I figured that I must have listened to it fifty times during rehearsals, and if I, a native speaker of English, had absolutely no idea what he was saying, then neither would any of the Syrians, Egyptians, Turks, Kazakhs, Mongolians, and various and sundry other conservative Muslim citizens of former republics of the Soviet Union, who, as I write this, are no doubt listening to the song on their iPods. Most moving was the fact that after the show, young people from all over, including Syrians and other countries that rather hate us, came up to our kids and asked to pose with them and the U.S. flag. If there were thousands of Moscovias and tens of thousands of kids visited them every year, we might some day eventually even come close to achieving something akin to world peace. My students were told again and again by their new found friends that they were so happy that met real Americans, because now they knew that we are a good a decent people and that their stereotypes had been destroyed. Our reputation had taken a hit around the world. Five American students helped to restore it, if even just a little.
Kipp Matalucci
Above: The author (left) receiving an award on behalf of the American delegation for the most creative performance at the Festival of Cultures. One of hsi charges is on the right.
Picture pg. 4: Ekaterina leading the Georgian delegation into the Festival of Cultures
Picture pg. 6: The closing ceremonies of the Festival of Cultures
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