Reawakening this blog

Last time I wrote in this blog, my life was so different.  I'm grateful for the rise in confidence and the growth of adventures I have had in the past five or so years, and it is time to start blogging again.

It's odd; back when I started blogging, Facebook wasn't so prevalent in my life.  I began blogging before my sister Mel passed away, and it was actually her coma and eventual death that brought me into the social networking community.  Blogging was a way to mix diary writing with social interaction.  It was a way to keep my diary writing thoughts "safe" in an era when my childhood family was changing so drastically.  This blog helped me say goodbye to my sister and my grandparents.

Now that years have passed, I am always and ever connected to Mel, Nana, and Papa...but I have a different reason for writing.

I'm about to embark on an immense emotional journey, one that I am honored to share with the world.  I will be heading to Poland in a few months to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.  This is an intense honor, one burdened with sorrow and hope and prayers of "Never Again".

As I do the research in preparation for the journey, as I set out to Warsaw, as I freeze in the Polish winter and return home both stronger and weaker than before...I will use this blog as a conversation point.

This link, from the USC Shoah Foundation, shares a little bit about my purpose in taking part in the Past is Present adventure.  Robin at USC really put together a poignant article.  (I focus more on all the joy and luck I've been given, rather than the intolerance-- but I guess the school bus bullying and swastikas on my house would be signs of intolerance....)

http://sfi.usc.edu/profiles/emily-bengels

So, here goes an adventure!

Thanks for joining me on it...


Comments

Post a Comment

Thanks for your response!

Popular posts from this blog

Peace AND Safety

Image
  It won’t surprise any of you that I’ve been struggling with this war over Israel. In some ways, I’ve been struggling over it my whole life, just as the world has been struggling over it for generations. To me, it goes beyond the need for a homeland. It is a matter of peace versus safety. I want both. This weekend, I considered going to New York City for a visit with some friends. I don’t feel safe doing so. The protests at colleges like Columbia and NYU are threatening not just to Israelis but to Jews, and they are not threatening just to Jews but also to humanity. Recent protesters have threatened that “October 7th will happen to American Jewish students 10,000 times over,” and Jewish people have been told to return to Europe or Poland. Professors have been blocked from entering buildings, and students have been forcibly blocked from entering their dorms. This is an assault to the very essence of what America represents. My own house, once, was sprayed with sw...
Read more

Don't Keep Calm and Carry On

Image
I have always appreciated a good play on words, a playful rhyme, and a clever slogan.  When I first heard the phrase "Keep Calm and Carry On", it seemed much better than my younger sister's pleas to me to "Chill" or even "Chillax."  It doesn't surprise me that hundreds or even thousands of spoofs have been made on this British phrase from the 1940s.   Below, you will see simply the first page of Google images from today's search for "Keep calm and".  The possibilities are endless, even if the off-rhyme of "calm" and "on" gets lost in the variations.  By now, "Keep Calm and" has become a quintessential meme for the 21st century. What is less popular, however, is the history of this phrase.  Here is where I grow uncomfortable. In the days leading up to the second World War,  the British Ministry of Information created several propaganda posters to help boost morale in the case of a German invasion...
Read more

A True Teacher and Friend

Image
  Ten years ago, the world lost Jerry DeFina. I often give thanks to my mentors, those people who made me “me”. All of you have heard me talk about Mr. De or Uncle Jerry, and many of you were lucky to know him. Perhaps you remember his laugh, or his bellow, or his passion. A decade is both a long time and a mere moment. Just as I still talk to Grandma-in-my-head each day, I am forever connected to Jerry. It may be a stretch or an act of hubris, but I feel like his protégée. Nobody besides Amin and I had him as a teacher for five years— Talent Pool 2nd through 5th and a full day classroom teacher in 6th. He and his partner Frank taught me to direct and music direct. He taught me to teach children to question… all while teaching me to believe in myself. Many people have special teachers but most people don’t know what it is and was to have a Jerry. From him, I learned the art of eavesdropping: he and my mother would talk together til the wee hours of the night, and I remember sitting...
Read more