Justine Roy

Overview

The paragraph should give a three to five sentence abstract about your entire London HUA experience including 1) a summary of the aims of your project, 2) your prior experience with humanities and arts courses and disciplines, and 3) your major takeaways from the experience.

Milestone 1

Theater Technology
Objective: I will be investigating different technology and methods used in theater. I will use that knowledge to design the set for a scene from William Shakespeare's "A Twelfth Night" including the methods and technology I learned about.

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Milestone 2

Photographs Worth a Thousand Words
Objective: Current social, political and cultural conditions influence art and the media just as those outlets affect those very conditions and the people who view them. I will look at examples of this relationship and capture my own photos that convey what I have learned about the current conditions in London and my experience with them.

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Milestone 3

Perspectives on "A Twelfth Night"
Objective: My goal is to analyze various theatrical interpretations of William Shakespeare's "A Twelfth Night", both modern and past, and viewers' perspectives on them. Using this knowledge I will create my own interpretation of a scene from this play.

Below the objective statement, Insert a one or two paragraph summary of your findings from having reached this milestone. If this milestone, for you, represents a humanities and arts capstone, please indicate so. Edit the link below to link to your milestone page.
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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.

5/8/17 - Westminster Abbey & Tower of London

The first stop of the day was Westminster Abbey and it came as a surprise. I am not entirely sure what I was expecting, but what I saw surpassed it. It is gorgeous and impressive. The Gothic architecture was captivating and put off a sense of power. While the sight was astounding, I am not convinced on the functionality of the space. We were told that it fits 2000 people for the royal weddings and fit around 8,000 for the last coronation but I can't imagine that sight lines are very good. With all the platforms and walls dividing the space as well as inward facing seats, it is not entirely clear to me how the audience is supposed to be or where the action takes place. I was also surprised by some of the people honored in the abbey. I was not expecting to see Americans represented there. I really respect the fact that the dean was so open to honoring so many different people. For example, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was honored for his cooperation with Winston Churchill. In addition, I loved that there are two engineers and multiple scientists represented. I was not sure if I should be proud or a bit scared that I recognized parts of the math depicted on Isaac Newton's Memorial. I appreciate how Darwin is recognized in the church despite the controversy over his theory of evolution contradicting the story of creation and being agnostic since his contributions through science greatly contributed to human understanding. One of the most powerful memorials for me is The Tomb of the Unknown Warrior. I've been to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington but hearing the story that inspired these graves was powerful. I also love the tradition started by one of the queens to place their wedding flowers on the grave to pay their respects. I think it is amazing and a testament to what unites us all as humans that the US presented a Congressional Medal of Honor to the Unknown Soldier. Overall, the experience felt quite rewarding.

The second stop was the Tower of London. My favorite part was the reenactors that we saw when walking along one of the walls. They were reenacting a siege on the Tower with the visitors. It was very lively and I wish I had seen more of it. The Crown Jewels were, of course, incredible. I can't even imagine how much all of the crowns, dishes and scepters must be worth. It's no wonder that they use 2000 kg security doors. I don't think I've ever seen anything so sparkly with so many real jewels as those crowns. Less glamorous but equally as fascinating was the Torture in the Tower. I learned of a torture device that is new to me called the scavenger's daughter. Instead of pulling a person apart, it compresses them while folded up in a ball. No less gruesome but even more interesting is Bloody Tower. While the tower itself was not too impressive, it has an intriguing story. This story of the "Little Princes" caught my attention with its unsolved murder mystery. Another mystery to me is why the people used to like to sleep sitting up as one exhibit claims. So far my theories include that they sat up to avoid lying on the pillows as the sample pillows that we felt seemed quite hard. In general, the Tower appeared to do a good job of preserving and presenting the past in a fun and interactive manner.

