In Tragedy, the United States Joins the Rest of the World

In 2008 when we entered the synagogue in Florence, Italy we had to go through a metal detector. The people there were grateful that their synagogue was again in use as a place of worship, as a community center, and as a Jewish Museum.

When we went to the main synagogue and Jewish Museum in Buenos Aires in 2012, we were buzzed in after answering a list of questions. Even then, we were not allowed to wander through the building independently but had to go on a tour. When my husband left the group for two minutes to take a picture, the tour guide had a fit and asked where he was going. A British couple on the tour with us told us that these precautions were taken at their synagogue in London as well.

In 2014, we traveled to Eastern Europe. In Budapest, we attended Shabbat services at a Reform Jewish Congregation. The atmosphere was warm and welcoming. They invited us to stay for a potluck dinner during which we had conversations with several congregants who told us how threatened they felt by the resurgence of anti-Semitism in Hungary.

In 2015, shortly after the Charlie Hebdo killings, we were in Paris. French soldiers guarded the Musee du Judiasme and other Jewish sites in addition to the major tourist spots. Unlike the first three countries, the French government tried to protect French Jews against anti-Semitic attacks. Nevertheless, the sight of all the soldiers was unsettling to us and to French people unused to living with a military presence.

After those trips, I was grateful to come home to the United States where I could live in safety as a Jew. This feeling changed when our current President was elected. During the campaign, he had expressed many anti-Semitic views and released various dog whistles of anti-Semitism subliminally encouraging his supporters to express their anti-Semitism any way they wanted to.

Since the 2016 election, there has been a marked increase in anti-Semitic and other racist incidents. The Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith reports a 35% increase in anti-Semitic incidents in 2016 and a 57% rise in 2017. Up until this Saturday, October 27^th, those incidents had mainly involved property damage. No Jews had been killed. After the Current Occupant gave permission saying at a press conference that the Nazis and KKKers in Charlottesville were “fine people”, it was just a matter of time until the violence escalated.

It had already been open season on African-Americans. Two black people, Vicki Lee Jones and Maurice E Stallard, were murdered while shopping in a Kroger’s supermarket on October 25^th.  When people are killed because of their ethnicity in an atmosphere that condones it, we are all at risk for our lives. 

Although we Jews are not as visibly identifiable as African-Americans are, we are also numerically a minority. Anti-Semites know where to find us and so they did. Eleven Jews were killed in their synagogue in Pittsburgh on October 27^th.

Last night October 29th, we stood with our friends and hundreds of others at a vigil in Skokie. We mourned the deaths of the eleven people who were killed at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh as well as the two people who were killed at a Kroger supermarket for living while black in the new USA. I also mourned for the dream of America as a beacon of hope and freedom throughout the world that died for me the day that bigotry was elected.

Today we mourn. Tomorrow we people of good will must find a way forward to turn America back to pursuing its ideals.

The Art of Re-Gentrification at the National Museum of Mexican Art

One of our favorite museums to visit in Chicago is The National Museum of Mexican Art www.nationalmuseumofmexicanart.org. It is located in Pilsen, one of Chicago’s Mexican neighborhoods, at 1852 W. 19^th Avenue. Always with free admission, it is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10:00 to 5:00.

One of the enjoyable things about going to the Museum is walking around Pilsen and seeing some of the wall murals and we were able to do that this time.

Since we had been to all the permanent exhibits of the museum we decided to visit its temporary one “Peeling Off the Grey.” The theme of this exhibit is the growing gentrification of Pilsen and the effects of this trend on long-time residents of the neighborhood.

Always a neighborhood of immigrants, Pilsen was first settled by Czechs and then Polish, hence its name popularly known for that brand of beer. After that in the 1940’s, Mexican-Americans began moving into the area. Self-help groups and other associations were established and many in the Mexican community adopted it as their home.

In recent years, there has been a movement afoot to "re-gentrify" parts of Pilsen. As that happens, housing prices have risen and it has pushed many long-time Mexican-American residents out of their homes. Since 2000, 10,300 residents were forced to leave their neighborhood due to rising rents. The exhibit is a cry of anguish and a protest against re-gentrification as the people in Pilsen watch their neighborhood being torn apart. It is also a reminder that we as a society need to make sure that we have enough affordable housing to keep communities intact.

