Grupo Aye!, the hottest Cuban salsa band in the Midwest, will make you want to dance in a show that includes Leelanau School alum and conga virtuoso Rob Mulligan ‘83. The concert is open to the public. Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the event and are available online at the Leelanau School’s website, Leelanau.org, or by calling (231) 313-8865.
Traverse City filmmaker Aaron Dennis and Glen Arbor Sun editor Jacob Wheeler traveled to the Holy Land in early February to document the Run Across Palestine, which was organized by northern Michigand-based On The Ground. The runners logged over 100 miles over five days across the West Bank to raise awareness about the struggles facing […]
At last! The Run Across Palestine arrived Wednesday at Canaan Fair Trade headquarters near Jenin in the Palestinian West Bank following an ultra-marathon that covered over 100 miles in five days. The six U.S. runners, Claire Everhart, Meryl Marsh, Randi Lyn, David Gardner, Timothy Young and Chris Treter — and media team including Aaron Dennis, Jacob Wheeler and Aubrey Parker and musician Joshua Davis — battled nagging injuries, mountainous terrain, fatigue, and hassling by the Israeli military on Day 1, but made it. A joyous celebration ensued Wednesday afternoon between the American runners and their Palestinian hosts.
Cultural differences, confusing politics, military checkpoints, consoling worried family back home. Think that’s tough? Not compared to a five-day ultra-marathon across mountainous country with roadsides often strewn with loose rocks or garbage, and cars not used to seeing runners.
On Monday, Day 3 of the Run Across Palestine, Michigan musician Joshua Davis, Aaron Dennis and I got to visit a dance troupe, art and folklore center in Ramallah — the de facto capitol of the West Bank — called El-Funoun, which is keeping Palestinian art and creative expression alive as a form of protest against the occupation.
The Run Across Palestine team marveled at the graffiti and protest art that covers the east side of the wall — reminiscent of the Berlin Wall, and they lamented having to say goodbye to their Palestinian support staff, who were not allowed to enter Jerusalem because they don’t hold Israeli citizenship.
The Run Across Palestine had gone no more than 10 kilometers between At-Tuwani and Beit Omar, in the southern West Bank, when the Israeli military and border control stopped the run in its tracks. Confusion over whether the runners had the right to walk on the side of the road culminated in the arrest of Run Across Palestine supporter Nasser Abufarha and two French activists. No reason was given for the arrests, and no reason was given for why the run was stopped.
Today we planted olive trees, and tomorrow we’ll begin running across Palestine. Through both acts, we hope to enlighten our countrymen in the United States, and the world, about the humanity and the struggles faced by the West Bank’s embattled olive farmers.
This morning, before we departed Bethlehem and the West Bank to return to Jerusalem, Run Across Palestine coordinators Timothy Young (from Honor, Michigan) and Vivien Sansour took half an hour to plant an olive tree in Sansour’s back yard — a vista that looks out over Bethlehem and stretches into Israel proper.
Aaron Dennis and Jacob Wheeler are in the “Holy Land” to document the Run Across Palestine, a philanthropic venture organized by a team of northern Michiganders who will run 129 miles over five days across the West Bank.