In this history class, we worked to create a museum exhibit based off of the letters in the UNE letter collection. The exhibit focused on World War Two in the Pacific, and we each got to chose an aspect of war to explore. I chose to look at the atomic bomb, specifically the angle of how soldiers abroad received the news of the bomb, as well as those at home. I then chose to look at the after math of the bomb, how soldiers were not sent home immediately, the effects on Japan, etc.
Writing panels is extremely different from any of the writing I had done in any class before. It needs to be short and succinct, and people need to be able to get information from it only if they chose to just glance over it, as many people end up doing in museums, (ask yourselves if thats true!).
Here is an excerpt from my first draft of my panels –
Due to the effect and calculated information release by the United States Government and Military, some civilians in the public eye coined the term of an “atomic utopia”, in the light of the new atomic energy. Civilians in the US dreamed of “unlimited energy and predictions of everything from “atomic cars” to “atomic medicines.”
Lawrence Johnson, a scientist who helped contrust the atomic bomb, had an upclose and personal view with the revolutionary weaponry. Lawrence stated that he “prayed for all people who would be killed by the weapon he helped develop” again, like Lowderback, showing a sympathetic and human perspective on the dropping of the bomb.
Here is the final –
Although the war was over, the legacy of the atomic bombs remained. Lawrence Johnson, a scientist who helped construct the atomic bomb, saw the potential danger of the revolutionary weapon. Lawrence “prayed for all people who would be killed by the weapon he helped develop” Many civilians, due to the effective and calculated information released by the United States government and military, saw a more positive future and coined the term “atomic utopia,”, inlight of the potential of this new atomic energy. Americans dreamed of “unlimited energy and predictions of everything from atomic cars to atomic medicines.” The atomic age had begun.
You can see the clear differences for yourself. We combined the two sections into one, as they went well together as a wrapping up thought. The language changed heavily, so does the placement of quotations and the like, and the final words leave you with the thought of, was the atomic age successful?
This is just a short example of the tedious, but rewarding work done in this class.
