ROTARY ORG SEPTEMBER DROP ANCHOR IN HAMBURG Host city for the 2019 Rotary Convention
IMMERSE YOURSELF IN SOMETHING SIGNIFICANT AND BE INSPIRED. Visit rotary.org/VR to view our new virtual reality resources and download the Rotary VR app. Use these powerful tools to conduct your own event and inspire others.
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Dear fellow Rotarians, Imagine if we could take a snapshot capturing all of the work Rotary does on a given day. No one – except Rotarians – would believe that a single organization was capable of accomplishing so much. In that snapshot you would see dedicated volunteers working to eradicate polio, setting up microloans, providing clean water, mentoring youth, and countless other actions. We can do all this thanks both to our geographic reach and to the fact that our clubs are made up of people who are engaged in their communities. As a part of the community that you serve, you know the needs, you have the connections, and you’re able to take immediate action. That’s why every Rotary club’s membership should reflect the diversity of its community. We’ve made great strides in this. In Egypt, Indonesia, and Kenya, Rotary is approaching 50 percent female membership. We’re also expanding the age diversity of our clubs. In each of our communities, young professionals are eager to contribute their talents, give back, and learn from mentors. Let’s share with them what Rotary is all about. The Engaging Younger Professionals Toolkit at Rotary.org has an action plan to help you reach young leaders and Rotary alumni in your area. Another resource that can help us better reflect our communities – one that is global like us, is a quarter-million members strong, and already shares our values of service and leadership – is Rotaract. Rotaractors are our partners: Team up with them on projects, ask them to speak at your events, and invite them to join your club. Dedicated Rotaractors worldwide are becoming members of Rotary and even starting new Rotary clubs while still serving as members of Rotaract. The world needs Rotary, and Rotary needs strong clubs and engaged members in order to do more good. It is our responsibility – yours and mine – to make sure everyone who shows an interest in joining Rotary gets an invitation. Make use of the Membership Leads tool at Rotary.org, which helps people who are interested in joining Rotary connect with a club that’s right for them. And let’s ensure that every member has a reason to stay. By building strong clubs that engage in meaningful projects and have fun along the way, we provide value to our club members that they cannot find anywhere else. Let’s not keep Rotary’s story – the story captured in those snapshots of service – to ourselves. I chal- lenge you to invite leaders of all ages, men and women, who are looking for a way to give back. By doing so, you will Be the Inspiration in your community and help Rotary continue to do good in the world. BARRY RASSIN President, Rotary International
contents SEPTEMBER Vol.197,No.3 14 ROTARY INTERNATIONAL features 1 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE 28 ICH BIN EIN HAMBURGER 6 INBOX Drop anchor in Rotary’s 2019 convention host city, 8 EDITOR’S NOTE where it’s easy to feel like a local. By Jenny Llakmani 1 1 our world Photography by Samuel Zuder • Winning gambit 40 T RAVEL AS A FORCE FOR PEACE • Stream of consciousness Take a trip outside your comfort zone and come back • Q&A with Shoshana Stewart with a broader perspective. • Toronto convention recap By Rick Steves • People of action around the world Illustrations by Jean-Manuel Duvivier • Snapshot: Atlanta • September events 46 T HE DOCTOR IS IN Tyrone “Doc” Bledsoe has a prescription to ensure 2 5 viewpoints that young black men attend and finish college: the Student African American Brotherhood. • Oh, the humanity By Bryan Smith 53 our clubs “ SAAB is a game changer and Doc a world innovator. I’m convinced that • Warm welcomes in Whistler ”he’s the epitome of Rotary’s motto: Service Above Self. • 4 questions about holding a - Terrance Range World Polio Day event • Remembering 1987-88 ON THE COVER The circa 1905 Wasserschloss RI President Charles C. Keller (water castle) is one of the best-known landmarks in the • HCoanmvbeunrtgiodnacyoturinptsdown: Speicherstadt quarter of Hamburg, Germany. • Message from the trustee chair Photography by Samuel Zuder • Club innovation: Maidenhead Bridge, Berkshire, England OPPOSITE Rotarian Tyrone Bledsoe founded SAAB as a • Crossword brotherhood of young men who help one another “achieve • Rotaract awards lives of purpose and success.” Photography by Frank Ishman 64 LAST LOOK September 2018 The Rotarian | 3
JOHN REZEK Editor in chief General O cers of Rotary International JENNIFER MOODY Art director 2018-19 JENNY LLAKMANI Managing editor President BARRY RASSIN East Nassau, Bahamas GEOFFREY JOHNSON Senior editor President-elect HANK SARTIN Senior editor MARK DANIEL MALONEY Decatur, Alabama, USA DIANA SCHOBERG Senior sta writer Vice President JOHN C. MATTHEWS Mercer Island, Washington, USA VANESSA GLAVINSKAS Contributing editor Treasurer NANCY WATKINS Copy editor PETER IBLHER Nürnberg-Reichswald, Germany MARC DUKES Production manager Directors FRANCESCO AREZZO Ragusa, Italy JOE CANE Design & production assistant OLAYINKA HAKEEM BABALOLA Trans Amadi, Nigeria JEFFRY CADORETTE Media, Pennsylvania, USA MARK DURAN Research editor BASKER CHOCKALINGAM Karur, India LAWRENCE A. DIMMITT Topeka, Kansas, USA CYNTHIA EDBROOKE Senior editorial coordinator RAFAEL M. GARCIA III Pasig, Philippines MAY LI Circulation manager KEIICHI ISHIGURO Tsuruoka West, Japan ROBERT C. KNUEPFER JR. Chicago, Illinois, USA JWK MEDIA GROUP Advertising representatives AKIRA MIKI Himeji, Japan Ad inquiries: [email protected] EUN-SOO MOON Cheonan-Dosol, Korea JWK MEDIA GROUP FLORIDA - 954-406-1000 DAVID D. STOVALL Hall County, Georgia, USA 212 SE Eighth St., Suite 101, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316 BRIAN A.E. STOYEL Saltash, England JWK MEDIA GROUP NEW YORK - 212-292-3718 PIOTR WYGNAŃCZUK Gdynia, Poland 1271 Avenue of the Americas, 43rd floor, New York, NY 10020 GREGORY F. YANK O’Fallon, Illinois, USA PAULO AUGUSTO ZANARDI Curitiba-Cidade Industrial, Brazil Send ad materials to: Marc Dukes, The Rotarian, One Rotary Center, 1560 Sherman Ave., 14th floor, Evanston, IL 60201; phone 847-866-3092; JOHN HEWKO General Secretary email [email protected] Kyiv, Ukraine Media kit: rotary.org/mediakit Trustees of The Rotary Foundation To contact us: The Rotarian, One Rotary Center, 1560 Sherman Ave., 2018-19 Evanston, IL 60201; phone 847-866-3206; email [email protected] Website: therotarian.com Chair To submit an article: Send stories, queries, tips, and photographs by mail RON D. BURTON Norman, Oklahoma, USA or email (high-resolution digital images only). We assume no responsibility for unsolicited materials. Chair-elect To subscribe: Twelve issues at US$12 a year (USA, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin GARY C.K. HUANG Taipei, Taiwan Islands); $16 a year (Canada); $24 a year (elsewhere). Contact the Circulation Department (phone: 847-424-5217 or -5216; email: [email protected]) Vice Chair for details and for airmail rates. Gift subscriptions available at the same rates. BRENDA M. CRESSEY Paso Robles, California, USA To send an address change: Enclose old address label, postal code, and Rotary club, and send to the Circulation Department or email [email protected]. Trustees Postmaster: Send all address changes to Circulation Department, The Rotarian, ÖRSÇELIK BALKAN Istanbul-Karaköy, Turkey One Rotary Center, 1560 