Premiere Performance of Last Summer - A New One-Act Play by Jim Ottaviani

Fri, 12/27/2024 - 1:27pm

The University of Michigan Summer Symposium in Theoretical Physics brought great minds from all over the world to Ann Arbor for 15 years between WWI and WWII. One evening in 1939, Enrico Fermi tried to convince his friend Werner Heisenberg not to return to Germany, where he would certainly be compelled to help the Nazis develop nuclear weapons.

Last Summer is a new one-act play about this pivotal conversation, based on the physicists' own writings, written for the stage by award-winning science comics writer Jim Ottaviani, and produced in partnership with the Ann Arbor Civic Theatre.

AADL Talks To: John Hieftje, 60th Mayor of Ann Arbor, 2000-2014

Thu, 09/19/2024 - 9:00pm

John Hieftje is Ann Arbor’s 60th and longest-serving mayor, elected first in 2000, then re-elected for six consecutive terms. John grew up in Ann Arbor and discusses how the student protests of the late 1960s and early 1970s influenced his community activism and helped shape his political career. He also talks about some of the challenges he faced in office, from the Great Recession of the mid-2000s to his work on the Ann Arbor Greenbelt, polluter laws, and bicycle infrastructure. He also talks about some of the city's ongoing efforts to address climate change and affordable housing.

AADL Talks To: Liz Brater, 58th Mayor of Ann Arbor (1991-1993)

Mon, 09/16/2024 - 6:36pm

Elizabeth S. Brater is Ann Arbor's first female mayor, serving as a Democrat from 1991 to 1993. Prior to 1991, she was a member of Ann Arbor City Council. As both council member and mayor, Liz focused on housing and environmental issues, causes she continued at the state level when serving as a member of the Michigan House of Representatives from 1995 to 2000, and in the Michigan Senate, where she represented the 18th district from 2003 to 2010. Brater talks with us about her time in office, its many challenges, and some of her initiatives and accomplishments, notably her campaign to start the Michigan Recovery Facility (MRF).

AADL Talks To: Lou Belcher, 55th Mayor of Ann Arbor (1978-1985)

Sun, 09/15/2024 - 8:16pm

In this episode, AADL talks to Louis Belcher, mayor of Ann Arbor from 1978-1985. In addition to his four terms as mayor, Lou was also a city councilman and successful businessman. He recounts memorable stories from his time in office, including the unusual 1977 mayoral contest with former mayor Albert Wheeler; the time he took the RFD Boys to Germany for a sister city celebration; and the infamous Ann Arbor pigeon cull.

AADL Talks To: Jerry DeGrieck, Former Human Rights Party Council Member

Fri, 01/19/2024 - 4:48pm

In this episode, AADL Talks To Jerry DeGrieck. Jerry was the first elected official to come out as gay in the U.S. alongside council member Nancy Wechsler in 1973. Both were members of the Human Rights Party, and in 1972 beat out local democrats and republicans for two seats on Ann Arbor’s City Council. Jerry recalls his time in Ann Arbor and discusses influential moments in his life politically and personally. Though Jerry moved to Seattle in 1974, he still remembers his time in Ann Arbor fondly, has visited several times over the years, and has maintained lifelong friendships that began here.

The Gayest Generation Ep. 11 - Curtis Chin

Mon, 02/06/2023 - 2:16pm

Welcome to The Gayest Generation, where we hear LGBTQ older adults speak for themselves. Every episode, we sit down with a different member of the LGBTQ community who laid the foundation for the freedoms we have today.

In this episode, we speak with Curtis Chin. We discuss his childhood growing up in Detroit’s legendary Chung’s Restaurant, “The Gay Agenda”, and what it’s like to meet Vanna White (and the Obamas).

Curtis is the author of the forthcoming memoir Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant, which is currently available for pre-order. To learn more about Curtis Chin, visit www.curtisfromdetroit.com. 

JCC Conversations | Terry Swartzberg

Thu, 02/02/2023 - 4:54pm

Terry Swartzberg, a Jewish “Ethical Campaigner” who has lived in Germany for 45 years, speaks with us from his home in Munich Germany. Terry Swartzberg became a reporter for the International Herald Tribune. Terry talks about the time he met with Presitent Vladimir Putin and the profound effect the invasion of Ukraine is having on Germany.

Terry answered questions about his experiences openly wearing a kippah in Germany for the last 9 years as well as his involvement with the Stolperstein project, the world’s largest distributed commemoration project. The project has installed over 100,000 concrete cubes bearing a brass plate inscribed with the name and life dates of victims of Nazi extermination or persecution in the sidewalks in front of their last place of residence before becoming victims of the Nazis.

JCC Conversations | Nancy Wang – Executive Director of Voters Not Politicians

Wed, 02/01/2023 - 5:03pm

What are the very real possibilities that it will become much more difficult to vote in Michigan and how the Promote the Vote ballot initiative can block the current effort to suppress the vote?

JCC Conversations | Derrick Miller and Nataliya Starak

Wed, 02/01/2023 - 5:01pm

Derrick Miller is the Executive Director of the Community Action Network in Ann Arbor Michigan and he felt he had to do something to help the people of Ukraine.  The experience was intense, to say the least, but it was also highly impactful.  While he was there he was assisted by Nataliya Starak who has fascinating and heartwarming stories to share with us.

On Conversations they will touch on experiences at 2 refugee centers, a hostel with nearly 300 Ukrainian women and children, multiple border crossings, and hundreds of interactions with a myriad of foreign volunteers, refugees, Polish and Ukrainian authorities and even the pets of Ukrainian refugees.

JCC Conversations | Yalcin Yanıkoğlu, Sergio Martinez-Beltrán, Bob Chunn and Mark Brewer

Wed, 02/01/2023 - 4:35pm

Now that the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission has issued new maps, come learn what that means for you and for future elections. Guests on Conversations! will be Sergio Martínez-Beltrán, Capital Reporter for Bridge Magazine, Bob Chunn and Yalcin Yonikoglu of Next Vote and Mark Brewer of Goodman Acker P.C.