I think of Melanie often. I was inspired by Melanie’s generosity to friends and strangers alike. We spent time together during the summer of 1991 when both of us attended a six-week Yiddish intensive YIVO summer course at Columbia. When we walked the streets of the Upper West Side together, she would stop every few blocks to give money to the poor and homeless; they all knew her. She told me at the time that when she made the decision to move back to New York City, she put a certain amount of money into her budget for handouts on the streets. Melanie lived her humanitarian activist principles.
As for her brilliant mind, I saw it in action when I edited her manuscript which eventually became her book, The Colors of Jews. She gave much thought to my suggestions and our conversations were always interesting and often inspiring. After having read several of her short stories and loving them, it was my pleasure to work with her on this book about “diasporism,” a word that she coined and that resonated with me. And she insisted on paying me for my work, a very Melanie gesture.
—Sarah Swartz