Episode 24 features Agent Palmer (Jason Stershic) remastering the radio program that was his capstone project as a Senior at Keystone College, which helped him to graduate with a Bachelors’s Degree in Communications, titled “To Change Your Luck.”
The syllabus for the course that this project came from states that the goal was “aimed at providing students with the opportunity to demonstrate both critical and creative thinking skills and the research capabilities they have acquired as Professional Studies Communications Arts and Humanities majors.”
The project abstract was “to write and produce a sixty-minute radio program about a trip I took to Israel that helped me to grow. In this program I hope to pass along the wisdom of a Jewish proverb that “sometimes to change your luck, you need to change your location.”
You can also hear more Palmer in the meantime on Our Liner Notes, a musical conversation podcast with host Chris Maier and as mentioned on this show as co-host of The Podcast Digest with Dan Lizette.
Music created and provided by Henno Heitur of Monkey Tongue Productions.
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00:00:00:05 – 00:00:25:37
Agent Palmer
Previously on Agent Palmer dot com Jim Henson the biography is a beacon of positivity, just like Jim. The old guard is wonderful, but don’t watch the trailer first and I will never tire of listening to Andrew Belling’s wizard score, especially now that I know more from behind the scenes. This is The Palmer Files episode 24 with me again. Yes, this is my second solo episode, but it’s about something that I’ve been mentioning occasionally since the first few episodes.
00:00:25:50 – 00:00:47:08
Agent Palmer
This is a remastering of the capstone project that helped me graduate with a Bachelor’s in Communications from Keystone College. Let’s do the show.
00:00:47:13 – 00:01:05:11
Agent Palmer
Each.
00:01:05:16 – 00:01:35:36
Agent Palmer
Hello, and welcome to the Palmer Files. I’m your host, Jason Stershic, also known as Agent Palmer. And on this 24th episode is the world premiere of my remastered college capstone project titled To Change Your Luck. The syllabus for the course that this project came from states that the goal was, quote, aimed at providing students with the opportunity to demonstrate both critical and creative thinking skills and the research capabilities that they have acquired as professionals studies communication arts and humanities majors, unquote.
00:01:35:41 – 00:02:06:11
Agent Palmer
Now, I pitched three potential projects. The first was an advertising and PR campaign for the college itself. The second was a radio script, and the third was a manuscript based on my Israel journals. What you are about to hear is what was approved, which was a combination of the last two, a radio script based on my high school semester abroad in Israel, from which much of the details you will hear were based on paging through the daily journal I kept while I was over there.
00:02:06:15 – 00:02:28:17
Agent Palmer
My abstract on the project was to write and produce a 60 minute radio program about a trip I took to Israel that helped me to grow. In this program, I hope to pass along the wisdom of a Jewish proverb that sometimes to change your luck, you need to change your location, unquote. Now, in typical me fashion, at least me at the time.
00:02:28:17 – 00:02:56:40
Agent Palmer
Perhaps it’s persisted. I’ll have to think on that. I based the initial script on a paper I’d previously written in my sophomore year. It told the story much more succinctly and needed to be expanded upon, but at least I had already done the heavy lifting in a sense. Now, I would have loved to have presented you with the original, but I used a bunch of music I had no rights to use, and what’s more astounding is that I don’t have a clean vocal only track of all the digital versions I still have access to.
00:02:56:45 – 00:03:24:13
Agent Palmer
So what you are about to hear is part remaster and part remix. I rerecorded the entire thing within 98% word for word accuracy. I know at least one word I somehow left out, and I’m sure I may have missed another, perhaps. Also, it’s a remix with completely new music provided by the very talented and amazing Heino Hyder of Monkey Tongue Productions, who is also responsible for my usual intro and outro music.
00:03:24:18 – 00:03:48:07
Agent Palmer
Why do I even comment on the accuracy? Because the script I used was not remastered. Unlike the part where I rerecorded my audio of the script and included new music. The script was literally the same one, which was helpful as some of the direction notes I wrote on it were still helpful this time around, but some of the writing was hard to read because my style has changed since then.
00:03:48:07 – 00:04:11:45
Agent Palmer
But since the script was original, I felt it kept this remastering a bit more authentic. So before I get into it, remember that if you want to discuss this episode as you listen or after, you can tweet me at Agent Palmer. You can tweet the show at the Palmer Files, or emailed the Palmer Files at gmail.com. Don’t forget, you can see all of my writings and writings on Agent palmer.com.
