Hello everyone. This blog was created as a way of providing people with a venue for expression at this difficult time. Whether it's words of grief, or even a funny anecdote, this is a place for all of us to capture and convey whatever it is we need to. Feel free to post or comment or just to read others' posts and comments. If anyone has any comments or suggestions please e-mail me.
Shira Schwartz
ashiralahashem@aol.com
Senior, English Literature
Stern College
Yeshiva University
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A Place to Remember a Woman Who Was Truly "The Best of Everybody"
Purpose
Dr. Lana Schwebel, Professor of English Literature at Stern College, Yeshiva University, was tragically killed in a car accident on July 7, 2007, while traveling in Siberia. Without a physical space to mourn, we create this cyberspace.
Contact Info
Anyone who has any thoughts, suggestions, comments or requests can be in touch with me:
ashiralahashem@aol.com
ss3153@columbia.edu
Also, anyone who would like to be updated on any sort of memorial plans can feel free to e-mail me as well.
Shira Schwartz
Senior, English Literature
Stern College
Yeshiva University
ashiralahashem@aol.com
ss3153@columbia.edu
Also, anyone who would like to be updated on any sort of memorial plans can feel free to e-mail me as well.
Shira Schwartz
Senior, English Literature
Stern College
Yeshiva University
4 comments:
Tragedy is an ambiguous phenomenon-it devestates you, it drains you, it depresses you, but it also inspires you, and that is when you prevent tragedy from defeating you.
Dr. Schwebel was always urging her students to live life to its fullest- take challenges, learn new things, explore the world. The idea that pains me the most is the irony in all of this: I don't understand how someone who loved life more than anybody had her life taken away from her! But I guess you can't find answers to everything, and that is part of the challenge that Dr. Schwebel pushed us to overcome. She would tell us that life is full of challenges, yet you should view them as opportunities and not as obstacles.
I really love Dr. Schwebel, and the lessons that she taught me will remain with me forever. I ask that each person takes a piece of Dr. Schwebel and carries that piece throughout his or her entire life. Therefore, the memory of Dr. Schwebel will never fade, and her impact on the world will never be forgotten.
Thanks to the students at Stern who've started this blog -- Lana Schwebel was one of my closest friends for fourteen years, since we started graduate school together in 1993. She was one of the quickest wits, best teachers, and liveliest people I've been lucky enough to know, and I'm glad to see her students appreciate her. I've been in touch with a few of her friends about finding some more lasting way of memorializing her, probably through Stern, and will be grateful if anyone has suggestions on an appropriate tribute.
What a wonderful thing you are doing here! Can I please be a part of this memorial?
I would like to post what I have written so far on my Live Journal here as two seperate posts, and then occasionally post some more memories and thoughts.
My e-mail address is: morazzini@yahoo.com
Thank you so much for this beautiful space.
I was lucky enough to take a class of Lana's during my last semester in Stern. By then I was so ready to be done with college that most of my classes were nothing but blurs to me. Lana's class, however, was not. I paid attention, which was rare in those days, and I learned, which was not as rare, but still. I am not the best English student, don't know grammar to save my life, and really can't be bothered to read something that has not piqued my interest on it's own. I can't even remember the title of the course I took anymore, it was a long time ago. I do remember how I casually mentioned that I had taken 4 years of Latin in high school, and that I like mythology (Greek) and Lana ran with it. All of a sudden she would use a myth as a parable, then say "that was for you Faye" or she would give us the Latin source of a word, and it was amazing. I no longer felt like an English idiot.
I am writing now, because I just heard about this. I cannot convey my sorrow, there are no words for it. I hope that you all keep this blog going, as it gives those of us who are far removed from those days and the classroom something to look back on. You are doing a good thing here, and I am fairly certain that you have captured Dr. Schwebel's spirit better than any stuffy formal tribute.
Thank you
-Faye Berman
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