Sherman Ave., Evanston, IL 60201. MÁRIO CÉSAR MARTINS Santo André, Brazil Call the Contact Center: USA, Canada, and Virgin Islands (toll-free) 866-976-8279. Elsewhere: 847-866-3000, ext. 8999. DE CAMARGO Unless otherwise noted: All images are copyright ©2018 by Rotary International JOHN F. GERM Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA or are used with permission. MARY BETH GROWNEY SELENE Madison West Towne-Middleton, Published monthly by Rotary International. The Rotarian® is a registered trademark of Rotary International. Wisconsin, USA Copyright ©2018 by Rotary International. All rights reserved. Periodicals postage paid at Evanston, Ill., USA, PER HØYEN Aarup, Denmark and additional mailing offices. Canada Publications Mail Agreement No. 1381644. Canadian return address: SEIJI KITA Urawa East, Japan MSI, PO Box 2600, Mississauga, ON L4T 0A8. This is the September 2018 issue, volume 197, number 3, of JULIA D. PHELPS Amesbury, Massachusetts, USA The Rotarian (ISSN 0035-838X). Publication number: USPS 548-810. K.R. RAVINDRAN Colombo, Sri Lanka KENNETH M. SCHUPPERT JR. Decatur, Alabama, USA 4 | The Rotarian September 2018 GULAM VAHANVATY Bombay, India MICHAEL F. WEBB Mendip, England SANGKOO YUN Sae Hanyang, Korea JOHN HEWKO General Secretary Kyiv, Ukraine
23Reinvent our wheel What is your club doing? In coming Share your club’s great new ideas. months, The Rotarian will be showcasing: Email us at • NEW MEMBERSHIP MODELS [email protected]. • WAYS TO ENGAGE THE COMMUNITY • PROJECT IDEAS • FUNDRAISERS
inbox Redesign feedback Photo praise afforded the luxury of an “oops” moment without the chance of it going viral. We’re all a I’d like to compliment you on the new design The photographs by Stephanie Sinclair in the click away from digital disgrace. of The Rotarian. It was always a problem read- June issue are inspiring. The composition, the ing the digital version, because the magazine balance, and the emotional projection are first In my book Shame Nation: Choosing Kind- was primarily designed for print. But this is class. But more than the pure photographic ness and Compassion in an Age of Cruelty and by far the best, most readable layout of all the excellence, I was impressed by the warm and Trolling (Sourcebooks, October 2017), I share publications I read on my computer and tablet. human presentation of these beautiful and firsthand stories of people who rebounded Wonderful job! determined women. They are working hard and after cyber-blunders and digital disasters, as not giving up in a world of abject inequality and well as resources and advice on how to reclaim CARL DIERSCHOW bias. The photographer had a very poignant your online reputation. Fort Collins, Colorado cause to portray, and she certainly did it in an artistic and compelling manner. She should be Frank Bures’ article is a reminder of how The redesigned Rotarian is welcome. Not only very proud of her accomplishments. the things we share online could affect is the content excellent, as usual, but the our future. There’s no rewind online, and no overall design and layout are appealing. My THOMAS VECCHIONE do-overs in real life. concern is the typography. San Diego SUE SCHEFF Bear in mind that I have been a Rotarian Digital downside Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida since 1986 and am getting older, year by year, as are my eyes. And I expect this applies to I just read Frank Bures’ column in the June is- I enjoyed reading “Past Imperfect” and would most of your readers. When coupled with the sue, “Past Imperfect,” and had to comment. like to add to the discussion. The digital dark dramatic effort by typographers in recent age is the era when online information years to minimize punctuation marks, the As a person who nearly lost my career and becomes rapidly inaccessible because of result is drastically reduced readability. emotional well-being from internet defama- constant upgrades in computer hard- and tion, I know firsthand that unsettling feeling software. Currently, almost no attention is Punctuation marks are like road signs, when you find pictures or comments that may being paid to preserving useful information by informing the reader where the journey is going not be in your best interest. refreshing existing data to be compatible with and how to get there. Having to go back to see new computing platforms. (The Internet if there was punctuation that makes a sentence Sure, some are simply innocent “way-back Archive is an exception.) In contrast, make sense detracts from that journey. Have machine” ones, but others could be malicious. information embedded in physical media (e.g., punctuation marks been minimized simply to save ink? Let them serve their purpose. We’re living in a world where most people are armed with smartphones, and we’re not JENNINGS T. BIRD STEPHANIE SINCLAIR Roanoke, Virginia Stephanie Sinclair photographed young members of a polygamist Mormon sect in Texas in 2008. 6 | The Rotarian September 2018
books, maps, magazines) doesn’t need Overheard on refreshing. It will be accessible indefinitely. social media In my view as a retired public library Photo contest | June director, the major challenges to online information are its vulnerability to being The Rotarian magazine’s annual photo contest showcases the people, hacked by malicious actors and the inevitable places, and projects that show @Rotary in action. Award-winning loss of access to e-content if it is not photographer Stephanie Sinclair selected winners from more than proactively refreshed – including the 1,100 entries. https://t.co/yHfJj1vNrM permanent loss of archival access to letters, – ROTARACT, @ROTARACT journals, and contemporary information. Traditionally, written history has depended I had so much fun working on this contest! Kudos to @Rotary upon access to these primary sources. How and all the fantastic photographers involved! will history be written in the future? – STEPHANIE SINCLAIR, @STEPHSINCLAIR I wonder if others feel the same discomfort. This was always my favorite issue of The Rotarian. Great talent around the world. Amazing how pictures create emotion. BRIAN A. REYNOLDS – KYLE HARTJE, @KYLE_W_H San Luis Obispo, California ShelterBox | May Congressional commitment When disaster strikes, ShelterBox Response Team members provide aid Polio is on the verge of eradication. Through around the world. Follow their journey – https://on.rotary.org/2EYKAEK. the efforts of Rotary International and other – ROTARY INTERNATIONAL humanitarian organizations, soon the challenges of life will no longer include this Yes, Rotary Pakistan benefited from ShelterBoxes when northern debilitating and deadly disease. Pakistan was struck with disaster caused by earthquake. – IQBAL ALI ALAVI Rotary can take pride in knowing that its efforts have helped immunize 2.5 billion I want to do this. From the first time I ever heard of ShelterBox, children in more than 120 countries around I wanted to train to be on a team!! Roll Rotary! #iamarotarian the world. In 2017, Rotary donated nearly – TERRI MILLER $105 million to support polio immunizations, and there were only 22 confirmed cases Outstanding job, guys. Keep up the good work, you are globally. The dream of eradication is within making a difference in so many lives. reach, and now is the time to make it reality. – SUZAN SEALES As a member of Rotary International, I take The editors welcome comments on items published in the magazine but reserve the right to edit for pride in the organization’s work to make the style and length. Published letters do not necessarily reflect the views of the editors or Rotary International world a better, healthier place. And as a leadership, nor do the editors take responsibility for errors of fact that may be expressed by the writers. member of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, I have an opportunity to facilitate Follow us to get updates, share stories with your networks, these polio-ending efforts. In March, and tell us what you think. Congress approved $235 million for fiscal 2018 to help with eradication efforts. The Rotarian, One Rotary Center, 1560 Sherman Ave., Evanston, IL 60201 USA There should be no new victims of polio, WEBSITE therotarian.com twitter.com/rotary facebook.com/rotary and as Rotary continues its commitment to EMAIL [email protected] instagram.com/rotaryinternational this goal, I pledge to my fellow Rotarians that we will work to see that Congress remains committed, as well. SEN. JERRY MORAN Manhattan, Kansas September 2018 The Rotarian | 7
