I Am a Man: Labor, Dignity, and the Other Half of the Dream by Ethan Fogel
Our last day of “Marching Down Freedom’s Road” was spent in the city of Memphis, as we learned about how the Civil Rights movement progressed after the Voting Rights Act in 1965. We began the day at the “I Am a Man” Plaza, which is a public park dedicated to the Memphis Sanitation Strike of […]
Contrasts & Contradictions: Poland and Memory in 2025 by Faina Polt
In my time here, I have been thinking a lot about contradiction. This is not especially new. As an English teacher, the idea of “contrast” is the core of what we do in the classroom. It’s the same for me personally (perhaps being a human being is not so far removed from being a teacher? […]
Flowers Where None Once Grew: Hope and Remembrance at the Camps by Shelby Anderson
With such heavy topics discussed on our trip, one of the things that I was most pleasantly surprised about was the flowers I saw at the Treblinka, Majdanek, and Auschwitz I and II. I came to learn that white the grass, and greenery at each location was not something that was present during the active […]
Bearing Witness: Legacy, Lineage, and the Stories We Must Tell by Chris Harris
Yesterday, visiting the Legacy Museum and the Mothers of Gynecology monument was a life-changing experience. These were not just moments of reflection—they were moments of reckoning. For this blog post, I want to center the experiences of Black women who have been—and continue to be—victimized and brutalized by sexual violence. Their stories are often left untold, but they are […]
From the Pulpit to the Pavement: Marching Forward with Love by Chelsea Kordecki
Sitting in Temple Beth-El and listening to the stories of congregants who made a difference during the civil rights movement was a moving experience. The docents identified that only approximately 10% were supportive of the movement; yet, today, those stories are being told and promote a coalition of support and knowledge. Through an activity that […]
Walking Through History, Teaching for the Future by Brian Bugos
It would be hard to describe the highs and lows of this trip to anyone not along for the bus ride. Walking in the footsteps of those entering Auschwitz’s then eating lunch with educators at a park bench during a mild summer afternoon. Learning of the post war pogroms, while watching a grandchild and grandmother […]
“POUR MAMAN” by Christen Jones
Everyday at 1:00 pm Poland time, I wait for my phone to ring. It’s 7:00 am at home. I wait for their names to pop up on my phone. I can’t wait to hear their voices. I am a teacher, but first, I am a mother. The moments that caught me off guard every time […]
They Were Someone by Katie Smolter
As a teacher studying in Poland and walking the grounds of Auschwitz, I found myself face to face with one of history’s darkest truths: the systematic erasure of identity. Here, where over a million men, women, and children were murdered, each step echoes with stories silenced by numbers. Prisoners at Auschwitz were stripped of their […]
The Innocence Lost by Laura Blazejewski
It’s difficult to find the right words to describe the unimaginable atrocities that unfolded at Auschwitz. So many lives taken and countless families torn apart in the blink of an eye. Children were forced from their parents’ arms and thrown into a world filled with fear and uncertainty. Today, I found myself reflecting on the […]