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     These images don't belong to me but are the covers for Kurt Vonnegut's book, The Sirens Of Titan (1959), used for the purpose of explaining the book and its meaning.

Copy of The Sirens Of Titan.jpg

     “And let there be no purpose in friendship save the deepening of the spirit.”
     “When you part from your friend, you grieve not; For that which you love most in him may be clearer in his absence…”
     “If he must know the ebb of your tide, let him know its flood also.” -Kahlil Gibran

     “Love is not an instrument of convenience. Love is a process of self-annihilation.”
     “Friendship is not just for companionship and comfort but a mirror to all you are and all you are not.”
     “Friendship is not an advantageous transaction or give-and-take, friendship is a certain overlapping of life.” -Sadhguru

     This is a team project where we build a museum exhibit based on a scientific idea in our book club book and each of us creates our own part of this exhibit. When we read The Sirens Of Titan, I was disappointed by how hopeless it made me feel- like life was meaningless. After watching a video review from someone who claims it is their favorite book, they miraculously provided three quotes from the novel about life's meaning, so we based our team project on how people make meaning of life. In these three quotes, I found a common theme of companionship. So while the rest of my team chose kind of sad subtopics like existentialism and cults, I chose companionship because it makes me feel fuzzy inside.

     Because my exhibit piece is about companionship, I needed to make a two-person interactive activity showing the benefits of friendship, not just teaching it. Our field trip to the Minneapolis Science Museum taught me that telling isn't enough to teach someone, we must show them and have them learn with their own hands to best understand the knowledge. I used three quotes from Kahlil Gibran and three more from Sadhguru (on the left) to guide me. I wanted to create an unfinished art piece full of accidents, like life, which could only be completed by someone else.

Copy of The Sirens Of Titan.jpg

In "short-and-easy," this activity has you complete each other's wall, but not your own.

How People Make Meaning Of Life

Our Team Exhibit

Reviews

4/5

Engagement:
"It's one of the most interactive I’ve seen."
Improvement:
"More of an explanation."

5/5

Engagement:
"The project made me grow as a person and made me realize I need help from other people too."
Improvement:
"Better whiteboards."

4/5

Engagement:
"Required full engagement and interaction with another person."
Improvement:
"Nothing, well done."

5/5

Engagement:
"Fully interactive and fun."
Improvement:
"More designs to work with."

Reflection

As I reflect on this project, I remember how much I detest the book but love the exhibit. The Meaning Of Life has always been interesting to me and I've made a few projects and speeches based on it. Because it can be a very sad topic that brings despair, it's always my goal to inspire and give Hope.

Out of all of my STEAM projects, this one looks the most like how I envisioned it. While the two-person-complete-the-other-side's-wall-art was a bit confusing for some audience members, the interactive activity kept them engaged in making art and showing the value of companionship and working with each other not only for our own benefit, but there's, too. The text was informative with both scientific and philosophical back-up, the visuals were huge and were probably what drew people over. If I had more time, I would make it look less cheap and make a separate poster with all the text for our exhibit. I also would've liked to help with my team's projects as well.

One person's feedback said, "The project made me grow as a person and made me realize I need help from other people too." This is how I wanted my audience to benefit from my section of our exhibit.

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