From: Jane Hertenstein <janeh>
Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2006 10:29:10 -0500

It's hard not to have a physical and emotional response to Holocaust images--and I agree it is hard to moderate a discussion about how much is too much when it comes to classroom exposure to the subject--common sense and sensitivity--BUT

For me personally, I remember as a kid getting the mail and sneaking LIFE magazine upstairs to look at the pictures and read the stories behind them. I remember one time the city newspaper running a story about (and this is gross) a baby being bitten over and over by rats in her bed. These things disturbed me--but also formed me as a child: someday I wanted to be part of the solution. In a little kid simplistic way of looking at things I was awaken to evil and once awake didn't want to go back to sleep. A seed was planted. In college I decided to major in education and remedial reading, and when I graduated I moved to the inner city of Chicago to teach--all because of that baby, the pictures, and what I perceived as a human cry for help.

Wanted to throw out a few titles not already mentioned:

The Devil's Arithmetic, Jane Yolen Daniel Half Human and the Good Nazi by David Chotjewitz, translated from the German by Doris Orgel.

Jane Hertenstein 920 W. Wilson Chicago, Il 60640 773-561-2450 ext 2089
Received on Tue 25 Apr 2006 10:29:10 AM CDT