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22 December 21 • 2017 jn T he Jewish experience in the United States has been marked by success and struggle, com- placency and worry, acceptance and "otherness." It is a journey similar to other immigrant groups and, yet, somehow different. For a group that has to a large extent "made it" in America, why do Jews so often think, and behave, as if they are guests in someone else's home, as if the security they fought so hard to win is con- stantly endangered? The Center for Jewish Studies at Eastern Michigan University is offering a group trip this spring, May 3-9, led by EMU faculty mem- bers Dr. Marty Shichtman and Dr. Jeff Bernstein, in which these questions will be explored. Travelers will visit quintessential Jewish sites in New York (Tenement Museum, the Eldridge Street Synagogue, the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island), Philadelphia (National Museum of American Jewish History) and Washington, D.C. (U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum). Seeing these sites will help participants better understand their roles in the compli- cated American Jewish story. The group will also enjoy daily lectures and discussions led by Shichtman and Bernstein. Shichtman directs the Center for Jewish Studies at EMU and is also a professor of English literature. He is a recipient of EMU's Distinguished Faculty Award for Outstanding Teaching and the EMU Alumni Association Teaching Excellence Award. Bernstein is a professor of political science and has been awarded the Alumni Association Teaching Excellence Award, the Honors College Faculty of the Year Award and the Fennel Award for Outstanding Mentorship. Both Shichtman and Bernstein have extensive experience running travel courses. The trip also includes time with movers and shak- ers in the American Jewish community, including a session at the Folksbein Yiddish Theatre in lower Manhattan, where par- ticipants will hear firsthand about the renaissance of the Yiddish language and Yiddish theater in New York, and Jewish community and political leaders to consider issues such as social justice, American- Israel relations and the fight against anti-Semitism. There will also be time for fun, including some evening excursions, as well as the (in)famous night of Bedtime Stories. There will be a visit to Zabars, group dinners in New York and Philadelphia, and a chance to attend an alumni reception in Washington to meet with some of EMU's outstanding alums. You'll learn a lot on this trip — and you'll laugh a lot. Mary Schuman, who participated on a previous trip in 2016, said it was a "wonderful experience. I enjoyed the places we visited, learned a lot from Marty and Jeff, and had fun with a great group of people." Linda Levy, who also was on that trip, noted that while many people on the trip had visited some of these places before, "the depth of under- standing and enjoyment we had as a group was truly amazing." Bernstein adds, "I have run this trip for student groups, but the diverse perspectives each of the 'grown-ups' brought to our journey made it especially meaningful. I have fond memories of our first trip and cannot wait to do it again." The trip begins the morning of Thursday, May 3, in New York, and ends on Wednesday afternoon, May 9, in Washington. Airfare to and from Detroit can be purchased with the group for an additional fee. First-class hotel accommodations, door-to-door bus transportation, all venue admissions and some meals are provided. The trip costs $2,599 (double-occupancy). More information is available at www.emich.edu/jewishstudies/ courseflyer.pcf.pdf. Feel free to contact Bernsein ( jeffrey. bernstein@emich.edu) or Shichtman ( jewish.studies@ emich.edu) with any questions. The center is working with Sherri Sitkauskas of Conlin Travel, who can be reached at (734) 822-1046 for information on travel-related issues or to book your travel. • A group dinner in Philadelphia during the 2016 trip Marty Shichtman Jeff Bernstein Unique Travel Opportunity EMU Center for Jewish Studies plans group trip to better understand the American Jewish story. The Power Of Story SAWYER ALTMAN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS I t all started one summer evening while I was wandering around Stanford campus. At the student union, just to the side of the Starbucks entrance, was a banner that I had always clearly ignored. This time, without the everyday rush, it got my attention. It had the smiling faces of children and read something like, "Got any technical, editorial or creative skills?" Yes. "Know Photoshop, Illustrator and how to tell a story?" Yes, yes … kind of ? "Email ____." So I did. I was the only one to respond. The banner had been up there all school year! At the other end was Dr. Paul Kim at the school of education, who researches mobile learning technologies and deploys them in hard-to-reach rural com- munities around the world. We connected and became excited about designing a program that could collect some of the beautiful stories regu- larly told in many of the sites he visits. Before long, I was using the training I received at the design school and my insights from time spent working at the graduate school of business under Jennifer Aaker, who teaches The Power of Story, to create a robust storytelling workshop that could plug into children's potential to be original storytellers. I was thrilled to deploy it — the voices of the underserved go too often unheard, so what better way to help empower a community than to listen? Paul first connected me to rural eastern South Africa, the province Mpumalanga, and there I realized there was also more to the picture. In South Africa, I encountered a disciplinarian style of teaching rooted in rote memorization and didactic lecturing. Many kids were motivated by the fear of actual physical punishment, the class- room setting was boring, and students weren't taking the stream of facts and figures to heart. I began to see my workshops as an interruption to that style. After graduating this past June, I flipflopped a bit. It was only at the end of the summer, after spending months working on an app that felt obligatory at first but truly didn't excite me so much, I took a 180. I realized I had been doing what I'd been wanting to all along. I decided to jump into storytelling full-time. Now I'm calling for everyone's help. My goal is to fund these workshops on a sustainable cycle, through cultural exchange. Readers who want to bring these magnificent stories into their homes can now support workshops and receive the storybooks they make possible. In doing so, they celebrate youth authorship and support a world of inspiring learning. To help, logon to https://tinyurl.com/ya59l6rp. • Sawyer Altman is a former student of Frankel Jewish Academy. Sawyer Altman jews d in the