BED1 Workshop Reflection

Workshopping my built environment description in class helped to improve my writing significantly. On my short descriptions about my collected artifacts, my classmates pointed out that they could use much more detail, so I went back through them and to amplify the imagery that I used the describe visuals. I attempted to pay greater attention to emphasizing color and shape and content in a way that someone could read my descriptions and have a decent idea of what the pictures contained without having to look at them. When looking at my longer description, they informed me that my writing suffered through restraining itself to text, leading me to add in pictures that added greater detail to what I wrote, such as additional images that I had not used as artifacts or a map that could help readers visualize better where the Beltline is located. Through the advice of my peers and professor, I was able to greatly improve the vividness of my descriptions and really improve my work both textually and alternate-modality, and I know that I will be able to add even greater depth and variety in the next description, utilizing more than just words and images. I hope to add in sounds and videos as well. Workshopping was definitely useful, and I will try to do it more in class and also be more helpful to my classmates when they have works workshopped.

First Draft of Bibliography Annotation

Campanella, Richard. “Shotgun Geography: The History behind the Famous New Orleans Elongated House.” NOLA.com, February 12, 2014. http://www.nola.com/homegarden/index.ssf/2014/02/shotgun_geography_new_orleans.html.
The article “Shotgun Geography: The History Behind the Famous New Orleans Elongated House” appeared in the New Orleans-based newspaper The Times-Picayune on Febuarary 12, 2014. The article was posted in the Cityscapes column that accounts the evolution and history of News Orleans urban planning and architecture, written by Richard Campanella, a geographer and author who works at the Tulane School of Architecture. As the name implies, the article accounts the history and theory beyond the popularization of shotgun houses in New Orleans, and the South in general. Campanella mainly focuses on a theory that speculates that shotgun houses came from Haiti with escapee slaves recently removed from Africa who then built houses akin to ones that they, or their ancestors, lived in back in Africa. The citizens of New Orleans progressively began to adopt the style as well because of city policies that made land compact and taxes based on frontage and not square footage.
I found this source because when I read “Parting Ways” by James Deetz, I saw that he regarded the shotgun house as an African phenomenon, but I knew them from the South and especially New Orleans, where my sister lives. I searched for information on the topic and found an article that explains exactly what I had wanted to know about how an African architectural style became a Southern staple. Further, the author being a professor of architecture and a published author of several books about the field made Campanella a reliable source, to me.

Reflection on Initial Experiences with Atlanta and the Built Environment

I must admit that, when I began this course, I found the concept of an entire class, a language arts class at that, about something called the built environment a peculiar course to start college; however, the cluster classes working together to emphasize the artificial geography where and how we live has quickly made me much more interested in the subject. Although I have always loved history, my preference for words over pictures led my self-education to be driven away from hands-on work and instead remain insulated with books. Through both the articles and books that I have read and the walking that I have done in Atlanta both in class and personally has demonstrated to me both the importance and potential of using archaeology and the built environment to understand the past and find greater insight into history. We can best learn through the combination of various sources such as written and architectural instead of focusing solely on one. Especially now that I know about sources like the archives, I am excited to begin incorporating visuals into my written and investigating and learning about architecture and using it in historical analysis. Further, as I was reading Where We Want to Live last night for our seminar, I saw extremely vividly how the built environment plays a huge role that I want to be a part of in my future. I want to work on improving and building living conditions in both the United States and developing countries, and this book helped open my mind to how the structure and transportation patterns influence, even determine, the ways that people live and build cities. Beginning this class, I was neither excited nor interested in the subject matter nor the work that we will have to do, but that has quickly been reversed. I am learning so much now in class and even out of class through reading and listening to podcasts. There is a lot that the built environment of Atlanta, and anywhere really, can teach me about how to live every day, to improve the work that I want to be part of, to increase my awareness and appreciation of my surroundings, and to be more versatile and adaptable in the modes that I can learn and teach with.

Bibliography for Reading Annotations 1 Using Zotero

“$61.82 in 1792 – Inflation Calculator.” Accessed September 6, 2016. http://www.in2013dollars.com/1792-dollars-in-2016?amount=61.82.
“44-1-10.pdf.” Accessed September 7, 2016. http://www.histarch.illinois.edu/NP/44-1-10.pdf.
Campanella, Richard. “Shotgun Geography: The History behind the Famous New Orleans Elongated House.” NOLA.com, February 12, 2014. http://www.nola.com/homegarden/index.ssf/2014/02/shotgun_geography_new_orleans.html.
“Federal Pension and Bounty-Land Acts for American Revolution.” Accessed September 6, 2016. http://revwarapps.org/revwar-pension-acts.htm.
“Homeownership at 50-Year Low — So What?” The New York Times. Accessed September 7, 2016. http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2016/08/02/homeownership-at-50-year-low-so-what/homeownership-drop-is-bad-news-but-not-for-the-reason-you-think.
“James Deetz, 70, Chronicler of America´s Colonial Past.” The New York Times, November 28, 2000, sec. National. http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/28/national/28DEET.html.
“Maps of New Guinea Settlement from 1823-Present | Parting Ways.” Accessed September 7, 2016. http://partingways.org/cms/learn/parting_ways/documents.
“The Battle of Bunker Hill: Now We Are at War.” Accessed September 6, 2016. https://www.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/42bunker/42bunker.htm.
“TPQ.pdf.” Accessed September 7, 2016. http://anthropology.si.edu/writteninbone/comic/activity/pdf/TPQ.pdf.