SERVICE A message from the T wo things stand out as defining moments from ABOVE SELF editor in chief a trip I took to Hamburg, Germany, a few years JOHN REZEK ago. The first was motoring up behind the 1,200-foot The Object of Rotary cargo ship Amerigo Vespucci in the city’s harbor. The Unlike other rear deck was stacked with containers, eight high and THE OBJECT of Rotary is to encourage and foster locales that 16 across. The vessel was loaded to the gills; at full the ideal of service as a basis of worthy enterprise capacity, that’s 14,000 containers. Up close, it was an and, in particular, to encourage and foster: overplay their overwhelming sight. Looking around, I saw several hands to cater other ships of similar size, similarly laden. Welcome, FIRST The development of acquaintance I thought, to the world of global trade. as an opportunity for service; to tourists, Hamburg is The next day I was a guest at the Bucerius Kunst SECOND High ethical standards in business and Forum, a boutique exhibition space that was present- professions, the recognition of the worthiness of all content to ing Miró: Painting as Poetry. It was a brilliantly useful occupations, and the dignifying of each Rotarian’s cater to itself. curated collection featuring more than 50 paintings occupation as an opportunity to serve society; and 250 illustrated books that Joan Miró designed for his fellow surrealists. The pieces, loaned from all over THIRD The application of the ideal of service in each Europe and America, included rarely seen early rep- Rotarian’s personal, business, and community life; resentational work. One wonderful curiosity was a sculpture of curled newspaper shrewdly tied – an or- FOURTH The advancement of international dinary object in which Miró saw an intense secret life. understanding, goodwill, and peace through a world fellowship of business and professional In Hamburg, these two experiences comfortably persons united in the ideal of service coexisted. The Four-Way Test Those of you who have never been to Hamburg now have an excellent excuse to visit: the Rotary Interna- OF THE THINGS we think, say, or do: tional Convention from 1 to 5 June. And those of you 1) Is it the TRUTH? who have been before will need no persuading to return. 2) Is it FAIR to all concerned? 3) Will it build GOODWILL and In her article, “Ich bin ein Hamburger,” managing editor Jenny Llakmani describes the city as “the BETTER FRIENDSHIPS? coolest place we never knew we wanted to visit.” Un- 4) Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned? like other locales that overplay their hands to cater to tourists, Hamburg is content to cater to itself. Its Rotarian Code of Conduct charms are authentic, not manufactured. It is a con- fident city that takes its pleasures seriously. Let her The following code of conduct has been adopted for writerly tour, and Hamburg-based Samuel Zuder’s the use of Rotarians: stunning photographs of his muscular city, give you AS A ROTARIAN, I will compelling reasons to go. 1) Act with integrity and high ethical standards Llakmani, who is one of the best-traveled editors in my personal and professional life on the magazine sta , has been a fan of travel writer 2) Deal fairly with others and treat them and their Rick Steves since she embarked on a year of study in Germany in the late 1980s. They finally met this year occupations with respect after she asked him to write for us. In “Travel as a 3) Use my professional skills through Rotary to: Force for Peace,” Steves argues that traveling thoughtfully – and just beyond your comfort zone – mentor young people, help those with special gives you valuable insights. The world is full of “joy, needs, and improve people’s quality of life in love, equally valuable lives, and Güzelyurts.” Read his my community and in the world essay to find out what he means. 4) Avoid behavior that reflects adversely on Rotary or other Rotarians 8 | The Rotarian September 2018
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our world SEPTEMBER events 22 nd Fire on the water EVENT: Peachtree City Dragon Boat Festival HOST: Rotary Club of Peachtree City, Georgia WHAT IT BENEFITS: The Breast Cancer Survivors’ Network and local youth and family charities WHAT IT IS: Fifty teams of 11 people hit Lake Peachtree for 8 th back-to-back heats of 200-meter sprints of dragon Hop to it boats, traditional Chinese paddled boats. High- lighted races include Special Olympians and breast EVENT: Hoptoberfest cancer survivors. A special flower ceremony honors individuals who lost their battles with breast cancer. HOST: Rotary Club of Derby-Shelton, Connecticut 29th Lose your gourd WHAT IT BENEFITS: Local charities supporting families WHAT IT IS: Wings, suds, and live music make for a fresh take on Oktoberfest. Local restaurants, inclu ding EVENT: Pumkin Chunkin Palooza the popular Dew Drop Inn, bring their tastie st HOSTS: wings and craft beers to sample. Rotary clubs of Laurie-Sunrise Beach, Camdenton, Lake Ozark Daybreak, and Lake Ozark, Missouri WHAT IT BENEFITS: Local charities 15th WHAT IT IS: If your local high school’s industrial arts students Bicycle bonanza make trebuchets – ancient catapults – why wouldn’t you launch some pumpkins, raise EVENT: Ride the Ridges some money for local charities, and have some HOST: Rotary Club of Winona, Minnesota fun? There’s also a children’s magic show, a cheerleading competition, and live music. WHAT IT BENEFITS: Feed My Starving Children, Community Food Shelf, and Rotary literacy initiatives WHAT IT IS: Serious cyclists will love the challenging climbs to 29 t-h 30th ridges overlooking the Mississippi River Valley, Giddyup but casual participants may simply appreciate the doughnut awarded to each rider at the top of the first major hill. The post-ride party EVENT: Horse Show and Country Fair features live music. HOST: Rotary Club of Peekskill, New York WHAT IT BENEFITS: Local charities and international projects WHAT IT IS: With both Western and English riding classes, this horse show attracts riders from far and wide. Pony and hay rides, a country fair and craft market, and bounce and slide rides for the kids offer fun for non-equestrians. Tell us about your event. Write to [email protected] with “calendar” in the subject line. 22 | The Rotarian September 2018
ROTARY DAY AT THE UNITED NATIONS Youth Innovation: Crafting Solutions to Emerging Challenges Karibuni means “welcome” in Swahili, Saturday, 10 November 2018 one of Kenya’s official languages. United Nations Office at Nairobi NAIROBI, KENYA JOIN US IN NAIROBI as Rotary’s leaders, rotary.org/un-day members, and guests celebrate our long- #RotaryUNDay standing relationship with the United Nations and recognize young leaders who are changing our world.
