samian Pottery.
The things I saw today did not directly relate to my milestone but I think I will be going back to see the temporary exhibit about American Pop culture for my capstone. My capstone is a comparison of the social change in the 1960s in America to the changes during this time in Britain. Hopefully the information in this exhibit will give me helpful background for the project.

St. Paul's Cathedral

I thought that St. Paul's Cathedral was absolutely amazing. The entire church's architecture was beautiful, and I particularly thought the mosaic ceiling was incredible. It amazes me that this church was built so long ago without the use of modern tools. Designing and creating the mosaic ceiling must have taken so much difficult and time consuming work and its amazing that it is so detailed and well preserved. I also went to the Whispering Gallery after seeing the main floor of the church. I have heard about whispering galleries before but have never had the opportunity to visit one so I was really excited when I found out St. Paul's had one. The Gallery has a wonderful view from above and we tried to whisper from one side of the dome to the other and I was surprised that it actually worked. I also enjoyed seeing the World War I commemorative sculptures which I was confused about when I first saw them but after reading about them I thought they were really cool.
The Cathedral did not directly relate to my milestones but it was still a great experience to see it. I contributed a section about the commemorative WWI altar frontal on the St. Paul's Cathedral page.

Tate Modern

I really enjoyed going to Tate Modern because I don't really know much about contemporary art and I haven't seen much of it. The gallery was huge and my three favorite parts of it were the Materials and Objects, Media Networks and, the Artist and Society collections. The media Networks collection was really cool and I specifically like seeing the pieces by Andy Warhol. Probably my favorite exhibition was the Artist and Society one because I never realized what an impact contemporary art could have on social problems and issues. Some of the sculptures and paintings really got me thinking about issues from a long time ago that are clearly still a problem today.
I also found a sculpture in the New Acquisitions section of the gallery that relates to my capstone which is about social change in the 1960s and the relationship of this change between Britain and the U.S. The sculpture was a tribute to the British people completed in 1960 by the artist Louise Nevelson. I contributed the background to the Tate Modern page and created a separate page about the Artist and Society collection.
Later, some of us went to a concert for a band form the Netherlands called Klyne. I knew nothing about them before I went and was pleasantly surprised by their music. It wasn't the type of music I normally listen to but i still really liked it.

Museum of London

Today my group went to the Museum of London and I definitely learned a lot. Before going to the museum I didn't even know London had a Civil war. I enjoyed the War, Plague & Fire exhibit but I was a little bit disappointed that the part about the Great Fire of London was closed.
The section of the museum called World City related to my Capstone milestone because there was a lot of information on the 1960s. I will be returning to the museum in a few weeks to look more at it when I'm working on the background of my project. I contributed a section to the Museum of London page about the War, Plague and Fire exhibit and also created the War, Plague & Fire Page.

Activity 2A

Today there was no activity planned for our group, so we just worked on our milestones. Andrew and I got a lot of work done on the deliverable for our first one, Getting Around London.

Tate Britain

Today I went to Tate Britain and my favorite part of the museum was the 1960s art gallery. I don't normally go to a lot of art museums, but after going to the ones that I have been to for our last few activities I think I am starting to like art more than I used to.
The 1960s gallery relates to my capstone (3rd milestone) project which is about 1960s Britain. There was one painting that directly referenced the relationship between Britain and America in the 1960s which is what my deliverable will be about. I may come back to the museum at a later time when I am working on my capstone to look for more specific things to include in the project if I need to. I created a section about the 1960s exhibit in the Tate Modern page.
Also Andrew and I went to a lecture at the University College London about the future of transportation technologies. It gave us a lot of information that we can use for our deliverable. Specifically the lecturer talked about how future technology, like driverless cars, will affect public transport, like the tube.

Victoria and Albert Museum

Today we went to the Victoria and Albert Museum and I liked some parts of it more than others. I thought the cast courts were really interesting and I didn't know that museums even did things like that to recreate famous artworks. My favorite part of the museum though was the Glass exhibit. I like that you could go through centuries and see the different glass making techniques evolving over time.
This museum didn't relate to any of my milestones. I contributed a part of the wiki page for the Victoria and Albert Museum about the glass exhibit.

Hornimam Museum and Gardens

Today we went to the Horniman Museum and Gardens which I thought had a really cool Natural History exhibit. It went really into detail about the process of evolution and had a lot of examples of evolution which I thought was really interesting. I was reading about the walrus which at first I thought was just a giant statue in the middle of the room but after reading I learned it was a real walrus that was taxedermy. I also really enjoyed the gardens around the museum. They're really nice to walk around in and sit and do work in.
This museum didn't directly relate to any of my milestones but I really enjoyed going. I created a page about the Natural History Exhibit.

Hampton Court Palace

Today we went to Hampton Court Palace, which I thought was extremely beautiful. The gardens were amazing and I loved learning about the kitchen in the Palace. They even had a fire going that was roasting a chicken while we were walking through it. I also really like the Chapel Royal. Its so interesting to me that someone can have a church inside of their own house, they wouldn't even have a reason to leave their palace at that point. After looking around the palace we went outside to the gardens and I loved walking around all of them because they were so beautiful.
The palace didn't relate to any of my milestone but I liked learning about it. I created a page about The Chapel Royal.

