An Agency for
Jewish Education

University
of
Michigan
Jewish
Teen
Scholars
Program

program for
motivated
students to study
with professors
from the
University of
Michigan.

Open to Ann Arbor and
Metropolitan Detroit
area high school students.

Program includes-

Participation in

classes at U of M,

one Tuesday

a month,

with professors

from U of M's

Frankel Center

for Judaic Studies

Upon completion of the program,
participants will receive a letter
from the Frankel Center for Judaic
Studies at the University of
Michigan to put into their college
application file.

The year will conclude with a
Jewish Academic New York City
Experience.

The cost of the program
(including the New York
Experience) is $450.

Requirements:

3.5 G.P.A., interview and
recommendations -.

A New York City

Experience

led by Professor

Zvi Gitelman.

April 21 - April 23, 1996

For an application packet
call Marion Bronstein at
(810) 354-1050.

Applications must be received by

September 15, 1995

Space is limited.

The Agency for Jewish Education

a beneficiary of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit
in cooperation with Detroit and Ann Arbor congregations

A Road Unraveled

Filmmakers focus on Eight Mile Road
as a border paved with meaning.

A

JULIE EDGAR STAFF WRITER

fashions happy slogans from the
stones near the underpass where
he lives, and Maurice Lezell, a/k/a
Mr. Belvedere.
Mr. Lezell, who set up his
home-renovation business on
Eight Mile 12 years ago, was
sport enough to do a promotion-
al spot for the documentary,
which will premier at the second
annual Metro Fest in January or
February. By the time the film is
edited, it will run about an hour.
Borderline, Mr. Glaser said, is
not a historical documentary that
relies on teary reminiscences or
old black and white photographs
to tell the story.
It won't be quite so stiff, but
history-wise, did you know that
Eight Mile appears on 18th-cen-
tury maps as an east-west de-
marcation of the Northwest
Territory?
"It's more of an overview of all
things Eight Mile, from the top-
less bars to the WWJ radio tow-
er that's been there since 1936 to
the State Fair," he explained.
The camera drops in on a
neighborhood association that
has fought and won legal battles
against topless bars and prosti-
tutes and takes a ride with a CB
patrol from another crime-bust-
ing neighborhood group. Border-
line also addresses "white flight,"
segregation and controversial
proposals to move the State Fair
out of Detroit.
"The Belvedere segment is
probably the lightest, but even
with him, we talk about those is-
sues. Eight Mile is an obvious
border between Oakland Coun-
ty and Detroit, but it's an emo-
tional border, too," Mr. Glaser
said.
"Eight Mile has a lot of differ-
ent meanings to a lot of
different people," Mr.
Toorongian added.
Detroit has always
taken a beating in the
national media, and
while Borderline most
likely won't be shown far
and wide, it will at least
leave locals with a
swelling sense of opti-
mism about the future of
the city, the two men
agreed.
Since they began the
project, Mr. Glaser said,
he's felt a "new sense of
unity" among communi-
ty leaders along the cor-
ridor.
"I hope it's not all po-
Filmmakers Dave Toorongian and Gary Glaser
litical hot air, but there
watch Michael (foreground) form messages from
does seem to be a sense
stones along Eight Mile Road.

T

he creamy cakes sat along
the crisp white tablecloths
like little girls lined up in
their best dresses.
Three judges eyed them re-
servedly, stopping before each
confection to sample a forkful —
pinkies raised, of course. They
daintily sipped water between
bites to clean their palates.
Gary Glaser, in the meantime,
dodged and wove between them,
his camera trained on the solemn
ritual before him.
This, he said, was the "down-
home" portion of his documen-
tary about life along Eight Mile
Road, a border that, to him, has
as much emotional resonance as
geographic significance.
Along with partner Dave
Toorongian, Mr. Glaser visited
the Michigan State Fair last
week to capture the flavor of one
of the oldest of Eight Mile's land-
marks. They filmed everything
from the Betty Crocker Softasilk
cake-baking contest to the odd-
est gourd competition to a new
amusement ride called the "Ejec-
tion Seat" in which participants
pay $30 to be strapped in a seat
suspended on bungee cords and
then catapulted 100 feet into the
air.
The filmmakers shook their
heads in mock regret when they
learned they just missed the birth
of a calf in the Miracle of Life tent.
Mr. Glaser, 44, and Mr.
Toorongian, 27, who call their
production company Urban Gar-
lic Productions, have already shot
hours and hours of videotape for
Borderline. They encountered
Lonnie the squeegee man who
washes windshields at the inter-
section of Southfield Road,
Michael the homeless man who