It says "My House is not Your House"

The exhibit about the encroaching re-gentrification of Pilsen is political as is much of the art in the National Museum of Mexican Art is, including some of my favorite pieces in the museum. This is one of them. 

It was done years ago but expresses the anxieties of this group that have escalated since our current president was elected.

The fear and anxiety of the community is expressed also in the quietude heard and felt in the neighborhood. On previous visits, the area had always been bustling with people. On that day, it felt like a ghost town. Usually when we visit the National Museum of Mexican Art, we go to a Mexican restaurant in the neighborhood for lunch. That day we cast about for a restaurant that had some people in it. 

Although there are several restaurants on 18^th Street, many looked pretty empty. The Five Rabanitos had some people eating there so we went in. The food was great. It’s a short walk from the 18^th Street stop of the Pink Line. The prices are reasonable, too. I highly recommend it if you’re in the area. Patronizing the Mexican owned businesses is a good way to support their community during these “interesting times” - and delicious, too.

At the Precipice, I March to the Polls. Every Vote Counts.

On March 13, I did something that I’ve done every year since I turned 21 and that’s a lot of years at this point. I marched to the polls. The difference was that this time, I had the company of many thousands of others.

Election Day is only three weeks away and we had a lot to march for. We rallied at Chicago’s Grant Park – many young and many of us veterans of decades of election days, mostly women but also men who are on our side, whites and people of color.

The marches and the rallies are important. They get us inspired to go vote, to make phone calls, to write letters, to do voter registration drives. The idea of this march was to get people psyched to go to the polls.

I marched for many reasons. I marched to be counted. I marched to serve notice that I won’t accept America's becoming a Fascist state. I marched to say that bigotry is never okay. I marched because we won’t allow this last-ditch effort by the current regime to turn back the clock on women’s rights to be successful. I marched because I don’t want the Affordable Care Act or any other parts of American’s fraying social safety net to be torn apart. I marched because I refuse to be silent.

I welcome the young women that spoke who are running for elected office for the first time and the high school and college students who spoke. I welcome all the new voters who were there and marched to the early voting sites, those who will vote on Election Day, those who will vote early in their cities and villages and those who will vote by absentee ballots.

Marching isn’t enough. With all the voter suppression going on, those of us who can vote must vote. It’s our only recourse left and we have to use it while we still have it. The march went from Grant Park to the Federal Plaza. From there it split off to two early voting sites, one for Chicago voters and one for those who live in the Cook County suburbs of Chicago. I hope that a lot of votes were cast on Saturday after the march was over.

As always in my adopted city of Chicago, I will vote early. I wish I could vote often but fortunately, even here that’s no longer allowed. So you all have to support me by voting, too.

We have to vote this time. We can’t have anyone sitting this Election Day out. Ninety million people failed to vote in 2016 and that has brought America to the precipice. There is too much at stake. Your vote matters. Every vote matters. VOTE!!

In Illinois, sites will be open in various places for early voting beginning on October 22^nd. If you don’t know where you can vote early, you can call your County Clerk’s office or the Board of Elections and ask.

Changing the Rules in the Middle of the Game, the Indians Win!!

Growing up, I always thought of Columbus Day as a day off from school that I hoped wouldn’t be used to go shopping for sales. I come from a family who always regarded bargain hunting as their favorite sport, but I was never a fan of it.

Of course, I absorbed all the myths about Columbus, the discoverer of the Americas. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I learned about his abuse of the indigenous peoples whom he “discovered.” Much later I asked myself how someone could discover a land that had already been inhabited by people for thousands of years. I had long ago reached that level of consciousness when two years ago, the city of Evanston voted to celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day in place of Columbus Day and so I went to many of the day’s events.

This year as before, most of the Indigenous Peoples’ Day Events took place at the Mitchell Museum www.mitchellmuseum.org. This museum houses the many native American artifacts that the Mitchells collected. It has since grown and changes its exhibits often. One can go to the museum every so often and see different things than seen on the last visit.

