We are pleased to share with you the four winning entries from the Soroptimist International of Eugene and Skipping Stones sponsored Women in S.T.E.M. Writing Contest held recently. The winners were recognized at an awards ceremony held in Eugene on March 8th, the International Women’s Day. You can also read these in our Spring 2023 issue.
By Vajra Vanukuri, age 11, grade 6, California.
Eleven-year-old Kristina shouted on the phone. Vera, her mother, packing lunches for her two children, heard the shouting and dashed to Kristina. Kristina gave her the phone. Kristina was talking to her father at his doctor’s office in Moscow, Russia.
“Vlad, why is Kristina shouting?” began Vera in Russian.
“Vera, this afternoon I must attend a conference at her school. But I cannot be there. I have an important meeting.”
“How can you do this!” she asked.
“Why don’t you attend?” he replied.
“How can I go?”
“You are not going to a forest. You’ll be fine!”
“I know, but I can’t speak English properly. It’s an ironclad rule at her school.”
“You can manage. GO!”
She turned to Kristina, “Kristina, your father is busy. I will come instead of him.”
Kristina shouted, “Mother, you can’t speak English. How can you come to the conference? NO!” She plowed through her mother and ran sobbing. But Vera convinced Kristina. As there was no option, she agreed and left for school.
Vera was depressed. She felt that if only she knew English, she could avoid such situations. But how is it possible for me to learn English while balancing so many tasks? Suddenly, she realized that Andrei was getting late, so she got him ready and walked him to school.
In the afternoon, Vera attended the conference at the school. All the teachers and staff were cordial to Vera. Kristina kept shushing her mother. All she said were phrases like, “You are embarrassing!”, “Stop talking!”, and “You do not know English!” Ignoring her daughter’s comments, Vera managed to keep her cool and finished the meeting.
After delivering a cake to a customer Vera went home to start dinner. At home, she asked her mother-in-law where Kristina was. She said that Kristina had gone to study with her friends. While they were talking, Kristina walked in.
Vera asked, “Why did you go out? You can study at home, you know!”
“I have doubts about English Literature. Can YOU clarify them?” Kristina said with an arrogant tone.
Vera went to the kitchen as she sobbed quietly. Everyone thinks that kids are innocent. Is this the definition of innocence—hurting parents with an inconsiderate tone?
At dinner, Vera explained Kristina’s deplorable behavior to Vlad. But he chuckled and said, “Well, if you knew English, Kristina would not have to suffer like this.” Then he added, “This food is delicious. At least you are good at something!”
That night, Vera was tossing and turning as she thought about her hurt feelings. Like father, like daughter. If my husband won’t respect me, then how can my children respect me? I must learn English. But how is it possible with all my responsibilities?
* * *
As the months went, Vera’s nephew in London was engaged. One day, she got a call from her sister in England. Her sister pleaded Vera to come and help her with the wedding arrangements.
Vera said, “Margarita, I’d love to come, but you know that I am balancing a tight schedule.” But as Margarita requested over and over again, Vera agreed.
When Vera asked Vlad if they could go, Vlad said, “I could get a week off. I can come with the kids for the marriage. You could go now and help your sister.”
Vera worried, but Vlad said that his mom would take care of the kids.
To get to London alone was a challenge for Vera. Finally, she arrived at her sister’s home. Margarita greeted her with a warm welcome. After two days, it was New Year’s Eve. Margarita hosted a party for the bride’s family. It was really boring for Vera because she could not understand their English conversation. Then, the topic about New Year’s Resolutions came. Vera heard the words but didn’t know what to say. So, she kept quiet.
Illustration by Katherine Han, age 18, high school senior, Texas.
That night, she was thinking: Why can’t I make a resolution? What should it be? Then, an idea struck her head. I will learn English. All night, she tried to figure out how to learn English.
The next day, she saw an advert from LCC, The London Language Center, on the TV. They offered English classes to newcomers.
After her sister left, Vera called their number and gathered all the information. In the afternoon, when she went to the LLC, the receptionist said,
“The class is a four-week course; it starts in ten minutes. If you want, you can join it.” Vera paid the fee and sat in the class.
Vera didn’t tell anyone about this. Every day, she managed to attend the class when the family was away. She followed every single detail. While commuting, she’d read anything in English. She tried to communicate with her classmates in English. The instructor was impressed and encouraged her immensely.