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viewpoints Oh, the humanity Want to be one with the world? Hop on the subway by BARBARA BROTMAN RICHARD MIA L et us now sing the “It’s one of the places where the level of and fragment ourselves, the praises of public interaction with all sorts of people is still less aware and tolerant transportation. It there, and it’s still honest. It’s transit as we’re going to be.” may be a small chorus: Public social melting pot.” transit has had a rough ride He believes so strongly in lately. Ride-hailing services It is that, for better or worse. When public transportation that are eating into the customer you hear a man somewhere along the when Tesla CEO Elon Musk base, funding is a constant subway platform shout, “But I don’t want last December derided it as battle, Elon Musk is throwing to put on my pants!” as I did recently, you an inconvenient “pain in the shade, and the New York City may wish for a bit more privacy. ass” that surrounds riders subways seem on the edge with “a bunch of random of catastrophe. Toderian has seen some rough mo- strangers, one of who might ments too, but he remains steadfast. be a serial killer,” Toderian But I’m singing out. I’m not “You can choose to see those situa- created the Twitter hashtag only a rider; I’m a fan. tions as fuel for intolerance, or fuel for #GreatThingsThatHap- curiosity and understanding,” he says. penedOnTransit. Yes, I know all the down- “I’m not a kumbaya kind of person, but sides. People on Chicago’s “L” I do believe that the more we segment The stories poured in. seem to have forgotten how to I met my wife on a train use earbuds. They conduct platform. … My wife helped de- private phone calls at top vol- liver a baby in a bus shelter. … ume. Everyone is squeezed in My mother has become good cheek – and not only the facial cheek – friends with a group of women she met by jowl with strangers. taking the bus to work every morning. … And there are kumbaya moments. Yet I remain a defender. Beyond the Like the night Barack Obama was convenience, the freedom from sitting elected president and my daughter Nina in traffic, and the precious minutes to took the L downtown to the victory rally. sit and read (should you be blessed with The train was a rolling celebration, with a seat), public transportation has a qual- people on cellphones calling out the ity no car ride can match: It is public. states as they were declared for Obama while everyone cheered. It is an increasingly rare spot where Or the Boston version, which my people of all backgrounds and social daughter Robin experienced riding the classes share life for a while. “T” during a Red Sox playoff game. “Our conductor basically announced the “It’s one of the most diverse places in whole game over the loudspeaker the cities,” says Brent Toderian, an urbanist entire ride, all in an extremely strong and former planning director of the City of Vancouver, British Columbia, and a fierce advocate of public transportation. September 2018 The Rotarian | 25
Boston accent,” she says. “The train was trains can bring even more memorable Solitude” published in the Journal of hanging on his every word and cheering. moments. Nina cherishes the courtesy Experimental Psychology, they sought The Red Sox won and went on to win she once encountered on a crowded bus to figure out why people ride public the World Series!” in Kolkata, India. transportation in silence. Social interac- tion is known to make us happy; so why, It isn’t just the good times that unite Someone directed her to a seat that presented with daily opportunities to riders. Mutual adversity is a classic was protected from the engine heat by connect with our fellow straphangers, bonding experience – and public trans- fabric. Then, as seats opened up, riders do we hunker down over our phones? portation provides plenty of that. kept shuttling her to increasingly com- fortable ones. “I asked this old woman Because we believe – wrongly – that Like sharing an L car with a drunken why everyone seemed intent on getting we will enjoy the ride more if we don’t passenger who is about to vomit. This is me into the best seats, and she told me talk to anyone, they found. a common enough occurrence that it has that I was clearly a guest in her country happened to both Nina and me, unfold- and she wanted to be hospitable.” They asked study participants to pre- ing in the same way. Both times, the en- dict how pleasant various kinds of com- tire car started rooting for the imminent Public transportation is like magic mutes would be. Most said they would barfer to hold off until the next stop. “You for tourists – an instant entree into the enjoy a commute in solitude more than can do it!” people called out. “We’re al- everyday life of a city. On a recent trip one talking to a stranger. most there!” The inebriated passenger to Berlin, my husband and I spent a on my car made it, to our collective relief, week traversing the city by tram, bus, But the predictions tended to be bolting off the train toward a garbage and subway, being jostled alongside the wrong. When the researchers asked Chi- can. My daughter’s car was not so lucky. locals, looking at how people were cago bus and commuter train users to dressed, and observing the differences either ride in isolation or strike up a con- And how about all the nice people in public transit culture (no music play- versation with a fellow passenger, and I’ve slept with on the train? They’ve ing or loud talking! Go, Berlin!). And to then rate their experiences, they dis- borne up stoically as I’ve nodded off how else would we have had the charm- covered that people found conversation against their shoulders, which I do reg- ing experience of seeing people ride the more pleasant on average than solitude. ularly, the rocking motion of the L serv- subway with their dogs? ing as instant-action Ambien. It’s a “Talking to a stranger was the thing kindness I appreciate, twice a day. But you don’t have to be on public that made the commute most positive,” transit abroad to break down barriers says Epley, a professor of behavioral sci- Do you enjoy learning about other between worlds; you can do it at home. ence at the University of Chicago Booth cultures? Step aboard public transit, as School of Business. graduate student Margaret Smith did My friend Stacey Moncrieff recalls while visiting New York a few years the time a young man started playing Our error is most unfortunate, the ago. She noticed a garbage bag at the loud music on his phone – the same sec- authors write, especially since com- foot of a man sitting on the subway tion over and over. She looked daggers at muting is reported to be one of the least across from her. She noticed it because him, then noticed that he was engrossed enjoyable parts of the average person’s it was oozing blood. Others had appar- in his notebook and writing down lyrics. day. It doesn’t have to be, they point ently noticed it too, because at the next out: “A surprising antidote for an oth- station a police officer boarded and As the train pulled into a downtown erwise unpleasant experience could be asked him what was in the bag. station, a woman said to him, “I hope sitting very close by.” we get to hear your music someday.” “He “The guy just looks up nonchalantly, lit up,” Stacey says. “He started show- It’s all there on public transportation shrugs, and says, ‘It’s a goat,’ ” she recalls. ing her what he was doing and talking – the good, the bad, the bad-and-good. about the recording and how excited he But especially the feeling of being truly It turned out that he was an African was. Suddenly, everyone around me part of a big, buzzing city, surrounded immigrant taking a freshly slaughtered (myself included) was smiling. It was a regularly by a swirl of jostling, loudly goat home to eat. This was not going over magic moment.” yakking humanity. well in the subway. “The police officer said, ‘We’ve been following you since the Most of us, however, don’t board the For the price of a fare, it’s all yours. Bronx. You’ve been dripping blood all train hoping for such a moment. We The doors are closing, as they say on the over the train system,’ ” Smith says. yearn for solitude and a seat. Chicago L at every stop, but you never know when another door might open. n You can feel as though you’re in an- But maybe we should reconsider, other country riding public transit in suggest behavioral scientists Nicholas Barbara Brotman is an Oak Park, Illinois- big cities, but when you are actually in Epley and Juliana Schroeder. based freelancer and a former writer for another country, taking buses and the Chicago Tribune. In a study titled “Mistakenly Seeking 26 | The Rotarian September 2018
2019 convention Ich bin ein Hamburger Drop anchor in Germany’s gateway to the world, where it’s easy to feel like a local by Jenny Llakmani | photography by Samuel Zuder 28 | The Rotarian September 2018
Walking through Hamburg’s main train station on our first day in the city, my husband, Anton, spots a man sitting in a tiny bar enjoying a beer and a smoke. His peculiar garb – black corduroy jacket, vest, and bell-bottom pants, along with a battered top hat – gives him away. He’s one of Germany’s Wan- dergesellen, a journeyman carpenter who, in a tradition that dates to the Middle Ages, travels the world for two or three years carrying only a change of clothes, a few euros, and his skills. Like us, he’s just another visitor to Hamburg. A real person in a real city – a city, as we come to realize, that’s the coolest place we never knew we wanted to visit. September 2018 The Rotarian | 29
