Category Archives: About Deborah Levine

About ADR Editor-in-Chief

Newspaper Opinion Columns

From punked to pummeled – by Deborah Levine

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originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press

Over the weekend, Trump assured us that he had illegally leaked information that he’d be arrested on Tuesday by Manhattan’s Attorney General regarding hush money paid to Stormy Daniels.  He wasn’t. A team spokesperson agreed that no such information was received, but rushed to justify Trump’s announcement, saying it was “rightfully highlighting his innocence”. As usual, truth wasn’t the point. The past Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele explains, “former President Donald Trump used a well-worn page from his playbook to punk everyone over his expected indictment.”

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Newspaper Opinion Columns

Murdoch’s mess: Fox News, lies and defamation – by Deborah Levine

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originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press. 

I’m transfixed as the Fox News circus unfolds with the $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit by voting machine maker Dominion against ringmaster, Rupert Murdoch, and his son, Lachlan Murdoch. We’re now told that the Murdochs and their carnival acts like Tucker Carlson all knew that claims of a stolen 2020 election were fraudulent. Yet they spread the lies that led to the violence of Jan. 6, with Carlson now perpetuating that date’s bunch-of-tourists theory. And we Americans are stuck with the divisive mess. Maybe if we’d paid more attention to the Murdochs’ history, we’d have halted the Fox circus before it fueled our culture wars.

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Newspaper Opinion Columns

Climate debate shows no signs of subsiding – by Deborah Levine

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originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press

I rather liked the 80 degree weather in our winter, but not fond of the storm warnings last week. I’m delighted that Chattanooga dodged any tornadoes and really sorry for the folks who didn’t, including those in New Jersey a few weeks ago. New Jersey? Not exactly part of tornado alley! But then, weird weather is becoming the new norm. Cars floating in a river through a city’s downtown and icicles on Southern California palm trees. Oy! What’s going on here?

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Newspaper Opinion Columns

Child labor making a come back – by Deborah Levine

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Originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press   

Have we time-traveled back a century when child labor was a thing? That’s what I first thought when I heard that a food sanitation company was being sued for illegally employing over 100 children ages 13 – 17. The kids cleaned razor-sharp saws with caustic chemicals while working overnight shifts at 13 meat processing facilities in eight states including Arkansas, Colorado, Indiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, Tennessee and Texas.

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Newspaper Opinion Columns

CELEBRATE AND ACT ON BLACK HISTORY MONTH – by Deborah Levine

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published originally in The Chattanooga Times Free Press

Honoring Black History Month often comes with events that tell African American history through arts and culture, which resonate across cultural boundaries. For example: the National Center for Civil and Human Rights will display jazz music that “inspires movements, evokes revolution, and lightens troubled spirits.”

Corporate celebrations may elevate Black artists, creators, entrepreneurs through storytelling, content and products. But as memorable as these celebrations are, they may be considered once-a-year, check-the-box events.

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Newspaper Opinion Columns

Social Media Insanity – by Deborah Levine 

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(Originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press)

I was transfixed when Elon Musk first took over as Twitter’s CEO. It was like watching a massive highway car pile up as folks headed for the hills as Musk cried, “No, we’re not dead!”. I was tempted to exit, but was persuaded to stay and fight the good fight. So when the GOP first tweeted their intent to tear apart Hunter Biden, I responded, “How about the $2 billion Kushner got from the Saudis… Are you going to investigate that?” The support was beyond anything I’d experienced from Twitterers. 

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Black-Jewish Dialogue, Newspaper Opinion Columns

Hate enablers should not prevail – by Deborah Levine

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Originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press

Have you heard that Kanye West might buy the self-styled free speech platform called Parler? Supposedly “conservative”, the app was used to organize and recruit for the Capitol siege. Parler continually enables hate with accounts that use swastikas as their profile pictures along with posts with Holocaust denial, antisemitism, and racism. Proud Boys, QAnon conspiracy theorists, anti-government extremists and white supremacists have all promoted their views on Parler.

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About Deborah Levine, Books

SoLit Award Acceptance Speech – by Deborah Levine

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Local Distinguished Author Award 2022

I’m deeply honored by this award from the prestigious SoLit Alliance. Literature is my passion and growing up in Bermuda’s 24 square miles, I explored the vast world through reading. You should have seen me with a pad of paper and a number 2 pencil while still in diapers. I published my first story at age 16 and wrote grants and newsletters for decades. But not until coming to Chattanooga did I blossom as a writer, and thought of myself as one.  

SoLit award  Chattanoogans from every sector empowered me. Thank you to faculty friends at our schools and colleges. And thanks to community service organizations for your support. I’m truly grateful to the Human Resource Directors and diversity officers who encouraged me. Many thanks to local foundations, city and county departments, and, of course our local newspapers which turned me into a columnist. And hugs to the creative souls who helped surface my storytelling skills, almost a century after my mother’s publications about the science of storytelling. Love you, Mom! 

A shout out to all my diverse colleagues with special thanks to friends who lifted me up when dire illness cut short my role as the Jewish Federation’s executive director. I thought my life was over, but you helped me find a new purpose. 

My books, articles, columns, and scripts transformed me, as has the opportunity to give back. 16 years ago, advisors, writers, poets, editors and interns helped create the American Diversity Report.  We’ve now published hundreds of writers, spreading our Inclusion message across the globe. 

SoLit’s words are profound, “Literature has the incomparable power to connect, uplift and inspire people.” And this award magnifies that power. I feel the creative energy percolating inside me. Seeing my hubby’s grin, he knows that this moment will inspire new ideas to take shape and words to be written. 

Thank you so much, SoLit. You’re elevating me to the next level, and the best is yet to come.

Newspaper Opinion Columns

Counteracting the “Heil Hitler” phenomenon – by Deborah Levine

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 originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press

On the morning before the Jewish New Year, I walked into a neighborhood grocery store and was greeted by a customer with “Heil Hitler!” and a Nazi salute. My stunned silence prompted the man to shout “Heil Hitler” even louder.  He eagerly came closer to me, repeating the Sieg Heil salute, which was adopted in the 1930s to signal national obedience to Adolf Hitler. The crowd waiting in line for the cashier giggled. I gagged, and hoped it was all just a bad joke.

But it wasn’t. He turned to the crowd and explained why they should join him. “Hitler could rally the crowd, inspire everyone to join him. So follow me, Heil Hitler, then we’ll all say a prayer.” Hearing this linking of  Hitler to faith and prayer, the cashier turned green. I turned purple. 

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Newspaper Opinion Columns

Royal Ripples – by Deborah Levine

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originally published in the Chattanooga Times Free Press

With the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, I remember when my daughter first heard the queen speak on the radio. “Wow! I never heard English spoken so beautifully. Who is that?” I smiled because I’d grown up trying to imitate the “Queen’s English” as a youngster in the British colony of Bermuda. I was doubly saddened by the queen’s passing because it came just days before my birthday. How does one celebrate life and death at the same time? My first instinct was to ignore my birthday. Who wants to celebrate getting older anyway?  So I vacillated between mourning and sulking. 

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