AADL Talks To: Jerry DeGrieck

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.

JCC Conversations | Ranked Choice Voting - Sarah Woolsey and Kevin Deegan-Krause

Wed, 02/01/2023 - 3:54pm

Chuck Newman interviews Kevin Deegan Krause and Sue Norman from Ranked Choice Voting, a better way to vote. Ranked Choice Voting diminishes negative campaigning, decreases the likelihood of having to vote for the no ‘lesser of two evils”, encourages diverse candidates for elected office, increases voter turnout and eliminates ‘spoilers.’ Rank MI Vote’s Kevin Deegan Krause and Sue Norman will explain how and why it works and why it should be adopted.

JCC Conversations | Attorney Mark Brewer

Wed, 02/01/2023 - 2:56pm

Attorney Mark Brewer speaks to the current status of the redistricting process and what we can do about it. His principal areas of practice include campaign finance and non-profit law. He has been involved in a wide variety of election cases since the 1980s including county, legislative and congressional redistricting, presidential primaries/caucuses, recalls, recounts, ballot access, voter protection on Election Day and the protection of the right to vote a straight party ticket.

The vast majority of the maps submitted to Michigan’s Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission to date would result in districts that are more inequitable than the existing gerrymandered districts. Similarly, most of the comments that have been received support these maps.

JCC Conversations | Fred Upton, Debbie Dingell and Ryan Clancy

Wed, 02/01/2023 - 2:29pm

Ryan Clark of No Labels, and Representatives Debbie Dingell (D-12th CD) and Fred Upton (R-4th CD) of the Problem Solvers’ Caucus  discuss prospects for bipartisan legislation in Congress. Learn how goodwill still exists and how it can be effective with the support of No Labels, even in today’s polarized political climate.

JCC Conversations | Michigan House Minority Leader Donna Lasinski

Wed, 02/01/2023 - 2:10pm

Michigan House Minority Leader Donna Lasinski  talks about  her resolution to create a bipartisan joint select committee to investigate Michiganders’ involvement in the Jan. 6 pro-Trump insurrection in the U.S. and also discusses the April 2020 storming of the Michigan Capitol during a protest against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s COVID-19 health orders, which congressional Democrats have argued was a “dress rehearsal” for Jan. 6.