Above: To truly appreciate In an age when every destination bridges and canals that locals claim out- Hamburg, see it from the number those of Amsterdam and Venice water. Tour boats cruise Lake seems to be making itself over to please and a picturesque lake that serves as the Alster, the Elbe River, and the tourists, Hamburg steadfastly chooses to city’s playground. As befits a Marktplatz city’s many canals. Or set your please itself. Undeniably authentic, the for the world’s goods, shopping abounds, own course by renting a pad- city greets visitors with a friendly ahoy! as do options for entertainment. On Sat- dle boat, sailboat, canoe, or and then goes about its business – and urday nights, people of all ages converge kayak. Above right: Tour business is the business of Hamburg – on the Reeperbahn, the once notorious buses make the rounds, but leaving you to enjoy its many charms. red-light district where, in the early convention goers can take Situated on the Elbe River, the city’s 1960s, the Beatles became the Beatles. advantage of free access to pathway to the North Sea, Hamburg – And jutting out into the river like a ship all of Hamburg’s public transit which will host the 2019 Rotary Interna- at full sail is the new Elbphilharmonie options, including the U-Bahn, tional Convention – is the third-largest (the Elbphi for short), a brick and glass shown here. Previous pages: port in Europe, a thriving hub of global concert hall whose dramatic exterior and The wavy roofline of Ham- trade. Across the river from the colossal finely tuned interior proclaim Hamburg’s burg’s newest landmark, the harbor is the inviting downtown, with Elbphilharmonie, breaks above the historic brick warehouses of the Speicherstadt district. 30 | The Rotarian September 2018
intent to establish a serious performance 1940, puts it succinctly: “Hamburg is terrace that runs along the Inner Alster, heritage rivaling anything the continent water, everywhere.” Even the Ham in Hamburg’s wealthy merchants once might offer. Hamburg comes from an Old Saxon word promenaded with their unmarried daugh- All of this in a city that’s compact and meaning “marshland.” ters. It’s still a chic showcase of the city’s easy to navigate on foot, by bike, on pub- The aqueous heart of this maritime city inhabitants. Anton and I grab a table at one lic transit, and – maybe even especially is the Alster, a lake created 800 years ago of the open-air cafés and watch the red- – by boat. by damming a small river. It’s divided and-white tour boats that dock here before into two parts: the Binnenalster, or Inner heading out to explore the Outer Alster, Getting to know Hamburg’s water- Alster, and the larger Außenalster, or the city’s canals, and the Elbe. Outer Alster. The Elbe, meanwhile, is the We opt to take the footpath around the ways is key to understanding what makes city’s pulsing lifeline: Though Hamburg Outer Alster. People are fishing, sunbath- the city tick. Holger Knaack, co-chair of lies 65 miles from the North Sea, here at ing, reading, walking dogs, biking, and the convention’s Host Organization Com- the city’s center the river and its canals boating. With no private motorboats mittee and a past governor of District still rise and fall with the tides. allowed, says Andreas von Möller, a Ham- Along the Jungfernstieg, a stepped burg native whose roots here go back for September 2018 The Rotarian | 31
This page: The tower of the Rathaus (city hall) is visible from many vantage points around Hamburg, and the centrally located building makes a great meeting spot. There are benches on the plaza out front as well as in the neo-Gothic entrance hall, which is open to the public. Opposite: The ruins of St. Nikolai church were left as a reminder of the horrors of war. Its 482-foot- high spire, still Hamburg’s tallest, features a viewing platform that is accessible by elevator. “Stumbling stones” embedded in side- walks around the city are another reminder of the human cost of war. generations, “sailing on the lake is a Though defined by its waterways, occurred, we visit the St. Nikolai memo- dream.” Von Möller, a past governor of rial. The tallest of Hamburg’s five major District 1890, serves as Knaack’s fellow Hamburg was forged by fire. Two major churches, St. Nikolai remains in its HOC chair. conflagrations – the first in 1842, the sec- bombed-out state as a memorial to all A little more than 4 miles around, the ond ignited by Allied air raids during victims of war. Its crypt houses a small lakeshore is dotted with cafés and restau- World War II – devastated the city, leav- but powerful museum whose account of rants. At the Alsterperle, a self-service café ing few traces of its medieval origins. The the air raids provides perspective on the housed in a former public toilet – far more first fire broke out on the Deichstrasse, a experiences not only of the people of appealing than it sounds – we pull out our short street built on a 13th-century dike; Hamburg, but of the bomber crews map to plot our next move. The lady shar- despite that, the street today contains the themselves. ing our table asks where we’re from. We’ve only cluster of buildings in the old Ham- As we walk through the city, another hardly begun to reply when another café- burg style of architecture. One of them, reminder of World War II is at our feet: goer appears at our side and asks, “Did you Deichstrasse 25, houses a restaurant Stolpersteine, or “stumbling stones.” say you’re from Chicago? I love Chicago!” called Zum Brandanfang, which means These brass plates are fitted in among the Our new friends have tips for us in the “the place where the fire started”; on the cobblestones in front of buildings where nearby neighborhood of St. Georg: The bar other side of the Old Town, there’s a Jewish people, Roma, gays, dissidents, on top of Le Méridien hotel, we learn, has street called Brandsende, or Fire’s End. and other victims of the Nazis last lived. the best view of the Alster, while the The destruction wrought by war was Each plate is engraved with the name of terrace at the Hotel George is a fantastic on a different scale. During 10 days of an individual and, in most cases, the years place to enjoy the sunset. With friends like bombing in July 1943, at least 40,000 when he or she was born, was deported that, who needs a map? people died as entire neighborhoods were to a concentration camp, and died. Con- obliterated. To better understand what 32 | The Rotarian September 2018
BE OUR GUEST Moin, moin is the traditional Hamburg way of saying hello, and the city’s Rotarians are eager to greet you. The Hamburg Host Organization Committee (HOC), chaired by Andreas von Möller and Holger Knaack, has planned cultural events for every night of the convention to show you the many sides of Hamburg and introduce you to local Rotarians. To learn more and buy tickets, visit ric2019.rotary.de/en. SATURDAY Hamburg Rotarians will host a welcome party for 2,000 convention goers in the historic Hamburg Chamber of Commerce building in the heart of the city. SUNDAY The renowned National Youth Ballet, whose general director, John Neumeier, is celebrating both his 80th birthday and his 46th season with the State Opera of Hamburg ballet company next year, will perform for convention goers. (Balletomanes, take note: The 45th Hamburg Ballet Days begins shortly after the convention ends, on 16 June.) MONDAY The HOC has reserved Hamburg’s show- stopping new landmark, the Elbphilharmonie, for two performances of classical music. Celebrated for its architecture as well as its acoustics, the building also offers breathtaking views of the city and its harbor. TUESDAY Local clubs will organize host hospitality events. Experience German Gastfreundschaft! PUBLIC EVENTS The HOC is also planning several free public events, including a 14-day bicycle tour that will take some 200 riders from Austria through Germany to Hamburg. Each day, the group will stop for an event to raise awareness of polio. Rotarians from around Hamburg can join the ride for the final 20 kilometers, arriving at the Rathaus (city hall) on the morning of Saturday, 1 June. Riders need to register in advance, but everyone is welcome to come to the Rathaus square to celebrate the end of the ride. One of the city’s major thoroughfares, meanwhile, will feature booths presenting Rotary’s six areas of focus to the public. September 2018 The Rotarian | 33