Couple At Sunset by David Johns, Navaho

This is one of my favorite paintings from the Museum.

other Navaho crafts on display

My schedule for that day didn’t allow me much time to attend events, but I felt that it was important in this era of racial animosity fueled by our current regime for all peoples especially minorities to support one another.

I was glad that I was able to attend a story telling session presented by Ernest Whiteman, an Arapaho from Wyoming. Since the audience was primarily young children with their moms, Mr. Whiteman geared the stories to them. He told the children a story of when he was seven years old and playing cowboys and Indians by himself role playing both sides. He said not knowing that he was an Indian and thinking that Indians didn’t exist, he always let the cowboys win. His older brother walked by and watching his game, reprimanded him for allowing the cowboys to win. “After all, we’re Indians,” he said.

When Mr. Whiteman refused to believe this, his brother told him to “ask Dad.” When he asked his father if their family were Indians, his father replied, “Yes, son, we’re Arapahos.”

At that point, Mr. Whiteman learned of his ethnic identity and in effect, the Indians finally won a battle. Another Indian child was no longer lost.

In the United States today, there are over 500 tribes recognized by the United States Government and another 150 tribes awaiting that official validation. I hope that they all know who they are and are teaching it to their children. I’m glad that the City of Evanston gives children here the opportunity to know about native Americans and thus be prepared to live in our multi-cultural country.

If you didn’t attend Indigenous Peoples’ festivities this year, look for them next October. I’m sure you’ll learn something if you do go.

A Great Ending to Summer at Touhy Beach

What can be better than art work and the beach in the same place on a beautiful summer day? For the past 25 years, the Rogers Park Community in Chicago has gotten together to create art at the beach and raise funds for community projects. Individuals, small groups, and organizations can buy sections of a long, cement bench to paint whatever their spirits move them to paint. Each spring the bench is white washed so that people can paint it again.

At the beginning of the wall

We’ve been going to view this great community art project every summer for the past few years but had somehow missed it this year until a week ago. I was glad to see that all our rains this summer hadn’t washed the painting away. We were able to see all the artwork in full color.

the colorful painted bench.

I’m sharing some of my favorites with you so that you can get an idea of the spirit of it. As they say, one picture is worth 1000 words.

I love this picture. I've always felt that the beach is our reward here for enduring the never ending Chicago winters. This picture expresses that spirit on the beach trying to enjoy our rare moments of sun and warmth.

This one was very decorative and I thought beautiful.

Many of the sections advocate for causes. I believe in all of the causes advocated in this section of the bench.

I love the spirit of this one.

And now sadly, summer has come to an end. I'm looking forward to next summer when the neighborhood artists will have the opportunity to express themselves in all the many ways that they choose.

The Greatest Escape in Appleton, Wisconsin

Every year we meet our friends, who live in Northern Wisconsin, somewhere halfway in Central Wisconsin for a good, face to face visit. We’ve been friends for so long that even meeting for 24 to 48 hours gives us plenty of time to catch up. This year, we chose Appleton, Wisconsin, a town with a population of 75,000. It’s amazing the things we don’t know about all the places big and small in our country.

As we walked around Houdini Plaza, we found a statue and a plaque dedicated to none other than Harry Houdini, the great escape artist. We were surprised to hear that he was from Appleton and even more surprised to learn that their history museum’s major permanent exhibit was all about him. Since very few museums anywhere have this type of exhibit I was intrigued to see it.

The museum is housed in a castle that was originally a Masonic Temple and is worth seeing in itself.

The second floor of the building is devoted to the Harry Houdini exhibit. Harry Houdini was born Erik Weisz in Budapest, Hungary in 1874. He and his family emigrated to America in 1878 ending up in Appleton. His father was employed as the rabbi at the synagogue in Appleton and worked there for four years. He was then let go because the congregation felt that he wasn’t modern enough. This was the first home that Erik/Harry remembers and the city of Appleton seems to have adopted him as a native son.

