SALT LAKE CITY

-- Alex Schneider

Welcome to Utah! On each of our minds was the realization that we had successfully arrived in a new state after a long night ride on our bus. With few exceptions, the night was anticipated with much excitement as just one of many new experiences on our trip. With trust in our bus driver, Carleton, we were able to sleep well and arrive without trouble at the JCC in Salt Lake City. Truly, after such a long ride, the refreshing showers, workout rooms and locker rooms were a welcome refuge form the bus.
At the end of our stay we sat on a balcony located in the high hills overlooking the capitol city of Utah. This panaramic view was not only breath taking but also introduced us to the sity we would experience throughout the day. Extraordinary were the snow capped mountains on all sides of us. IN this area of reflection, we summarized our thoughts on the previous day.
From the JCC we travelled downtown and had lunch. This was followed by a trip to a small gun shop and we met with Clark Aposhian, the owner and a member of the NRA as well as a certified gun instructor. He shared his views on why guns should be available.

Although his views differed from Tom Mauser, the gun control lobbyist, this man had some uniquely pro gun views. Firstly, he was quick to say that owning a gun was a right and not a privilege. This is a fundamental difference between his views and others. For example, when asked why he would own a fully automatic assault rifle, he explained it was his hobby and that he was entitled to such. I, personally cannot understand this line of reasoning, as such assault rifles are dangerous. Firearms may be used for self defense or hunting, however overly "gaudy" guns are unnecessary. Still, both sides have strong beliefs and strong points.
After his talk, we were allowed to go into the firing range and watch him shoot an AK40 gun. Many commented on the mixed emotions of awe and fright as they witnessed the loud bangs of the gun and the string sound waves created by the rifle that bounced off our bodies.
After this meeting we returned to downtown and toured the Mormon Temple area.

The architecture was incredible and the beliefs and views of the Mormon tour guides was even more enthusiastic that a building could represent.

DENVER & BOULDER

JULY 4th – Arielle Roberts
Today we drove from Dodge City to Denver. When we first got to town, we walked around the Lo-Do area and do some shopping and get a feel for downtown Denver. That night, we went to Folsom Field at the University of Colorado in Boulder to celebrate the 4th of July and see fireworks.

JULY 5th -- Arielle Roberts
On July 5th, we spoke with Tom Mauser, whose son was shot and killed at Columbine High School.

He told us about his journey toward being an activist on the issue of gun control and how he copes with the tragedy that happened to his son. After that meeting, we went to Columbine High School and took a look around. It was a shock to many on our trip that Columbine High School looks a lot like their own school. We wondered how people could still go back after such a horrific experience. Is it better to remember it and grieve the past or move on and try to put the past behind you? Where’s the balance?
While at Columbine, we spoke with Scott Fried. He is an AIDS educator and motivational speaker for teens.

He reminded us that the boys responsible for the shooting could have been anybody and that we all have our pain but that we must learn to deal with it and not hurt ourselves or others.

That evening we went to Colorado Springs and hiked up the Garden of the Gods, where we were able to enjoy the beautiful scenery and each other’s thoughts about the day. The day was full of emotions and realization. We were reassured that we can always find help in each other and the true meaning of Etgar 36.

JULY 6th – Elyssa Kaplan
We pulled out from the Sleep Inn and headed to a meeting with Jim Chapman from the Rocky Mountain Family Council. Unfortunately, it was a day late as Mr. Chapman is a Navy Chaplin for the Denver area. The day before he had to spend time with the family of a Navy Seal who was killed in Iraq. Still, lucky for us, Jim was able to meet with us this morning. Jim explained that he is also a lobbyist and a rape counselor.

He is also a very good politician. He immediately explained his belief that the only way to get anything done is through civil discourse and not name calling. While we all agreed with that, there did not seem to be much more that we agreed upon. He believes that marriage is a privilege and not a right. He believes a person receives rights at conception not after birth. Yet, who decides which is right? Which is the truth? And what do you base your truth on?
We then rushed off to Wild Oats, an organic health food grocery store. They support the Fair Trade practice, which gives more rights to farmers and teaches them how to grow crops more effectively. We also enjoyed a delicious lunch at their deli.
Naropa University was our next stop. Naropa is the only Buddhist inspired and accredited University in America. We enjoyed a tour of the campus which is so different with a sitting meditation room and learning about Vidyhara Chogyaru Trungpa Rimpoche, the founder of Naropa. Everyone at Naropa was in search of connecting their mind and body through meditation. The scenery of the Rocky Mountains in the background and the people created a peaceful nature for the place. However, our real treat at Naropa was yet to come. Anne Waldman, a name synonymous with the Beatnik period and activism writing became our new friend. Ms. Waldman explained to us how she formed the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poets with Allen Ginsburg at Naropa. She explained the restless of the post WW II generation, changing their lives from that of exhaustion to one of inspiration. She explained how the Beat writers and musicians revolutionized the feel of America in the 50s. The Blues and Jazz music with the creative writing opened up a new world. As Ms. Waldman told us about her friendship with Bob Dylan, John Lennon and so many Beatniks, we realized who was really sitting in front of us.

ANNE WALDMAN PERFORMING A POEM FOR US

She encouraged us to change our world and ended our visit with an amazing piece of performance art by reading/singing and acting one her poem for us.

ETGAR 36 WITH ANNE WALDMAN

Finally, we began the evening by hanging out on Pearl Street in downtown Boulder which was juts plain cool. After dinner, we met at Left Hand Books for a discussion with Tom Kamholz who volunteers at the store for 6 years.
Tom also happens to be an anarchist. Tom really shocked us because he is just 26 and looked normal.