WHEN IN ceived in 1996 by Berlin artist Gunter or Speicher, conjure a Northern Ger- HAMBURG… Demnig, the stones are now found in cit- many-meets-Venice vibe. ies throughout Europe. The 19th-century uniformity of the Locals share their favorite From the Deichstrasse, we walk down Speicherstadt yields to the modern sen- things to do in the city a narrow alleyway to the canal behind the sibility of the adjacent HafenCity. When historic row of merchant houses. Here, finished in 2030, this riverside develop- “Sailing on the Outer Alster; driving along goods originating in ports around the ment project – which features shops, the Elbchaussee to the Michelin-starred world were delivered by boat and stored restaurants, apartments, and offices restaurants Landhaus Scherrer and Le on the lower floor of a house; the second housed in a mix of older buildings and Canard Nouveau; and exploring the riverside floor traditionally featured offices and a new ones designed by Renzo Piano, village of Blankenese.” large reception space for clients, while Rem Koolhaas, Philippe Starck, among – Andreas von Möller, HOC co-chair the family occupied the upper floors. Ca- others – will almost double the size of the nals also define the nearby district called city center. “Café Paris in the city center. They have the Speicherstadt, where the narrow wa- The architectural highlight of Hafen- a great chocolate tart that my dad loves. terways between tall brick warehouses, City is already in place: the two-year-old, My favorite is the breakfast for two with champagne.” –Yvette Grave, Rotary Club of Hamburg-Winterhude “Take a walk around the Outer Alster; it’s really cool, and you see a lot of Hamburg. Every 500 meters there is a restaurant or café. The best is Portonovo, an Italian restaurant with great views of the lake.” – Andreas Wende, HOC marketing chair “The Fischmarkt is an open-air Sunday morning market with fish, fruit, flowers, souvenirs, and food. The proper way is to party Saturday night away in St. Pauli and then go directly to the Fischmarkt for Fischfrikadellen (fishburger on a bread roll).” – Gundula Miethke, Rotary regional communication specialist “Don’t come just for convention – stay on and go to the sea. The North Sea and the Baltic are both an hour or two away. Lübeck, on the Baltic, is a beautiful old town.” – Yvette Grave “Hamburg is a harbor city, and the fish is good everywhere. A famous restaurant, Fischereihafen, is one of the best in Germany.” – Andreas Wende “If you are looking for good German bread, go to Bäcker Gaues in the Europa Passage. Another bakery, Dat Backhus, is a chain but also quite good. Ask for Franzbrötchen, a sweet Hamburg treat made with cinnamon and sugar.” – Gundula Miethke 34 | The Rotarian September 2018
26-story Elbphilharmonie concert hall. Saints Nikolai, Michaelis, Petri, Jacobi, Below left: Skyline Bar (None of Hamburg’s buildings rise taller and Katharinen. 20up, atop the Empire than the city’s principal church steeples.) Riverside Hotel in the St. The building’s base, a repurposed brick ‘Hamburg is a very special city, Pauli neighborhood, offers warehouse, gives way in dramatic fashion craft cocktails and views to a glass superstructure that evokes a very open city, and one of the most of the massive port across soaring waves. Its midlevel terrace com- modern cities in Germany, both archi- the Elbe. Below right: All mands contrasting perspectives that tecturally and in mindset,” says Knaack. manner of vessels, from capture the city’s ethos: in one direction, This cosmopolitan outlook is a conse- pleasure craft to huge a view of the Elbe and the giant cranes quence of 800 years of history as a free cargo ships, ply the river. lining the immense port, which occupies port – and as not merely a city, but an 17,500 acres of land and water on the op- independent city-state. The city’s official posite side of the river; and in the other name, Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg direction, the city proper, with its – the Free and Hanseatic City of Ham- Rathaus (city hall) and the spires of September 2018 The Rotarian | 35
Clockwise from top: Get to know Hamburg through its eclectic shops, such as Freiheit & Roosen, a record store in St. Pauli. Near the Messe (convention center), you’ll find the lively Schanzen- viertel neighborhood with its many restaurants and bars, and Planten un Blomen, a large park that features a botanical garden, a green- house, and a Japanese garden. 36 | The Rotarian September 2018
burg – recalls Hamburg’s membership turning around under the Elbphi and HAMBURG in the Hanseatic League, a confederation steaming back to the dock. ON THE PAGE of northern European cities that domi- In St. Pauli, the Reeperbahn – a long nated trade on the North and Baltic seas thoroughfare where rope-makers once Hamburg: A Cultural History from about 1200 to 1500. stretched out their hemp – has been by Matthew Jefferies “We live from the port,” von Möller home to sailors’ watering holes for adds. “That’s where Hamburg breathes. well over a century; in 1848 the district Every great city It’s a gateway to the world.” had 19 legal brothels. Since the Beatles deserves a book like For a close encounter with the tower- lived here in the early ’60s, playing this. Concise and full ing cargo ships, Knaack and von Möller nightly gigs in the Kaiserkeller and of interesting tidbits, recommend one of the harbor cruises the Star Club, it has become much more it reaches back to that depart from the Landungsbrücke, respectable. the city’s earliest a floating dock in the St. Pauli neighbor- “My wife and I are regulars on Satur- history and covers hood. The boat takes us downriver as far day night on the Reeperbahn. We go to the waterfront of its as the suburb of Övelgönne, where hill- the theaters,” says Andreas Wende, the neighborhoods and side villas overlook a popular beach. We marketing chair for the HOC and a mem- landmarks, its values and customs, pass the U-434, a Russian submarine ber of the Rotary Club of Ahrensburg. and its people. that has been converted into a museum, “It’s typical for young people ages about and the Altona Fischmarkt. Heading 20 to 40 to go to the Reeperbahn on Fri- Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann back upriver, we encounter vessels in day and Saturday evenings. They go out This 1901 family saga is set in nearby drydock and watch as massive ships are at 10 or 11 on Saturday night, party until Lübeck, Nobel laureate Mann’s native loaded with as many as 20,000 contain- 5 or 6 a.m., then go to the Fischmarkt on city and, like Hamburg, a Hanseatic port ers. Finally, we glide past the Rickmer Sunday morning” – a sort of hard day’s peopled with merchants and traders. Rickmers, another museum ship, before night in reverse. Inferno: The Fiery Destruction of Hamburg, 1943 by Keith Lowe This deeply researched history describes the Allied firebombing of Hamburg during World War II and its aftermath from the point of view of both the city’s residents and the men who carried out the bombing. The End: Hamburg 1943 by Hans Erich Nossack This eyewitness report, written three months after the bombing, reflects with heartbreaking clarity on the event itself and how it reverberated through the survivors’ souls. The World That Summer by Robert Muller Hamburg in 1936 is the setting for this semi-autobiographical story of a boy whose life is shaped by that time and place. Baby’s in Black: Astrid Kirchherr, Stuart Sutcliffe, and the Beatles by Arne Bellstorf Fans of the Fab Four can go back in time to the early 1960s, when a group of Hamburg art students befriended the still-unknown lads from Liverpool. September 2018 The Rotarian | 37
BREAKOUT SESSIONS Hamburg’s efficient public transit want to capture where we are and what we can do – the possibilities of Rotary as The Hamburg convention will draw system is another great way to see the an organization and in our clubs. We want attendees from around the world. Do city’s sights; passes will be included in you to be there to experience that.” you want to share an idea or project with the registration for the Hamburg con- The Messe, the city’s convention them? Breakout sessions are an ideal vention. “You’ll have access to trams, center, is centrally located – about a way to inspire, educate, and inform. ferries, everything,” says John Blount, 10-minute walk from the major conven- convention chair. tion hotels, and easily accessible by Help Rotary build a breakout program A city that prides itself as a global gate- public transit. Several distinct neighbor- that celebrates our diversity. We are way – and that is home to the first Rotary hoods filled with restaurants, cafés, seeking sessions in English, French, club in Germany – Hamburg is an ideal shops, and parks are nearby: the bohe- German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. place to bring together Rotarians from mian Karolinenviertel; the sumptuous Visit on.rotary.org/IC19sessions around the world. The convention’s theme, Rotherbaum; the historically Jewish to learn more and submit your proposal. Capture the Moment, “is about the power Grindel, now the leafy university quarter; All proposals must be submitted online and potential and force Rotary has in your and the hip Schanzenviertel, which by 30 September. life and in the world,” says Blount. “We 38 | The Rotarian September 2018
should be an irresistible draw to young citizens are known, have created a city Top left: The activity of Rotarians and Rotaractors. designed for their own enjoyment – Hamburg’s port, which Back in the Altstadt (Old Town), the though they happily share the pleasures handles more than 130 Mönckebergstrasse, which runs roughly of their museums and parks, their theat- million tons of cargo per year, from the main train station to the Rathaus, ers, restaurants, and cafés, with visitors. contrasts with the tranquil is the city’s major shopping thoroughfare. “It is an attractive city, but the people residential neighborhoods Haute boutiques line the arcades of the are modest and humble,” says von Möller. along the Elbe. Top right: Neustadt, and more than 100 shops and “We don’t show off. We say, ‘Gosh, you The famed Reeperbahn, restaurants fill the five floors of the Europa might like it. You should have a look.’ ” with its myriad entertain- Passage. And that’s just a taste of Ham- Come June 2019, I recommend you do ment options, is where burg’s offerings, which we’ve only begun to just that. n Hamburg goes to party. explore when our five-day stay concludes. As Anton and I head out of town, already Find out more about the 1-5 June September 2018 The Rotarian | 39 plotting to return, we finally figure out 2019 Rotary Convention and register at Hamburg’s allure. Hamburgers, as its riconvention.org.
