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Ann Arbor 200
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AADL Talks To: Peter Stipe

Peter Stipe, June 1992
Peter Stipe, June 1992

Author and former Ann Arbor policeman Peter Stipe recounts his journey from being a wayward youth growing up in countercultural Ann Arbor to becoming the most decorated member of the Ann Arbor Police Department. Peter shares memories of his time with the AAPD, including harrowing encounters on emergency calls and the many people and events that helped shape his career. Peter also shares his love of local history and discusses the changes he's seen in the city over the years.

Peter's story is detailed in his 2021 memoir, Badge 112

You can read and view historical photos about Peter Stipe and the Ann Arbor Police Department, or read other histories of the Ann Arbor Police Department.

Ann Arbor 200
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There Went The Neighborhood: The Closing of Jones School

As part of Ann Arbor 200, the Ann Arbor District Library and 7 Cylinders Studio (7CS) have produced a documentary film about the closing of Ann Arbor's Jones School. In 1965, the Board of Education closed the majority-Black school. Ann Arbor joined a nationwide trend of school desegregation during the Civil Rights Era. But for these young students, the loss of a neighborhood school foreshadowed changes to their close-knit community. Gentrification came to Ann Arbor on the heels of desegregation.

In the making of this film, 7CS filmmakers and AADL archivists interviewed over thirty former Jones students and Black community leaders. They shared memories of Jones School and "The Old Neighborhood"—the areas now known as Kerrytown and Water Hill. A filmed walking tour, studio interviews, and historical photos form the core of the film. Run time is approximately 40 minutes.
 

The AADL Archives has many additional materials to explore relating to these topics, including a history of Jones School and dozens of Ann Arbor News articles that appear in the film:

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Linda Diane Feldt (and Aisling)

Video extra from the feature-length documentary Welcome to Commie High from 7 Cylinders Studio.

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The Gayest Generation Ep. 11 - Curtis Chin

Welcome to The Gayest Generation, where we hear LGBTQ older adults speak for themselves. Every episode, we sit down with a different member of the LGBTQ community who laid the foundation for the freedoms we have today.

In this episode, we speak with Curtis Chin. We discuss his childhood growing up in Detroit’s legendary Chung’s Restaurant, “The Gay Agenda”, and what it’s like to meet Vanna White (and the Obamas).

Curtis is the author of the forthcoming memoir Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant, which is currently available for pre-order. To learn more about Curtis Chin, visit www.curtisfromdetroit.com

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JCC Conversations | Terry Swartzberg

Terry Swartzberg, a Jewish “Ethical Campaigner” who has lived in Germany for 45 years, speaks with us from his home in Munich Germany. Terry Swartzberg became a reporter for the International Herald Tribune. Terry talks about the time he met with Presitent Vladimir Putin and the profound effect the invasion of Ukraine is having on Germany.

Terry answered questions about his experiences openly wearing a kippah in Germany for the last 9 years as well as his involvement with the Stolperstein project, the world’s largest distributed commemoration project. The project has installed over 100,000 concrete cubes bearing a brass plate inscribed with the name and life dates of victims of Nazi extermination or persecution in the sidewalks in front of their last place of residence before becoming victims of the Nazis.

 

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JCC Conversations | Sue Shooner – Girls Group

How retired automobile executive Susan Schooner is helping young women reach their potential—and how that work has helped her find herself.

 

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JCC Conversations | Derrick Miller and Nataliya Starak

Derrick Miller is the Executive Director of the Community Action Network in Ann Arbor Michigan and he felt he had to do something to help the people of Ukraine.  The experience was intense, to say the least, but it was also highly impactful.  While he was there he was assisted by Nataliya Starak who has fascinating and heartwarming stories to share with us.

On Conversations they will touch on experiences at 2 refugee centers, a hostel with nearly 300 Ukrainian women and children, multiple border crossings, and hundreds of interactions with a myriad of foreign volunteers, refugees, Polish and Ukrainian authorities and even the pets of Ukrainian refugees.

 

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JCC Conversations | Attorney Alan Levine

Our guest on Conservations will be Alan Levine, one of a trio of pro bono heroes who scored a $26-mln verdict against Charlottesville rally organizers.

Hear the inspiring story of how he spent 4 weeks in “a bubble of hate and violence” as he cross examined the white supremacists that organized and led the antisemitic and racist violence that resulted in the death of Heather Heyer and the injuring of dozens of others, including seven of the plaintiffs in the suit.

 

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JCC Conversations | Heather Booth, Founder of JANE

“When somebody says to you ‘You can’t get anything done in Washington, I don’t know why you try’…just say, ‘thank you, Heather.'”

– Senator Elizabeth Warren

Don’t miss the interview with Heather Booth, the founder of JANEan underground abortion service in 1965, before Roe v Wade. She is the most influential person you’ve never heard of.

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JCC Conversations | Adam Grant, Executive Director of A Brighter Way

Based in Ypsilanti, A Brighter Way empowers formerly-incarcerated individuals to return to the community to achieve purpose-filled lives. With the help and guidance of an experienced and supportive team, people find opportunity, community, and acceptance. In less than a year as the Executive Director of A Brighter Way, Adam has doubled the number of returning citizens served and maintained the organization’s record of never having any of them return to prison. His success, in part, is due to his spending 27 years in prison himself.