Sometimes, Vera shared her food with her classmates. They loved her cooking and appreciated her. One day, she told them of her small cooking business. The instructor said that she was an entrepreneur. Everyone clapped and cheered for Vera, and praised her. That made her very happy.
One day, Margarita’s daughter, Victoria, was coming back from college and saw Vera on the street. She asked her of her whereabouts. Vera explained the whole story and requested Victoria to keep it a secret. Victoria promised Vera that she’d help fulfill her New Year’s resolution. Vera received English movies from Victoria and watched them in free time. She used every single opportunity she could to immerse herself.
Vera was extremely busy and tired with all the wedding preparations and her English classes. As the wedding approached, Vlad and the children came to England. Vera was happy to see her children but worried about attending her classes. Victoria noticed her stress and asked, “Why are you looking so worried?”
“How can I attend the classes when everyone is home?”
“How many days are left?”
“Three days!”
“Don’t worry. I’ll see what I can do to help.”
The next day, Victoria went to LLC and arranged video classes for Vera. For the next two days, Vera attended her class in the bathroom! But the final test was on the actual wedding day. The test was a five-minute speech in English. If they did well, the students would receive a certificate of graduation.
Vera decided she not to attend the test. At night, Victoria noticed her sadness. “What’s wrong?” asked Victoria.
“I can’t attend the test because of the wedding. This is the end of the line for me,” said Vera.
That night, Victoria thought of an idea. Next morning, she called LLC and talked to the instructor.
Everyone was running around with joy as they busily rushed to prepare for the big gathering. Depressed, Vera also got ready. As the wedding ceremony began, she saw her teacher and classmates in the hall.
During the dinner, it was time for family members to make toasts to the bride and the groom. After Margarita, Victoria encouraged Vera to say something. Everyone started encouraging her. Before she could speak, Vlad intervened, “My wife does not know English…”
But Vera interrupted him, “Vlad, may I speak?” And before he could respond, she stood and started:
“Meera … Kevin … Marriage is a beautiful thing. It is a special friendship between two people who are equal. Sometimes, couples don’t know how the other one feels. Family can never be judgmental. Family should never put you down, should never make you feel small. Family is the only one who will never laugh at your weaknesses. Family is the place where you will always get care and friendship. Meera and Kevin, I wish you all the best. Thank you.”
After the speech, everyone gave a round of applause except Kristina and Vlad. They both felt shameful for having belittled Vera.
The instructor stood and said, “Vera, you passed and have graduated from the four-week English course of LLC. Excellent job!”
“How is it possible?” Vera asked.
“Victoria convinced me to grade you here. It is a surprise for you,” the instructor said.
“Thank you, Victoria, for helping me fulfill my Resolution,” said Vera.
“I know you worked very hard for this. You are great!” said Victoria.
Kristina and Vlad went to Vera and apologized. Vera was so happy she had fulfilled her New Year’s Resolution.
The family went back home to Moscow after a few days. Vera now feels, “With determination, anything is possible.”
—Vajra Vanukuri, age 11, grade 6, California. He adds: “I enjoy reading and I have a passion for writing stories. I like playing Soccer. I also practice Yoga, and Taekwondo, currently in the green belt. I aspire to be an environment and human rights lawyer when I grow up.”
Illustration by Katherine Han, age 18, high school senior, Texas.
To make the traditional Chinese breakfast of pumpkin cakes, you will need:
1/4 pumpkin, 2 tbsp sugar, 200g rice flour, red bean paste (optional), and white sesame seeds (optional).
You will need to prepare the pumpkin first.
Making the dough
Making the pumpkin pie
Cooking the pie
Pumpkin pie is full of nutrients and is very delicious. Chinese often have pumpkin pie as a dessert or breakfast. Pumpkin pie has the best taste the day it’s made, so please enjoy and finish them quickly after made. This recipe makes 5 to 8 pies; you can adjust the recipe proportionally for your family size!
Wendy Mou, age 16, California. Wendy is an active student who enjoys creative outlets including food. For example, baking is her preferred way to relax after school work and family chores. Since her childhood, she has always held respect for the natural ingredients that go into her food. Currently, she is in the process of starting a food science club at her school. She looks up to those unique recipe makers, and hopes to become one someday.