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by RICK STEVES | illustrations by JEAN-MANUEL DUVIVIER TRAVEL AS A FORCE FOR PEACE Take a trip outside your comfort zone and come back with a broader perspective t was 1969, I was 14 years old, and one night my dad came home and said, “Son, we’re going to Norway to see the relatives.” I thought, “Stupid idea.” A few days after arriving, I was sitting on the carpet with my cousins in Bergen watching Neil Armstrong on TV as he took “et lite skritt for et menneske ... one giant leap for mankind.” It oc- curred to me that this was more than an American celebration. It was a human one. Without my realizing it, travel was broadening my perspective. While reinforcing how thankful I was to be an American, it was also making me a better citizen of the planet. It was shaping the 14-year-old me to be a force for peace and an advocate for the importance of travel. Since 1975, I’ve spent four months a year in Europe. I’m a travel teacher. And for the first decade of my career, my focus was budget tips. I wrote Europe Through the Back Door, which taught travelers how to get a good meal affordably, how to find a charming local guesthouse, how to pack light, and how to enjoy the sights. Then I became interested in teaching people about the art and history of Europe. I wrote Europe 101 to encourage travelers to connect with culture in a deeper register. But since 9/11, I’ve realized that my mission is about more than saving money or visiting museums. Travel can also be a force for peace – but that depends upon how you travel and where. If you travel thoughtfully, travel can become a political act. Ever since that epiphany, my goal has been to inspire and equip Americans to come home from their travels with the most valuable souvenir: empathy for the other 96 percent of humanity. And that teaching led me to write Travel as a Political Act. September 2018 The Rotarian | 41
These days, rather than wish one another “bon voyage,” we and plays the eagle-bone flute. The dad tends the flock and say, “Have a safe trip.” As a nation, it seems we’re gripped with plays his flute, too, so the entire family knows that all is well. fear. But in my travels, I’ve learned that fear is for people who don’t get out much, and that the flip side of fear is understand- I hiked up the shepherd’s hill and sat looking out over the ing. We gain that understanding when we travel. We appreciate town. On a higher hill, just beyond the simple tin roof of a the importance of building bridges rather than walls. mosque, I saw the letters G Ü Z E L Y U R T spelled out in white rocks. Listening to the timeless sounds of the com- For that reason, I have a crazy fantasy: What if all countries munity, I thought how there are countless Güzelyurts, contributed to a fund that provided high school graduates scattered across every country on earth. Each is humble, yet with an all-expenses-paid, three-week international trip? filled with rich traditions, proud people, and its own village- centric view of our world. Güzelyurt means “beautiful land.” Yes, I know this sounds silly. But it could be the single While few visitors would consider it particularly beautiful, most practical investment the world could make for peace. that’s how the people who call it home see it. They would live Because if that happened, each of those young people would nowhere else. For them, it truly is a güzel yurt. forever be more mindful of the love and joy and humanity that fill our world beyond their own borders. Imagine if you Our world is full of joy, love, equally valuable lives, and had to have a passport and travel abroad before you could Güzelyurts. And when we travel and meet the people who vote. The political landscape of the United States – or of any live in those places, we are forever changed. other country – would be much different, and the whole world would be better off for it. Rotary’s Youth Exchange I love Turkey. And Italy. And India. There are so many program and peace fellowships are a great model for this. places that beckon, it’s hard to choose. My travel tip is to visit a place – whatever place – that’s just beyond your comfort Thomas Jefferson wrote that travel makes a person wiser, zone. A place that wouldn’t normally make the top of your but less happy. Muhammad said, “Don’t tell me how educated list. Travel to challenge yourself: Find similarities and dif- you are. Tell me how much you have traveled.” I say travel is ferences with your own country, and make connections with a great way to get to know the extended human family. the people you meet. For an illustration of that idea, take a walk with me Worried about refugees? Visit Germany, which has taken through an obscure-to-the-world but central-to-itself village in over a million of them since 2015. Concerned about Mus- in central Turkey called Güzelyurt. I was a special guest at lims? Visit Turkey or Morocco or Bosnia. Wonder why a wedding there. The entire community had gathered. Call- Israelis and Palestinians can’t get along? Visit the Holy Land. ing the party to order, the oldest couple looked happily at the Think undocumented immigrants are causing problems? young bride and groom and shared a local blessing: “May you Visit Mexico beyond the resorts. Think our taxes are too grow old together on one pillow.” high? Visit Scandinavia. Threatened by communism? Visit Cuba. One of the great joys of travel is the rich insights you Leaving the party, I walked down the street. The town gain by talking with people you would otherwise not have met. struck me as cluttered, with ugly unfinished concrete build- ings bristling with rusty reinforcement bars. While I love I prefer to travel in a way that forces me to really learn the Turks, I couldn’t help but think, “Why can’t these people about other corners of our world. In fact, I like to visit lands get their act together and just finish these buildings?” That – such as Iran, Cuba, and Palestine – where I can get to know was before I learned that in Turkey, there’s an ethic among people who are supposed to be our enemies. When we travel parents – even poor ones – that you leave your children with to these places, we humanize each other: They get to know a house. Historically, Turks have been reluctant to store us, and we get to know them. And that makes it tougher for money in banks, because it tends to disappear through infla- their propaganda to demonize us, and tougher for our prop- tion. So instead, they invest it, bit by bit, into constructing a aganda to demonize them. building. Every time they get a hundred bucks together, they put it into that ever-growing house. They leave the rebar I believe that if you’re going to bomb a place, you should exposed until they have another hundred bucks, when they know its people first. Even if military force is justified, it make another wall, put in a window, frame in another door should hurt when you kill someone. So, a few years ago, I … and add more rebar. Now, when I look at that rusty rebar, went to Iran. I remember that Turks say, “Rebar holds the family to- gether,” and it seems much prettier to me. I traveled there on a mission: to produce a public televi- sion special that would help build better understanding At the edge of Güzelyurt, I came upon a little boy playing between our countries. Rather than focus on the Iranian a flute. Just as in biblical times, it was carved from an eagle government’s offenses – its alleged funding of terrorists, bone. I listened. And I heard another eagle-bone flute, com- threats to Israel, and nuclear ambitions – my goal was to ing from over the hill, where his dad was tending sheep. As connect with Iran’s people and culture. they have for centuries, the boy stays home with the mom What I experienced in Iran was a revelation. Of course, I saw (and documented) hateful anti-U.S. and anti-Israel 42 | The Rotarian September 2018