Museum of London Docklands

I thought that the Museum of London Docklands was very interesting, because I enjoy learning about the history of business and trade. I thought the exhibit on slavery was interesting to see because I learned a lot about slavery in America throughout my time in high school, but I was never really taught about slavery or the slave trade in other countries, like England. The exhibits about ship building were also really cool to see in my opinion.
The museum didn't directly relate to my milestones, but there was a lot of information about ships and shipbuilding which is a method of transportation and my first milestone is about transportation. Comparing the methods of transportation in my first milestone to ships was quite interesting. I added a section to the Museum of London Docklands page about the East India Company.

Imperial War Museum

The Imperial War Museum really interested me. I enjoy learning about the history of the two World Wars, especially the history of the technology behind them and this museum had a lot of information on these things. Learning about how the enigma worked was very interesting and I didn't realize that British spies had such an influence on the wars. I also thought the exhibit on the war in Syria was very interesting because I didn't really know much about the war currently going on there and what its actual causes were, I only knew how deadly and awful it is. It made me realize that I should probably pay more attention to World news and news in general because I was completely clueless about most of the information in that exhibit. Looking at what was happening on the home front during the two World Wars was also very interesting to me.
This museum didn't relate to any of my milestones, but I thought that the information was really interesting and I have taken a few classes about the history of technology at WPI so i thought actually seeing the planes and other machines I've learned about in person was really cool. I contributed a section about the Machines Against Man exhibit to the Imperial War Museum page.

Activity 4C/Revisit a Relevant site

For my activity today I revisited the British Museum and paid to see the American Dream: Pop to the Present exhibit, because I was not able to see it on the first day I went to the British Museum because I did not have time. As I have mentioned before in the journals, my third milestone is about social change in 1960s Britain and I would like to make a comparison between the U.S. and Britain during this time period. I'm currently not working on my third milestone but the gallery closes in a few weeks so I wanted to make sure I would have time to go. The exhibit was an art exhibit which I didn't realize until I went. A lot of it was about 1960s art though, which made me think about including a section about changing art and the correlation between art and social change to my project. There were a lot of pieces related to new types of art in the 1960s, like pop art which was gaining a lot of popularity among artists during this time. The part of the gallery that will be most helpful for me while completing my project is the Politics and Dissent section. The pieces in this exhibit use print making in new ways to make a stand on society and politics. There were also parts of the gallery dedicated with the rise of feminism which I think could also be useful. I added a section about this exhibit to the British Museum page.

London Science Museum

Today we went to the London Science Museum and it was really cool. It was kind of different from other science museums I've been to before because it was a lot less interactive and it had a lot of history involved in the exhibits which was really nice. I liked the space exhibit a lot and there was also a really cool part of the museum about mathematics. The 'engineer your future' exhibit was my favorite though because it was very interactive and I am an engineering major so I like that kind of stuff. There was some things about transportation which relates to my first milestone. I added a part about the first woman to go to space to the London Science Museum page.

The Wallace Collection

The Wallace Collection was not really what I expected it to be. I thought that it was going to be just like a regular art museum but it was inside of a house. It also wasn't just paintings that were considered the art, there was also a lot of priceless furniture and tapestries. This museum didn't relate to any of my milestone but I enjoyed seeing all of the pieces anyway. I added a section about the East Gallery II to the Wallace Collection page.

Milestone Work

Today I worked on my second milestone and did a lot more research for the background section. I have done some work that I haven't put on the page yet but I am going to finish everything up at the beginning of next week. I also went to the changing of the guards today at Buckingham Palace just to see what it was like. It was a lot longer and there was more music than I originally expected there to be. There was a lot of yelling by the people participating in the changing of the guards ceremony and I couldn't really understand what they were actually saying but it was still really cool to see.

Romeo and Juliet

Seeing Romeo and Juliet at the Globe was not what I expected at all. I didn't realize that the production was going to be a modern interpretation of the play. It was a lot funnier than I expected it to be at some points. I thought it was kind of strange that they had crazy flashing lights and dub step music during a Shakespeare play. To be honest I thought that all of the extra things like the lights and the music took away from the play. It felt like I was distracted by everything else going on and couldn't focus on the actual words of the actors as much as I would have liked to.

I edited and added to the theatre section on the Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet at the Globe Theater (2017) page

Stonehenge, Bath, and Lacock

I really enjoyed the tour we went on to Stonehenge, Bath, and Lacock. I thought that the tour guide was amazing and I learned so much about the history of these three places. Going to Stonehenge was amazing, I've always wanted to go and it wasn't what I expected at all. It was a lot bigger than I expected and I never realized how old it actually was. It's so crazy to me that we know so little about this amazing structure. I also thought Bath was really interesting because it made me feel like I was in Italy not England because of the Roman style of architecture. When the tour guide told us that a lot of the buildings were relatively new in the scheme of things I was very surprised because everything looked much older than he said they were. I was really excited when we got to Lacock because I knew it was a place where a few scenes in the Harry Potter movies were filmed and I am a huge fan of the Harry Potter series.

Windsor Castle

Windsor Castle was really interesting to me and I thought that it reminded me a lot of Hampton Court Palace. The State Apartments really reminded me of Hampton Court Palace because they were both decorated with weapons on the walls as art and I had never seen that anywhere else before. I enjoyed watching the Changing of the Guard because it was much less crowded than when it is done at Buckingham Palace, so I could actually see what was going on. St. George's chapel was really cool especially because someone was playing the organ while we were in there. I've never actually heard an organ like that being played live and I loved hearing ti. I thought that we were going to be able to see more of the palace but everything we did see was still really interesting.

I contributed to the section about St. George's Chapel on the Windsor Castle page.