Dear mom and dad


Soon I'll be returning home from probably the longest and the shortest
year of my life. I'm glad I got to do it on my own, yet in a way
I wish you could have been there with me throughout the year.
Coming home will be a hard adjustment for me, I wont kid you about
that. You see, in Up With People, I'm working for myself and yet none
of us would feel right unless we were working together.

   There so many times when we had to pull together... Like the time our
Australian Tour was cancelled, when we performed  without a sequencer
in our first German cities, when we said "good-bye" to close friends, or
as we prepared to split into two separate groups at the end of the year.

I will never forget the helpless feeling when several cast members
suffered the loss of a parent or loved one, and all we could do was
support, love and listen. So many days I would sit on the bus or at a
meal and look around knowing we couldn't get through it without
each other. So if you see me crying sometimes for what seems to be
nothing, I hope you understand.

   At other times, I may be just the opposite. I may start laughing
or smiling from out of nowhere. I may be daydreaming about all the
crazy things that happened to us, or of the things we did together,
like... The first time we did the Cast D Australian Wonglepong
Spoon Dance with David. Or when Bob and David showed us how to
cook the perfect cookie. Our travel stop in Chicken,Alaska. Tracy
Coopers's laugh. Or her skydiving story. Seeing Bryan run for the bus
in Las Vegas, or watching Rachel disappear off the stage during "USA"
in Lynden. And who can forget the staff's performance in the first
expression session, as they demonstrated true group living.

   Yes, we have a million and one experience inside us all. Now I am coming
home and I know you'll want me to tell you what it was like. But you
know Mom and Dad it's so hard to explain what Up With People is. Where
do I start? What do I tell you? It's so many experiences, all rolled
into one. Up With People is five weeks of intense training, 12 hours a
day, six days a week in Denver, with people like Lynn Morris Lisa
Rebik, Dean Burklund, and Jen Person, and Dr. Carolyn Lee. It's performing
our show in four different countries.It's incredible community service
like School Projects in San Ramon, Palo Alto and Palm Springs
or the International Fair in Juneau, Alaska. It's touching people's lives
in places as diverse as Kelowna,BC, Lincoln,NE, Bad Nenndorf,Germany,
Kyoto,Japan and Oahu,Hawaii. It's disliking the word "flexible", and
yet knowing that it's that same flexibility that gets us all through the
"lumps" together. It's standing on the stage with nowhere to hide. It's
a pat on the back for a job well done or a hug for a friend who's having
a rough day. It's visiting a native Alaskan village, and getting so
much more than you gave. It's staying in a homeless shelter, a run down
house a jail, a teepee, a Sihk temple, sleeping on a tatami mat, or
just sharing a house with 8 kids. It's sitting on the bus with someone for
the first time and having a great talk. It's passing up an apple or a
sandwich to a friend on the bus whose host family forgot to pack them a
sack lunch.

   It' learning and discussing hard topics like religion in St. George,
UT or racism in Brookings,SD, or touching , for a moment, a little boy
with hepatitis 'C'. It's finding that culture and upbringing play a
role in people's differences. It's having a boiled egg for breakfast
with your host family in Germany.It's sharing tears with someone who
got bad news from home. It's waving good-bye from the bus window to
that wonderful host family only to meet another in a few hours. It's
people like our guest speaker in Fairbanks, Alaska who showed us how
"we are more alike than different." It's living with 120 others, all
individuals 16 hours a day and essentially learning how to get along
through tolerance and consideration although at times we struggled
with both.

   It's saying "ya ya" at least ten times in every German conversation and
not having a clue as to what you just said "yes" to. It's feeling sorry
for yourself, and then spending the day at a homeless shelter and
realizing you don't know what real problems are.It's having a host sister
or brother ask you why you have to leave. It's having someone help you
with a quick change in the wings when you've only got 20 seconds to get
back on stage. It's the incredible teamwork that goes into a food-crew
meal, a successful show a great classroom presentation or a record strike.

