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Call 354-6060 112 FRIDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1989 ed an older brother to Phoenix and soon was joined in Arizona by the rest of her family, including her parents. "I thought, 'I'm never go- ing back to Detroit.' When I left, I was gone, history, no more Susie Merkow around here." Jobs for special edu- cation teachers were abun- dant, so Merkow quickly set- tled in, expecting Detroit friends to move west, too. She eventually earned a master's degree in counsel- ing at Arizona State Univer- sity, but the Detroit friends only visited and disen- chantment slowly settled in. "The weather became very predictable," she said. "I found myself asking, `Doesn't it ever rain here?' The sun was out every day; the snow is man-made because there is no winter. and I found I missed the change in seasons." Furthermore, Merkow said, "There's no real Jewish community there, so the feeling of family didn't exist like it does in Detroit. People are very transient there." Though she made friends, and became very active as a Phoenix Jewish Community Center singles leader, she realized Detroit's Jewish community was more organized socially, and was better. "It (the Phoenix area) didn't feel like home to me," she said. In Detroit, "I knew who my friends were, who I could turn to. I never felt secure (in Phoenix) like I did in Detroit. But I didn't really realize it until I came back." That happened in July 1988, when Merkow return- ed to Detroit for the first time in 11 years. Returning again in September, she saw the leaves in their fall colors and that was it. "Oh, it was beautiful," she said. Although Detroit pays far better salaries than does Phoenix for special-ed teachers, it was her friends, not just the money, that brought her back. Growing up in the area, too, made it easier to readjust, despite the 12 intervening years. Merkow said she doesn't know if she'll stay in Southfield forever, but she will not leave Michigan again. Although her siblings all got married out west, "I do know for sure I would never move back there." Like Merkow, Bob Levy has come to feel his future is back in the Detroit area, rather than in Los Angeles, Calif., where he spent the past 17 years in advertising and public relations. LA's huge Jewish com- munity of 530,000; while far larger than Detroit's 65,000, is, like Phoenix's, "not very rooted, but is scattered all over," said Levy, who • left Detroit in 1972. By contrast, he said, Detroit Jewry is "more cohesive, active, involved." Detroiters are "much more family conscious, more friendly and much less pretentious" than their LA counterparts, whom Levy describes as "much more showy, superficial, much more caught up in the whole Hollywood scene, which permeates the atmosphere." With many more • Jewish singles, LA has much more to do than does Detroit, said Levy, citing the Jewish However, it wasn't the potential danger of her work that made her decide to come back to Detroit. Association for Single Pro- fessionals, which he helped organize and which drew 500 to 1,000 people to its monthly charity dances. A Wayne State graduate who went west because "I felt Detroit was too hemmed in" opportunity-wise, Levy became involved in nu- merous Jewish and nonsl=c- tarian communal organiza- tions. He is pleased with the warm welcome he's received from similar groups in Detroit — and the lower cost of living in Michigan hasn't hurt, either. "I can live like a king out here," he said, noting his condominium in Auburn Hills would cost about three times as much in Los Angeles. Levy, a fundraising con- sultant based in Rochester Hills, said he became bored with Los Angeles, wanted to be near his ailing mother and other family members, and wanted to get married. "I've never been married, and I figured if I don't meet Miss Wonderful here, forget it," he said. "Well, I met so- meone very special, met her a month after I got back, and we're planning to get mar- ried." Levy, 41, feels Detroit is great for marrying and rais- ing a family. "I would not want to live in LA and be married because there is too much external stimulation, which makes your marriage that much more difficult," he said. Although Levy might miss