After Mr. Weisz lost the rabbinate position, the family moved to Milwaukee and then New York where in both places, they lived in extreme poverty. As the oldest of seven children, Erik AKA Harry felt responsible for helping to support his family. He quit school and went to work doing various jobs and then trying for years to make it in Vaudeville as a magician. He got his first break in 1899 when he was recognized in St. Paul, Minnesota and the rest is should we say, history.

Among Harry Houdini’s quotes the one I found most telling was “My chief task has been to conquer fear.” His wife also said that the main challenge for Harry that enabled him to perform all his life-threatening stunts was to conquer all his fears. He later used his celebrity status to advocate for women’s suffrage and to try to expose fraudulent spiritualists who were prevalent at that time.

The exhibit in Appleton is mostly devoted to memorabilia about Houdini including some of the equipment he used for his stunts. They do this in a hands-on way giving visitors to the museum the opportunity to try it out. In the back of each stunt display is an explanation of how Houdini managed to accomplished these feats often with sleight of hand and other magician tricks. Altogether it was a very entertaining exhibit and good to go to with children because of the hands-on nature of much of the exhibit. Should you find yourself in Central Wisconsin, this exhibit is certainly worth a visit.

Re-visiting the United States One Year Later

A year ago, I turned on my television to watch “Jeopardy!” In the Chicago area, it’s broadcast at 3:30 in the afternoon. This was the first time in weeks that I’d been home at that time to watch it. You can imagine my disappointment when Alex Trebek was preempted because the current occupant of the White House was giving a press conference.

The weekend before, neo-Nazis and white racists had joined forces in Charlottesville, Virginia to march with torches chanting “Jews will not replace us.” Our president had called the press conference to insist vociferously that many people marching with Nazis and the Klu Klux Klan were “fine people.” Worse than that was my realization that more that 62million Americans had voted for him and another 90million had allowed him to win by not voting at all. Although I was born in the United States as were my parents and two of my grandparents, I felt like my country had been taken away from me. I had just become stateless.

Nazis/white supremacists marching in Charlottesville in 2017

Now a year later, I am relieved that only 25 Nazi/racists marched in Washington overpowered by thousands of counter-protesters. The New York Times reports that these bigots are now shying away from marches and organizing more hate in the shadows. America is still on the brink. As of February 26, 2018, the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith reports that there were 1,986 anti-Semitic incidents in the United States since the election of 2016. The Southern Poverty Law Center is tracking 954 hate groups in the United States. The groups target African-Americans, Jews, Muslims, Mexican-Americans, and people in the LBGTQ community. Both the ADL and the SPLC report that there has been a large spike in hate activity since the 2016 election.

In the upcoming elections, five self-avowed Nazis are running for Congress on the Republican ticket. In Illinois, the Governor and regular party people have directed their constituents not to vote for this candidate. Nevertheless, their statements came much too late - after the primary elections. They did not prevail on any party regular to run against this Nazi in the Republican primary and 20,000 people voted for him. While five is a small number – there are 435 Representatives in Congress – it is still pretty frightening. To my knowledge, having five Nazi candidates running as Republicans is unprecedented.

Can we breathe sighs of relief now that the Nazi rally was so poorly attended? I don’t think so. During the 2016 election campaign, T ran a campaign of bigotry. As you all remember, he began his political career with innuendos about Pres. Obama’s citizenship. This was followed by his racist statements about Mexicans. From there, he went on to talk of establishing a registry of Muslims in the United States. His rhetoric and election victory have emboldened a Pandora’s box of hatred to come out and flourish. It’s going to take a lot more than a couple of tweets saying that all Americans must come together to put those ills back in the box. It’s incumbent on every American to resist the forces of hatred and racism as much as we possibly can.

Facing the Next Natural Disaster in the Netherlands

We had five days to spend in Amsterdam and wanted to see more of the Netherlands. Delft is only an hour’s train ride from Amsterdam making it a good day trip destination for us. 

