Stories from the Heartland started in Des Moines, Iowa, and now lives on in a suburb of Toledo, Ohio. These are the stories of every day life, of life juxtaposed, of culture mingled and tossed aside. These are the stories of tangential thoughts and meditations. These are the excuse for stories that describe a writer’s willingness to practice and not grow dull. These are the stories that remind that inspiriation and passion are grown everywhere, no matter which walls are surrounding a keyboard or what scent wafts through the air. In the heartland, the walls are made of brick and mortar, and the air smells like pigs and pesticide.
Read on…
More info at shoshanahebshi.com
Aleza Freeman
/ June 11, 2009I love you!
Robin Margolis
/ December 21, 2009Dear Ms. Hebshi:
Recently was interested to read your 2002 article on your visit to Israel.
I represent the Half-Jewish Network at:
http://www.half-jewish.net
You might find our website of interest.
Cordially,
Robin Margolis
commandrine
/ April 6, 2010Just heard from a reputable source that there will be Trader Joe’s in WDM sometime in the fall of 2010; have you heard anything about it?
Dan
/ September 12, 2011You’re awesome!
Private One
/ September 13, 2011inspriation is spelled wrong
Dan from NYC
/ September 13, 2011There’s always one.
Suggestion: Read hearts and intents and leave the blue pen alone. You’ll be happier in the long run.
Just saying …!
jace
/ September 13, 2011I would like to talk to you more about what happened on the flight. I’m a news guy in Denver. Can I call you? Here’s my number: 720-270-1468.
phsycopunk8055
/ September 13, 2011this is great
Taylor
/ September 13, 2011To the person that felt it necessary to point out a typo:
I’m sure you make plenty of them. So I don’t see why you found it relevant to draw attention to it.
Kevin Fansler
/ September 13, 2011Hey! Were you recently at the Mosier House B&B near Hood River, OR? You look familiar. (We were the gay couple who came late to breakfast.)
Joe
/ September 13, 2011Unfortunately anyone “different” is viewed with suspicion. And once in play, suspicion rolls on like a juggernaut!
Jennifer
/ September 13, 2011Hi, I just read your post about your experience on 9-11. I work at CNN. Please contact me so I can hear morea about your story.
shebshi
/ September 15, 2011Hi Jennifer,
I am referring media inquiries to the ACLU Communications Director Rana Elmir at relmir@aclumichigan.org or 313-578-6816.
Thanks!
Shoshana
Johny Appalachia
/ September 13, 2011Very good. Well written.
David
/ September 13, 2011National Security Is Important, And We Do Not Need Another 9/11.
joanna
/ September 18, 2011If this is meant as some kind of justification, then the terrorists have won.
Sonia
/ September 13, 2011Shoshana, the article describes you as living in Ohio, but your blog lists Des Moines. I’m in Des Moines — also a half-breed Arab/Jewish woman and also from California — and would love to connect — partly because I’ve had similar experiences and partly because the message at the end of your blog post from yesterday really spoke to me. Be in touch. Sonia
shebshi
/ September 13, 2011Sonia, that is so cool! I am living in Ohio, just moved from DSM. Let’s connect! Are you on Twitter? I’m at @ShoshanaHebshi
Tony
/ September 14, 2011Shoshana, I’m a reporter with 13abc in Toledo. We’d like to do an on-camera interview if you’re available. Please contact us at 419-534-3858 or email me at Tony.Geftos@13abc.com. Thanks!
shebshi
/ September 15, 2011Hi Tony,
I am working with the ACLU-Michigan on this now, and so media inquiries can be directed to Rana Elmir at relmir@aclumich.org or 313-578-6816.
Thanks,
Shoshana
BlogHer
/ September 13, 2011Hi Shoshana,
I’d like to talk to you for BlogHer. Please email me at: grace(dot)hwanglynch(at)blogher(dot)com
Thank you
shebshi
/ September 15, 2011Hi Grace,
I am referring all interview requests to the ACLU Communications Director, Rana Elmir at relmir@aclumich.org / 313-578-6816.
Thanks!
Shoshana
Edwin Erickson (@knowmeandigbro)
/ September 14, 2011RU the Shebshi who was frisked on the plane in Detroit? I enjoyed reading your story very much.
Hiba Dialdin
/ September 14, 2011Shoshana,
My dad, Ali Dialdin, has always spoken of his dear friend Ali Hebshi (Big Ali), God rest his soul, that was his constant companion at San Diego State in the 60s. When I read your story, I thought OMG what a terrible, unnecessary experience to go through, how sad that racism is still so rampant at this day and age. My second thought was, OMG I wonder if she is related to Big Ali?
shebshi
/ September 14, 2011Hi Hiba, I also have a cousin named Hiba. That is really neat that your dad knew mine. Are you still in San Diego? Thanks for sharing on here.
