Impact and Legacy;
Past, Present, and Future
Gizelle Winter's Immersion Project, 2020
Mountain School history classes don’t teach to the timeline. Names and dates are important, of course, but our history classes focus on broader ideas: cause, result, change, consequence, significance, etc. For years, we’ve been taught to seek explanations, and to ask a thousand questions at each step.
Some of those questions can’t be answered; unfortunately, those are the ones I most frequently ask. I’ve always been fascinated by concepts like permanence, and legacy, and impact, the most tangible and intangible elements of our society. When something ends, when someone is gone, what remains? And why? How much of what we know was intentionally provided for us? Can you construct the stories that’ll be told in the distant future?
I’m acutely aware of the fact that nothing is permanent, that a single person’s impact can only be so great, that almost everything is destined to be forgotten. Yet, everything has a story. We carry around coins with the faces of our forefathers printed on the front; we watch movies and TV shows about historical figures; we live in houses built by other people, and cook recipes passed down through generations, and worship figures who supposedly died 2,000 years ago. The past is everywhere. Every person who believes in something carries it into the future, and that is absolutely beautiful to me. After all, don’t we leave parts of ourselves in the things we care about? Whether those things be religions, or artworks, or people… everything we love takes a strand of our spirit, and grows stronger thereafter.
In various manners, my individual IB projects all explored the concept of permanence. In math class, I questioned the behavior of a problem that’s been unsolved for over 100 years, wondering how something so simple could baffle the world’s greatest minds for a century. In history class, I investigated the role of the Medicis in the promotion of the Florentine Renaissance: is history told solely by the voices of those in power? And, for my Extended Essay, I examined the role of women in various Roman cults, and eventually came to understand the diverse and potent impact of faith. This Extended Essay may have awakened a lifelong interest — I’m already in contact with my future archaeology professors.
I’m obsessed with the past; I’m obsessed with the questions that can’t be answered. Funnily enough, it seems that the past will guide my future.
The above presentation synthesizes my IB experience through an explanation of my Extended Essay process; this project allowed me to explore some of the large unanswered questions that we encounter daily, both consciously and subconsciously, through an academic lens.
Virtual Tour of the Temple of Isis in Pompeii
"The Pompeian cult of Isis was rooted in themes of transformation and shifted reality, for which the figure of Isis was responsible as the goddess of magic. The design of the Pompeian Temple of Isis speaks clearly to the cult’s reverence of transformation, which can be defined as any situation in which a person experiences change… Women naturally experience many physical transformations throughout their life, and it’s possible that Isis’ protection comforted and assured them, since they often had little control over their own destinies." (Excerpt from my Extended Essay)
“Women found representation in the figure of Isis and found catharsis through Bacchic worship, which explains why these two cults are noted for having an abnormally large female following. Religion was both highly influential and highly personal — thus, the state of Pompeian religion is a testament to the state of Pompeian society and its members. In a world where individuals depended on religion not only to ensure their fortune but also to establish their identities, mystery cults were an attractive option for those unable to find solace within the Roman pantheon. And, for the women of Pompeii, the cults of Isis and Bacchus offered two completely different methods to find and validate themselves.” (Excerpt from my Extended Essay).