Hello!!
What the heck is a Zine?!
We’ll get to that later! I’m back again, but this time with a humanities blog post!
The first thing we learned about in this project was Juno beach. What was Juno beach? And why is a Beach so important?!
Juno Beach was a critical D-Day landing site where Canadian forces played a pivotal role in the Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944. Approximately 14,000 Canadian soldiers stormed the 10-kilometer stretch of French coastline, facing intense German resistance. Despite heavy casualties, Canadian troops advanced further inland than any other Allied force that day, demonstrating remarkable courage and military skill. The successful mission became a defining moment of national pride, symbolizing Canada’s significant contribution to World War II and establishing the country’s reputation as a strong military power on the international stage.
Other than Juno beach, we also learned about the rest of WWII. But we focused on the things that brought out the most Canadian identity.
Why did we focus on Juno beach in particular?
The final product of this project we learned, was going to be a zine that would be sent to the Juno Beach Museum in France and the Lynn Valley Legion. Also, to fundraise for the Juno Beach Foundation, we all were assigned to do one hour of service each, to raise 10 dollars per person. This was called our “Act of service” project. So for my act of service, Evelyn and I decided to do a forest clean up of Garibaldi forest, since we go on walks in the forest and we both noticed that there was a lot of trash. We ended up doing it when it was dark so we did a night clean up! In order to provide evidence for the act of service, and reflect on it, we wrote a short third person paragraph to display our act. Here’s my third person paragraph I wrote to display my act of service:
Third person service paragraph
As another part of our project we wrote an essay answering the driving question. Then after we had a properly MLA formatted essay, we had to convert it into zine format. So what is a zine? A zine (pronounced “zeen”) is a small, self-published magazine or booklet. It usually focuses on a specific topic and is created by individuals or small groups. Zines can cover many subjects, such as art, politics, personal stories, music, and more. Our class created a WWII themed zine answering the driving question, with the contents of the Zine being our essays but in Zine formatting. Here’s my Zine formatted essay:
Driving question: What role did the conflict of World War II play in shaping Canadian identity?
World War II was a transformative moment for Canadian national identity. By contributing significantly to the Allied victory, Canada emerged from the conflict with newfound international respect and a stronger sense of self. The war experience united Canadians across diverse backgrounds, showcasing their collective strength, courage, and commitment to global peace. It marked Canada’s transition from a small not as well known country, into an independent respected nation with a distinct cultural and political voice on the world stage.
Our competency for this project was: 😄 Communicating: I can communicate in appropriate and effective forms.
In order to properly format my essay, and make it the best I could, I had to go through multiple revision rounds. I had to communicate with Mrs. Mc and Ms Madsen to make sure I was doing my revisions properly. I also had to communicate with my classmates through peer critique, and specifically Evelyn, to line up our act of service.
Thank you so much for reading my blog post!
Have a good day!
-Ailie 💜