User:Akacherski

Andrew Kacherski

Overview

For my projects, I hope to better learn the history of London through the history advertising and transportation systems. I also hope to create enjoyable writing pieces about the citizens of London. For my humanities credits, I have received transfer credit for WR1010 and WR 1020. I have also taken WR 2010 at WPI. After I completed my milestones, I appreciated London more. Any tourist can appreciate the beautiful scenery and iconic landmarks, but it takes a special type of experience, like this one, to help me appreciate the city's history and people.

Milestone 1

Getting Around London
Objective: Public transportation plays a huge role in the lives of everyday Londoners. It allows for fast and efficient travel across the city while helping to decrease pollution and traffic problems, though it hasn't always been this way. In this article, we will discuss the history of London's transportation systems, what made them successful, comparisons of methods of transportation, and predict where transportation is going in the future. Without effective means of transportation, the city would not be where it is today.

The history of transportation is quite extensive. Through our analysis of its history, we were able to determine what made it iconic today. Researching the technology that both the tube and double decker bus incorporated allowed us to see why they are both very efficient and London has one of the best public transportation systems in the world. The future of the tube and bus may shift towards the use of automation. This automation can help in making the system more efficient than it already is.

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Milestone 2

Advertising Revelations
Objective: Compare World War II posters to today's posters on the War on Terror

The history behind the World War II posters is extraordinary. The people at that time had to endure things such as rationing, blackouts, and evacuations. The posters helped tell the citizens how to do these successfully and some explained why they were happening. Today's posters urge people to remain vigilant to help combat the War on Terror. These sets of posters had similarities in layout, wording, and message, but they also had some very strong differences. The future of advertising will show future societal problems and possibly be on new media.

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Milestone 3

The People of London
Objective: Find demographics about the average Londoner, find people that fit that description, and do a creative writing piece about their backstory.

After researching demographic information, I found people whose appearances fit the largest category from the demographic section. I would use these people as characters in my fictional stories about their life. The census revealed that London is a very diverse city. I used different writing styles, literary devices, and voices, to make each character distinct. I also used demographic information to make the stories more true to life.
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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.

Activity #1: Westminster Abbey, Tower of London, and The British Library

Westminster Abbey, Tower of London, and The British Library, did not directly relate to my milestones. I feel that the background history may relate to my milestones as I dive deeper into them. I do not this affected my milestone aims. I may change them to incorporate royal or war history but the topics will likely remain the same. The tombs of Westminster Abbey stood out to me because some did not have bodies under them. I felt this was odd because I do not see the point of putting a tomb if there is no body. The Tower of London was cool with the torture devices and rooms where they used to defend the castle. The ravens were also cool but kind-of freaked me out a bit. The walk around the wall was nice. It gave a different perspective of the castle. The British Library was interesting. The huge cube of rare books in the center gives the library the feeling that this place houses all the information one could ever need. It adds an enigma of exactly how many books are in it. I was surprised to hear they do not keep any books in the library to check out. If you need material, you must order it 48 hours ion advance. I contributed to the Westminster Abbey, Tower of London, and The British Library pages.

Think of this process as building a platform or a case that will help you make particular claims and conclusions through your project milestones.

Activity #2 Natural History Museum

Today my group and I went to the Natural History Museum. This museum was so much better than I thought it was going to be. All of the exhibits were hands on which I liked very much. I am a very hands-on learner so the interactive exhibits made the material come to life. I was especially interested in the space exhibit. They went into the workings of our planet and solar system in great detail and had a huge statue of earth! I also enjoyed the human evolution, bird, dinosaur, and sea exhibits. While none of the things I saw today not relate to my milestone at all, I still enjoyed my time and am glad I went. The gardens behind the museum were an amazing place to sit and do work. It was so peaceful and full of beautiful statues. We also went to a mass at Westminster Abbey and heard evensong. Overall today was an amazing day. I contributed to the Natural History Museum page

Activity #3: National Gallery

Today we went to the The National Gallery. The art was very visually pleasing. I am a big fan of Rembrandt's work so I spent a lot of my time looking at his pieces. I contributed to the Rembrandt section on the national gallery page. His work tells story with so much emotion and detail, it is remarkable. I also saw pieces from Ruben and a few others. This related to my milestone because the paintings depicted everyday life dating back a few hundred years. This gave me insight into their technology and transportation. We also went to the London Transport Museum. This Museum was amazing. While it was aimed for children, it had many features and history for adults. It covered trains, boats, trams, and busses. It gave the history of all and how they changed through history. This directly related to my milestone because I am working on the history of transportation. It allowed me to focus my broad milestone into certain features and answer specific questions that I found while I was visiting the museum, like what challenges they had while building these systems and how they affected its outcome. This was an amazing museum and I'd highly recommend that everyone go and see it. I created the London Transport Museum, and contributed twice to the national gallery page.