Elizabeth
/ September 14, 2011Shoshana,
I am also a NW Ohio Mom of 6 yr old twins, mine are girls. We live near Maumee. I’m SO sorry for your traumatic weekend. There was no call for what happened to you. However, I’m glad you were able to write about it and let people know what is happening. Many people who have had this same thing happen to them do not have a voice and cannot speak out. I’m all about airport security and safety and everything but there’s no call for a guilt by association witch hunt when it was likely the airline’s fault for seating you next to two Indian men with gastrointestinal difficulty.
Best of luck to you!
Faith
swaqer
/ September 14, 2011great post
Kurt Iobst
/ September 14, 2011I am sorry for what you have endured. Stay strong and thank you for making this invasion of your rights public.
Julie Wiener
/ September 14, 2011Shoshana,
I’m a friend of Alix Wall’s (and the folks at InterfaithFamily.com, where I see you’ve written) and write “In The Mix,” a New York Jewish Week blog about intermarried life (http://www.thejewishweek.com/blogs/julie_wieners_mix ). I’d love to interview you for my blog, and possibly for the print edition of the paper, about your experiences. Please e-mail me ASAP at julie.inthemix@gmail.com if you’re interested. Thanks!
shebshi
/ September 15, 2011Hi Julie,
I am working the the ACLU-Michigan now, and so all media inquiries should be director toward its communications director, Rana Elmir at: relmir@aclumich.org or 313.578.6816.
Thanks,
Shoshana
Lynda Nyce
/ September 14, 2011Shoshana,
Thanks very much for sharing your experiences through your blog. I’m a sociology professor at a small university just south of Toledo and would like to invite you to join a class to share more of your life experiences. If you would have interest in doing this, I would be very glad to talk further. I can be reached at nycel@bluffton.edu.
Thanks again.
Lynda
Jules
/ September 14, 2011Way to go Shoshana throwing out the race card! The incident was based on “suspicious behavior” and not on your looks. Last I looked, there are all kinds of races involved in terrorism. These sort of exercises are needed in today’s world, sad, but true.
Paul in Palo Alto
/ September 14, 2011I am also very glad you were able to write (and so well) about your ordeal. I am ashamed as an American, but also saddened to realize that it might have truly been someone over-worried due to all the publicity pre-9/11. Glad you got out of it relatively quickly, and hope that we all can move on from this constant fear and suspicion
Meg Cramer
/ September 14, 2011Hi Shoshana,
I just wanted to follow up on my message from earlier. I spoke with Jeff Karoub this morning from the AP office in Detroit–he passed along my contact information at Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR affiliate station. We’re still very interested in hearing from you. We would love to arrange for an interview between you and our All Things Considered Host, Jenn White, to talk about your response to the experience and about why you chose to share your ordeal through social media networks like your blog and twitter. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.
All the best,
Meg
shebshi
/ September 15, 2011Hi Meg,
Thanks for the contact. I am working with the ACLU-Michigan now, so all media inquiries need to go through them. Rana Elmir:Rana Elmir:313.578.6816/relmir@aclumich.org
Thanks,
Shoshana
Joe
/ September 14, 2011I fail to see what suspicious behavior the previous writer is referring to. Her only suspicious behavior was sitting next to two people who behaved suspiciously.
Miguel
/ September 15, 2011Joe, bigots tend to make up signs of “suspicious behavior” in others when they want a good old fashioned witch-hunt against people they don’t like and/or fear. “Suspicious behavior” could be as simple as being “non-white” to these kinds of folks. Jules seems to be either clueless or one of these bigots. I’m guessing the latter.
Shoshana, it’s disgusting what happened to you. And it’s even more disgusting that so many people agree with it. Any decent American knows that it was wrong.
Sunil Mukhi
/ September 15, 2011From the comments above, it seems the real problem was the “Indian men with gastrointestinal difficulty”! But does anyone know their side of the story? Was their behavious actually suspicious (everyone here seems convinced it was). Are their rights less important because don’t blog, don’t have twin daughters etc? That’s certainly what Elizabeth’s comment sounds like to me… For her information, all three (the Indian men and Shoshana) were let off without charges.
Jon Katz
/ September 15, 2011Hi, Shoshana- Because I am having trouble transcending a frozen computer screen for your blog entry on your September 11 ordeal (perhaps because the posting likely is going viral, but maybe also with all the comments posted thereto), I am commenting here.
It goes without saying that it was completely pathetic and unacceptable that the airplane occupant(s) complained about you and the two gentleman sitting next to you, that the airline personnel went along with the police, that the police detained you and the rest of the folks they detained, and that you were treated the way you were (including a strip search and chilling holding/jail cell).