Sustainability and Sustainable Consumption
By T. Vijayendra, Hyderabad, India
Life on Earth can be divided in two groups—producers (trees and grasses, for example) and consumers (such as animals and human beings). The difference between the two is that producers—like plants—produce their own food whereas consumer species like animals—humans included—live directly or indirectly on food produced by the producer species (think plant life).
To sustain themselves, humans consume goods and services not only from plant and animal sources but also from inanimate sources such as minerals. These resources are either renewable or non-renewable resources. Non-renewable resources, like fossil fuels, minerals, and metals, are finite in nature by definition. In other words, the more we use them, their supply will deplete. Renewable sources, like plants, trees and agriculture, are by definition renewed in nature; both by natural processes and helped by human efforts.
Now, a simple way to explain sustainability: If we consume resources in such a way that the resources we need and enjoy can also be available to succeeding generations (as well as for all other forms of life) for their needs and enjoyment at a level needed by them and for a foreseeable future.
This issue of sustainability was not a big problem in human history because our population was small and our levels of resource consumption per capita were also small. Today, both the consumption levels and our population have increased substantially. As a result, the way we live and consume resources is NOT sustainable!
To achieve sustainability, the first thing we need to do is we must reduce our per capita consumption. Secondly, more of it should come from renewable resources.
There is an interesting fact about most non-renewable resources. Be it the fuel used for transport (petrol for cars, for example), chemical pesticides in agriculture, cement used in housing and construction, or the plastics used for packaging, they almost always tend to pollute and add to the climate change (and global warming) problem. This is one more important reason for us to reduce the component of non-renewable resources in our consumption.
Value Chain
What is a value chain? It is the chain of values [the term “value” used here is a business term, and not a “value” in the normal sense] added to a product from the source till it reaches the consumer. Let us explain this more:
If we climb a tree and eat its fruit, there is no value chain. But most of us buy the goods we consume. For example, apples are grown on trees in an orchard (likely, in a rural area), picked, packed and transported to the urban centers where we live. In the city we can buy fruits and vegetables either from a pushcart or a farmer’s market, or in a supermarket. So ‘value’ gets added to the produce in a chain consisting of picking, packing, transporting and retail selling. Now, if the apples were converted into apple juice, involving some processing, there would be even more links in the value chain and hence more value would be added.
There is a difference between fruits and vegetables sold by a street vendor (or at the farmer’s market) and in a supermarket. It is not difficult to understand that the “value” added to it in a supermarket is much more. This extra value is called a shelf rent – which can include the rent of the place, worker salaries, utilities, and air conditioning, etc. You might also notice that a big chunk of the difference comes from the non-renewable resources used for transportation and processing, etc., contributing to pollution and climate change. This makes it less sustainable.
We can add some more attributes to sustainability. Instead of an apple, suppose it was a locally produced vegetable or fruit, and sold directly by the person who produced and harvested it. It will then have much less value added, and it will be more sustainable.
We can extend this logic to other sectors of our activities. Locally produced food is more sustainable as we have seen above. Similarly, mud houses, straw-bale houses, or houses made using local materials like bricks or wood can be more sustainable, not only because of the material used, but also because less energy is used in heating, lighting and keeping them cool during the summer months (or warmer in cold climates). In fact, heating and air conditioning uses a lot of energy.
To mention another example, neighborhood schools can reduce transportation costs and so would more use of bicycles for small distances. In many cases, sustainable products are more ‘expensive’. While ‘value added’ can be calculated, price is determined by a variety of unpredictable factors, which have a lot to do with politics and the prevailing social order in human societies.
To work towards sustainability, we can use these four general principles:
Our power plants, factories, automobiles, machines and buildings need to be adapted so they use predominantly renewable energy resources instead of non-renewable resources that come from underground (fossil fuels) and emit carbon dioxide and other pollutants when burned.
Acknowledgement
The main ideas of this article were developed by Soujanya Mantravadi in 2017 for a talk on International Hawkers’ Day at Lamakaan, Hyderabad, India.
T. Vijayendra (b. 1943) is political-social activist, living in India. He divides his time between an organic farm at the foothills of Western Ghats of South India, and watching birds, writing fiction and educational articles at his home in Hyderabad. He has published several books. He has been a ‘dedicated’ bicyclist all his life; he has never driven a fossil-fuel based vehicle (automobile). Email: t.vijayendra@gmail.com
An earlier version of this article was also published in CounterCurrents.org (an online journal, published from Kerala, India) along with the above photo of street vendors of fruits and vegetables in Hyderabad, India.
