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DL Opinion columns

Our military deserved better – by Deborah Levine

Originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press

Fireworks and picnics, flags and My Country Tis of Thee, have been the must-haves of our July 4th celebrations for as long as I can remember. Some of you might have joined the kids dressed in red, white, and blue splashing around in the Coolidge Park fountain. Throw in a trip to the relatives and watching the Macy’s parade on TV together, with air-conditioning, and you’ve got yourself an Independence Day bonanza. Did any of you feel the need for an army tank in the background?

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DL Opinion columns

Holocaust Lessons at Memorial Auditorium – by Deborah Levine

(originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press)

DEBORAH LEVINEWhen I heard that Holocaust Survivor Eva Schloss was speaking in Chattanooga, I seriously considered staying home. I know Holocaust stories all too well from my work in Holocaust education, the hand-typed memoirs of survivors sent to me, and my father’s World War II letters. Dad was a US military intelligence officer assigned to interrogate Nazi prisoners of war. His letters described their education into fascism and its authoritarian ultranationalism, dehumanizing minorities and suppressing opposition.

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DL Opinion columns

Who You Callin’ Old? – by Deborah Levine

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Originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press

DEBORAH LEVINEBirthdays that end in zero are milestones to be celebrated, or completely ignored, depending on your point of view. I choose to celebrate my milestone by writing about the beauty and value of older women. Too often, the presence of older women can be used to delegitimize a good cause. There were several editorials about Women’s Marches calling them irrelevant because so many of the women involved were old, limping, and decrepit.

Maybe I should be used to this dismissive language, I’ve heard it often enough. I’m reminded of the time I gave a presentation at a national interfaith workshop in Huntsville. Wrapping up, I asked for comments from an audience of woman chaplains and pastors. The first question had everyone nodding their heads, “How do you get people to listen to you? Once I turned sixty nobody cared what I thought or said.”

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