I contacted some nursing homes and I am re-thinking my plans in regards to contact with nursing homes. I would need more time in order to get permission to interview in the nursing homes—the homes have to get the ok from these women’s family members and I have realized that too much time would be needed to gather all the logistics, then the interviews, then the transcriptions, then the translations and then the subtitles and then organized into the project as a whole. I decided to keep it at seven women. Why seven? My sabbatical proposal was inspired by a particular date: 7/7/1943. 4+3=7. On that date 16 people lost their lives in the small town of Bagheria. 1+6=7. The youngest of these lives was a 7- year old girl—my grandmother’s youngest sister. The number seven seemed to show up a lot, oddly even this log written for the week of November 16th. 1+6=7. Maybe my love of Dante Alighieri is influencing my idea of numbers. Dante used some unique numerology throughout his book, La Divina Commedia—the Divine Comedy. I am not sure why the number seven seemed to be showing up for me; my favorite number is 3. I later did a little research on the number seven. It’s a fascinating number, with many cultural, psychological and spiritual meaning. I found this article interesting…
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/469565/The-magnificient-7-The-meaning-and-history-behind-the-world-s-favourite-number
After reading more about the number seven, I discovered that seven was known to mean connectedness. I liked this meaning. It fit for me. One of the reasons to why I wanted to do this particular sabbatical was because of connection. Connecting more with me, connecting more with family and in turn connecting with all these women via the story. In turn, causing more of a connection within my classroom, with my students and the connection they all have with each other. Storytelling connects us. My idea of keeping it at seven women was also based upon my wanting to create a website that eventually other women can add their own stories, being those of their own WWII experiences or stories they heard from their own family about WWII, or general stories that speak of survival, strength and over-all life experiences--experiences that built character, endurance, and respect. Experiences that can teach, can express, can elevate and move others to grow and to feel connected. Storytelling helps us remember as it helps us see connectedness with others and with the world in general. So, yeah, seven women…
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