Could we find a peaceful resolution to this conflict based on the Swiss model?
Recently I was on a Christian retreat in Switzerland with a group of young people. We were in a room overlooking Lake Geneva and the majestic Alps, yet everyone was worried about war in Ukraine. One of the young people present, a Swiss woman named Anne-Marie, appeared very sad to see so much suffering in Ukraine. “Ordinary families in their thousands are losing their homes and becoming refugees,” she said.
“The Americans fought wars in Vietnam, in Iraq and in Afghanistan. What did they achieve? Nothing!” another woman, Christèle, said. “What hope is there for the Russians and the Ukrainians to find any solution by killing one another? This is so stupid! In the end they have to find a solution by negotiation. If they are going to talk and negotiate after so much killing and so much destruction why don’t they do that before those killings and before all that suffering?”
“This is common sense, but common sense is no longer common!” came from the back of the room. It was a man called Michael who spoke. He added: “Of course in the end they have to find common ground and some common interest through negotiations. The Ukrainians and the Russians have to live next to each other. They are neighbours. They cannot change their geography and their location!”
Anne-Marie answered: “Ukraine is a small country living beside a nuclear-armed Russia. Therefore Ukraine should not give Russia any excuse for aggression. Ukraine could and should follow the Swiss model.” I was intrigued by this, so I asked her what she meant. She said: “Our country is not a member of NATO. We are not in the European Union. We are not in the Eurozone. We have our own currency. Yet we are able to trade with Europe as well as with the rest of the world. Why can’t Ukrainians do the same? Our country was neutral in the first world war and the second world war. Why can’t Ukrainians remain neutral and friendly with all countries? Switzerland has no enemies. All countries are our friends! That is what I call the Swiss model.”
“But hasn’t there been a long-standing dispute between the central government of Ukraine and its Russian-speaking population of the east and the south?” I asked. “Hasn’t there been an ongoing civil war between the Ukrainian-speaking and the Russian-speaking parts of the country? How do you bring reconciliation between them?”
Anne-Marie said: “Again they need to follow the Swiss model. We have four national languages – German, French, Italian and Romansh. They are all official Swiss languages. Ukraine could make Ukrainian and Russian two equally important official languages. Linguistic diversity should be celebrated. Multiple languages bring cultural richness. In Switzerland a large proportion of administrative functions are decentralised. We have 22 self-governing cantons. Each one of them has a great deal of autonomy. Many national issues are settled by referendum. Our prime ministers or presidents are not so important. Do you know who the president or prime minister of Switzerland is?”
“No, I don’t,” I replied.
“Why should you know?” responded Anne-Marie. “This is the Swiss model. Our constitution doesn’t give a huge amount of power to the central government. We live peacefully within our country and peacefully with our neighbours. Why can’t Ukraine do the same? War is not a solution.”
“But the Ukrainians say that this is ‘Putin’s war’,” I said. “The US and European governments, as well as much of the western media, believe that this is Putin’s war. What do you say to them?”
“It takes two to tango!” Anne-Marie replied. “The Russians blame the Ukrainians, and the Ukrainians blame the Russians. We have to rise above the blame game if we want peace. Both parties need to compromise! The word ‘compromise’ is misunderstood. In fact it is a positive concept. It means ‘promising together’. When two warring sides come together, they must stand on the middle ground and find their common interest and agree together, and then it is a true compromise.”
Anne-Marie took a deep breath. After a moment’s pause, she said: “I want to see the children of Ukraine united with their parents. I want to see millions of refugees going back to their homes. I want to see the old and the sick being taken care of. War is futile. No one will win. Everyone will lose. What is the point?”
I was impressed by Anne-Marie’s account of the Swiss achievement in creating a peaceful, multilingual and multicultural country. I thought that this could be the way to peace not only in Ukraine, but in the whole world.
We looked out at Lake Geneva and the amazing Alps. They were totally at peace! And in their subtle ways they too were calling for peace.
