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Writing Process

Writing Pieces:

An example of my best writing work:

The Great Chicago Fire of 1872 and its Lasting Effects on America

    During a warm, dry Chicago evening in October 1871, a small fire started in the shed at the O’Leary residence on the west side of the river. The true origins of the fire are not known; the legend goes that the O’Leary’s cow knocked over an oil lantern, but that was never confirmed. Due to a number of failures in the fire reporting system, firemen did not reach the fire until it was much too late allowing the fire to quickly spread to the east with only the river between the fire and downtown. It was able to cross the river over freight and lumber bridges, and interestingly, it was also able to cross over by catching the actual river on fire, which was only possible due to the excessive oil and grime that was abundant in the water at this point in time. As the city center was burning people fled from the fire and took refuge in open areas, open graves, and the tunnels under the Chicago river. The fire burned incredibly hot, causing high winds that created fire tornadoes. It was able to destroy a waterworks building that was the main source of water for the firefighters. Over the course of the night it would spread to the north side, again crossing the river, ripping through the wealthier part of the city and still further north burning down the wooden homes of German and Irish immigrants. It destroyed the entirety of the financial center of the city, some 18,000 buildings. Around 300 people died and 150,000 were left without a home. Rebuilding began immediately but it took decades to fully repair the city. Ultimately, the Great Chicago Fire caused increased growth, a revolution in architecture, and deepened social divisions in the city. 

    The Chicago Fire led to accelerated growth in economy and population because many were attracted to the financial opportunities that reconstructing an entire city presented. Immediately following the fire there was change in population. In an article from WBEZ Chicago it is stated that, “Immediately after the fire 30,000 people moved to Chicago to help rebuild it. So you don’t actually have the exact same population”(Klocksin). Widespread publication of the fire attracted those looking to turn a profit developing land in the downtown area, meaning that a large portion of the rebuilding population was not there before the fire. Due to the efforts of locals and the newcomers the process of construction was greatly accelerated. Chicago kept on growing, according to the same article, “The city’s population grew from just under 300,000 in 1870 before the fire to 503,185 in 1880.”(Klocksin). In under a decade the population grew by 166%. This extreme growth did not come from nowhere however. Chicago was already a major industrial hub, the ‘gateway to the west’. In the article: The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 by the Chicago Architecture Center the author writes: “By 1871, Chicago had already claimed a central role in the U.S. economy. It was the most important processing point for raw materials heading east from the frontier and the biggest interchange in the new national railroad system. . . Chicago’s old wooden infrastructure may have slowed industrial growth and the development of lands for residential and commercial use.”(Chicago Architecture Center). After the fire Chicago became more and more influential as a center of industry but also culture. New city planning techniques took advantage of the fact that the city was essentially a blank slate. Chicago proved that it had emerged from the fire stronger than ever when two decades later when they hosted the World’s Columbian Exposition, a beautiful perfectly planned city of huge neoclassical buildings as well as a multitude of canals and lakes; it is here where the Ferris Wheel was unveiled. In this way the Chicago fire gave a push that made Chicago grow as fast as it did.

    The Great Chicago fire of 1871 also helped revolutionize architecture by incentivizing the use of lasting fireproof materials and allowing for accelerated development. After the fire people began to build the city back exactly the way it was before, using wood, as stone and brick were far too expensive. However, following a much smaller fire in 1874 it was decided that new fire codes would require the use of these more fireproof materials in construction downtown. In addition, new building materials were discovered, “But change did come after the two fires. And a major one was the use of terra cotta as building cladding. The mixture of clay and sand, baked rock-hard at 2000-degree temperatures, was not only fireproof, it could be molded into ornamental forms . . .”(Bay, How the Great Chicago Fire changed Chicago architecture - Chicago Sun-Times). The use of terra cotta that began in Chicago caused the downtown area to become increasingly fireproof and could also be used for the elaborate ornamentation that makes buildings of this era so beautiful. The popularity of terra cotta, stone and brick was the catalyst for the creation of ‘Chicago School Architecture’. This style consists of mostly stone, terra cotta, and iron or steel construction with a straightforward boxy design and many large windows, especially columns of bay windows. Each building has a base, shaft and cornice. This new commercial style combined with the new advent of steel construction allowed for the invention of a new type of building. As stated in the National Geographic article: The Chicago Fire of 1871 and the ‘Great Rebuilding’, “Jenney's Home Insurance Building, on LaSalle Street, was the first to make use of a steel cage to provide a building's support. The steel frame allowed more large windows to be constructed on every side of the building. Natural light flooded the tall structure. The partitions between offices were made of brick and terra cotta. Built in 1884, the Home Insurance Building is considered to be the world's first skyscraper.”(Mary Schons) Advancements made following the fire allowed Chicago to maximize the density of a normal downtown lot. These buildings were incredibly effective financially and visually, dominating the skyline of the city. Chicago skyscrapers continued to climb reaching 21 stories by the beginning of the 1890s. Suffice to say, the fire greatly affected the landscape of urban architecture.

