DIGITAL STORYTELLING!

ESSAYFULBRIGHT REFLECTIONSChristopher Harper, Ithaca Collegecharper@ithaca.eduMy 8-year-old daughter Cecylia looked out from the Polish train just south of Gdansk.I had tried to explain to her why World War II started in the northern port city, knownas Danzig to Germans. I hadn’t succeeded so far. Then I asked her to look to the East,and I asked her what she saw.“It’s flat,” she replied.Then I asked her to look to the West.“It’s flat that way, too,” she answered.To the East is Russia across the plains. To the West is Germany across similarly flatplains. The port at Gdansk allowed the Germans to move into Poland, Russia, and theBaltic states. She understood.The lesson on geography, history, and war occurred when my family traveled in thespring semester of 2001 to Poland, where I taught as a Fulbright fellow at AdamMickiewicz University in Poznan.Many educators interested in the Fulbright program often wonder how their familieswill fare during the time abroad. During the five months my family and I stayed inPoland, the Fulbright experience provided an opportunity to spend far more time withmy family than during a normal academic year.My wife, Elizabeth, has an extensive network of cousins throughout Poland, and shespeaks the language. That certainly made the time even more enjoyable. Still, the threeof us visited Rome, St. Petersburg, Cracow, Gdansk, and a host of other towns andcities throughout Poland.It took some planning. First, I had to teach my courses at the university. That wasthe primary reason I was there. Secondly, we decided to home school Cecylia duringour stay. That way she could travel with us when we had time.What did she learn? We are Roman Catholics, and Cecylia attends a Catholicschool, where she is now in fifth grade. Therefore, we stopped in Rome.At the Vatican Museums, she saw the original paintings of Merlozzo da Forli—aprint of which hangs in her bedroom. She also saw Pope John Paul II during a churchservice.In Poland, she traveled the same streets in Cracow, where the future Pope studiedand taught. She learned about Copernicus and his discoveries during a visit to hishome of Torun. She saw the castles of the Teutonic knights and tried on some of theirold armor.My wife and I had always wanted to visit the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia.We didn’t know how Cecylia would react. She wanted to visit the Hermitage so oftenthat we spent three days there.In Poznan, a business center in western Poland, Cecylia attended a series of concertsof boys’ choirs. The festival is held once every eight years—the last time occurred whenshe was born.Also, Cecylia and I are brown belts in karate. We found a local karate club andtrained there. The common language centered on the Japanese terms used in karate anda few hand motions by the Polish instructor.Certainly, there were hardships. My wife had to put her decorative painting businesson hold. My intended research project gave way to travel.Nevertheless, it was an experience none of us will forget, including the time wespent with my wife’s relatives throughout the country. Cecylia met her aunt who servesas a judge, two cousins involved in computer technology, an uncle with whom she hadcorresponded for several years, and a host of other relatives she didn’t even know shehad.We made sure we would not forget the experience. I tried out a new digital videocamera, and Cecylia kept a diary of her adventures. When we returned home, I had heruse the diary for voice-overs, then I put the results on the Web.You can view our travel videos at www.ithaca.edu/harper. I hope you enjoy ouradventure and consider the Fulbright program that can be found at www.cies.org.Christopher Harper is the Roy H. Park Distinguished Professor of Communications atIthaca College in Ithaca, New York.54Feedback February 2003 (Vol. 44, No. 1)BEA—Educating tomorrow’s electronic media professionals 55