—Satish Kumar is the Editor Emeritus of Resurgence Magazine, published from United Kingdom. He is the author of Pilgrimage for Peace, available from www.resurgence.org/shop Photo of Satish Kumar by Daniel Elkan. This article has been reproduced with permission from Resurgence & Ecologist Magazine, Issue #335.
“RUN” she said to her child, before her voice drowned out.
There was a moment of silence, before another shot fired
The little boy crouched behind a rock and waited
For he longed to return home, but knew he couldn’t
Amidst the chaos, the bloodshed, the violence and the terrors
He remained calm, as calm as can be
He stared into a puddle filled with muddy red water
And it showed him the world; our world, of uncertainty
Screams of horror echoed through the alleys
The dead lay scattered on the roads
There was aggression, there was unimaginable loss
There was fear, but no signs of remorse
But the shrieks were deafened and the wallows silenced
By his plea for justice, and his cries for help
For the little boy of tender seven (or eight perhaps)
Merely longed to be anywhere else
He might have been you, he might have been me
Leaving everything behind, being forced to flee
To seek asylum in a place unknown to him
To escape his home, become a refugee
But the little boy stood
Stood firm, like a boulder
He had found courage, even when the darkness reflected before him
He held on tight to his reality, for he knew if he didn’t
He’d find himself slip into a world much colder
—Aliya S., age 13, grade 8, Mumbai, India.
THE NAVAJO CODE TALKERS
On July 26, 2001, President George W. Bush awarded the Congressional Gold Medal—the highest civilian medal Congress bestows—to the original 29 Navajo code talkers. Four of the five living code talkers and family members of the deceased code talkers attended the ceremony. These Native Americans had been successful in relaying secret military messages using Navajo words from nature during World War II that the Japanese were never able to decode. (1)
Sixty-five years earlier, the Navajos’ language ability was brought to the attention of the Marines by Philip Johnston. Johnston was aware the Japanese were easily breaking the American military codes. He was a missionary’s son who had grown up on a Navajo reservation. He knew that the Choctaw language had been successfully used to encode messages in WWI, which the Germans were unable to decipher. He realized that he Navajos’ unwritten language could also become an undecipherable code against the Japanese. (2)
Twenty-nine young Navajos were sworn into military duty. They trained at Camp Pendleton and then were tasked with developing an unbreakable code using their native language. They developed an unwritten Navajo dictionary of military terms which were committed to memory.
The Navajos did not have words for military terms. Instead, these Native Americans used words of nature with which they were very familiar. The types of airplanes became names of birds. Think of a chicken hawk (GINI) diving for its prey. Does this bird make you think of a dive bomber? Have you ever watched an eagle
(ATSAH) pluck its food and then soar through the air with it? It acts much like a transport plane. Think of how a hummingbird (DA-HE-TIH-HI) flits in and out of the flowers. This action is similar to that of a fighter plane. (3)
The code talkers were able to transmit and decode the messages with incredible speed and accuracy. Some 400 code talkers eventually were deployed with the six Marine divisions. Thirteen of these Native Americans were killed in action.
When a code talker sent a message in his native language, the recipient would translate the message into English words. The first letter of each word then formed the message. When the Marines on Iwo Jima raised the flag on Mount Suribachi, the code talkers relayed the message in the Navajo code. Translated into English it read: “sheep-uncle-ram-ice-bear-ant-cat-horse-itch.” (SURIBACHI) (4)
The code talkers sent their messages over portable radios they carried in the field. Some of these messages identified planes. Other dispatches told pilots where to drop bombs. Many gave lists of needed supplies. The Navajos always found a way to make their language work for whatever code was needed for these messages. Their language skills made a significant difference in the battles of Iwo Jima, Guadalcanal, Tarawa, and Peleilu. (5)
The code talkers’ efforts were so successful the unbreakable code was kept classified until 1968. A movie, Windtalkersreleased in 2002, chronicled the challenges and successes of these heroes. Ironically, the use of their language had previously been banned by the U.S. Government in an attempt to assimilate the Native Americans into the general population. `
Why was their language so successful as a code? Navajo was a little-known and little-used language. It was difficult for anyone to know the language other than a person brought up in the oral tradition of a Navajo. They were very familiar with words from nature and readily changed military terms to well-known words.
The code talkers, with their remarkable Navajo language ability, were heroes in the South Pacific Islands, although it took over 60 years for this acknowledgement to be made public. Their heroic actions and patriotic sacrifices were finally recognized by a grateful nation.
