Writer Sheila Wilensky at The Arizona Jewish Post (an occasional Tucson Weekly contributor) has a wonderful interview with Jan. 8 shooting victim Suzi Hileman in the Feb. 25th Jewish Post. Hileman is the neighbor and family friend who took 9-year-old Christina-Taylor Green to the Congress on Your Corner event that January morning.
You can read the entire interview here. Takeaway:
Hileman had planned that she and Christina would meet Giffords on Jan. 8 at the “Congress on Your Corner” at the northwest Safeway, have lunch together and get manicures. Hileman recalls picking Christina up at her home that morning; her mother asked Christina to take her sweatshirt. The next time Hileman saw that pink sweatshirt with a peace symbol on the front was after she came home from the hospital on Jan. 18; it was lying on the passenger seat of her car.Christina will always be with her, says Hileman, noting that Christina was born on Sept. 11, 2001, and used to proudly ask people, “Did you know that I’m a symbol of America?”
Her friend was excited about meeting Giffords, and Hileman — in her mentoring role — told Christina that she could aspire to be a congresswoman.