He explained how the bookstore was started by Social Democrats> He also shared his political beliefs with us. We learned that Anarchists do not believe in the State and that people can and should take care of themselves. He also believes that the people should control people’s lives, not the government. Many of us realized how Utopian this society seems. Tom denied this by claiming that Utopian societies do not change and he wants society to grow and change.
We then walked down to a movie theater where we enjoyed “Crash”. The main characters were all intertwined living in Los Angeles until some events cause lives to crash together. Exploring attitudes, racism, hate and people’s relationships. Everyone took away some new perspective on life.
We are off to Salt Lake City!

OKLAHOMA CITY

Stephanie Quintero & Alex Ingber

We began our day with a trip to the Woman’s Museum in Dallas. The Museum was filled with memorabilia and personal items from the women of the equal rights era. The Museum left us with a feeling of power.
After the Museum we went on a 3 hour ride to Oklahoma City. When we arrived in OKC we went straight to the Oklahoma City Memorial where we discussed the tragedy of the bombing and remembered the loss of innocent lives.

Some of us were touched by the memorial while others were distracted by the people and items around us. We then met David Yeagley, a Native American who also is an American Patriot.

He was living in Oklahoma City at the time of the bombing and he described what the city was like on that eventful day. He also spoke about the opera he wrote to commemorate the Holocaust and how we need to listen to each culture’s stories.

We were then taken across the street to meet with Christopher Emery a film producer who is making a documentary about the OKC bombing. He is passionate about the fact that Timothy McVeigh did not act alone.

His goal is to shed light on the conspiracy that he believes surrounds the bombing.
After that meeting we went to celebrate Daniel Bressler’s 17th birthday. We went to a local synagogue and had some time to play in their gymnasium and eat birthday cake. Then we went to an Oklahoma City Redhawks minor league baseball game. Luckily the Redhawks won 7-5 in extra innings.

Ben Tepfer leading the crowd in singing "Oklahoma during the 5th inning and all of Etgar dancing to "YMCA" during the 7th inning

As a follow up to the afternoons activities we went back to the memorial and the scene was much more surreal and thought provoking at night when it was all light up. Many of the 32 participants felt the pain and suffering of the pain and suffering of the people who died and their families. The impact of the memorial at night was so strong that many of us were at a loss for words and the emotions were indescribable.

DALLAS

-- David Bucholtz

We met in the lobby of the Double Tree Hotel at 8 AM to have a “talk”. Rachel and Dusty, two of our staff members, brought up the issue of abortion and we began a give and take discussion about the many sides, questions and opinions of this hot topic. Though it was early, and some of us did not feel like having a full on debate, we exchanged many thoughts and most of Etgar 36 expressed that they were pro-choice. We left the hotel and continued our journey—the topic of abortion going through our heads for the entire ride to Dallas. How appropriate that the same day we were speaking about abortion, we find out that Justice Sandra Day O’Connor announced her retirement from the Supreme Court.
When we arrived in Dallas, we met with Pastor John Reyes of Operation Save America. This is a pro-life organization. John came with his wife, a small child, a man with a video camera and a few other people. John started our discussion by showing us two poster size pictures of a 21-week-old mutilated fetus with detached limbs and a scarred face and body. The other poster was of a 20-week-old burnt fetus. Both pictures were very disturbing.

Flaunting the gruesome photos in front of us, we began to ask Pastor John our questions. Even when one of our members asked him to put down the pictures that made us uncomfortable, Pastor John refused by saying that these pictures represent reality and sometimes we all need to face an uncomfortable reality in order to create change. We asked questions about Pastor John’s views on birth control, what if the mother’s life is in danger before the birth, sex education in the public schools and whether a fetus is a living human being. He refuted our ideas by using passages from the old and new testaments and went on to compare abortion to the Holocaust. He truly knew his audience and took every one of our questions and explained his views. Though some agreed and disagreed with his views, we are all better people because we can share our ideas and be open to others opinions.

The "meeting after the meeting" with Pastor John

After our debate we made our way over to the Sixth Floor Museum and the site where President John F Kennedy was assassinated. Billy led a discussion with us on the grassy knoll about what the United States was like during the Kennedy years and how he energized young people and why his death was such a major event. We were interrupted by a crazed looking man trying to get a crowd to hear his opinion about what really happened with the assassination. We went into the museum and saw pictures and video clips as well as models on what happened on November 22, 1963…or so we thought. When we finished with the Sixth Floor Museum we walked over to the Conspiracy Museum. Here we saw the famous Zapruder film on the assassination. We heard various opinions on what really caused Kennedy to be killed. Tommy Bowden, a staff member of the Conspiracy Museum, took us back out to the grassy knoll and began telling and showing us many of the different ideas…some logical and some unbelievable.

Etgar 36 on the grassy knoll

and behind the famous picket fence

Confused with all the details, we made our way to Congregation Beth El – Binah that is a Reform Synagogue for the Gay and Lesbian community. Though not all members are homosexual, the vast majority of them are. They are a warm and very understanding people. We first had Friday night services together and it was a great experience to have the same service with the same words that we are all used to form home, but different tunes. After services we sat down to a great fried chicken dinner and had a chance to meet and talk with some of the members of the synagogue. We discussed the hardships and prejudices that face the homosexual community, both Jewish and non Jewish. We had watched the movie “Trembling Before God” on the bus ride into Dallas, which is about being Orthodox, and Gay and the troubles people face. We were able to discuss our thoughts from the movie as well. The overall message form the members of Beth El- Binah was, be who you are and be happy with who God made you. The day was very powerful and thought provoking. Though our group might differ on thoughts and opinions, we are getting very close.

Etgar 36 & members fo Beth El Binah