Activity #4: British Museum

I found the British Museum very interesting. What interested me the most were the vases and Mummy of Cleopatra. The amount of detail on each vase was immaculate. The statues from Greece and Rome told amazing stories. One that stood out to me was the fight with Centaur. It also blew me away that the heads from each statue were in different countries, such as Budapest, Netherlands, and Greece. The clock exhibit was also very interesting. They had clocks dating back to the 1700's. This was the very beginning of escapement devices and accurate clocks. Clocks also told things other than time such as Lunar/Solar cycle and easter calendar.

Relating to my milestones, there was only one section of the museum I found kind of relevant. This was the exhibit on Europe from 1900-Present. I expected this exhibit to go through the entire history of Europe during this time period; it did not. Instead it had artifacts such as plates designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. I was disappointed. It still gave me insight into how the cultural and societal values at the time and how they incorporated them into they creations. This relates to my milestone. I created the section on the mummy of cleopatra on the British museum page. I also edited the entire page's grammar.

Activity #5: St. Paul's Cathedral

When I entered St. Paul's Cathedral, my jaw immediately dropped. The spanning archways, incredibly high ceilings, intricate detail, and the dome all exceeded my expectations. What I also found surprising were the acoustics in the whisper gallery. I did not believe that whispering across a massive dome would work but it actually did! The crypt downstairs had some nice memorials to people such as the Duke of Wellington. To see them represented in such a nice way made me feel their importance.

For my milestones, I feel that they would relate to the church after it was burned in the greater fire of London and during World War 2. Winston Churchill explicitly said that St. Paul's cathedral must be saved during the blitz. My second milestone is about government advertising during world war 2 and how it relates to todays' government advertising. I feel I should go back and watch the video presentation about the history of the church for more background information about my milestone. I added information and a photo to the crypt section, and fixed grammar in the sculptures and mosaics sections.

Activity #6: Tate Modern

I will be honest, I am not a big fan of modern art. But when I walked into the Media Networks exhibit and Tate Modern that changed. This exhibit focused on the portrayal of social and political issues during the times they were painted. I found this to be extremely interesting. The section about the anti-nazi posters and the portrayal of Soviet lifestyle was interesting because it is not often you get to see things from their perspective. It gave me new insight into those situations in history and realized not everyone during that period in history agreed with the terrible things that were done. I also went to a Klyne concert at the Pickle Factory way out in zone 2. While I did not think I would enjoy their alternative style, I found myself really enjoying it. I have to make sure to follow them on Spotify.

This exhibit kinda-sorta relates to my milestone. I am doing my milestones on transportation and government advertising through the ages. The transportation milestone is shown in the painting by Pivovarov. It shows that the car was the stereotypical mode of transportation during that time. For the advertising aspect, the entire section relates. It shows people's emotions toward government or social problems. My milestone is government produced advertisements, not advertisements about the government. This exhibit gave me insight into how the people felt about their government and what the prominent social problems were. I will definitely come back here for more information for my milestone.

Activity #7: Museum of London

The Museum of London was a very cool museum. This is the first museum I have been to where it focuses on a certain city as opposed to a time period. I found the World City Exhibit very interesting. It encompassed the history of London from 1950-present day. It talked about social changes, changes in demographics and the physical change of the city. I really liked this museum, except a few of the seemingly cool exhibits were closed for renovations. The Victorian Walk was also very cool. They set up 19 shops from the 19^th century. It felt like I traveled back in time.

The World City Exhibit relates to my milestone. It discusses the history of transportation, including the first taxi cab and the introduction of the first bus. I collected some information for my milestone but I may come back. Surprisingly there wasn't much information on the World Wars. So perhaps I will have to find somewhere else to go for that information.

Activity #8: Tate Britain

I was not a fan of this museum. Unlike Tate Modern, I could not get behind and understand the artwork. The layout was great because they organized each exhibit by time period instead of by style. This allows the viewer to encompass the time period and better understand what was going on. I found the most interest in the 1930's exhibit. The stone statues are what particularly drew my attention. I have always appreciated carvings more than paintings. I feel it takes more craftsmanship to construct one than throwing paint onto a canvas.

This museum had a weak correlation to my second milestone, Advertising Revelations. While there are posters and art expressing the concerns of the war they did not fit the criteria I had set for my milestone. I may end up changing my milestone to incorporate a wider range of advertisements instead of just ones about the war put out by the government. I feel this may be too constricting and may not find enough information. If I do open my milestone, I may come back to gather more information on the mentality the people had during this time period.

