Activism

Agency: Creating Interactive Stories on Becoming a Brave Upstander

Agency is a foundational concept of interactivity and the currency of game design. Create an interactive story game of the 4 Bs with the possibility of becoming a brave upstander. Making choices in the story reveals how there is never a single story about any place or people. Create an interactive story game using Twine or Inklewriter, or other open-source apps for creating and sharing nonlinear stories. The stories should include possibilities for becoming a brave upstander.

ACTIVITY OVERVIEW:

      1. Critique the storyboards.
      2. Play the Upstander game, and the Twine and Inklewriter examples.
      3. Storyboard with collages, drawings, or paintings.
      4. Share stories of the 4Bs and brainstorm characters, plots, scenes, and narratives for interactive story games.
      5. Individually or collaboratively create an interactive story.

Definitions of the 4 Bs:
(4Bs coined by Linda Stein. Learn more about the 4Bs from Stein’s Holocaust Heroes: Fierce Females Film, 2015)

    • Bully: A person who targets another, often supported by a group, to intimidate (such as with hurtful rumors using social media) or act aggressively toward another with threats or violent actions.
    • Bullied: A person who is the victim of bullying and may suffer depression, social withdrawal, physical injury, addiction, self-harm, and even suicide.
    • Bystander: A person who is knowledgeable about unjust acts, such as bullying, and does nothing to prevent the injustice.
    • Brave Upstander: A brave upstander joins with others, or stands alone, to protect others from violent circumstances in everyday experiences, such as bullying, or actively engages in promoting the wellbeing of others to balance inequalities or oppression.

RESOURCES: 

    • Bea the Upstander game by John Rapaccioli, 2016.

From Nativist Hysteria to Upstanders

Ruth-Gruber
Ruth Gruber 805. Tapestry by Linda Stein. Leather, archival pigment on canvas, fabric, metal, zippers; 57 x 57¼ x 2 inches; 2015.

VIEW FILMS:

DISCUSS:

    • Kindertransport as upstander acts
    • Photographs, films, and art as upstander acts: “words and images to fight injustice” Ruth Gruber
    • Restitution as upstander acts

RESOURCES:

    • Knight, W. B. (2010). Never again a (K)night with Ben. In A. Arnold, A. Kuo, E. Delacruz & M. Parsons (Eds.), G.L.O.B.A.L.I.Z.A.T.I.O.N, Art, and Education (pp. 126-134). Reston, VA: The National Art Education Association.
    • Miller, D. (2003). Principles of social justice. Boston, MA: Harvard University Press.
    • Pérez de Miles, A., & Peck, S. (2017). Exhibition as curriculum: Creativity as a human right. Art Education, 70(4), 60-64.
    • Stein, L. (Ed.). (2016). Holocaust Heroes: Fierce Females—Tapestries and Sculpture by Linda Stein. Philadelphia, PA: Old City Publishing.
    • Stein, L. (Ed.). (2016). Holocaust Heroes: Fierce Females—Tapestries and Sculpture by Linda Stein. Philadelphia, PA: Old City Publishing.
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ACTIVISM

What if each of Stein’s fierce feminist leaders simultaneously had a prominent seat at the table on the national and world stage? What if all stood up when they were told to sit down? What if all spoke out, when they were told to be quiet? What if…? Just imagine what Wonder Woman would say or do to a victimizer? Change the text-bubbles, as does Stein in her art, to voice upstander concerns.

Noor-Khan-c

Noor Inayat Khan 813
2014
fabric, archival pigment on canvas, leather, metal, zippers
5 ft. sq.

Click here to see image detail

Click here to interact with Heroic Tapestries: Noor Khan