Show HEN I WAS A child growing up in Lo Angeles m the '50s and '60s Big Brother Me got on the radio every meeting and told every Soviet child what color clothes to wear that dqr They all wondered if Russian it was customary in vounf IDBdDDDCICDDDi I attended to end mo-pkwwf- dSffet mu A bet trey don't ia in Amorim? They discovered this Iho jjoirih in boA oouottMB fihe ion cbmmb rock’n’roll Qn fact a SamSamN-Ha&imAnakmpui- pA pfay spin MiovnMftnptnOMuiMiraM own Bon rock acts: New Jovi!) Jerseyli Along wife fee questions came fee goorfe erahay They sent us SoviethidibiegMm (much fraiiierlhanoure) nesting Russian the-bott- le lived behind something called the “hen Curtam" and it sounded more confining than living in an iron lung The women wore babushkas and saggy dothes the men pounded on things with theirshoes when they werearmoyed and daw aD had toeaQeach other1 Tomrade” I also knew that they all wanted to kin me and my entire family and I spent my formative yean diving under my school desk during drills waitfor the Russians to ing swoop into our classroom at ary minute sort of like the winged monkeyooldiers in The like we do" one very Ih-tl-e gjri told — myutwtypuy they don't Ida” me "I bet J J MQnXMrcQui ML d we sent them and postcards of the United Nations £ American girl sent a Slinky which her puzzled Soviet pen pal (bought wasavenr H1frllLMkBAAl AukiL iWOOfuBCnir BWallHWiBBnB air-ra- id read fee wok! “tniaainlsMftii IIMIUB JO k J J OBICXlPt UK eternal inter play of “ISXL fehhaanalllpanpal project be- - -g- an I imagined that the kids would grill each other about their mpective poljpcri and economic systems Guess what? They could have cared less Radiy life sports and heavyoietal rock wereakx more So was the world of emotions 1 you fril in loweT’ one little Soviet giri atioed her new friends When she realized feat of come we fell in love and fed everyfung else that she and her friends and gig fefflUy —frfl VOIl OOUld 11 a L i HylMD pomp OP 0¥g Pg DBM There were more invisible popping ng tAA 1 id IJJ J A 1 apMwowncPMKuTgiaKiMOinnnnHWi Itequeatta of wfaeteaSoviet child could adnOy be happy in a synem in which n peopiecant leave the country without "Well it’s the only place mey — a Today these stories sound as dated as poodle skirts and petticoats and 1 can make fun of fears thtf at the time were dead serious But let's face it Whiic thc steBnotypes rosy have grown more sopius bbbb uwbo jicmq flofl Ob Donory a little under glasnost the Iran Curtain” of my childhood is still thought of ty son as the "Evil Empire" of today "They" are still "them" the enemy I went to the Soviet Union last year for the first time when my husband Phil imOm9 iWMMHCMCDMBflMyWJMr ed And feen it began to dawn on them all that the United States is the only ptoceMV kadw— and feat wr are happy m a system ny A MB UK NUKNOI IDIpBmO I OM Despite aO the questiom and answers and hugs and whites we’d aent hatfiray annul fee vorid none of us was really forme magical actually "met" iatmeti via Spaoebridge TV Satellite link-u- p We w at Hard Rock Cafe they at Gosteieredio a Moscow television stu-- bomb-throw- er shoe-pound- countries w Wfi-ardcf- Oi iJOBiittCtOeciQeflioayenvcpropiini there The people we met were warm curious and friendly— not a in the bunch — or and 1 found myaelf wondering bow it would have been if I could have met an actual Soviet citizen back when I was cowering under my school desk At the time we hadjust finished editing our book “Free Tb Be A Emily N a collection of stories poems and songs tfatf celebrate the diversity of American family life— 11 the kinds of friends and relatives we are to each other 1 wondered if it would be possible to extend our idea of “all kinds of belonging" beyond our awnnutionalbardentoourgfofafrmily The result of all this wondering was a lOnonth project that culminated in our TV spetial “finer To Be A Family" (airiiy Wed Dec 14 at 8 pm EST Chris Cerf on ABC) My and I picked 40 American kids aged 6 to 13 and 40 Soviet kids the same ages and asked them to get to know each other as pen pah They loved the idea— although they had stereo- and works it out (Infect kids far both aO damentaliy prayer for “the conversion of Rus-a"Who were the Halt brother too? Do you have pizza in er dif-fete- nt U— S— M MMMpHBRMDIMyninn Five four three two a blazing ' 1 of color on the screen and dan fee 7aaasfths4t US pan prii Chris Cerf(who went to Moscow to talk to the Soviet kids while 1 stayed in New YbrkgeOingtDknowtheirAmericancoun- was asked if American children Sms) freedom that they stayed out hteevny night panQiing The Soviets arisd if our btbnm to do their homework if they (fiihi’t want to orif they could simpiy typed notions of their own Some of the American kids thought that the KOB §-- £ MbwMRuasiankidshome from school One child was jfatrabsbsarllaa even convinced that some emmmngmgm dnen IgorZoicKarevsky and Joel Viextel even exchanged chore moves But probably the more mtereadng thing sense that for ail that divides us and really U fireateacherteydhtftHr different about our cultures there's an awful lot lives about the dayao-da- y faourfmtaytneywerethe Itanyfed Manet hi thesis we were the Land of the in both countries Divoree? They’ve got it there too mum a Hnwwiin But me over next few monhiptekidiadBDdeacfa other what aeemed like a zillion questions: Do you ham any pea? Haw much homework doyou have? Do Do you fight wbhyotir iLaAIa gu atawnmwmwtwnm Problems in school? ttiAir preconception that our km could write their own tickets and our belief that Soviet schools are only slightly more liberal than prison camps the children in both countries discovered that when you have a problem with a teacher your mother comes to school De-pi- ne were Am on the screen in front of our eyes (hntireaginetheaound a a 1 a OIMUMIKUOOOOOBiMOMHnnHIaMBI j 160 hands madly dapping and wavarg!) auTi VLLUIaLaJ OMHBilf 100M V UK pDOCDS 01 DMT nJOl tout the free from s all wearing with “Free lb Be AFsmily" inscribed in both Russian and English "Is Misha there?" someone asked shyly It was a family reunion—a global family Tskiag part in this prey ect made me realize mat it isn't just meeting "the enemy" that makes the difference It's communicating with him or her and being abfe to take ihe risk of showing your heart The kids had a natural openness that escapes most adults Like me first letter Erica Rosenfdd sent by continued |