00:04:11:50 – 00:04:26:37
Agent Palmer
Now, I will obviously be talking more about this on the other side, but for now, sit back and enjoy the journey.
00:04:26:42 – 00:04:53:44
Jason Stershic
It’s a very amazing thing that happens when you notice some little detail about your life now, and your head begins to spiral, and you think of one particular moment in your life. Not too long ago, where had you chosen another path? Your life would be drastically different. I have had such a moment. I was drinking Fanta and orange soda, my drink of choice, when I was in Israel, and it sent me on an amazing journey that had me reliving the past few years of my life.
00:04:53:49 – 00:05:13:05
Jason Stershic
Let me tell you the story of how these past few years have changed my luck in the course of my life, forever. It was an average November and I was grinding my way through another year of high school. That particular year, I was a junior and I had very little ambition except the ambition to prove my teachers wrong.
00:05:13:05 – 00:05:36:57
Jason Stershic
When I felt that they neglected to challenge me. I walked into English class at 10 a.m., as I normally did, and that day, like most days, our teacher decided to give us an assignment. So after school I took a look at the guidelines and processed, in my opinion, an amazing paper. The next day I handed it in and forgot about it until a week later when it was graded and handed back.
00:05:37:02 – 00:05:59:04
Jason Stershic
When the teacher put my assignment on the desk, it looked as though a red pen had exploded on it, which was normal for my papers. I like comments and I take everything about my writing seriously. However, the red ink on this paper, with the exception of grammatical errors, was highly offensive. The ink on this paper was telling me that my religious beliefs were wrong.
00:05:59:09 – 00:06:22:23
Jason Stershic
This I didn’t appreciate too much. So I approached my teacher after class that day and for several days afterward, always asking her why these comments were being made. She ignored the real issue and told me that she wouldn’t change my grade. I couldn’t believe what she was doing. She was talking about something is trivial, is a grade. When I wanted answers about the questioning of my beliefs.
00:06:22:28 – 00:06:44:11
Jason Stershic
After a few more failed attempts to get through to her, I took the paper to my parents for their advice on the situation. They looked at over for quite a long time, and then decided that they would prefer to consult our rabbi before taking any course of action. So Friday night, while at temple for Shabbat services, my parents gave our rabbi a copy of the paper with the offensive comments so that he could look it over.
00:06:44:15 – 00:07:05:15
Jason Stershic
At that, they arranged for a meeting on the next day to discuss what his thoughts were. I remember that Saturday very well. For one thing, it was early December and it was cold. My father had set up our parlor and turned on the gas fireplace so that when we all sat down with the rabbi, the room reeked of gas, but the gas would soon be forgotten.
00:07:05:20 – 00:07:25:07
Jason Stershic
The first thing the rabbi did when he sat down was ask me a series of questions about drugs, alcohol, maturity, responsibility, and various other things from my answers, which were all truthful. He told my parents that I was a very good and self-sufficient kid. Along with some other observations that had me beaming with a smile. Before he even got to my paper.
00:07:25:12 – 00:07:44:46
Jason Stershic
When he finally got there, he said that he could tell I was a little confused as to where I fit into the system of Jewish beliefs, which was correct. I wasn’t completely sure how the practices of Judaism fit into my life. He also said that I needed to leave my high school, for he felt that I was not being mentally challenged enough to get anything more than a piece of paper.
00:07:44:46 – 00:08:14:18
Jason Stershic
At the end of my high school years. This being something that I agreed with because I felt the same way. The next thing he did was quote from a Jewish proverb. Sometimes in order to change your luck, you must change your location. With that said, he asked me if I would like to go to Israel. Before I could answer, he explained that being the head of all youth programs for the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, he was in charge of an upcoming trip to Israel for high school students.
00:08:14:23 – 00:08:47:34
Jason Stershic
By now, I was trying not to mentally pack my bags, but after I asked him a few questions about the trip, which he said was four months in duration and left on February 1st, I said yes. Now I always knew that words could change lives, but I never could have imagined the next six months. It was only the beginning of December, but the shock of leaving the country, my friends and my family behind stayed with me every day that passed between my answer to the rabbi’s question and the day of departure.
00:08:47:39 – 00:09:12:53
Jason Stershic
One week before departure, I was heading in and out of school for the last time as a junior at Honesdale High School. I had no idea what lay ahead of me. All I knew was that I didn’t have to put up with that English teacher or anyone else in that school for an extended period of time, and for that I was thankful because I knew I would probably be challenged in some way, shape or form, at least from being in a new place.
