A fresh look at some of the stories we reported on in the past weeks.
Memorial
Plans
Approved
MJAC
Wraps Up
AIDS Quilt
LESLEY PEARL
STAFF WRITER
A Jewish
Rep.
Plugs
EMILY
KIMBERLY LIFTON
STAFF WRITER
Learning
To Hear
Silences
ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM
ASSISTANT EDITOR
T
he University of
Michigan Board of
Regents on May 7
unanimously ap-
proved a site plan for a
Holocaust memorial on
the Ann Arbor campus.
Fund-raising chair Dr.
David Schteingart said a
formal campaign to raise
$200,000 will begin this
week. Detroit attorney Ira
Jaffe and Dr. Melvin
Lester will head the
Detroit campaign.
Larry Crockett, who has
served on the Holocaust
Memorial Committee since
its inception as a non-
profit group in 1988, said
n March, among other
AIDS activities and
seminars, many local
Jewish children created
quilt panels at a workshop
titled "Even In the Best of
Families: A Jewish Forum
on AIDS."
On May 23, three panels
will be donated to the
NAMES Project Quilt.
Twenty-four hundred of
the NAMES Project Quilt
panels will be displayed at
Cobo Center in Detroit
May 20-23.
Thursday morning,
names will be read of per-
sons who have died of
AIDS and have had panels
created for them. Satur-
day at 2 p.m., the Mich-
igan Jewish AIDS Coa-
lition (MJAC) will present
a Havdalah service to help
close the display.
Rabbi Arnie Sleutelberg,
spiritual leader of
Congregation Shir Tikvah,
will lead the service. Local
rabbis have been invited
to participate.
"The quilt is a real
statement that the people
who have died of AIDS
were part of someone's
life. They were loved,"
said Susie Leemaster,
MJAC president. "This is
a lasting memorial. This is
a way for us all to honor
their memory."
ep. Marjorie Margo-
lies-Mezvinsky, D-
Pa., loves to talk
about being a
woman in Congress.
Next week, the former
television news reporter
will discuss life as a first-
term congresswoman at a
Farmington Hills meeting
to raise money for
EMILY's List, the political
action committee for pro-
choice, Democratic women
candidates.
"The
little
aha
moments one has as a
woman make it all worth
it," she says. "When you
stand up on a platform
with the other females,
you realize that it is not
as important that I got in
as it is that we got here."
EMILY's List donated
funds to Ms. Margolies-
Mezvinsky, 50, one of 108
new legislators on Capitol
Hill. Now she will join
founder Ellen Malcolm
and hundreds of support-
ers at a cocktail party
May 20 at the home of
community activist
Florine Mark-Ross.
"We're looking at a
really different time for
women and for Jews," Ms.
Margolies-Mezvinsky
says. "This administration
is much more open to a
pro-Israel platform. The
last administration gave
mixed feelings to the
Jewish community."
In Washington, Ms.
Margolies-Mezvinsky
spends a lot of time talk-
ing about Israel and about
perceptions of Israel. "We
have to step back and tell
Israel, 'You are a sover-
eign nation; you are the
only true democracy in the
Middle East. We are here
for you.' "
She is married to Iowa
Rep. Edward Mezvinsky.
Together, they have a
combined family of 11
children. In addition, they
have adopted and/or cared
for 25 refugee children.
Bolkosky, and a psycholo-
gist (Dr. Greenspan has
been doing research for
the past 15 years on sur-
vivors of massive psycho-
logical trauma).
The purpose of the
course was to focus on lis-
tening to Holocaust sur-
vivors — hearing not only
their words but the stories
told again and again and
the long pauses that seem
to come from nowhere.
"On
Listening
to
Survivors" has just come
to a close, and students
are ready for more.
Writing evaluations of
the class, students com-
mented: "The combination
of the historical and psy-
chological perspective was
perfect"; "I feel privileged
to have shared this experi-
ence with you both"; "I
was glad that I was given
the opportunity to hear
firsthand the survivors'
accounts"; "Thank you
very much for enlighten-
ing, educating and helping
me try to understand the
horror of the Holocaust";
"I gathered new resources,
specifically books to read
KIMBERLY LIFTON
STAFF WRITER
I
E
arly this year, two
local professors
embarked on some-
thing of an experi-
ment.
Hank Greenspan, a clin-
ical psychologist and lec-
turer at the University of
Michigan Residential
College, and U-M
Dearborn Professor
Sidney Bolkosky offered a
class "On Listening to
Survivors" at the U-M
Hillel Foundation. The
course was the first of its
kind to combine the skills
of a historian, Professor
groundbreaking for the
memorial should take
place in the fall.
Construction of a statue
of a single grieving figure
should be completed by
early 1994, Mr. Crockett
said.
Michigan
Jewish
Aids
Coalition
Marjorie Margolles-Mezvinsky
that I haven't even heard
of, as well as how to ask
questions when with sur-
vivors. If they are willing
to share their past experi-
ences, then one should not
be afraid to ask any ques-
tion."
Dr. Greenspan said he
and Professor Bolkosky
hope to teach the class
again, though they have
yet to set definite plans.
They are considering a
more expanded version of
the course, to be offered
through U-M.
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