By Annie Laura Smith, writer, Alabama. This article was first published by Ms. Smith in Kidz Chat.
November is the annual Native American Heritage Month, and it calls our attention to the culture, traditions, and achievements of the original inhabitants and of their descendants in the Americas. The official designation of November as National Native American Heritage Month in the U.S. was signed into law in 1990.
SIDEBARS
NAVAJO CODE TALKERS AIRPLANE TYPES* (6)
|
AIRPLANES |
BIRDS |
NAVAJO LANGUAGE |
|
Bomber plane |
Buzzard |
JAY-SHO |
|
Dive bomber |
Chicken Hawk |
GINI |
|
Fighter plane |
Hummingbird |
DA-HE-THI-HI |
|
Observation plane |
Owl |
NE-AS-JAH |
|
Patrol plane |
Crow |
GA-GHI |
|
Torpedo plane |
Swallow |
TAS-CHIZZIE |
|
Transport plane` |
Eagle |
ATSAH |
NAVAJO CODE TALKERS SHIP TYPES* (6)
|
SHIPS |
ANIMALS/FISH/INSECTS |
NAVAJO LANGUAGE |
| Battleship |
Whale |
LO-TSO |
| Cruiser |
Small whale |
LO-TSO-YAZZIE |
| Destroyer |
Shark |
CA-LO |
| Mine sweeper |
Beaver |
CHA |
| Mosquito boat |
Mosquito |
TSE-E |
| Submarine | Iron fish |
BESH-LO |
REFERENCES
1. Vogel, Steve, “For Navajos, an Award of Gratitude, Washington Post, July 27, 2001, p. B03.
2. “Navajo Code Talkers: World War II Fact Sheet”
3. Rosenberg, Jennifer, “Navajo Code Talkers (Part 2)
4. Lockard, Vicki8, “Code Talkers” http://www.turtletrack.org/Issues00/Co06032000/CO_06000000_Codetalk.htm
5. Navajo code talkers of WWII.” http://ks.essortment.com/navajocodetalk_rjxq.htm
(6) Navajo Code Talkers’ Dictionary, http://groups.msn.com/WWIIHobiests/codetalkersguide.msnw
Remembering Kwanzza
I announced, “Happy Kwanzza!”
Out of a genuine gesture
Of brotherhood
Without doubting whether I should
To a fellow stranger
Who was not in my brown
Skin
He was filled with wonder when
The words spilled out of my mouth
And asked, “Are you talking to me?”
Of course I am, I replied
It IS about unity and building
Relationships
“Oh!” he said with a startled look
Passing along the surprise in his
Eyes to the multi-heritage child
Whose hand he held
“Happy Kwanzza!” she erupted
Breaking the quiet stillness in
The check-out line
Barely old enough to speak or
Understand
—maggie d., African American poet, Washington.
Making Peace in Corona
During 2020, when Corona struck and classes were split into pods and cast outdoors, where were you and what were you studying?
One group of students on a kibbutz in Northern Israel was learning how to make peace. Facilitated by the Jerusalem Peace Builders, fifteen teenagers with varying degrees of piercings, torn jeans and loud colors in their hair, sat in an enormous circle in the old staff parking-lot-turned-makeshift-classroom adapted for the pandemic.
Jerusalem Peace Builders (JPB) is an interfaith organization that brings together youth from different backgrounds, from Jerusalem, Israel, Palestine, and the United States, to create meaningful encounters. The first session is held separately at each school so students can start to build important dialogue skills such as active listening and empathy before meeting each other.
This workshop began by exploring personal identity. They asked questions like, ‘Who are you?’ ‘What makes you unique?’ Important questions for teens who are about to get to know kids seemingly so different from themselves.
Just before the lunch break, the group played a game. Sarah, one of the facilitators, a quiet, young woman with silky, dark hair and skin, and deep brown eyes, sat inside the circle. The other facilitator, Yardena, taller and chattier, asked the questions and recorded the answers on a portable white board.
Where was Sarah from? What languages did she speak? How much education did she have? What did she study? Was she married? Did she have kids?
What kind of assumptions do we make about people upon meeting them?
