Reflect on at least three takeaways that you learned from creating your project.

1. In the process of fabricating the poncho, I acquired fundamental sewing skills by hands. I particularly absorbed much knowledge about sewing when I designed the hood of the poncho.

2. As I interviewed Joan who overcame many hardships during WWII, I got a better understanding of the lifestyle of people at that time, as well as Joan's personal feelings and experience.

3. After the mid-review, I received feedback from many coaches who had different thoughts about my project. The various suggestions shifted the direction of our product and enhanced our work. Whenever I was working on my project, I could realize the importance of feedback. I learned that getting feedback allows us to ensure if we are taking effective actions to achieve our goal.

Explain what was difficult for you during this process and why.

Since I worked mostly on posting and showing constant progress on Nuvu, it was difficult for me to ensure that all of the required elements are covered through my writing and sketch. 

Talk about feedback that you received and how you were able to incorporate that into your process.  

After our presentation in mid-review, we were told to add a hood to the poncho that blocks users' views. This visual effect will enable the users to experience Joan's hopeless emotion when she confronted with WWII. Because I was in charge of incorporating the idea of hood into our process, I started with measuring the head size of Sebastian to make the base of the hood. Then, Will Faucett helped me to add another layer to the hood using the leftover materials. At last, we completed the hood that will narrow and darken the sight of users.

I learned how to sew, what a service flag was, and more about the effects of WWII on people in Massachusetts specifically. Sewing is a skill that I will definitely use in my life. Nobody in our group knew what the service flag was until Joan explained it to us. I also had only learned about WWII in Hawaii, Japan, and Europe so it was interesting to learn more about it in a specific place. It was difficult to sew everything together because of the lack of thread and tough materials. We received feedback about removing snip its of letters and adding a hood representing "light at the end of the tunnel". We chose to incorporate the hood and took away the letters and added the flag.

1. I was able to sew.

2. I had an impact on Joan.

3. I learned how to interview someone and have compassion.

I think it was difficult to stay on top of the project as some of the assignments were weird to look at because they were not on my fessy.

My group received the feedback of taking the letters that Joan would have written off the poncho. Although we wanted to keep the letters on we took them off and I think the project was better without them.

Will Faucett:

The attack on Pearl Harbor was a preemptive attack on the United States Naval base in Honolulu, Hawaii, by the Empire of Japan’s Naval Air Service on Sunday morning of December 7, 1941. Hirohito, the 124th Emperor of Japan, was the individual that ordered the attack. The attack was carried out by Japanese Kamikaze pilots who made deliberate suicidal crashes into the enemy targets. “After two hours of bombing, 18 U.S. ships were sunk or damaged, 188 U.S. aircraft were destroyed, and 2,403 people were killed.” The attack was Japan’s declaration of war on the United States and the British Empire, and was what forced the U.S. to join the war.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the President during the war. FDR was known for his “Fireside Chats” which were radio broadcasts of him updating the public on the war. Since there were no televisions at the time, every household had a radio that they would listen to every night. On December 8th, 1941, one day after Japan's attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, President FDR gave his “Infamy Speech”.  President Roosevelt talked about the attacks the prior day as “a date that will live in infamy”.

Sebastian Goldberg:

Pearl Harbor and World War II affected lots of people on the U.S. homefront in many ways. After the attack the country introduced rationing, women had to go to work, manufacturing changed, and African Americans played a new role.

Rationing was a big deal for Americans. Tires, gas, and bikes were all rationed. The reason for this was so that the military would have the rubber, metal, and gas they needed for all their ships and planes. Foods that were rationed included sugar, coffee, meats, canned milk, canned fish, fats, and cheese. People on the U.S. homefront started planting “victory gardens” (gardens planted in someone's backyard) after Pearl Harbor. Americans would get 60% of their produce from their gardens.

Haruki Ono:

The interviewee was in first grade when she listened to FDR's fireside chat where she heard about the attack on Pearl Harbor as well as the start of World War II. The Fireside Chats were delivered through the radio from 1933 to 1944 by Franklin D. Roosevelt. Essentially, the only source of live information citizens had access to was through radio. Therefore, during FDR speech, every family huddled around the radio to be aware of any updated information about the war.

The war dramatically changed people's lives because the government put constraints on the availability of food, gas, etc. Another prominent consequence of the war was the blackout curtains that were provided to citizens. The shades were made to prevent the light from going outside so that any attackers could not identify the city so easily at night. "Civil Defense" were people who volunteered in ensuring that there was no conspicuous light that was coming out of buildings.

Sources:

https://www.worldbookonline.com/student-new/#/search/world%20war%20II/type/ar?searchType=basicsearch

https://www.nps.gov/articles/the-wwii-home-front.htm

https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/rationing

http://www.ushistory.org/documents/infamy.htm

https://www.britannica.com/event/Pearl-Harbor-attack

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consequences_of_the_attack_on_Pearl_Harbor

https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/fireside-chats

As artists and creators, our group focused on Joan's sensory experience at the beginning of World War II. In the interview, Joan talked about the burdensome life she had to overcome during World War II with a lot of restrictions and regulations. Since Joan was in first grade at that time, life without her relatives was strenuous. When she missed her uncles, she often wrote letters to her uncles in the war. From her interview, we first designed a few products that will have sensational effects that allow users to connect with Joan's experience. The direction that we took was to fabricate a poncho that expresses the heavy, tough situation in her life.  The design on the outer layer of the poncho will also have visual effects on the users. To make this feasible, we have sewn clothes with a sewing machine, then attached some sandbags to the bottom layer to increase the weight of the poncho. By using black cloth, the product can also symbolize the blackout shades that were used at the time to prevent lights from escaping the buildings, so that attackers cannot identify the towns so easily.  She shared how her family hated the ugly shades but were forced to have them down at night.

"The deep sense of depression tightened her heart and took away her enthusiasm. The cracking sound from the radio reached her ears giving her an ominous premonition. The noise abruptly turned her face into a pale and bewildered look. The family huddled closer in astonishment. The melancholy mood filled the air."

"The sharp pen slid across the white surface, leaving black ink like footprints. The letter expressed emotions and opinions toward her daily life. Her resilience impressed her uncles in the war."