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propaganda. But what struck me most was how kind and university students in Ramallah, Palestinian Christians who welcoming the Iranian people were to me as an individual. run a school in Bethlehem, and Arab refugees who have spent Iranians consider visitors to be a gift from God, and treat a generation living in a 20,000-person refugee camp just them that way. Routinely I would look up from my note- outside Nablus. taking and see Iranians gathered and wanting to talk. They were fascinated that I was an American and curious to better While I had wonderful opportunities to get to know both understand me. I found it ironic that, in a country I was told Israelis and Palestinians, sadly, I never had a chance to be hated me, my nationality was a real plus everywhere I went. with both at the same time. Walking a soot-blemished stretch of the barrier separating Israeli and Palestinian One of my most revealing interactions came in, of all lands, I saw graffiti murals honoring bomb-throwing Pales- places, a Tehran traffic jam. As we struggled to drive along tinians – considered freedom fighters on one side of that wall a congested street, our driver suddenly declared, “Death to and terrorists on the other. I sensed that the younger genera- traffic.” Startled (and expecting to hear “death to Israel” or tion on both sides wanted to connect. But because of this “death to America”), I asked him to explain. He said, “Here barrier, there is literally no common ground where people in Iran, when something frustrates us and we have no from opposite sides can come together. Walls may be neces- control over it, this is what we say: ‘Death to traffic. Death sary at times, but they represent a diplomatic failure. to … whatever.’ ” There’s a little turnout on the Palestine side of the wall This caused me to think differently about one of the big- where travelers can conveniently change from a Palestinian gest concerns many Americans have about Iranians: their car to an Israeli one. When I left Palestine, my Israeli driver penchant for declaring “death to” this and “death to” that. was there, waiting for my Palestinian driver to drop me off. Did our driver literally want to kill all those drivers that were While I barely knew either of these men, I’ll never forget in our way? Of course not. He speaks English poorly and was their handshake in the shadow of an Israeli watchtower. merely attempting to translate the word “damn”: “Damn this traffic jam!” If we say, “Damn those teenagers,” do we really These men were both beautiful, caring people, trapped in want them to die and burn in hell for eternity? Of course not. a problem much bigger than either of them. In the exchange, Just turn down the music. I was little more than a suitcase shuttling from one back seat to the other. I watched as they quietly shook hands, looked When we travel – whether to some part of the “axis of evil” into each other’s eyes, and said a solemn and heartfelt “sha- or just to a place where people yodel when they’re happy, or lom.” And I thought, “With all these good people on both fight bulls to impress girls, or can’t possibly serve breakfast sides, there has got to be a solution – and a big part of it will until today’s croissants arrive – we enrich our lives and bet- be regular people building not walls, but bridges.” ter understand our place on this planet. We undercut groups whose agenda is to manipulate us by sowing fear, hatred, and The examples in this article are a few of the many ways mistrust. People-to-people connections help us learn that that you can consider political realities in your travels and we can disagree and still coexist peacefully. embrace travel as a force for peace. But travel makes a dif- ference only if you act – that is, if you do something positive Another place I’ve traveled to find inspiration for peace in with your broadened perspective once you return home. this complicated world is the Holy Land. Where bodies of While each of us may have different wattage in our bulbs, we water converge, you get riptides that mean more fish – and can all bring light to our communities: by voting as if our more danger. Where tectonic plates rub together, you get glo- world depended on it, by donating time or money to worth- rious mountains – and devastating earthquakes. And where while causes, by seeking out balanced journalism, by great cultures meet and mingle, you get more interesting promoting sustainability, by confronting problems coopera- cuisine – and interethnic strife. In places like this, I make a tively, and by getting out and interacting with the world. point to practice “dual narrative” travel: hearing perspectives That’s how I make travel a political act. And that’s why I close from both sides of thorny issues. If you travel thoughtfully, each of my TV shows with my cry for peace – a simple wish with an open mind and without an agenda, listening to both that we Americans “keep on travelin’.” n narratives helps you gain empathy for a wide range of people and perspectives. In short, you learn. Rick Steves writes travel guidebooks, hosts the public television series Rick Steves’ Europe, and, with his 100 colleagues at Rick I had a powerful week in Israel, working with top-notch Steves’ Europe, organizes and leads bus tours throughout Eu- Israeli tour guides and getting to know people from all walks rope. He has partnered with the Rotary Club of Edmonds, of life – from falafel vendors in Jerusalem, to young urban- Washington, to provide a 24-unit apartment building used by ites in Tel Aviv, to settlers living in newly built, supermodern, the YWCA in a collaborative effort to support homeless moth- planned Israeli communities on Palestinian land. ers and their children. Steves’ newest book is the revised third edition of Travel as a Political Act. And then I had a powerful week in Palestine, working with top-notch Palestinian tour guides and getting to know female September 2018 The Rotarian | 45
FRANK ISHMAN 46 | The Rotarian September 2018
THE DOCTOR IS IN Tyrone ‘Doc’ Bledsoe has a prescription to ensure that young black men attend and finish college: the Student African American Brotherhood T hey had been told to arrive by 8:15 a.m., but as is their habit, they’ve arrived early and taken their seats around tables arranged in the shape of a horseshoe. Dressed nearly identically – blazers with white pocket squares, crisp white shirts, pressed trousers, brightly polished shoes – the young African-American men sit up straight, eager and attentive, the day’s agenda spread before them like battle plans. Dabbing a handkerchief at a patina of perspiration that glistens on his bald head, Tyrone Bledsoe steps before them like a preacher poised to deliver an old-school stemwinder. But this is a Dallas conference room, not a church, and even if it were, fire and brimstone is not Bledsoe’s style. His broad, disarming smile – met with grins from the group – announces without a word what he’s about: love, guidance, support. by BRYAN SMITH September 2018 The Rotarian | 47
So when Bledsoe leads a call and response, he is rewarded with a chorus of fierce sincerity. I am my brother’s keeper. I AM MY BROTHER’S KEEPER! Together we will rise. TOGETHER WE WILL RISE! Respect. RESPECT! Caring. CARING! Community. COMMUNITY! “Now I want y’all to stand up,” he says, rising to the FRANK ISHMAN fullness of his 6-foot-3-inch, 240-pound frame. All eyes are on him as he prowls the room like a big cat. Tyrone Bledsoe says that his Rotary membership “aligns with His commanding voice booms out: teaching the guys [in SAAB] to be fair to others and honest.” “We’re going to do a little exercise. Get y’all loos- ference room with 30 young men holding leadership ened up. Get you feeling the energy. Now rub your positions in the aspirational group he founded: the hands together. You feel that energy? If you can feel it Student African American Brotherhood, or SAAB. It’s say, ‘Feel it!’” an organization devoted to getting young black men into college, ensuring that they graduate, and encour- I FEEL IT! aging them to extend a hand to the young men follow- Say it again! ing them. I FEEL IT! “ All right,” he says, surveying the group. “Let’s get Like King, Bledsoe is a visionary. He believes that, started.” with SAAB, he has made a breakthrough in solving the quandary that has bedeviled educators, sociologists, During the mid- to late 1960s, Martin Luther and politicians for decades: how to tear down the walls of institutionalized racism that have blocked the path King Jr. paid several visits to Grenada, Mississippi. of achievement for so many young men of color. He traveled to that small town, about 100 miles south of Memphis, Tennessee, to promote African-American Bledsoe’s belief is backed by some real-world re- voter registration and to help desegregate Grenada’s sults. From an initiative that began in 1990 with one public schools. One of the people influenced by those group, SAAB now boasts an active membership of visits was a young black boy: Tyrone Bledsoe. more than 12,000 students who belong to 350 chapters in 40 states. Many of those young men will likely re- “I saw Rotary as an main involved with SAAB after they have gone on to opportunity to expand my earn advanced degrees and begun careers in business, personal mission of giving science, technology, education, and the arts. back through service.” To solidify that engagement, the organization for- There’s a direct line leading from King’s time in mally launched its SAAB Alumni Association in July. rural Grenada during the contentious civil rights era That robust network of past and present members to the concrete and glass stretch of Dallas where, ensures that SAAB will succeed at its mission: to cre- more than 50 years later, Bledsoe is meeting in a con- 48 | The Rotarian September 2018
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