Class gets personal with flag

By Dave Stephens
Assistant Campus Editor

With needle and thread in hand, the students sit in clusters on the floor; each intent on pieces of fabric in front of them.

"Hey, Whitney toss me a Reese," Jeff Dierdorf, a sophomore in the Schools of Engineering, calls out as he pauses from stitching together pieces of red and white cloth. Candy in hand, he continues.

Across from Dierdorf, two students discuss the design of a large blue field of denim; the large cloth is made up entirely of the pockets from blue jeans.

These students aren't designing the latest fashions, and they aren't studying the art of sewing. They are making an American flag, and in the process learning a little about themselves and their world.

"Our world has dramatically changed since the attacks on Sept. 11," said Cynthia Fortner, instructor of IDIS 280, "Introduction to Women's Studies," a class that is making the flag out of old clothing. "This project is an effort to respond to how the world has radically changed for the students in my class, and for the rest of the people in the world."

For Fortner, that change became apparent during the morning of the attacks, a day when she realized that many of her students heard the first news of the tragedy from her.

"Some of them hadn't heard about it yet, or not much," said Fortner. "When I told them, I had students in tears, in shock. One student's mom was on an airplane. It was a really interesting moment as I reported what had happened."

Fortner said that when the class met again two days later, it discussed ways to respond to the attacks.

"I proposed the idea of a banner to let the world know that we won't forget what happened," said Fortner.

Fortner said class members took the idea of a banner and evolved it, making it into a project completely their own.

Brooke Vaughn, a junior in the School of Liberal Arts, helped change the direction of the project.

"The Thursday after it happened, everyone was talking about money," said Vaughn. "I thought that it was a good idea, but that everyone was giving money and that anyone can send money, it's not very personal."

Instead, Vaughn suggested creating something students in the class could really contribute to.

"I suggested that we make a flag out of our clothing. That way it's like us stitching together components of ourselves: our clothing, our motivation, our sympathy, all going into the flag."

Fortner said the personal nature of the idea inspired her, especially since she teaches her class the idea of empowerment — that they are in control of their decisions. The idea of using clothing also inspired her.

"We learned that in some cultures an act of mourning includes the act of tearing your clothing," said Fortner. "And here we were tearing up clothing for this project; it made it much more symbolic."

After the class decided to create an American flag, the process of actually starting the work had to begin.

"We started to bring in clothes from home and from friends, anything red, white and blue," said Vaughn. "Then we made a pattern, but we had to make it bigger. It wasn't until when we first started to sew that everyone actually thought we were going to go through with this."

Nikki Rosenberger, a senior in the School of Liberal Arts, said the actual task of sewing is something new for her.

"I don't sew, I've never sewed," said Rosenberger. "Now we got some thimbles, finally, it wasn't fun pushing needles through denim."

Alison Nickells, a junior in the School of Consumer and Family Sciences, said the project has helped form a close-knit group of students.

"I'm getting to know people who I really didn't know before," said Nickells. "Everybody's formed very close friendships."

As the class worked on its project, Fortner had to decide whether or not to continue using the original class syllabus, something she thought was obsolete after Sept. 11. "Based on this experience, I learned from my students that I could not continue with the same manner of curriculum that had existed before," she said.

After the flag is complete, the class plans to send it to New York, where they hope it will inspire those who see it.

"Hopefully it will tell the people that, just as we stitched this flag, we can stitch together ourselves and we can stitch the world back together," said Fortner.

Vaughn said the flag is a way to tell the people in New York and around the world that they will not be forgotten.

"This is a way to show we are sympathetic," said Vaughn, "and that we feel their spirit. I just want them to know that they are not alone. America may have not been united before the attacks, but we are now."

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Campus editor: Laura Pelner

Assistant campus editors: Kurt Esposito, Dave Stephens

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