So, I’m not sure if I’ve already mentioned this, but we’re currently in the middle of a project.

You might remember we were learning about revolutions a little while back? Specifically, the process of a revolution, with some focus on Crane Brinton’s theory.

More recently, we learned about steampunk .

Basically, we’ve been building “metaphor machines”, or machines which also serve as metaphors. In this case, we’re divided into small groups, and each group is building a machine to represent a revolution. Each part of the machine has to be a metaphor for an important event of the revolution. The machine also has to have a steampunk aesthetic.

My group is building a machine to represent the French Revolution. Because we’re still in the process of building it I don’t have a lot of photos, but right now it looks something like this:

The idea is for a ball to roll down the halfpipes, triggering reactions along the way such as pushing two gears together so they interlock (representing the Tennis Court Oath, an oath taken to say together), a string of lights going out (representing the September Massacres), and a pulley bringing the ball to the top of the machine (representing Napolean’s rise to power and a return to a similar government as at the start of the revolution).

The process of us making the machine, as well as some documentation of it working, and an explanation of the metaphors and the events of the French Revolution, will eventually be made into a video. We’ve been plotting the video by use of a storyboard, and taking some time lapses and pictures to potentially include in it. When it’s the done, the video will actually end up here, on this blog, so look forward to a part two of this post.

Until then, however, I think I’ll wrap this up.

Toodles!