This blog post is a collection of epic twos. It is my 22nd blog post on 2/22/22. I am glad that my blog posts lined up this way. Happy Twosday! : )

In class this past week, we engaged in many activities including presenting our Harlem Renaissance monuments, thinking about Martin Luther’s 95 Theses, analyzing historical documents, and reading a poem called “Worst Day Ever?” by Chanie Gorkin.

After designing my own Harlem Renaissance monument highlighting the iconic Harlem Renaissance painter Aaron Douglas, I was excited to see the creations of my classmates. We spent nearly an entire class block presenting our monuments and explaining the symbolism behind them. Sometimes giving a presentation can make me feel a bit nervous. It was a relatively stress-free environment, and I felt comfortable and proud sharing my hard work with the class. Some of my classmates presented about people whom I had never heard of before that day. I enjoyed hearing about the symbolism of each monument, and I could tell that they were carefully thought out and skillfully included within the monument.

When we looked at Martin Luther’s 95 Theses, we kept in mind that Martin Luther was not trying to separate from the Catholic Church when he publicized his theses in 1517. Most of his theses expressed views that were different from many others who were part of the Catholic Church at that time. Martin Luther made sure to talk about indulgences and the limits of the pope’s power as well as the importance of the Bible. He wanted to make it clear that he was not pleased with how members of the Catholic Church were acting, but he did not try to start the Protestant Reformation.

Analyzing documents as historians requires a certain thought process when trying to identify the author of an unknown document. We had to take into account where the excerpts are from in terms of larger documents they may be parts of, the historical events that took place during the time when the documents were written, and the authors’ purpose. One of three documents that we analyzed did not list the author, and it was our job to identify the author. It turned out that the author of the mystery document was Machiavelli, the author of The Prince that we learned about during our unit on the Renaissance. Also notable from one of the three documents we analyzed was how Martin Luther’s tone when talking about the Catholic Church changed drastically between 1517 when he posted his 95 Theses and in 1522 in a letter that he wrote. In the theses, Martin Luther showed disapproval of the Catholic Church, but he did not seem to have a strong sense of resentment. In the letter, resentment is all throughout, and Martin Luther clearly and directly called out the negative ways the Catholic Church treated him.

Lastly, I was pleasantly surprised by the poem “Worst Day Ever?” by Chanie Gorkin. When I first read the poem, I read it top to bottom like I would any other poem. I try to be optimistic, and I was shocked how someone could have such a negative outlook on life and happiness. Then when I read the poem the other way and saw how it completely changed the meaning, it made me smile. I remember being in awe about how the poem made sense when read both ways and thinking something along the lines of “There’s the optimism I was waiting for!” I read the poem backwards again, and I smiled even more.

This week in class we learned about the Harlem Renaissance. We learned about it as an extension of our lessons regarding the Renaissance in Europe, and it was nice to see how the two movements are related. Both involve a change in society and a significant shift in the arts. Our assignment for the Harlem Renaissance was to design and create a monument for one of the people who were part of the Harlem Renaissance.

To make my monument, I am using an online 3-D modeling tool called Tinkercad. This week was the first time that I used Tinkercad, and I really enjoyed exploring it. The cover page of the Tinkercad website is inviting and colorful. The Tinkercad logo is a square three by three square with the letters that make up the word “Tinkercad,” and each letter is a different color. One of the first things I read on the website was, “From mind to design in minutes. Tinkercad is a free, easy-to-use web app that equips the next generation of designers and engineers with the foundational skills for innovation: 3D design, electronics, and coding!” I felt a surge of excitement as I thought about the creative power that Tinkercad could unleash. In particular, the diagrams of the gear set and the model race car fondly reminded me of building projects that I completed in the past.

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) have been very interesting to me starting from a young age. With regards to design and building, I enjoy building things out of K’nex and other materials. The process of seeing and figuring out how the different parts work together is engaging and fun. When building my monument in 3-D, I noticed that the controls are very compatible. The 3-D modeling section allows for view of projects from all angles, full control of dimensions and positions, a built-in ruler, and many more features. In particular, there is an orthographic view where everything on the work plane appears relatively flat. There is also a perspective view in which designs on the work plane appear more 3-dimensional. This reminded me of the Renaissance and how perspective helps with making realistic visual representations of the world. There is also a vast selection of shapes to choose from to construct a project, and there is an option to create custom shapes as well. I also thought about how people may use this kind of software for designing in STEM-based careers. Career profiles sometimes show specialists working with computer-based design programs. It is always neat to see what they are in the process of making as they rotate, resize, and refine their designs.

I also remember thinking about how fortunate I am to have access to tools like Tinkercad. All that I needed to do to access Tinkercad was click on the link and sign in with Google. Many places and people in the world do not have such abundant resources to partake in these activities. I am thankful that I am surrounded by opportunities and new things to try. Tinkercad is one of the many examples of these opportunities, and I am glad that I have the chance to utilize Tinkercad for my Harlem Renaissance monument.

This week in class, we worked through various lessons on the Renaissance. Two of the things we learned about are “Oration on the Dignity of Man” by Pico della Mirandola and how the use of linear perspective transformed art during the Renaissance.

Linear perspective is what artists during the Renaissance used to make their drawings look realistic. The video we watched about linear perspective said the concept of linear perspective was developed by Filippo Brunelleschi. It talked about how he experimented with linear perspective in order to recreate the Florence Baptistery, also known as the Baptistery of Saint John, in his artwork. Brunelleschi held a mirror facing towards him and his artwork facing away from him (both with holes in them) so that he could see the reflection of his artwork in the mirror. Then, when he moved the mirror away, he could see the real Florence Baptistery and compare it to the reflection of his artwork to check the accuracy of his artwork. Linear perspective gives artwork the ability to appear three-dimensional and proportionally balanced. Before the Renaissance, linear perspective was not fully developed in artwork. During the Renaissance when people started utilizing linear perspective, artwork became increasingly lifelike.

The video also addresses something that was mentioned in class when it says: “…some people say that Brunelleschi rediscovered linear perspective, in case the ancient Greeks and Romans had had it before him.” This makes sense since other people could have known about linear perspective before the Renaissance. However, this statement also seems to imply that no other people in the world besides the ancient Greeks and Romans could have known about linear perspective before Brunelleschi. Hearing that statement made me think of how the attribution of knowledge to certain parts of the world often diminishes or neglects the rest of the world’s advancements in similar subjects.

Mirandola brings up an interesting concept that God created humans above the angels. Mirandola explains this using the following lines: “Imagine! The great generosity of God! The happiness of man! To man it is allowed to be whatever he chooses to be! … Spiritual beings from the beginning become what they are to be for all eternity. Man, when he entered life, [God] the Father gave the seeds of every kind and every way of life possible.” I had not thought much about humanity in this way before, and it was interesting to read about this point of view. I agree that there is definitely something unique about human life. Humans can choose to be anything they would like to be, and humans can be multiple things as well. Something else that stood out to me from the reading is about what people must do with the unique freedom of choice that humans have. People, who have the power to choose how they live their lives, should not use their power for things that take advantage of or harm others. Rather, people should recognize and be thankful for the ability to choose their own paths and make conscious decisions to use their power as a constant force of good in the world, glorifying God in the process.