   It's going to pick up your luggage after meeting your host family, and
finding out that your suitcase went with someone else. It's visiting
major cities like Denver, San Fransisco, Vancouver, Anchorage,
Edmonton, Amsterdam, Leipzig, Berlin, Los Angeles, Honolulu and Kyoto.
It's seeing some of the most inspiring places in the world, like Grand
Canyon, Arches National Park, Zion National Park, the Redwood Forrest
the entire Northwest American Coastline, Prince William Sound, Mount
McKinley, the Canadian Rockies, the Brandenburg Gate, The Rhine Falls,
Mt Fuji and Diamond Head. It's meeting up with friends on a free
day just to sit at a café and chat about life. It's the view from 
the plane window as we crossed over Greenland on our way to LA.

   It' having over 80 new homes around the world, yet knowing that you really
have only one. It's forgetting the words to a song you've been singing
for months, or forgetting the name of the city that we just left that
morning.It's putting on a show that brings tears to the eyes of
audience members. It's a feeling of accomplishment. It's knowing
that someone you interviewed will be in Up With People next year,
changing their lives, just as you have changed your own. It's singing
"Freiheit" in the former east Germany, and seeing 500 lighters shining in
the darkness. It's also feeling good about a showw, and having Gina and
Biggie flash you from the mixer as you accept the applause.

    It's asking "What time is D-time?" even though you have your own schedule
in your bag or bagpocket. It's doing our best and knowing we could have
done better. It's spending time with your hostfamily skiing, shopping,
watching a movie, cooking a dinner or having a great conversation. It's
waking up after having 2 hours of sleep, and wondering how you will ever
make it through the day. And then making it. It's going on stage for a
dance and realizing that your partner didn't make it out of
qiuck-change in time.

    It's hearing a song from the GTO-medley on the radio, and wanting it to
stop and go into the next song in the medley. It's learning to say
good-bye to good friends during the year because Up With People wasn't
right for them for different reasons. It's spending half of the year on
a bus, plane, ferry or a train, reading, listening to music, cuddling,
or most of all, just sleeping.It's trying to spend two days camping 
together in St. Albert getting rained out, and having just as much fun
watching movies together inside. It's having marketing crew, a Belgium
study group and an Irish ROC all gone from the cast at the same time
knowing there was no way the show could happen without them, and
finding that when you thought you couldn't possibly give anymore, there
was still a bit more left. And it's feeling great that you were able to
contribute so that others in the group could have the unique
opportunities that they had.

   It's that incredible rush of adrenalin that you feel inside you as "Within
Our Reach" and "The Day The People Came Together" begin in Palm
Springs, CA,( pause ) and you realize that this is the last time you
will share the stage with these people.

   It's pride Mom and Dad... It's pride. It's giving all you've got and
ending up with sore throats, raspy coughs, bronchitis and exhausted
bodies. It's being a part of the best show in the world. A show that
renders the audience laughing, crying, exhilirated and awed. It's a
show that gives the people hope, and a reason to strive to be better.
It's a show that can change lives, especially mine.

   As a group, we've grown and learned to appreciate one another. We've
learned the importance of understanding. We've learned how effective it
is to work as a team, while recognizing our strengths as individuals.
We've learned trust and teamwork. We've learned personal
responsibility. We've learned tolerance, compassion, and sensitivity.
We've laughed, cried, struggled, rejoiced, and succeeded together!!
But most importantly, we've learned  that the basic human values of
dignity, respect and caring are common; they don't belong to any one
person or any one group - they are everyone's.

   So, you see, it's been a lifetime of wonderful learning experiences all
rolled into one year. The people I've met, and the friends that I've
made are totally indescribable and irreplaceable. ( pause ) I thank
you for helping me through this year, trying to understand, and watching
me grow. Thanks for being there when I needed you, and for not being
there when I needed to be on my own. It's the best thing I've could
have done this year.

    An old friend told us this would happen at the end... and now I hear the
footsteps coming down the hallway, and someone is saying, "Get your
coat...It's time to go..."

I'm home







This letter is, as far as I'm concerned, modified from year to
year within each Up With People cast so it fits to their
experiences, and this letter is composed by Ann-Michelle
Walker ass. Cast Manager, David Burton Education Dep, and Eric
Anderson (EA) Cast Manager. This is probably kinda really internal
stuff, especially for non "Up with People people", but also for "those
kind of people." But I do hope that you've got a slight feeling for
what I´ve been through the year of 1996!. 




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