Yiskah Tucker

December 6, 2007

ENG 3241

Dr. Crovitz

Digital Project Reflection

            Creating this digital project has been an emotional labor of love.  Since the age of eight, Hannah Senesh has been my hero.  I first started reading about her when I learned the song “Eli Eli” to sing at my synagogue.  From that time on, I have had an insatiable appetite to learn more about this dynamic woman.  As the years passed and few things were being published about her life, I would once again return to the few and ragged books that I have read countless times.  My fascination and admiration of her started scaring my grandparents when, at the age of ten, I announced a family get together that I too would make aliyah (immigrate to Israel) and give my life for independence and freedom.  Although the “giving my life” thing kind of faded out, when I turned 21 I followed a part of my dream and moved to Israel to live and work on a Kibbutz, just like Hannah.  My time there opened so many new doors to learning about my childhood, and present day, hero.  I was honored several times to lead birthright groups, American/Int’l students visiting Israel, to her grave and tell her story.  These were truly the highlights of my years there.  To be able to spread the word of her life and strength was such a joy. 

In addition to her strength as a person, Hannah and I shared a passion for writing.  When, at the age of four, she began writing her poetry, she had no clue that sixty years later they would be published in over fifty different languages.  She kept a journal just as I did, and although I also claimed Anne Frank as a hero and role model, Hannah lived her life.  She immigrated to Israel, fell in love, and CHOSE to return to Nazi occupied Europe.  It was this fire and spunk that made me feel connected to her.  I had already written her story and writings into several lesson plans that I have created and implemented in the past, but when my friend asked me for help building a Holocaust/WWII unit, it was perfect timing because it coincided with this project.  The journey of the Hannah Senesh project began.

 I was excited because I would finally have an excuse to be able to create a visual to go along with this unit.  Although I had been saying that I would do this for years, it never became a priority.  I had already helped my friend build a lesson unit and structure it around Senesh’s different writings: journals, plays, poetry, etc… And I then built my digital media project as an example for his students for their final project for the unit.  I attempted to give both a background of her life and create visual images to accompany her two most famous poems, ‘Blessed is the Match’ and ‘Eli Eli’.  The creation of the project itself was interesting.  I had just bought a new laptop with Microsoft Vista, and it was out to get me!  My program repeatedly crashed leaving me frustrated and at some times in tears.  It is frustrating enough when you lose an assignment you are working on, but when it has literally had your heart poured into it as well, that can be devastating.  It was so much fun to be able to go through her pictures and pair them with the words of the poetry; powerpoint was most definitely my friend there.  At one point I was denied the opportunity to use film footage due to copyright laws, however in the last few days of the project the education director of the program got back in tough with me to give me the green light, which made the video a bit more realistic.  The actual process of putting it together, with the video and music/dialogue, was tedious.  I wanted the timing to be just right.  A few days before the final draft was due, my Microsoft Office 2007 trial ended.  Which wouldn’t normally be that big of a deal, but when I went back in to try to alter some of the slides I had created, I was denied.  There was no way for me to get back in without upgrading my entire system, which can be quite a pricey endeavor.  Multiple hours ensued of me recreating my work, but the final product has been worth the sweat and tears.  I am so proud of the presentation, and I hope that it will serve its purpose well, to enlighten many more people about the beauty, artistry, and strength of a young girl named Hannah Senesh.