Activity #9: Victoria and Albert Museum

For some reason I had in my mind that this was another modern art museum and was prepared to get in and out of there as fast as I could. I was very wrong. This museum was very interesting. I liked the sections on Chinese and Korean history, and the Cast Court. The Cast Court was cool because it had perfect replicas of the most famous sculptures in the Renaissance period. Statues like David, and Dying Slave. I was upset the other court was closed for renovations. I wish we could have done the Pink Floyd exhibit but £16 and a very long line did not seem worth it.

My milestone relates to the exhibit on Europe between 1700-1910. The mindset of artists around the time of the beginning of transportation and advertisements can prove to help solidify my 2^nd milestone. I honestly do not think I will go back for more information. There are better places for me to gather information for my milestones. I really liked this museum though. There were a lot of cool exhibits and displays. I would come back if I had a free day just to check it all out.

Activity #10: Horniman Museum and Garden

After about an hour on the bus through a not so nice area of London, we arrive at the Horniman Museum. I knew this place was gonna be cool when I saw the totem poles out front. But what blew me away was the Natural History exhibit. The room was massive and held almost every kind of animal you could think of that was beautifully preserved. It was mind boggling that most of the animals had been alive at one point. They even had a real walrus! How cool is that! They also had elephants, bugs, tigers, monkeys and a dodo.

I've been thinking about how I could relate this awesome museum to one of my remaining milestones and I cannot think of a way that it does. As much as I enjoyed this museum I will not be returning. I feel that I could find better information for my milestones at places such as the advertising museum or a park. If I was doing a milestone on the animals related to London or the history of music then this museum would be perfect.

Activity #11: Hampton Court Palace

I really liked the Hampton Court Palace. I have never been inside a place like this before. It was cool to see where the man who changed England's national religion lived. The size and detail of each room was amazing. Also the portraits on the ceiling how can anyone have those in their house! I feel like if I lived here I would get lost getting from place to place. Especially since I got lost about 3 times today and had a map. The royal tennis court was odd. It reminded me of a racquetball court and the rules didn't make sense. I think if I played it that it would make more sense.The The Gardens at Hampton Court Palace were amazing. They were very large and well kept. It also unreal to think that people used to joust and hunt in the gardens

In relation to my milestone this seems like a place I can come back to for my capstone. There are a lot of typical Londoners here that would make great characters for my stories. I do not think I would come back though just because it is so far. I can go to a local park and find someone who I can write a story about.

Activity #12: Museum of London Docklands

The Museum of London Docklands was very interesting. I always found trade and ports to be very interesting in history class. It was the way societies and cultures interacted and shared. It went into great detail about the early beginnings of the docklands back in the 1500's which was cool but I loved the section about World War II. I had no idea that the docklands was such an important area to protect during this time. If this place were to get crippled then potentially no shipments could get into London. Its something I have never thought of before. Also the P.L.U.T.O. caught my attention. That was a genius idea to do this if there was an invasion. It would guarantee them a steady fuel supply.

This museum had a few posters for my advertising milestone so I was able to take pictures of them and I can interpret them later. I do not think I will be heading back though because I got all the material I need for it while I was there. I was surprised to see that they had the posters I was looking for.

Activity #13: Imperial War Museum

I LOVED THIS MUSEUM. When you walked into the gate you were met with two massive cannons. Then when you walked through the door you are met with a Harrier, a tank, and a bunch of other propeller planes. The world war one exhibit was cool it had all of the old guns and bullets and uniforms and a tank! The world war II exhibit was also amazing. I found the exhibit on the war in Syria to be very enlightening. I didn't know much about what was going on over there aside from the horrid videos I've seen on Facebook. This exhibit helped me to become less ignorant. But my favorite exhibit was the spies. It was so cool to see all the stuff people used behind enemy lines and how they did it. When I was growing up I was a big fan of James Bond (and still am) and wanted to be a spy. This exhibit showed my how cool it would be to be a British spy for MI6.

For my milestone, they had a lot of world war propaganda.This was great for the World Wars section of my advertising milestone but didn't have any from other decades. It didn't relate to my milestone but I was able to take a few good photos. I collected what I needed and see no need to return. I probably will though because this museum was awesome.

Activity #14: Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising

I went to this museum today to supplement my milestone. It was a great museum. It was £7 to get in and they had all kinds of food, toys, posters, and games all the way back from the 1890's. It didn't take long to get through this museum because they had everything along a snaking hallway but it was very cool. The only downside was there weren't allowed to be any pictures. That didn't stop me though because I took a few anyway. I needed the information for my milestone. They did not have as many government issued posters as I had hoped. They mostly had commercial things aimed toward consumers so I will not be going back. I was able to get all I needed from the one trip in.

