Comments for Sandy Tolan http://sandytolan.com Journalist, Teacher, Radio Producer Wed, 31 Aug 2011 21:56:04 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 Comment on On Writing The Lemon Tree by Peggy http://sandytolan.com/thelemontree/on-writing#comment-3727 Peggy Wed, 31 Aug 2011 21:56:04 +0000 http://sandytolan.com/the-lemon-tree/on-writing#comment-3727 Being 72, I lived thru this historical era, albeit, in my California bubble protected from such events. As I read your compelling book, in the comfort of my home, I'm struck by the horror of a family being pushed out of their home. Thank you for the research that has brought a clear picture of events to me. Peggy Rothring Being 72, I lived thru this historical era, albeit, in my California bubble protected from such events. As I read your compelling book, in the comfort of my home, I’m struck by the horror of a family being pushed out of their home. Thank you for the research that has brought a clear picture of events to me. Peggy Rothring

]]> Comment on Contact by Ellen McPherson http://sandytolan.com/contact#comment-3690 Ellen McPherson Thu, 25 Aug 2011 22:31:41 +0000 http://sandytolan.com/?page_id=7#comment-3690 I want you to know that I have never forgotten or gotten over the story you did about the 13 year old Bangladeshi shipbreaker which aired on Marketplace in June of 2009. I sent it at the time to my children b/c I thought how blessed we are that my grandchildren would never have to do this. It was a powerful, searing story. I read now that a documentary has been made about this and is getting great reviews. Perhaps they were inspired by your story. I do not know how you came to make this story or if you have done more. I rarely finished work in time to listen to Marketplace but that was my day off. I am sure journalists wonder sometimes if anyone appreciates or remembers what they do. We do. Thank you for doing that story. Ellen McPherson, Nashville I want you to know that I have never forgotten or gotten over the story you did about the 13 year old Bangladeshi shipbreaker which aired on Marketplace in June of 2009. I sent it at the time to my children b/c I thought how blessed we are that my grandchildren would never have to do this. It was a powerful, searing story. I read now that a documentary has been made about this and is getting great reviews. Perhaps they were inspired by your story. I do not know how you came to make this story or if you have done more. I rarely finished work in time to listen to Marketplace but that was my day off. I am sure journalists wonder sometimes if anyone appreciates or remembers what they do. We do. Thank you for doing that story. Ellen McPherson, Nashville

]]> Comment on On Writing The Lemon Tree by Komen Philemon Kiplagat http://sandytolan.com/thelemontree/on-writing#comment-3523 Komen Philemon Kiplagat Sun, 14 Aug 2011 20:25:26 +0000 http://sandytolan.com/the-lemon-tree/on-writing#comment-3523 I am a journalism student at The Kenya institute of mass communication in Kenya. Sandy, we listened to the lemon tree during a class lesson. It is a moving sad story that has left me with the desire to read the Lemon tree book. I can't find the book in Nairobi. I hope someday, I will read it. Thanks for your good work. To Bashir and Dalia, may they find a lasting solution and peace I am a journalism student at The Kenya institute of mass communication in Kenya. Sandy, we listened to the lemon tree during a class lesson. It is a moving sad story that has left me with the desire to read the Lemon tree book. I can’t find the book in Nairobi. I hope someday, I will read it. Thanks for your good work. To Bashir and Dalia, may they find a lasting solution and peace

]]> Comment on Contact by Janet Wagner http://sandytolan.com/thelemontree/contact#comment-3452 Janet Wagner Mon, 08 Aug 2011 00:23:40 +0000 http://sandytolan.com/the-lemon-tree/contact#comment-3452 I have just finished listening to the Lemon Tree. I was so taken up by the reading (i think i must have walked 25 miles listening on my Ipod). You reenforced much of the history of this area that i have learned over the years, and i certainly learned some very disturbing facts about the Israeli IDF and how they treated prisoners. I do feel that you missed a very important point in the telling of the history of modern day Israel. Palestine never existed until the British created it, and this is a very important point with American Jews and Israeli's. Be that as it may, what i really felt was so important in this book was how you made all of the events very real by showing how they affected these two families, personally and how Bashir and Dahlia reacted to these events. Certainly Dahlia has brought the whole question of 2 states down to the very common denominator - how to you displace people and then put others in their homes. It makes me wonder if this will ever be solved. I am certainly pro Israel, being a Jew, and very interested in the survival of the country. I am going to recommend this book to members of my temple. My book club is already reading it and i thank you for the study questions that you have written. We should have a very good discussion at our next meeting. Again, thank you for writing such an interesting and informative book. Janet Wagner I have just finished listening to the Lemon Tree. I was so taken up by the reading (i think i must have walked 25 miles listening on my Ipod). You reenforced much of the history of this area that i have learned over the years, and i certainly learned some very disturbing facts about the Israeli IDF and how they treated prisoners. I do feel that you missed a very important point in the telling of the history of modern day Israel. Palestine never existed until the British created it, and this is a very important point with American Jews and Israeli’s. Be that as it may, what i really felt was so important in this book was how you made all of the events very real by showing how they affected these two families, personally and how Bashir and Dahlia reacted to these events. Certainly Dahlia has brought the whole question of 2 states down to the very common denominator – how to you displace people and then put others in their homes. It makes me wonder if this will ever be solved. I am certainly pro Israel, being a Jew, and very interested in the survival of the country. I am going to recommend this book to members of my temple. My book club is already reading it and i thank you for the study questions that you have written. We should have a very good discussion at our next meeting.
Again, thank you for writing such an interesting and informative book.
Janet Wagner

