Public Peace Violation — Bomb Threat: Design Prototypes and Teaching Moments

• In Event: Moscone Center North Roundtable Session 11
  In Roundtable Session: Angles, Lenses, and Filters: Narrative Spaces

Abstract

On April 30, 2019, one of my student’s made a design prototype that was mistaken for a bomb. It was during my class. It was my assignment. Things escalated fast. I found myself immersed in a teaching moment that was spiraling out of control and I felt (partially) responsible. This research study takes a qualitative approach and uses a reflexive autoethnography methodology to explore the personal and cultural insights generated through a series of surprise experiences involving design education, boundaries, Chicago Police, the FBI, a bomb squad blockade of State Street, the shutdown of major Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) public transportation lines, my student in handcuffs, both of us surrounded by belligerent police, and the procedural aftermath.

Authors

• Jess Parris Westbrook

• Paige Treebridge, DePaul University