Besides being the home of Delft Pottery and the artist Vermeer of recent Girl with the Pearl Earring fame, Delft is the home of the Institute for Water Education. The Institute is the first noticeable building after leaving the Delft train station. It looked intriguing so we went in hoping to be able to talk to people there. Classes were in session but the woman at the front desk was very happy to tell us about the mission and work of the Institute. It opened in 1953 following a devastating flood in the Netherlands in which the dikes broke and 1836 people died, 70,000 were evacuated, and 500 buildings were totally destroyed.

The Netherlands government resolved to use their resources to study water management in an effort to prevent another flood from happening. They had had a natural disaster but decided not to have another one. Right after the flood, they opened the Institute for Water Education www.un-ihe.org to educate the world about their water management technology. Students come from all over the world especially Third World countries to learn about water management and purification and distribution. Students can earn Masters degrees or Phd’s or take short specifically targeted courses.

Since 1953, the Dutch have built new dikes, dams, and storm surge barriers. In some places especially Rotterdam, they have adapted to the rising waters of climate change by creating lakes, garages, parks, and plazas that double as reservoirs in times of heavy rain. In Rotterdam, the Maeslant Kering, a huge sea gate, was built that allows water to flow or prevents it from coming in as the situation demands. As a result, since 1953, the Dutch have never suffered a devastating flood again. Just in case, however, their children have to do flood disaster drills where they are taught to swim with their clothes and shoes on. Fortunately, they’ve never had to use this skill.

The Dutch have exported their water management technology to places throughout the world including Wuhan, China, Ho Chi Minh City, Cambodia, Jakarta, Indonesia, Venice, Italy, Sao Paolo, Brazil and to Miami, New Orleans, and New York City in the United States.

On a trip to Canada, we met a Dutch couple from Rotterdam. As we ate breakfast together, the woman said, “I don’t understand the people in Houston. We offered to send them our technology after their hurricane and they didn’t want it. Do they want to have floods every year?”

All that I could do was shake my head. I don’t understand it either.

Looking Up to People in Amsterdam

I knew that I was going to have to look up to people when we arrived at our hotel room. In our bathroom, I had to stand on tiptoes to see the mirror. The towel rack was at least a foot over my head. I couldn’t even reach the hook to hang up my towel. Most Dutch people are really tall. At five feet, I had to look up often during our visit there. As our taxi driver told us on our way to the airport, “Yes, we are the tallest people in Europe. That’s been known for years.”

At the Anne Frank House, I found other ways to look up to people. Before going there, we went to beautiful neighborhoods and saw the houseboats on the canals and visited the Van Gogh Museum. For both the Van Gogh Museum and the Anne Frank House, it’s important to buy timed entry tickets on-line about three months before you go to Amsterdam. In fact, at the Anne Frank House it’s the only way that tickets are sold.

Over a million people visit the House each year and everyone we asked knew where it was. On a walking tour through downtown Amsterdam the previous day, a young Dutch woman told me that all the public schools in the Netherlands are required to teach about the Holocaust and she was anxious to visit the Anne Frank House, also.

On arrival at the Anne Frank House, we were given audio guides in our preferred language to listen to in each room. The house - really Otto Frank’s office - is narrow with steep stairs. A bookcase hiding a door led to the secret sector of the house where the Franks and their friends the Vandamms hid for two years. During the day, they couldn’t look out the window, flush the toilet, or make any noise for fear of being heard and thus, caught and deported.

A photograph of the bookcase in front of the door leading to the Franks' hiding place

While Anne Frank and her family led an excruciating life for those two years and met a tragic end being deported only a few months before the end of World War II, their helpers also led a dangerous life for those two years. During that time, Miep and Jan Gies, Johannes Voskuijl, Johannes Kleiman, and Victor Kleiman helped them to hide. They brought them food and supplies and did everything they could to keep the families hidden. They did this at the risk of deportation or even death to themselves. Years later when Miep was asked about her heroism, she said, “They asked for my help. How could I do anything else?”  

Those Dutch Jews who’ve survived or are descendants of survivors feel uncertain. They look at their non-Jewish neighbors and wonder, “Would you hide me now?”