]]> Comment on The Lemon Tree by Shell Stenger http://sandytolan.com/thelemontree#comment-3071 Shell Stenger Wed, 13 Jul 2011 20:06:04 +0000 http://sandytolan.com/?page_id=3#comment-3071 I actually came across this book at a thrift store. Wow, it is truely amazing. I'm so grateful you wrote it and I found it. I have been interested in learning more about Muslims, Arabs, and people of the middle east since they have been so misunderstood by so many. I wanted to educate myself in the hopes of opening others' minds. I thought I knew basically what the conflict between these two groups of people were. I thought I understood and was pretty good at not taking either sides. Wow...there is so much more to this. I just finished reading it a few moments ago. I sat there, holding the book to my chest, my head spining, my heart hurting, having a few tears run down my face. Thank you a thousand times for this book. I send many positive thoughts and much love to Bashir and Dalia and to all of the Israelis and Palestinians that they are able to find a peaceful solution where both sides can benefit as much as possible. You can trust in me that I'm passing this book on to educate others. : ) I actually came across this book at a thrift store. Wow, it is truely amazing. I’m so grateful you wrote it and I found it. I have been interested in learning more about Muslims, Arabs, and people of the middle east since they have been so misunderstood by so many. I wanted to educate myself in the hopes of opening others’ minds. I thought I knew basically what the conflict between these two groups of people were. I thought I understood and was pretty good at not taking either sides. Wow…there is so much more to this. I just finished reading it a few moments ago. I sat there, holding the book to my chest, my head spining, my heart hurting, having a few tears run down my face. Thank you a thousand times for this book. I send many positive thoughts and much love to Bashir and Dalia and to all of the Israelis and Palestinians that they are able to find a peaceful solution where both sides can benefit as much as possible. You can trust in me that I’m passing this book on to educate others. : )

]]> Comment on Contact by Marty Finkler http://sandytolan.com/contact#comment-2655 Marty Finkler Mon, 04 Jul 2011 00:10:08 +0000 http://sandytolan.com/?page_id=7#comment-2655 I have just finished listening to you read The Lemon Tree. You've done a brilliant job capturing the emotions and arguments through the stories of the two families. I hope that your book becomes widely read or listened to. I will encourage others to access it. Despite the depth of your discussion and research, I think that the book contains some significant biases. For example, you have no discussion of the history of Jerusalem, which as I understand it, has always had a Jewish majority population (I don't recall whether this observation came from Terence Prittie or Collins and Lapierre.) Furthermore, you say little about the Israeli reaction to the assassination of Rabin or the activities of the Jewish Defense League. The divides on the Israeli side compare to those on the Palestinean side. These complexities, of course, relate to the future status of Jerusalem as well as the 1967 boundaries as recently posited as "fair" by Barak Obama. Again, thanks for your illuminating book. Marty Finkler I have just finished listening to you read The Lemon Tree. You’ve done a brilliant job capturing the emotions and arguments through the stories of the two families. I hope that your book becomes widely read or listened to. I will encourage others to access it.

Despite the depth of your discussion and research, I think that the book contains some significant biases. For example, you have no discussion of the history of Jerusalem, which as I understand it, has always had a Jewish majority population (I don’t recall whether this observation came from Terence Prittie or Collins and Lapierre.) Furthermore, you say little about the Israeli reaction to the assassination of Rabin or the activities of the Jewish Defense League. The divides on the Israeli side compare to those on the Palestinean side. These complexities, of course, relate to the future status of Jerusalem as well as the 1967 boundaries as recently posited as “fair” by Barak Obama.

