We are in fear of nuclear disaster by Brent

The theme of our project was basically about the nuclear scare that happened during the Cold War but we focused in during the time period from 1970 to 1990. We explored the fears that the people felt during the time period and also the technology that made these fears a grim reality. Our theme made it crystal clear that nuclear power and technology can pose fatal risks if the reactor sites malfunction like what happened at 3 Mile Island. Our theme was crafted to instill fear within the viewer to draw their attention to our barrel and then give them information about our topic and what we learned about it.

We had many items ranging from a book to a model rocket (which someone stole from our barrel when it was on display in the library). We also had movie posters from the time period such as Silkwood, which were depictions of how Hollywood showed the fears of the American people. When looking around to see what items I contributed to the group I asked my mom if she had anything to do with the nuclear threat. It turns out she had a great book called Missile Envy written by Helen Caldicott who had great insight on the risks of developing nuclear power. When I was flipping through the book a old piece of paper fell out of it, which I made a copy and attached to our barrel. The paper was a bunch of dots each representing a certain amount of nuclear bombs and it put into perspective to the viewer how much nuclear warheads were being built up and how devastating they could be during the world.

We obtained most of our items through the help of the Internet. David braved a scrap yard to find a huge barrel, which he painted yellow and used a stencil Joe made to paint the radioactive symbol on it. The barrel really stands out and can be tapped by the viewer of the project to discover its the real deal. You can see the rings of the barrel too and an imaginative viewer might fear the high frequency electromagnetic waves that could be coming out of the waste barrel. I found the book and other artifacts from my mom who had some things she could contribute from her bookshelf. Also, we replicated artifacts like the nuclear blanket and the nuclear warhead. In addition, Joe made a 3-d model of 3 Mile Island. We obtained our items by just looking around our houses and asking people to help us achieve our goals.

In the future, I think we should have chosen our items first and then the topic of our project. This would have made the project a lot easier since we could have a topic that we had easy access to awesome items too. Also, I think it might of been helpful to ask around on facebook by changing your status to something like "Does anyone have any nuclear warhead replicas we could borrow for a project in exchange for a gourmet batch of cookies?" We could trade other students for items and give them baked goods to persuade them into helping us out. We could also invite them too see their lent items in the finished project in the library when we finished. In addition, it would have been optimal if I did not go down with a high fever the day of our assembly and project presentation but our group pulled through and was able to extract some artifacts from my locker because I got in touch with them when I was sick.

For next years groups the most important thing to a group is a strong form of communication. Everyone needs to have each other group members phone numbers, address, facebook, twitter, email, and AIM to make communication go smoothly. Actually one of the best ways to get the ideas flowing is starting a private group message on facebook in which each group member can post links, ideas, and scan in and post pictures of potential artifacts. Then, the group could come to a group consensus on which items should be used and which should be left in a remote dust filled crevice of someone's attic. Also, its very important to get things done ahead of schedule. In situations were time is running short things our bound to go wrong. Not only that but it is important to realize that you are probably brainwashed by Hollywood film writers. One hardly ever sees a movie where technology fails, computers always work smoothly and the users can manipulate various electronic forms of communication without fail. This of course is all fantasy hodge podge. We all know that if its the worst time for a computer to crash it will crash. Don't save printing out items in the AC during the morning because most likely 50 other kids in the AC will try to print out things too and you will find the situation to be highly stressful and not successful. To sum it up, the crucial concepts that future groups should comprehend are communication, organization, and getting work done in a timely manner. A cohesive group will lead to an outstanding project. Individual items might be perceived as junk but when they are assembled into a logical and flowing presentation they mold into the form of an idea that will give the viewer a message with a profound meaning.

Special thanks to group members Joe, David and Kuleen for their determined work ethic and unprecedented brainstorming capabilities.