What these people did to hide the Frank family was truly heroic. I have to look up to them and ask myself what I would do in a similar situation. I hope that I would have the courage to do the right thing but until one is up against a situation, it’s all conjecture. As immigrants get deported here in the United States and even naturalized citizens are threatened, I wonder what I would do. In the meantime, I protest against our regime’s immigration policies in the hopes that I’ll never have to find out.

Visiting Germany in the Time of Trump

I love river cruising. My husband and I had been on two of them, one on the Danube and one on the Rhone. They were both fabulous trips. I wanted to go on another but most of the others sailed through Germany. I hesitated to go there.

I knew that the German government had atoned for their sins of the Holocaust. I knew that they had been giving reparations to refugees from Germany since the 1960’s. I knew that their children were taught about the Holocaust in all their public schools. I also knew that Germany has some of the strictest laws against hate speech and Holocaust denial. Still I hesitated. I had grown up among too many people with numbers tattooed on their arms and I couldn’t let go of that memory.

Then on August 12, 2017, Charlottesville happened. I watched in horror as neo-Nazis marched through that town carrying torches and chanting “Jews will not replace us.” 

Even worse, I watched the President of the United States insist at his news conference that many of the neo-Nazis marching were “fine people.” I felt that my country had abandoned me. Realizing that no country we would visit could be worse than what America was becoming, I was ready to make reservations for another river cruise.

Now that we have come back, I’m really glad that we did this cruise. We started from Basel, Switzerland and stopped in Colmar and Strasbourg, France, ended in Amsterdam and yes, stopped in Breisach, Koblenz, Heidleberg, Rudeisheim, and Cologne all in Germany. The towns in Germany were nothing like what I imagined. I don’t know what I imagined exactly but they were nothing like it.

in Breisach

Rudesheim town square

Heidleberg

Heidleberg

All the small towns and villages where we traveled were beautiful. Of course, a tour would show off the scenic places. As such, we sailed through the Loreley section of the Rhine in the morning. Designated as a UNESCO world heritage site, it took my breath away.

A scene on the Rhine

In Cologne, after the cruise’s walking tour, we met up with a German friend whom we had met in the intensive language school in Costa Rica where we had studied Spanish in the winter. We spent the afternoon with her seeing parts of the city away from the tourist areas where residents of Cologne actually spend time. Our friend is a very progressive woman who has experiences living throughout the world and it was great seeing her town through her eyes.

in Cologne

in Cologne

Except in Cologne, the only Germans we talked to extensively were the tour guides so I know to take everything that we saw with a grain of salt. One of my German friends here in America reminded me to do that. I had my moments when I saw plaques to the Holocaust and unused synagogues, but I also saw that most cities had Holocaust Museums.

In Cologne, our friend told us that there was some Nazi sentiment in some areas of Germany. There is some of that sentiment in the United States also; five Republican Congressional candidates are running as avowed Nazis and Holocaust deniers in this year’s election. Most Germans seem more aware of history than most Americans are. It was good to see a country that had recovered from Fascism but we know the horrors that happened before that recovery. We have to do whatever we can to make sure that America doesn’t repeat that history.

Oh No! The French Have Taken the Statue of Liberty Back!

We were so lucky to be able to take a cruise on the Rhine River from Basel, Switzerland to Amsterdam, the Netherlands. On the second day, we docked in Breisach, Germany. In the morning, we did a walking tour of that lovely village. In the afternoon, we did a bus tour to Colmar, France. We crossed the Rhine by bus - less than a kilometer’s distance - and had thus crossed from Germany into France.

The Alsace region has been fought over by Germany and France over the centuries and has changed nationality several times. Its culture is an interesting blend of the two ethnic groups. About 20% of the population speak the Alsatian dialect. Our local guide, who seemed to be in her 50’s, told us that this dialect can only be taught in the home. It has no written language and she is probably in the last generation to speak it. This would be tragic because when a language – or dialect – dies, some of the culture dies with it.