    The Chicago Fire increased the severity of the separation between classes as the lower classes were pushed out of the city center. The fire itself was indiscriminate in its destruction, burning down cottages, low-rises, and mansions alike. But once the smoke had cleared and the city needed to be rebuilt it became clear that the fire would deeply affect the social layout of the city. As stated in the NPR article: Tensions and Torches after the Great Chicago Fire: “‘People were furious,’ Lewinnek says, ‘especially the German and Irish immigrants who lived on the North Side who had been most burned out by the fire, were furious they might not be able to rebuild.’ They tended not to have reliable insurance and felt they wouldn’t be able to afford to keep their land if wood construction was not allowed.”(Klocksin). The lower classes feared they would lose their ability to rebuild their homes if fire codes were implemented requiring sturdier, more expensive materials. Fire codes that would be no problem for the upper classes who would simply pour even more money into their estates and high-rises. These fears culminated in the January of 1872 when thousands of immigrants rioted at city hall calling for the prevention of new fire codes. Although eventually on the north side immigrants successfully rebuilt their houses they ultimately were not able to remain in downtown due to new construction requirements. An article by the WTTW of Chicago titled ‘Chicago Shall Rise Again’ explains that, “Eventually, ‘New rules are passed that you can't have wooden houses downtown. As a result of that, people who can't afford to build brick houses in the downtown move out,’ said Ellen Shubart,”(WTTW) Land prices in downtown grew and the buildings that could be built on that land were becoming more expensive as they needed to be increasingly fire resistant in the decades following the calamity. Thus the areas in which certain classes lived became even more separate. The fire, in a way, reset the city, drawing cleaner lines within Chicago. Lines that reinforced the social structure and limited the American dream. The huge population of lower class immigrants not only accounted for most of the deaths resulting from the fire, but were also burned afterwards by the very ‘progress’ that was meant to protect them from a future, similar blaze.

    The Great fire had major benefits and repercussions including rapid growth, social tension, and huge advancements in architectural design. The fire essentially replaced the old city with a new one, killing hundreds in the process. The City remembers the fire as a dramatic event that proved the strength of Chicago, representing the second star in the iconic Chicago flag. And although the fire was costly to many of its residents that lived to see the aftermath, it helped create a strong, industrial, world-class city towering above the waters of the Great Lake below.




 

Bibliography

WTTW:

Francis, Meredith. “The Great Chicago Fire: Chicago Stories.” WTTW Chicago, 31 Jan. 2022, https://interactive.wttw.com/chicago-stories/chicago-fire.

 

Chicago Architecture Center:

 Osmond, Lynn. “The Great Chicago Fire of 1871.” Architecture & Design Dictionary | Chicago Architecture Center, 2022, https://www.architecture.org/learn/resources/architecture-dictionary/entry/the-great-chicago-fire-of-1871/.

 

Chicagology:

Chapin, John R. “Account by an Eye-Witness - 28 Oct 1871.” Chicagology, Harper's Weekly a Journal of Civilization, 14 Aug. 2021, https://chicagology.com/chicago-fire/fire010/.

 

National Geographic:

Schons, Mary. “The Chicago Fire of 1871 and the 'Great Rebuilding'.” National Geographic Society, National Geographic, 15 Oct. 2012, https://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/chicago-fire-1871-and-great-rebuilding/.

 

Chicago Sun-Times:

Bey, Lee. “How the Great Fire Changed Chicago Architecture.” Times, Chicago Sun-Times, 8 Oct. 2021, https://chicago.suntimes.com/2021/10/8/22677929/how-great-chicago-fire-changed-chicago-architecture.

 

WBEZ:

Klocksin, Katie. “Tensions and Torches after the Great Fire.” WBEZ Chicago, WBEZ Chicago, 1 June 2016, https://www.wbez.org/stories/tensions-and-torches-after-the-great-chicago-fire/23056033-9387-4d4b-a398-ab0431419279.

