This article was written by Alex Lippert from Cincinnati, Ohio. The article is a reflection on her six months in Cast A09. -Phil Woods, Blog Editor
I woke up this morning to the familiar sounds of my dad watching the news along with the scent of left over coffee my mom tends to leave behind as she rushes off to work. Was it just last week I was standing awestruck in front of the Grand Canyon, watching a purple sunset over the Arizona mountain tops, or perhaps it was just yesterday I was performing in Mexico for hundreds with screaming cheers for “Viva la Gente” in the crowd. Or perhaps, it was all a dream, because there is no way six months could fly by that fast.
Alex at the Grand Canyon
My eyes are still a bit swollen from crying yesterday as me and my brown beat-up leather book bag boarded the plane waving good bye to the ones I now call family. I will never forget these people, the trials we endured, and challenges we overcame together. Some of them I will see in a month, others that may be the last time our paths cross. But I am so thankful I met and got to know each and every one of those 90 students from all around the world. Without Josimar from the Caribbean I would not know how to salsa dance. Without Yui from Japan I would never have had the courage to get on stage and speak in front of thousands. Without Yan from China I would have never learned to speak a totally different language. And without all 90 I would not be the person I am today, a person I can be proud to be, with experiences I couldn’t trade for the world.
Although I now close the Up With People chapter in my life, the lessons I’ve learned will live on and echo through out everything I do from here on out. This program didn’t turn me into someone different, it just helped mold me into who I truly am and prepared me for all the amazing things I have left to do with my life.
-by Alex Lippert, USA
via Email
Hi, Alex,
I saw your post and just wanted to say that many years ago at the ‘ripe old age’ of 19, I joined Cast C of “UP WITH PEOPLE” in the year 1968. I was a college sophomore when I saw them performing in my hometown in West Texas. Immeditaely, I knew that I had to join them and I did and traveled with them for one year turning 20 years old in the country of Zaire/Congo, Africa where we were guests of then President Joseph Mobutu Sese Seku. My birthday cake was actually a pail of hard candies as it had been impossible for the kids to find a cake. There were hand made birthday cards which I still have and it was an amazing year from January to December. I met them in Florida and left a few weeks later for 4 months in Italy back to New York doing an NBC TV special with Bob Hope as our Master of Ceremonies. Little did I know that it would just be the first of many times that I would work with him over the years. We then had our month in Africa where we had gone for their Independence Day Celebrations and met world leaders from all over Africa. In Italy, we performed for President Aldo Moro and then we had four months across Canada before going into California where we performed at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion for a celebrity audience and we met and performed for then Governor & future President & First Lady Ronald & Nancy Reagan. There were so very many adventures that this little West Texas girl would have never had during that year nor later had I not gone for that year with “UP WITH PEOPLE.” Over the years, I have been reunited with UWP friends that I made that year and today, amazingly, have been reunited with many of them in cyberspace as we have become friends on FACEBOOK and MY SPACE and other networking. It’s lovely to see their faces again and remember special times we had together.
Thanks for sharing a bit of your journey and get out there and go do more great things. Your having that experience in UWP gives you an insight into the world that many people never get so let it lead you and go make a difference in this world. May God always Bless you!
Warmest Wishes,
Bellinda Myrick-Barnett
Texas, USA – UWP – Cast C – soloist – 1968