At first glance, it was hard to peg Sarah. She was most definitely from the Middle East, but nothing about her appearance, her accent, or even her name, indicated whether she was more likely to be Arab or Jewish.
As Yardena posed the questions, students’ answers spanned the spectrum. She was from Egypt, from France, from Jerusalem, or maybe Ashkelon. She spoke English, Hebrew, and maybe Arabic. Perhaps Italian. She 
was a teacher, a lawyer, or a social worker.
Michael had been a student the year before in the ninth grade English-speakers club. Wild haired with thick glasses and fiercely competitive, English came easily to Michael and he was used to winning. When he attended his first Model UN last year, he walked away with second prize. “It’s easy,” he said after with a wink and a dismissive wave of his hands. “You just need to speak a lot and pretend you know what you’re talking about.”
Michael was sure he had this game. He pulled his teacher aside. “She’s Arab, right?” It made sense since it was a coexistence workshop and Yardena, Sarah’s partner, was clearly Jewish.
Still, Michael fell into all the traps: If she was Arab, she must be poorly educated. But she was so articulate, so she must be wealthy and worldly, with some foreign Arab Passport. Jordan? Egypt? Certainly not Palestinian.
When Sarah shared that she was in fact Palestinian, Michael’s face twisted. He didn’t always take kindly to being corrected, but there was no denying who she was. As it turned out, she was from East Jerusalem, and had no passport at all.
“Well, that’s a choice,” Michael shot back. “East Jerusalem Palestinians don’t WANT Israeli passports because they don’t accept the State of Israel.”
“There are Palestinians like that,” Sarah conceded, “But many people like me want them so we can live a normal life. Unfortunately, the passports are not easy to get. After we apply for a passport, it can take years to receive an answer from the government, and then fewer than half of the requests are even approved. Without a passport, I’m not a citizen of any country. I’m not free to travel anywhere in the world.”
Michael’s second assumption was also shattered. “Palestinians are the most educated Arab population in the world. Especially the women,” Sarah said.
“Really?” Michael raised his thick eyebrows till they reached his fluffy mop of hair.
Sarah’s smile was more conciliatory than cynical. “Well sure. We can’t travel and there aren’t so many jobs. What else do we have to do with our lives? So, we study.”
Michael didn’t speak again as Sarah answered the rest of their questions. She wasn’t married, no kids. She’d been studying physics, but when she got involved with JPB, she decided to dedicate her life to helping promote co-existence. She loved traveling to schools and meeting students with such different backgrounds than hers and sharing her story.
During the break, several students stayed to chat with Sarah, foregoing their lunch and only free time. She patiently answered their questions and asked some of her own. The rest of the day the students continued to explore identity. They were asked to map out all the things that made them who they were and highlight those that defined them best. As they discovered, how they define themselves—dancer, student, good friend—changed depending on the day or the situation, or their stage of life.
At the end of the session, students were asked to share something they were taking away from the day. When it came to Michael’s turn, the other kids stepped in close, eyebrows raised in anticipation of his witty, cynical remarks.
Michael glanced down and then looked at Sarah. He smiled and joined his hands together in a rare gesture of gratitude. “Today I learned that I don’t know everything, and that’s okay.”
The next day, three ninth graders were diagnosed with Corona and the whole school went home for what would be the next eight months. To the great dismay of both teachers and students, their first JPB workshop was their last.
But Covid has taught us at least two important things. First, we’re all in this together. Second, we must constantly adapt to an ever-changing world.
Sarah gave up her whole career path to pursue peace. And Michael was able in one day to rethink everything he believed about people. What have you learned in Covid? And how do you plan to use it to change the world?
—Emily Singer, Israel. She adds: “I am a writer and English teacher in Northern Israel, where I have a special passion for bringing students together from different ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds to help them appreciate diversity and develop important negotiation and peace-making skills… In 2018, I published my first children’s novel, “Gilgul I: Re-Dedication.”
Summer is here
They say heat is good for
Tomatoes
And wiggling toes in warm
Sand
But ants are trying to tell us
Something
Diligently building mounds of
Dirt between cracks in
Sidewalks
It is going to be a scorcher
I think
I do not want to be a prisoner of
The Sun I hum
Left to find a place to hide from
The hurting burn
City shade is sparse
Do you hear the asphalt whispering
Beware of the sweltering black
Streets?
By maggie d., African American poet, Washington.