My Nonprofit Reviews

I traveled with Helix Project of Yiddishkayt this past summer in Poland. I was tremendously impressed with the thoughtfully prepared, culturally informed, historically grounded, imaginatively open nature of the trip and the group -- both leaders and participants. I was invited in part to present a research lecture and was delighted with the level of insight and energy generated among those who attended, especially given their very full tour schedule and the demands of my involved multi-lingual multi-media program. The organization's place-based approach to the shifting borders and multifarious cultures of Central and Eastern Europe brings a nuanced, textured understanding to the legacies of Jews and their neighbors -- all of which deeply enriched my years of archival experience. The sense of curiosity, introspection, joy and personally considerate interaction that I found among all involved (including local guides and cultural figures whom we visited) reflects careful cultivation as well as bold vision. As we came from many different backgrounds, there were varying levels of fluency on any given topic, yet our discussions revolved around a sense of trust and mutual respect, allowing us to benefit from each others' expertise. As I came along for the latter part of this past summer's expedition, I am also grateful that the already-bonded Helixers could be open to welcoming me in after they had been together through the intensity of over a week in Belarus before I joined in. Fortunately the freshness of my research topic on vintage queer imagery and subtext in Yiddish cinema was a dimension in demand here, among several well-educated enclaves I experienced in Europe this summer, with a special intensity "on location" during Yiddishkayt's Helix sojourn through the regions where several of the films had been made before WWII. Since returning several months ago, we have been able to stay in touch both through social media and occasionally in person as well, a very positive ongoing connection. Meanwhile the perspectives of political events and movements in this turbulent region, in both current and former times, add vivid awareness to all our intense global and local situations now. Although the tour moves through so many locales in a matter of weeks, still we were given tools for both comprehension and even poetic interpretation to encounter and question the nature of memory, identity and activism in these fraught, ever-changing meeting grounds. With singing and swimming on the itinerary in most meaningful ways, as well as access to prime intellectual sources at every stop we made, this remains for me both an influential and an invigorating source of inspiration.