Activity #15: London Science Museum

Being an engineer I love science museums. They geared towards people who love science which is everyone on this trip. They're always so hands on and fun. The London Science Museum was no exception. The engineer your future exhibit was really cool. It promoted aspiring engineers to tackle viable future world problems. The games were really cool and they were really useful. The space exhibit was also really cool. They had all the old Apollo rocket stuff and NASA. For once I wasn't ashamed to be an American. Almost all of the rockets and machines were made in America and it made me feel a little patriotic. This in no way relates to my milestone but I still loved it. I may come back here just due to my love of science museums.

Activity #16: The Wallace Collection

The Wallace Collection was not what I was expecting. I heard from other students that this was an art collection that had furniture and armor. And to be honest I was dreading coming here. But I did not realize that it was a man's house. He had it set up so that he was able to live and display his collection. This is the goal when I am older. I want my house to be big enough to have a name and become a museum when I die. But the collection was very interesting. He had old clocks, priceless chairs and tapestries, china, sculptures, ornate chandeliers, and weapons. This was very cool to be able to walk through and see his collection. There are very few barriers so you are able to get up close and personal with the items. But you can't touch them of course.

In relation to my milestone this sort of relates to my third milestone. If I change my demographics to who I write about for my stories to a wealthy person from a couple hundred years ago then I may comeback here. It gives me insight into how they lived during the time. Honestly, I will not change my milestone because the way I have it outlined now will make for better stories, in my opinion

Activity #17: Changing of the Guards and Milestone work

Today I went to the changing of the guards and it was not what I was expecting. It lasted for almost 45 minutes and they played a lot of music. They played Mama Mia and other songs! I didn't know the other ones but the crowd sure did. They had 2 bands that played for almost a half hour. I'm not sure if this counts as a concert but I sure think it was one. I thought the changing of the guards was just two groups switching places. I did not know it was a big show. The only thing I did not like about it was the crowd. People will push and shove you just to put their phone in front of your face to take a picture. Typical Tourists.

Today I found more information for my milestone. I am doing it in a separate word document then uploading it section. I am doing it this way because I am doing some work offline and this allows me to still get information down.

Activity #18: Romeo and Juliet

To be honest I did not like this play. I felt that the modern interpretation took away from the story line and they tried too hard to be funny. The swat fighters battling, the Pluto costume, and the dancing all caught me off guard. I found it hard to understand what was going on. The modern clothes and attitudes with the old time language made it difficult for me to understand. If they would have used modern language I feel it would have made the play so much better. The second half was better though. It got a lot more dramatic and a lot more serious. I also feel if the first half was a little more serious and dramatic it would have made it better. I am in no rush to go back an see another show. Granted, it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to see Shakespeare at the Globe so I am lucky to have had the opportunity to go. This relates to my milestone; the director took a creative spin on Shakespeare. I am doing creative writing so there are some similarities.

Activity #19: Stonehenge, Bath, and Lacock

This was by far my favorite day of this trip. It has been on my bucket list for so long to see Stonehenge, and I am glad I had the opportunity to do so. I had never heard of Bath before this trip but I am very glad that we went. I have been to a few different cities in England over my trips here and this was not like any of the others. This city reminded me of Toledo but with Roman architecture. I wish we had more time here because I would love to go back and go in the thermal baths. Lacock was was a cool, old little city. I am not a 'Harry Pothead,' in fact I've never seen any of the movies, so I wasn't as intrigued by all of the Harry Potter stuff as other people. I still appreciated how it was a quiet little town that maintained its old time feel while still doing modern things and remaining lively. I found the pictures of the royal wedding from 2006 to be really cool and interesting. Andrew and Lily were awesome tour guides. I usually get bored but he managed to keep my attention and keep the tour interesting. Overall I really liked this day. This relates to my milestone because it gives me ideas I can incorporate into my stories.

Activity #20: Windsor Castle

Windsor Castle is one of my favorite palaces. This was my second time coming back to this castle and I appreciated it a lot more. I am not sure if it is because I am older, or if because we came in June instead of February. Either way I still really liked it. The Dollhouse was very cool. I am a big fan of creating things by hand and woodworking so I was very intrigued. To see that much attention and detail be put into something so simple blew my mine. The working electricity and plumbing put the cherry on top. The state apartments were very similar to other palaces I have been to. They were very similar to Hampton Court Palace, and the Palace in Madrid. It was still very cool to see. I can relate this to my milestone because today at the castle I was people watching and got ideas for my stories.