Thank You Jack

Jack Lessenberry is my hero.

Thank you, Jack. Your work is always outstanding, but this one really hit home for me.

A father, his adopted daughter, and America's mixed feelings on immigration, Jack Lessenberry, WUOM, 14 Feb 2018.

Please click through to hear Jack's report.

"When I was growing up, we were taught we should be proud to be a nation of immigrants."

"Later, as a young reporter, I learned that Americans held complex and contradictory views on immigration, views that all too often could be summed up as: "Immigration was great right up until the boat that brought my ancestors over. After that, it should have been stopped."

"Generally, our leaders were better than we were. When he was running for president, one candidate I covered years ago condemned the idea of a border wall with Mexico. “Rather than talking about putting up a fence, why don’t we work out some recognition of our mutual problems?”

"No, that wasn’t Bernie Sanders. It was Ronald Reagan."

"But today I want to tell you a story which illustrates something about America and how conflicted we are. I work with a nonprofit agency that has a brilliant chief development officer."

Please go here for the rest of the story.

"Jack Lessenberry is Michigan Radio’s Senior Political Analyst."

"A Detroit native, Jack originally intended to become a historian, but recognized that he wanted to become a journalist during his graduate studies at the University of Michigan.  Since then, he has accumulated nearly forty years of journalism experience in every medium from newspapers to the internet. Jack has worked as a foreign correspondent and executive national editor of The Detroit News, and he has written for many national and regional publications, including Vanity Fair, Esquire, The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Boston Globe."

"Currently, in addition to his work at Michigan Radio, he is head of journalism at Wayne State University and a contributing editor and columnist for The Metro Times, Dome Magazine, The Traverse-City Record Eagle, and The Toledo Blade, where he also serves as ombudsman, and hosts the weekly public affairs program "Deadline Now"  on WGTE-TV in Toledo."

"Among his favorite memories are of interviewing Gerald Ford about Watergate in 1995 and winning a national Emmy for a documentary about Jack Kevorkian in 1994."

"On a personal note, Jack mostly stopped watching TV -- except for documentaries -- when Mr. Ed was canceled, though he admits to a fondness for the crusty old butler on Downton Abbey."

Jack Lessenberry is my hero.