And that's the crux of my project: the intersection of joy and fear; the ability to thrive despite trauma.

A particularly fulfilling part of this project was reading a book called The Jewish Woman in America. I was amazed by the depth—struggles, triumphs, nuances—of the Jewish woman's experience in the early 20th century. From fleeing progroms to the hard questions and expectations of assimilation, from being restricted by both non-Jews and Jewish men, from working tirelessly in inhumane sweatshops to fighting for unions, they persisted. They flourished. I now want to write fictionalized versions of early Jewish female experiences and deeply research the history of Jewish immigration to America, including that of non-Ashkenazi Jews.

By studying Hebrew and Yiddish (in his early life my grandfather was surrounded by the latter), I feel closer to my Jewish heritage. I have a renewed desire to clarify and define my religious and cultural identity.

I chose this project for my maternal grandfather, Arthur Cherry, who succumbed to COVID-19 in December 2020. Arthur was born in 1926, one of seven siblings. He was a first-generation American, as his parents immigrated from Moldavia. He lived through the Great Depression as a small child, and his father and eldest brother died within a year of each other when he was 11.  I was named after his mother, something I am immensely proud of.

I believe this project is a culmination of my Bat Mitzvah project (on my grandfather and the elusive definition of a "Jew") and my 7th grade search project on my grandfather and the Great Depression. He was here for those, but not for this. I hope that in the completion of this project, I have made him and the other strong Jewish women in my family—my grandmothers, mother, and aunts—proud.

zikhrono livrakha - may his memory be a blessing