5/9/17 - St. Paul's Cathedral & Evensong

I started off my day going to St. Paul's Cathedral. It was impressive and beautiful, as was Westminster Abbey. My favorite part was Whispering Gallery. I was impressed I made it up all those stairs but I was even more impressed by the view. Seeing the paintings on the dome makes you appreciate even more just how detailed they are and how much time it must have taken. I would never have the patience for that. It is also incredible how small the church seems from up there. Looking up, the space is huge. Looking down, it doesn't seem like much. It's incredible how much perspective can change the situation. That lesson is relevant to my photography milestone. Photographs can be similarly manipulated to invoke different emotional responses and perceptions. I also enjoyed the modern art. The sculpture of the cross with the cityscape was quite interesting. I'm also intrigued about the photographs with the rising waters and kinda wish they were mentioned in the digital tour. My favorite bit of art was "Martyrs". I appreciated the modern twist on art. The mosaics were also stunning. I enjoyed how they sparkled a bit from the tiles being laid in at angles. Lastly, I think the history of the church being bombed during the Blitz was cool. That's a unique piece of history that it holds and it is great how they rallied after what had happened.
Later that day I went to Evensong at Westminster Abbey. As I expected, the space was not the most functional. There was a TV so all the attendees sitting on the sides could see. Aside from that, the service was beautiful though not family friendly. The choir's voices were amazing. I am interested in who actually participated in the choir. The other day we had been told that it was boys aged 7-13. However, there were definitely men in the choir. I'm not sure if they were some of the professors and only the older, more trained boys participate. I am very glad I went. It was good to be apart of such a significant event. I would definitely recommend it to others.

5/10/17 - The British Museum

The British Museum was massive. There were so many exhibits and artifacts. Despite spending at least three hours there, I'm not sure that I saw it all. There were several topics of interest in the Mesopotamia exhibit. The Great Pit of Death showcased the jewelry the women wore and it was beautiful. That was also where I first discovered that they were not squeamish with displaying a crushed head. That continued to be a trend as there was another crushed head with a helmet on and several preserved corpses. While I found them very interesting, I was a bit surprised that they'd have such graphic material out. In addition, there was a case displaying the Royal Game of Ur which they once played. I find such artifacts interesting as it humanizes the past. It helps me feel more connected to the past societies and that they are less foreign. On the topic of games, they had out an elaborate chess board. One fact they gave was that playing chess was used to practice battle strategy. That I knew. A fact that surprised me a bit was that the church banned chess for many years. Additionally, chess was used as a bit of a battle of wits between men and women and acted as a sort of flirting. I found that last fact to be pretty amusing. I appreciate though that it put men and women on even ground. Throughout the museum they also had up info panels describing how the subject of different artifacts relates to LGBT rights and history. Having just been in a show that raised awareness for that community, I found some of those facts quite interesting. It seems that there was not this huge stigma until the time of Christianity. Before that, many forms of homosexuality was accepted, though not all. The idea of gender fluidity and having different characteristics was often accounted for in mythologies. Lastly, there were some really cool artifacts in general. As a fencer, I loved seeing various swords and weapons. I was definitely not expecting to have seen an antique grenade launcher though, so that was pretty awesome. I really enjoyed the exhibit on clocks and watches. This is probably due to the engineering that goes into designing a clock. The mechanical systems are quite interesting and the idea of the rolling ball clock was fascinating. I loved the creativity that went into them.

Greek Busts
Lion Mosaic
Mesopotamian Jewelry
Rolling Ball Clock
Gebelein Man

5/11/17 - Natural History Museum

I enjoyed the Natural History Museum and that it was science oriented. The first exhibit I saw was on evolution. My favorite part of it was the facial reconstructions of skulls from throughout evolution. It really helped give a better image of what people used to look like as a skull only shows me so much. After that, I saw a bunch of fossils. I was impressed by how a woman, Mary Anning, is credited for finding some of the best fossils in their collection. She first found fossils when she was eleven years old and then went on to find many more, gaining respect from those in the field. I thought this was very impressive for a woman of the early 1800s. The minerals exhibit surprised me with how much I enjoyed it. I had not expected much from an exhibit on fancy rocks. However, I was quickly captivated by the various shapes and patterns the crystals took on. The last exhibits I saw were fun because they were more hands on. The volcanoes and earthquakes exhibit even had an earthquake simulator. The Restless Surface exhibit had lots of small demonstrations depicting how Earth's surface changes over time due to erosion. While the exhibits covered a lot of information I have learned before, it was fun to learn some new facts, get hands on and refresh my memory.