Example of UC PIQ:

Response to Question 3

This is a PIQ that was part of my application to the University of California system. This piece is about my affiction with mountain biking.

    The sun sets behind me and dust flies in my face as I careen down Scorpion trail. My muscles are strong from regular training rides with my mountain biking race team, my senses hyper-focused maintaining balance, trajectory, traction, and speed.  There are others in front of me and behind, but in this moment I am alone, entirely untethered from deadlines and stressors. A few moments later I'm flat on my back, bloodied but not broken. My dad catches up to me and recovers my bike that was a good five feet away if that gives you any indication of my speed. I love mountain biking! It combines some of my favorite things, physics, engineering, the great outdoors, and trailside triage.
   As soon as I got into the sport, I fell down the rabbit hole: watching every video by "Seth's Bike Hacks," reading about the most aggressive geometries, the best drivetrain (Sram), and the lightest first aid kit that would fit in my CamelBak. As well as discovering the equation for the proper amount of bikes to own: n+1. If it had been any other sport, I might have quit after the season. There had been plenty that came before; I had participated in all the prerequisite sports, but I never felt that I fit.
   I won't lie, the first couple years I was gripped by fear and always tired. I'd just get off my bike when things got especially technical, plus I'd give up too easily on climbs. It took constant commitment, 2-hour rides multiple times a week, and a lot of courage to overcome that out-of-control rollercoaster feeling. Then I found I was able to push through more consistently on a team. Positive peer pressure works.
   I really like that it’s an individual team sport. I race for myself, but also earn team points. At no point am I stuck on the sidelines because I’m not good enough. It’s challenging and exhausting, sometimes terrifying or even bloody. But mostly it's just really fun, and I don’t think I’ll ever stop.

Example of Assessment:

Baseline Essay

This was a 45 minute long timed essay done at the beginning of the year for my engineering English class. The prompt was to respond to this quote: “You must always remember that the products of your mind can be used by other people either for good or for evil, and that you have a responsibility that they be used for good.”-Dean Llewellen M. K. Boelter

    Our civilization is defined by the advancements in science and engineering that we make constantly. Everything good and evil in our society was created by us. In this quote Dean Llewellen M.K. Boelter states that it is the creator’s responsibility to ensure that their invention is used for the benefit of the greater population, and not the destruction of it. I partially agree with this, as I think that the inventor should have a morally sound intended use for their creation. However, I think that at a certain point the fate of their contribution is well out of their hands and will inevitably be used at least partially for evil.

    An engineer or scientist should try to have their product be used in a way that is helpful to society. It is obviously immoral for someone to create something for solely malicious purposes. These are still constantly produced regardless of this fact. Every advancement in military equipment is just a way to kill others more efficiently. A notable example was the chemical weapons that were used in the First World War. They were studied and designed and produced in order to end more lives than was previously possible. It made WWI an extremely costly war for both sides, one of the most deadly in history. When the gas was made the inventor knew that inevitably the opposition would soon also have access to it and it would only make the livelihood of their own country worse. In wartime, money and propaganda almost always speak louder than an inner moral compass. They don’t have to though. An inventor has the power to slow down the process and save lives. Someone else might finish the job for them but they can choose to counteract their creation as much as they can.

    The inventor can only control their accomplishment for so long, and if it is useful enough it will outgrow any hope of keeping it out of greedy hands. When the internet was created it was a breakthrough in global communication. The world was already connected, but now much more than words and paper could be shared in seconds. There are so many clear benefits to the internet, like connectivity, universal access to information, and unimaginable convenience for transporting information. However, the internet is so universal in its utility that it was also incredibly useful for the powers of self-interest. The online black market is obviously a malicious and dangerous product of the internet, but the most terrifying are companies like facebook, google, and amazon that use the internet as an instrument to extract profit from its users. This is done on all levels from hackers fishing for easy cash to billionaires that do everything they can to take advantage of their customers. The creator had no control over this, the idea of interconnecting the world is impossible to limit to good and beneficial uses. It will outlive the creator and anyone that ever reads this essay. In this situation it is not the inventor’s responsibility to control the innate greed of humans, but rather ourselves either directly or through our governing bodies. This was done in response to the gas weapons used in WWII, which are now not allowed for use in war, and has been done countless times since then. An inventor simply provides society with more resources, we are the ones who choose how to use those resources.

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