Our first stop in Colmar was the Statue of Liberty. What first came to my mind was that the French had taken it back, deciding that we no longer deserved to keep it. While current American immigration policy makes this true, we were only viewing a replica. It was put there by the village of Colmar in honor of their native son, Frederic Auguste Bartholdi who was born in Colmar on April 2, 1834 and designed the statue that up until now has been a symbol of America’s welcoming of immigrants from throughout the world. It was a poignant moment for me to see that symbol of freedom and know that it no longer expressed the values that made America truly exceptional.

replica of the Statue of Liberty at the entrance of Colmar

Next, we went into the center of Colmar. It was founded in the ninth century and much of its style has been retained. Its dramatic pitched roofs, pastel stucco and distinct French shutters with geraniums in all the window boxes make it a unique place to visit. Its Little Venice is something special to see.

good example of Colmar building

a street in Colmar

a typical sign

in Little Venice

I would have loved to stay longer and visit Colmar’s museums and other points of interest, but it was onward to a wine tasting. Colmar is in the center of the Alsatian wine region. The area has a special micro-climate perfect for growing grapes. The area is noted for its Pinot Blanc, Riesling, Pinot Gris, and several others. I’m no connoisseur of wine so they all tasted good to me. To go with it, this family winery served a kuglehopf, a cake typical of Alsace that went very well with the wine. Our guide told us that she has no time to cook Alsatian dishes and only eats them at her mother’s house. I told her to learn these recipes before it’s too late. When a culture loses its language and cuisine, what else is left?

the winery

Having these regional cultures enriches a nation and it would be tragic to lose it.

After Colmar, we spent the next day in Strasbourg about 70 miles away. Besides being a government center for the EU, it is also a center of Alsation culture. It’s an area well worth visiting. I feel so fortunate to have been there.

A Child of the Cold War Views the Singapore Summit

A Typical 1950's Air Raid Drill

It happened a few times per school year. The siren sounded and we were told to crouch under our desks with one hand behind our head and the other hand in front of it. This action would protect us in the case of a nuclear attack. The literature always predicted the damage that would be done should Times Square be bombed. The radius would be huge and we in the New York suburbs would be affected. People built fallout shelters in their backyards. I had nightmares several times per month.

In 1960, I went with my mother to a demonstration at the Soviet Union’s embassy across from the United Nations to protest above ground nuclear testing. The ambassador invited us in and said, “Welcome to the territory of the Soviet Union.”

We were so imbued with Cold War rhetoric that I panicked for a moment hearing that and don’t remember a word of his speech after that.

The air raid drills continued throughout my high school years. The survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were still alive to tell us how devastating a nuclear war could be. Nevertheless, compared to the threat now, this threat was mild. Leaders on both sides knew what the risks were and most of them had some degree of sanity. The weapons of mass destruction were weaklings compared to what is available now and nuclear proliferation hadn’t happened yet. Most of us knew that there could be no survivors of a nuclear war.

We had an air raid drill in my high school in which we had to go out in the hallway. I held up a homemade sign that said, “The only shelter is peace.” I was sent to the assistant principal’s office to be disciplined. Since this was my first offense of any kind, I was questioned about what I was doing and sent back to class. The nightmares continued. 

My parents were active in the Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy - popularly known as SANE - and I enjoyed telling my friends that my parents were in Sane. We drank powdered milk for fear of the Strontium 90 that was present in milk from nuclear fallout of the tests. Nothing could be done to that powdered milk that could make it taste even remotely drinkable so drinking that stuff for three years until the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of 1963 was signed was a trauma in itself.

The memories of living through the cold war are with me still. Hearing the threats of Kim Jong Un and the uncontrolled threats and irrational menacing of our current President bring it all back. Unfortunately, the threat now is worse. We have a President who listens to advice from no one seeming to make decisions based on his emotions and instincts of the moment. Kim Jong Un is a ruthless totalitarian dictator who seems just as irrational.

The news that our current President and Kim Jong Un would meet brought momentary relief. Now that news is emerging from this summit, I don’t think that feeling will last. Apparently, he has made concessions to North Korea without receiving any in return. Time will tell.  Although I disagree vehemently with virtually everything our President says and does, I wish him success in this endeavor. The alternative is unthinkable.