Conversation Starters

“A genius at conjuring realities,” according to NPR, Lavie Tidhar is the winner of the World Fantasy Award and will discuss his newest book, Neom. Neom is a novel that emerges from the multi-award-winning universe of Central Station, where the inhabitants of a complex desert-city rediscover passion while on the brink of revolution.

Born in Israel, the dystopian environments that Tidhar imagines are reflective of his deep understanding of modern-day Tel Aviv and his appreciation for the historical foundations of science fiction that are inescapably Jewish. This tradition will also be addressed in conversation with Mr. Tidhar, whose non-fictional writing has elucidated a Hebrew kernel at the heart of the fantasy universe.

Tidhar works across genres, combining detective and thriller modes with poetry, science fiction and historical and autobiographical material. His work has been compared to that of Philip K. Dick by the Guardian and the Financial Times, and to Kurt Vonnegut’s by Locus.

Tidhar is currently a book columnist for the Washington Post. Additional bylines have appeared in The Independent, Nature, SFX, io9, The Vanuatu Daily Post and others. Lavie is currently a Visiting Professor and Writer in Residence at Richmond, The American International University in London.

Learn more about Tidhar here: https://lavietidhar.wordpress.com/

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This is our final conversation starter surrounding the exhibit Then They Came for Me. Director of Education Dan Haumschild speaks with Kurt Ikeda, the Director of Interpretation and Education at Minidoka National Historic Site near Jerome, Idaho. Mr. Ikeda will provide insights about what life might have been like in camp during WWII, why people are compelled to preserve these spaces, and what lessons we can glean from what remains at Minidoka today.

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Professor of History, Dr. Ellen Eisenberg will share her research about the responses of Jewish Americans on the West Coast during the wave of incarceration that affected their Japanese American neighbors. The findings of her research are certain to complicate our preconceptions about what it means to stand up for justice in the face of conflict.
Read Dr. Eisenberg's book: https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780739113820/The-First-to-Cry-Down-Injustice-Western-Jews-and-Japanese-Removal-During-WWII
Learn more about Dr. Eisenberg's work: https://willamette.edu/undergraduate/history/faculty/eisenberg/index.html
Conversation Starters is sponsored by Leslie Hayes

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Local historian Don Anderson discusses the extra-legal incarceration of German and Italian citizens during WWII, including the heartbreaking story of Milwaukee’s Peter Theberath and his family. This conversation calls into question what ‘loyalty’ looks like and how perceptions of allegiance can dramatically affect the way we’re accepted in any community.

Find out more information about this era in American history by exploring the titles below.
READ:
'America’s Invisible Gulag' by Stephen Fox
A Biography of German American Internment & Exclusion in World War II
'Enemies' by John Christgau
World War II Alien Internment
'A Prison Called Hohenasperg' by Arthur D. Jacobs
An American boy betrayed by his Government during World War II
WATCH:
“Alien Enemy Detention Facility” Crystal City, Tex
Producred by IMS U.S. Department of Justice

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Former Chicago Tribune journalist Howard Reich has written a ballet about the incarceration of nearly 22,000 Canadian Japanese during WWII. During our conversation about this project, we are joined by the Executive Director of Bravo Niagara!, Alexis Spieldenner and Art Miki, a visionary civil rights leader who spearheaded the movement for Redress in Canada. The conversation focuses on the role of the performing arts in responding to social injustice, how advocacy in the arts can continue upholding the legacy of social activism, and how depictions of the past can create space for working through difficulties in the present.

Conversation starters are generously sponsored by Leslie Hayes.

Find out more about Kimiko's Pearl at https://www.kimikospearl.com/

Explore Bravo Niagara! at bravoniagara.org

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​WasteCap Resource Solutions, Inc. is an industry supported nonprofit organization that provides waste reduction and recycling assistance to businesses. It encourages businesses to find new solutions to waste problems. The organization recently conducted a waste audit for the state of Wisconsin. We will sit down with Executive Director Daniel Hartsig to discuss the findings and some practical solutions for our communities.

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JMM wouldn’t have the title of its current exhibit, "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime: Jewish Artists of the WPA," if not for Yip Harburg. The man born Isidore Hochberg wrote the lyrics to some of the most widely known songs from the heyday of the Broadway and Hollywood musical. In this fitting Conversation Starter, Ernie Harburg and Deena Rosenberg Harburg, Yip’s son and daughter-in-law, discuss the humble beginnings, influences, fifty-year career, and legacy of one of the leading lyricists of American theater song.

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Professor, scholar and author Daniel Soyer is the grandson of Moses Soyer and grand-nephew of Raphael and Isaac Soyer, all WPA artists. The three brothers immigrated to the U.S. from Russia with their family in 1912 and during the Great Depression they participated in the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Art Project. Daniel explores his family’s history, the artistic pursuits and perspectives of the trio, and the legacies of their influential careers.

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Milwaukee Jewish Federation Board Chair Moshe Katz donated a unique portfolio of artwork to JMM several years ago depicting Nazi leaders in a cartoonish style. Moshe found these and many other disturbing items in antique stores and feels responsible for taking them off the market so they cannot be used to celebrate racist ideals. Check out this conversation about the many questions raised by historical objects that highlight the darkest aspects of American history.

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