Swans
Male Chimpanzee Skeleton
Agate
Complete Triceratops
Pyrite

5/12/17 - The National Gallery

I thought The National Gallery was alright. I'm not very interested in art so I was not too interested in it. There were a few artists I was interested in though. Foremost, I was interested in seeing Vincent Van Gogh's work since he was featured in an episode of Doctor Who. Therefore, I really wanted to see Sunflowers and was glad that I got to. In addition, I wanted to see the exhibit on Claude Monet because I used to read the book "Linnea in Monet's Garden" when I was a kid. Unfortunately, I could not find his art as several rooms were closed for improvements. In addition, I looked at the art of several Spanish artists I studied in high school including El Greco and Francisco de Goya. Afterwards, looking at the Wiki I noticed how an episode of Doctor Who had the Doctor and Clara there. I think it's really exciting that I probably was in the same room as Doctor Who was filmed in.

El Greco
The Adoration of the Name of Jesus
Goya
A Scene from El Hechizado por Fuerza
Van Gogh
Sunflowers

5/13/17 - "Twelfth Night" at the National Theater

Seeing "Twelfth Night" at the National Theater was my first activity towards any of my milestones. The show was amazing and not how I had envisioned the show. When reading a script, there is a lot left to the readers imagination. In books, authors describe the setting and what characters are wearing or feeling. In a script the reader only has the dialogue to go off of. Sometimes there are stage directions but William Shakespeare does not often include them. I now see just how little context was provided in "Twelfth Night" and how much was left to interpretation. This is where National Theater's Production of "Twelfth Night" surprised me. For starters, they included elements from many time periods. In the beginning, older model cars are driven on stage. The interior decorating of the house is modern. Many of the costumes are modern but also incorporate in old elements such as the ruff. I also did not expect Count Orsino to be introduced boxing. The creativity continued to impress me with the set. The scenic department did an amazing job. Many of the elements used, I had recently learned of in my theater workshop class last term. The revolving stage was really impressive. There was a wedge that could be spun around the center axis. This wedge could then also be split into multiple sections to create a variety of scenes. There were also two trap doors used to reveal a fountain and a hot tub. While I did not pick up on any fancy lighting, it was used quite effectively. For example, scenes that occurred out on the street at night had just a wash at the front of the stage, with dark shadows against the building walls. Another creative liberty that was taken was quite a bit of gender swapping. The clown, Malvolio and Fabian were all modified to be female roles. Overall, the performance was quite fun and I enjoyed it. However, that was not true for everyone. On my way out, I heard a few people expressing how they felt some scenes, such as the scene at the Elephant were overdone. That scene was set in a modern style club or bar. It seems that some people might have preferred a more traditional production of the show.

5/15/17 - Klyne Concert

I'm really glad we found this concert as it was really good and we all enjoyed it. The venue was small but nice. The music of Klyne, the main act, is considered to be electronic pop and the group is Dutch. While I had never heard of them before, it turns out that they are growing in popularity and actually have some following according to Spotify. This was pretty evident in the crowd at the concert. I could hear some people singing along and people would cheer as some songs began. The music was both chill but also fun and upbeat. The opening act, Oleka, was also pretty decent. Their sound was good but needed to work on acoustics. The sound got a bit mashed together and the volumes were at extremes. The singer was also hard to understand as he seemed to mumble a bit. However, I enjoyed them overall despite that. They are a small local band from southeast London. In conclusion, I am going to continue listening to Klyne on Spotify as I enjoyed their music and I believe the others might as well. I think it's cool that I will be able to go back home with more music that I like that is foreign. It is kind of like a free souvenir that does not take up space and I can continually enjoy.

5/16/17 - Tate Britain

While the focus for the day is the Tate Britain art museum, it is packed with much more fun activities. The day did start off at Tate Britain. The museum was varying degrees of entertaining. I enjoyed the modern art. I find the vibrant colors, geometric shapes and patterns appealing. The video art was interesting. The first one I saw was "Together". It seemed very strange to see people dressed in work clothes, with big smiles, pretending to beat each other up. I also really enjoyed "Dream English Kid" as it was interesting to have such common items and experience emphasized. It reminds me a bit of the 5 gum slogan, "stimulate your senses". Additionally, though not modern art, "The Annunciation" by Arthur Hacker stood out to me for its style. While most of the image is pastel and has soft lines, the face of Mary is quite vivid, bold and stands out. "Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose" by John Singer Sargent is also very beautiful and peaceful. I also learned how the font Gills Sans was invented. It was based on an inscription in stone by Eric Gill. After the museum, we visited MI6 which I loved because I am a huge fan of spy books and movies. We also visited a park and then made the 3.4 mile walk back as it was nice out so we wanted to enjoy the weather and get to see more of London.