Thank you deeply for sharing your experience. Real-life stories like yours, told so clearly and strikingly, will go farther in reversing this tide of civil liberties violations better than intellectual talk about it.
As to your yin yang tattoo, it hits all the more home, because the symbol also represents the t’ai chi ch’uan martial art that I practice daily and incorporate into all my waking hours as best I can (as I address at katzjustice[dot]com. Thank you again. Jon
idee
/ September 15, 2011‘Suspicious behavior’ …
like going to the bathroom after the person next to you ?
Who has not done that when flying? I do that all the time… why? Cos i am POLITE, if i am in the center, i hate making the other person move, especially if they are asleep. So when they go to the bathroom i tend to go after… even if i dont need to pee.
Yes the behavior was suspicious, he was too polite!
patricia49
/ September 15, 2011I am so sorry that you were subject to this ordeal, it is unbelievable,
I love to see the support that you have gotten, so there is a light
at the end of the tunnel, and you will see that from that horrible
experience you will find opportunity…….
Cynthia Peck
/ September 15, 2011wonderful blog!
Elizabeth
/ September 15, 2011Sunil,
From what I understood from the article I read on Yahoo news the alleged suspicious behavior stemmed from two gentlemen who remained in the bathroom too long (in the article I read they were not identified by race, only by gender). I found out from this blog that they were Indian.
I am not trying to point the finger at them and say that what they were doing was wrong. Because I do not think it was. I think what IS wrong here is the fact that people were so on edge that they were quick to judge the two men which led to their removal from the plane as well as Mrs Hebshi because she was seated with them and therefore made her “guilty” by association. Had she been seated four rows up from them would she have been removed from the plane? I don’t know.
I don’t think it’s fair that any of them were removed from the plane and I think that the treatment that they received was rude and completely uncalled for. I hope that my comment did not make it sound like the men’s rights were any less important than anyone elses. I apologize if that was how it was interpreted.
Uncle Mike
/ September 15, 2011Well Shoshana Hebshi-Holt, Stories from the Heartland has gone a bit beyond being ABOUT Des Moines hasn’t it?
Why you? To me this incident brings to bear the many truisms and wisdoms I have been exposed to these 63 years of gathering life experiences. “There are no coincidences.” “Everything happens for a reason.”
Ethnicity aside, you are the chosen person! Life has picked you, here and now, to be a lightening rod for the exposure, consideration, and awareness of the relationship between the American people and our government.
This can be an historic moment for freedom and civil rights, similar to Moses leading slaves to their homeland, Rosa Parks taking a stand for civility, Ghandi striking a blow against imperialism, Tunisians using social networking to break the hold of tyranny in the middle east, and on and on.
Why you Shosh? Because you can write really well, and you have the perspective and courage to speak the truth in a way that many can rally around and support. You have brought to light what too many people suffer in the dark, hidden from public scrutiny. We have yet another chance to hold our lawmakers accountable for how we are treated.
I eagerly look forward to reading your posts from the halls of the Supreme Court!! Keep up the good work.
Unk
Rivki
/ September 15, 2011Wow. I am so sorry you went through that. So so sorry. As an Orthodox Jew, I can relate to the feeling of being conspicuous and getting the wonky eye (it reminds me of an incident where a boy trying to pray was mistaken for a terrorist, which caused the plane to make an emergency landing http://bit.ly/pMLyGd). However, what you went through is SO FAR beyond the pale. I have no words.
On another, more innocuous note, I grew up in Des Moines (Johnston High School grad – go dragons), and just spent the last three years in Cleveland, OH while my husband did HIS residency (internal medicine). Even though I didn’t much like Des Moines, I get this weirdly warm and fuzzy feeling whenever I find out that someone else is from there. Go figure. Would love to be in touch with you (once the frenzy of comments subsides, I suppose).
shebshi
/ September 19, 2011Hi Rivki, let’s connect. Are you on Twitter?
Rivki
/ September 19, 2011I am – @rivkisilver.
cliff
/ September 16, 2011Shoshana… gettings from the past.. former co-worker at tthe mustang daily. Sorry to hear about what you went thru, but it reminds me of my own experiences traveling in other countries. Cops, Cells, detention, questions… but what sucks about America is that there are no bribes. This could happen in most countries but in most countries you could slip a cop a hundred bucks and be done with it! .
sheilawill
/ September 20, 2011I’m very pleased that JTA picked up your first person account. Posting on azjewishpost.com.
Sheila Wilensky
tucsonwritereditor.com
Tele
/ October 9, 2011Thank you, Shoshana, for your courage and grace in sharing your experience. I’m so sorry that you and the two gentlemen went through that trauma (and that so many others do, too), but am thankful for the attention your story is receiving – and thankful that it brought me to your blog! Be well.