Author Archives: K Heidi Fishman

Rhythms of Writing

During the school year there is a certain rhythm to my life. The day starts with getting my youngest and sometimes my bonus-son up and out the door for school. There is the 45 minute round trip in dropping them off and then getting home to a quiet house. Being a morning person I canContinue reading “Rhythms of Writing”

My 15 Minutes of Fame

Yesterday afternoon, while my husband and I were doing chores around the house, my mother in law called and left a message for “the famous Heidi Fishman.” It took me a minute to figure out what she was referring to, and then I realized the local paper had published the article about memoir writing thatContinue reading “My 15 Minutes of Fame”

Crossroads Academy Book Review

My readers were 6th, 7th and 8th graders at Crossroads Academy. There were boys and girls, Jews and non-Jews. I gave each student a copy the current draft of my book Tutti & Popje and a red pen. Unfortunately, time did not allow for them to read the entire thing.  Most of them got about 20 pages in. Continue reading “Crossroads Academy Book Review”

Beta Testers, Focus Group or Guinea Pigs

Writing a book for young adults and middle school students is a bit of a challenge. I think I remember being that age and what I liked to read, but how can I be sure that I am writing to my intended audience? Will average middle school students understand what I am trying to convey?Continue reading “Beta Testers, Focus Group or Guinea Pigs”

Total Verrückt! Encore

Friday night my husband and I went to Boston to see Joanna Caplan’s premier performance of Total Verrückt! at the Charlestown Working Theater. This is a one-woman show that was conceived, created and performed by Joanna. It portrays the “totally crazy” circumstances of the German-Jewish former stars of the Weimar Republic that found themselves inContinue reading “Total Verrückt! Encore”

Class Photos – 1942, 1968, 2003

About the 4th week of every school year there is a ritual. It goes on in schools all over the world and has been happening for decades. Parents pick out nice clothes for their children to wear, and the kids gather for a class photo. They usually line up in rows with their teacher standingContinue reading “Class Photos – 1942, 1968, 2003”

Oberländer Overseas

Yesterday was quite exciting for me. I decided to look into the fate of the 7 Jews (of which my grandfather was one) who were named in the documents that Eichmann‘s office and Speer‘s office were discussing. This is what I came up with: Broder was sent to Westerbork in February 1944 and then Theresienstadt laterContinue reading “Oberländer Overseas”

A picture tells a thousand words (especially when I don’t have time to write)

Just a quick post today. Here are a couple of pictures of our meeting last week. You can see how excited we all were to share the pictures and documents we had from the 1940’s. Top: Arnoud-Jan showing me some documents he found in the Red Cross archives. Bottom: I’m showing the pictures  I pulledContinue reading “A picture tells a thousand words (especially when I don’t have time to write)”

Bobby & Bertram

In the last post I told you I would be having an exciting meeting this week. Yesterday I had a lovely lunch with Arnoud-Jan Bijsterveld, Fred (nephew of Bertram), my mother and my Aunt Nicky (nieces of Bobby) and various other friends and spouses. Fred and his wife, Carol, were gracious hosts. We sat onContinue reading “Bobby & Bertram”