December 20, 1996

Dear ATI team members,

Lindsay V. was a student of mine during first semester and she was asked to present a stack in Hyperstudio about Triumphs and Tragedies. Part of the criteria was to include an essay about personal triumphs and/or tragedies. She was also asked to use an image from the NMAA collection to illustrate her triumph or tragedy.

The following note is her impression about the assignment. I thought you might find her ideas about the NMAA image interesting in regard to the evaluation of your ATI project.

John Thomsen
Westside Middle School

To NMAA users,

My name is Lindsay and my Hyperstudio stack explains my philosophies on personal triumphs along with an example. My example of a personal triumph is when I was in "The Nutcracker" ballet. Not only was this an enjoyable experience, but it also taught me something about achieving triumphs. I learned that triumphs are only achieved after effort is made. When in "The Nutcracker" I had to work very hard to learn not only my part, but others' parts as well so I could take their place if they were gone.
The picture on card four of my stack is called "Spanish Dancer Wearing a Lace Mantilla". I got this picture off of the National Museum of American Art web site. I chose this picture for a two reasons. First of all it explains my heritage. My great-grandmother was Hispanic and the rest of my family on my father's side is Mexican. Second, it goes along with my triumph in dancing. The artist of this picture is Mary Cassatt. I found the "Spanish Dancer Wearing a Lace Mantilla"at the site, http://www.si.edu/nmaa/images/fullgifsub/artist_c/cass/mo2b.gf.

The use of the NMAA helped me think about my own personal triumph and tragedy.

Hope this gives you an idea about the way I used your resource.

Lindsay V.
Omaha, Nebraska