Aiding the Lost Boys From Making Collage, Thanks to the SLR's!

by: Anonymous

Think Creatively!

There are several ways I thought creatively to form the layout of my collage. I chose to have the images form the last word of my 6 word memoir, "Help". This format was meant to be eye-catching, striking and thought provoking, all the while reminding the viewer that anyone and everyone can help the situation that these boys are in. While designing this collage, I sought to create empathy in everyone who saw it, but not just leave them hanging for ways to take action. Instead, I included logos from various great organizations that aid the Lost Boys and their homeland, Sudan. The layout of my collage demonstrates how I thought creatively in constructing it.

Reason Critically!
Thanks to my critical reasoning, my project could truly be effective in terms of helping the Lost Boys. Right at the beginning of designing my collage, I decided to make it simple, not overwhelming and crowded. This was due to my reasoning that if the pictures and text of my project were clear and concise, the viewer would spend more time processing the information and hopefully taking action than reading the text and seeing the photos. Critical reasoning has helped my project to be somewhat striking and efficient.

Communicate Effectively!
The Lost Boys' history and situation is effectively communicated in my collage. The photos in the last word of my 6 word memoir, "Help", are not in any old order. In fact, they create a sequence of the lost boys' unfortunate history. The order of the photos are this: tribal background, harsh genocide, refugee camps and finally life in America. Through these photos, the stepped migration of the Lost Boys is simply and clearly described. This makes it easier for the people looking at my poster who aren't familiar with the Dinka tribe, let alone the Lost Boys spread awareness of the sticky situation of these people. My collage effectively communicates the story of the Lost Boys which helps spread awareness of their plight.

Live Ethically!
Certain features of my collage may evoke empathy in the viewer. The photos I chose to include in my collage were picked especially to create sympathy for the Lost Boys. Particularly, in the letter "E" of the word "Help" includes very striking images. The letter is filled with photos of war in Sudan as well as boys fleeing their homes, and these subjects tend to stir up sympathy for this cause. Also, I pasted on several facts and statistics about conflict in Sudan and the Lost Boys. When I found these facts I knew I had to include them into my collage because they truly horrified me and therefore would hopefully cause someone to take action as a result. Just in case that occurred, I put the logos of several organizations that can be donated to which support the Lost Boys struggling to survive in Africa as well as the U.S.A. into the "!" at the end of my 6 word memoir. Sympathy for the Lost Boys may be caused in the viewers of my collage due to several different items it includes.

My Collage - Creating Empathy in the Viewer

Julius Caesar Essay

“O pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth, That I am meek and gentle with these butchers.” (Act 3, Scene 1) Some men have murdered his best friend, idol and role model for an invalid purpose. Antony felt passionately angry and grievous, but not without good reason. Caesar was assassinated. That was enough for Antony to turn against the conspirators and begin a war against them.

Antony set out to kill the murderers, especially Cassius and Brutus, because of his lust for revenge. The same way his beloved Caesar was slain, so he would slay the assassinators. Revenge then seeps through into his every action, causing him to start a fierce war, and also showing he would not rest until every force opposing Caesar was destroyed. Most of all, Mark Antony wanted to get revenge for the death of his dear friend. “Pardon me, Julius! Here wast thou bay’d, brave hart; Here didst thou fall; and here thy hunters stand, Sign’d in thy spoil, and crimson’d in thy lethe.” (Act 3, Scene 1) When Antony was spouting those lines he was staring at Caesars torn corpse, still caught up in the abruptness of his death. And this is the point when Antony realized, here I am, being friendly with the people who stabbed my friend to death! , and therefore planted the seed of revenge to grow the tree of war. Antony not only thought of Caesar as his buddy, but also as this great ruler who united Rome. “Thou art the ruins of the noblest man that ever lived in the tide of times.” (Act 3, Scene 1) Antony was lamenting over the death of this grand being that led Rome into power. This was yet another reason Antony sought revenge on the conspirators; to make up for the death of the leader he truly respected. Mark Antony had many reasons for starting the war, but this was one that was based on his private motivation and therefore was not as valid as the rest.

Antony felt he had to avenge Caesar’s death, but he also killed the murderers for a sense of justification. He felt that if the conspirators were destroyed, Caesar’s death would be justified and he could move on. In one way, he took it literally and believed that Caesar’s ghost could not move on unless his death was avenged and the conspirators killed. “And Caesar’s spirit, raging for revenge, With Ate by his side come hot from hell, Shall in these confines with a monarch’s voice Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war,” (Act 3, Scene 1) In this quote, Antony was explaining that the spirit of Caesar was restless and wanted to kill his murderers. Therefore, Antony thought he himself should carry out the will of this spirit, in order to justify this act. Antony also thought that Caesar would have wanted his best friend, Antony, to justify his unfair assassination. “… put a tongue In every wound of Caesar that should move The stones of Rome to rise and mutiny.” Thrice in Antony’s speeches he refers to Caesars wounds as mouths that compel him to speak for Caesar. This shows that one of Antony’s motivations for the war was to speak and act for Caesar’s corpse to bring about justice. Justice is a suitable reason for a war, but that depends on what exactly Antony’s sense of justice really was.

Antony was experiencing an extreme sense of loss, and was in a very emotional state at the time. His ultimate motivators, revenge and justice, made him persevere with his act and drive out the force against his beloved Caesar. In the end of the play he did just that, and triumphed in the war. Antony totally justified and revenged for Caesar’s death, in his own perspective. But, from my point of view, it was a bad move. Why spill even more blood? If the conspirators had tried to do wrong towards Antony himself, I think he should take action, but otherwise I believe it was completely unnecessary. Revenge is not a legitimate reason to murder unless shows some harm towards one, and even though justice is a valid motive, Antony has a warped sense of it. Part of his decision to take action is not made up of reason but of pure emotion and lingering shock of the murder of Caesar, Antony’s friend and leader.

Watch Out for Peter - A Lost Boy with a Plan

Since enduring the forced migration various young Dinka boys faced in the form of genocide, these children encountered multiple struggles to journey towards the refugee camps. However, not the harsh Sudan climate, nor hungry lions could ever prepare Peter, a Lost Boy from the Dinka tribe, for his experiences in America. Everyone in the refugee camp pictured America as heaven. Little did Peter know, it would make him feel more isolated and lonely than he ever was.

From his stay at Houston, Texas, Peter encountered a number of conflicts dealing with the contrast of culture within his stepped migration. There were a variety of things on his mind when he was assimilating to this strikingly different lifestyle. He must not hold hands or show affection with another man for fear of being labeled a homosexual. He had to manage his own budget, from a boring, minimum waged job and still have enough to send back to the refugee camps in which his friends and family lived in desperate need. He had to go to high school every week and deal with the stress that came as a result. And on top of all this, he had to face the pressure that his people put on him to seek some secret thing in the US that would save his Dinka friends and family. Yet he assimilated well into the brand new culture, managed a healthy lifestyle from his hard work while sending some of his wages home, maintained excellent grades in every subject and did all this with more or less a laid back, can-do attitude.

Did Peter really manage all this because of his cruel past? Did his harsh history make him that much stronger?