The moment that we are trying to convey is Tony traveling in Egypt during his 30s (which is assume btw), with his folk music and Kodak camera. 

Assuming that he went around the 1960s, the president of Egypt was Nasser, who brought the country to stability and peace after the previous leader was put on house arrest. He regulated the amount of land every person had and help the national GDP rise. It was a time of tranquility. 

"In 1956-1957, 25,000 Jews – almost half of the Jewish population of Egypt – were expelled from the country. Another 1,000 were imprisoned. (By 1972 the remainder had also been expelled.)" - History of Egypt under Gamal Abdel Nasser, Wikipedia

This potentially could explain the "prisoners" that he saw. Around 1962 Egypt also made a union with Syria. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Egypt_under_Gamal_Abdel_Nasser

Our project is designed to recall moments from one of Tony's past travels. Tony was a person who was always on the go. He traveled around Europe, the U.S., and Asia. Tony loved folk music as well as singers Bob Dylan and Jone Baez. However, one story that stuck out to us was when Tony was in Egypt. In Egypt, he split off from his group near the pyramids of Giza to take some close up shots. Instead, he found a bunch of prisoners ordered to break rocks by uniformed guards behind the pyramid. We chose to use cardboard for our project because it is lightweight. A key feature is using mirrors to reflect and showcase a broader view of his surroundings.  We made a handheld camera so Tony could revoke the emotion and feelings when he took the picture there. We left some room for the lens to move as if Tony was looking around through his camera.

"The golden sand sizzled under my feet. The monotonous beating of the rocks resonated with my pounding heart as a line of uniformed men barked sharp orders, sending jolts down the prisoners' spine. My hands trembled at the sight, and the camera shook, blurring the unsightly view. "

Reflect on at least three takeaways that you learned from creating your project.

I grew my knowledge on folk music, and me peoples skill grew as well. 

I familiarized myself with the laser cutter.

My understanding on how to use senses to tell a story was heightened throughout the project.

Explain what was difficult for you during this process and why.

It was difficult to be met with a problem like there was no material that we needed and to change the idea of our project to fit new material.

Talk about feedback that you received and how you were able to incorporate that into your process.  

Mr. Alton gave us feedback on the handles for our project and the idea was to make them out of wood but it changed when Mr. Alton gave us leather to create leather handles. This proved to be a better option and more comfortable for who ever holds the accordion.

During the 1970's the camp David accords were signed by Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and Israeli prime minister Menachem begin on September 17, 1978, following the twelve longs days of secretive negotiations at camp David. The two frame work agreements were signed at the White House, and were witnessed by the President Carter. This agreement that was trying to be negotiated was to establish a framework for a historic peace treaty concluded between Israel and Egypt in 1979. Their were 2 major agreements, A framework for peace in the middle east and the other was for occupied territories.  

Tony went to Egypt in the 70's. In 1973, Egypt launched war with Israel. Although the exact time of when Tony went on his trip is unknown do to the lack of memory Tony has on the trip. We do consider that due to guards chasing him and that Americans were suppling Israel with guns that maybe Americans were not the most welcomed into Egypt. Under the assumption that these statements are correct we based one of our sketches on his trip to Egypt. On his trip, he encountering Israel prisoners and fled  guards who chased him.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Republic_of_Egypt

The idea of our invention was to try to show a part of Tony's musical experience and to show his interest in music at the time. Tony's favorite genre of music was folk and thats something that he often found himself listening to. He listened to all types of folk artists, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, John Lennon, and the list continues. He also took time to learn the accordion which is the backbone and main idea of our project. Tony played accordion during his time in high school. He really seemed passionate about music and that was one thing that was truly important to his childhood and adulthood. He had always surrounded himself around music, not playing any sports, music became his main . hobby and something he was always eager to do. So we used this information to make our project.

Hearing the loud soothing sound reminisce from the heart of my accordion as I play along to my favorite artists over the radio. Gently pushing in and out to hear the smooth and flowing sound come from my accordion. Sitting at the edge of my seat, the bottom of my toes touching the floor as my friends and I begin to play one of the most profound genres of music, folk.

Reflect on at least three takeaways that you learned from creating your project.

1. I learned that looking and building things on a deeper perspective, and I understood that feedback from different people matter a lot, because different people have a different perspective on your topic.

2. I learned that help and support from others were crucial, and you have to ask for help when you don't understand a topic really well.

3. I learned that teamwork is really important, because distributing your roles well means that you and your group mate can complete the project with maximum efficiency.

Explain what was difficult for you during this process and why.

I felt that coding with Arduino was really hard. It took me more than 2 days to figure out the code for our fire, and especially with how a switch was going to trigger the system turning on or off. Mr Tuttle, Mr Lew, and Ms Ray helped me a lot, and Mr Tuttle supported me and worked with me even though I really wanted to give up because the coding part is really confusing and is putting me into a predicament. I felt like I wasn't making any progress, and I thought of not being able to complete the project on time.

Talk about feedback that you received and how you were able to incorporate that into your process.  

We learned from the teachers that we needed to show a deeper meaning behind what we are trying to tell, instead of showing everything that mattered or happened in Tony's life. We also learned that we should use more abstract and symbolistic objects or patterns to represent what we are trying to show to the audience, which is anger, brutality, and limitation of freedoms. We also got the feedback of making the project more interactive, and overall, I felt that the project was interesting, and I received many useful comments from teachers and coaches.

1. I learned how to incorporate senses into different things such as writing and projects.

2. Using time wisely, communication and learning how to present things in front of people

3. We got to learn about various amounts of stories and they were very intriguing

4. Learning to take criticism and using it as motivation.

The Pyramid of Giza is the largest and oldest pyramid in the Giza Necropolis in Egypt. The Pyramid of Giza is considered by many to be the tomb of Pharaoh Khufu. The Pyramid of Giza is one of the wonders of the ancient world, and it is the only one of the seven wonders to remain today. It has been the tallest man-made structure for 3800 years until the construction of the Lincoln Cathedral was completed. 

Tony went to Luxor in the 1970s. At that time, Egypt was ruled by the democratic leader Anwar Sadat. Sadat switched the allegiance from being with the Soviet Union, to be with the United States of America. He changed many policies to be more democratic, and he opened up the gates for international investors to invest in Egypt. He was most famous for visiting Israel in 1977, which helped lead to the 1979 Peace Treaty with Israel that made Israel troops leave the Sinai territory of Egypt. The economic reforms he made laid a fundamental foundation for the current day Egyptian society, which mainly consists of tourism and construction.