I am a teacher and a writer and I live in the beautiful city of Seattle. I was a newspaper reporter for many years.

 

Today, I teach English and history to middle schoolers, work that I love and believe in at a deep level. Educating children that the past matters, and that politics is profoundly important, has always been important, and remains especially so today.  If we don't raise our voices to speak out for what is right and true, if we don't teach our children to do the same, others less well motivated will. 

 

I am also the mother of three amazing young people, Katie, Leah, and Joe. The work of raising these young people to be the kind, caring, compassionate people they are, has  undoubtedly been the most important work of my life.  I am also incredibly blessed to be married to one of the most brilliant and truly good men that I know, Peter Temes, to whom I owe a debt of gratitude for always encouraging me to tell my story. 

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I've always felt that the story of what happened to me as a child has profound importance.

 

It touches on how government policies impact people's lives at such a personal level.

 

It touches on the unspeakable loss of the Holocaust, which I only learned about once I was in America. That set me on a course to not only learn the full truth of what happened to my father, but also embrace Judaism as a faith.

 

It attests to the importance of humane immigration policies that don't force people to make a "Sophie's Choice" between hope and family, or in our case, a choice between son or daughter.

 

It speaks to persistent anti-Semitism and racism, in this case a child's confusion at hearing her own father called names, or being forbidden to play with Roma friends,  even  as she over time learns those very habits and practices.

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It speak to the profound loss of family separation.

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I am deeply humbled and grateful for your interest in reading my story.

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