Again, thanks for your illuminating book.

Marty Finkler

]]> Comment on About Sandy by Peter Baldor http://sandytolan.com/about#comment-2016 Peter Baldor Wed, 11 May 2011 23:26:54 +0000 #comment-2016 Dear Sandy, I've just 'read' your audio book of The Lemon Tree - it has inspired me to write to my son's school to ask if they cover Palestinian issues along with the studies about the holocaust (which is presented). As an amateur historian of American Indian affairs I was struck by how US leaders, both republican and democrat, brushed aside Palestinian concerns as 'that same old crap' or Carey's, 'not our problem(sic)' for the US to acknowledge Palestinian land claims would draw a direct parallel to our usurping of Indian lands and driving them to Oklahoma/reservations - US and Israel? truly the blind leading the blind. Dear Sandy,
I’ve just ‘read’ your audio book of The Lemon Tree – it has inspired me to write to my son’s school to ask if they cover Palestinian issues along with the studies about the holocaust (which is presented). As an amateur historian of American Indian affairs I was struck by how US leaders, both republican and democrat, brushed aside Palestinian concerns as ‘that same old crap’ or Carey’s, ‘not our problem(sic)’ for the US to acknowledge Palestinian land claims would draw a direct parallel to our usurping of Indian lands and driving them to Oklahoma/reservations – US and Israel? truly the blind leading the blind.

]]> Comment on The Lemon Tree by Jan Harris http://sandytolan.com/thelemontree#comment-2015 Jan Harris Wed, 11 May 2011 23:11:08 +0000 http://sandytolan.com/?page_id=3#comment-2015 I am presenting your book to my book club on May 17th. I am unable to uncover any biographical information concerning the first 25 years of your life. Can you steer me towards a resource that would be helpful? And-as many people wonder-are you Jewish? Thank you. Jan Harris, Bellingham, Wa. I am presenting your book to my book club on May 17th. I am unable to uncover any biographical information concerning the first 25 years of your life. Can you steer me towards a resource that would be helpful? And-as many people wonder-are you Jewish? Thank you. Jan Harris, Bellingham, Wa.

]]> Comment on The Lemon Tree by Brandon Baker http://sandytolan.com/thelemontree#comment-2004 Brandon Baker Tue, 10 May 2011 20:32:09 +0000 http://sandytolan.com/?page_id=3#comment-2004 Mr. Tolan, We are currently reading your novel the lemon tree in our 9th grade social studies class and are very much so enjoying it. My classmates and are getting a much greater understand with the aid of your novel. I love how you give the inside story with as nonbiased view point as humanly possible. As I started through it I wondered how and/where you would find such inspiration and influence to start a book on the matter on the previous conflicts in Israel. -Brandon Baker Mr. Tolan,
We are currently reading your novel the lemon tree in our 9th grade social studies class and are very much so enjoying it. My classmates and are getting a much greater understand with the aid of your novel. I love how you give the inside story with as nonbiased view point as humanly possible. As I started through it I wondered how and/where you would find such inspiration and influence to start a book on the matter on the previous conflicts in Israel.
-Brandon Baker

]]> Comment on The Lemon Tree in the Classroom by Ian Ashwell http://sandytolan.com/thelemontree/in-the-classroom#comment-1994 Ian Ashwell Mon, 09 May 2011 21:12:47 +0000 http://sandytolan.com/the-lemon-tree/in-the-classroom#comment-1994 Dear Mr. Tolan, I am reading your book in my ninth grade America and the Global Community class at Oak Hills High School in Cincinnati, Ohio. My personal opinion on this book as a whole is that, although I'm not a non-fiction reader, it's a great story. My only dislikes is the historical and real factor of the book, because I don't normally read historical/historical fiction. But over all I enjoy the book. I do have one complaint though: some of the situations are a little biased. I know it isn't possible to write something without any biases, but they did strike my attention. That's all I really wanted to say, so if you have the time to read this and reply, please do; my teacher Mrs. Marshall would greatly appreciate it. Dear Mr. Tolan,
I am reading your book in my ninth grade America and the Global Community class at Oak Hills High School in Cincinnati, Ohio. My personal opinion on this book as a whole is that, although I’m not a non-fiction reader, it’s a great story. My only dislikes is the historical and real factor of the book, because I don’t normally read historical/historical fiction. But over all I enjoy the book.
I do have one complaint though: some of the situations are a little biased. I know it isn’t possible to write something without any biases, but they did strike my attention. That’s all I really wanted to say, so if you have the time to read this and reply, please do; my teacher Mrs. Marshall would greatly appreciate it.

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