00:09:12:58 – 00:09:35:53
Jason Stershic
Being in that new place and seeing life in a new way is a great way to learn. Each day that went by that last week was just time for me to pack up my things for the journey. And each time I placed a folded shirt and pair of pants into my bags. I simultaneity packed in apprehension and assurance into my head, focused on the grand journey that lie before me.
00:09:35:57 – 00:09:54:16
Jason Stershic
48 hours before my flight departed, there was a gathering of friends and family at my house to wish me well. For me, it was the culmination of the events that had taken place from the moment that I wrote my essay. For everyone else. It was a chance to say goodbye as I got up on the day of departure.
00:09:54:25 – 00:10:10:14
Jason Stershic
I was feeling quite fine as I walked down the street, the local mom and pop store to buy two Mountain Dews for my travels ahead. When I returned to the house, I walked through it for memories sake. I was semi aware of the fact that the next time I set foot in the house, I would be a different person than I was.
00:10:10:14 – 00:10:29:48
Jason Stershic
That day. That last go through reminded me of the times I walked through my house before I went away to summer camp for a month. It reminded me that even after four short weeks away from the house, it looked different, or at least seemed different when I returned because of the experiences that I had away from the house.
00:10:29:52 – 00:10:49:52
Jason Stershic
I wasn’t sure what my house would look or feel like when I returned. From four months of the new experiences that I would have across the Atlantic that day. The person walking through the house was very arrogant. It was at this point in my life that I was not going to deal with failure. Everything that I had to do had to be a victory.
00:10:49:57 – 00:11:13:00
Jason Stershic
Everything. I was disengaged with much of what was around me, and I had very little focus, partly because I did not feel I was being given a real education that would suit the intellectual juggernaut that was me. Not to mention that I got my kicks from my own sophomore remarks in what was my favorite hobby debate. I wasn’t sure how much of this would change.
00:11:13:14 – 00:11:39:16
Jason Stershic
In fact, I wasn’t sure how I would grow as a person from the trip. All I knew was that I was going to a different place with different people, and I knew something would have to give them or me. At the airport, I met and became acquainted with some of the 60 other people I was going with. We were told that there would be a brief orientation before boarding, and I asked my parents to stay.
00:11:39:21 – 00:12:05:31
Jason Stershic
They needed to leave, but I convinced them to stay for the orientation. In all honesty, I begged them to stay because I was afraid and thinking of backing out, though I didn’t tell them that. However, after a long, drawn out orientation comprised of long speeches from people we didn’t know about the rules and the pride they had in us, we were pointed towards the terminal.
00:12:05:36 – 00:12:27:43
Jason Stershic
I hugged my parents and bid them farewell one last time. I was herded with the others from my trip into the terminal there, squished with other passengers on the flight in a small corridor like sardines in a can. I found myself standing next to Ben, the son of a rabbi from Connecticut. Ben and I started to talk. Where are you from?
00:12:27:48 – 00:12:47:00
Jason Stershic
What kind of music do you like? What are you looking forward to? That kind of stuff. Ben liked rock music, as did I. And so as we stood in the long, narrow corridor, we talked at length about rock music, then moved to sports, and I realized that Ben and I would become great friends before the end of the trip.
00:12:47:04 – 00:13:09:41
Jason Stershic
On the plane, I met some more of the other people that were on the trip with me, and about four hours into our 12 hour flight. I grabbed a composition notebook and started a journal. I wasn’t sure how long it would last, because every other journal I had ever started only lasted a few days, but I figured if it worked out, I would thank myself later.
00:13:09:46 – 00:13:32:37
Jason Stershic
We landed shortly after dusk in Tel Aviv and then got on a bus for Jerusalem. Our home away from home for the next four months. When we arrived at Shmuel, the designated youth hostel where we would be staying for most of the trip. We went on to the roof for a Kaddish and other prayers. Beit Shmuel is no more than 800m from the old city, and the walls of Old Jerusalem were lit up.
00:13:32:41 – 00:13:52:56
Jason Stershic
It was a beautiful sight. The lights made the walls seem more ancient than they were, though. At that time, I didn’t realize the historical significance of those stone walls protecting those people who lived inside of them. We were given our roommate assignments, and then we put our stuff in our rooms and headed down for a bite to eat.
00:13:53:01 – 00:14:16:00
Jason Stershic
My roommates were Eric and Ben, the same Ben I was talking with in the narrow terminal arc, who had visited Israel before, was from Southern California, and gave us some pointers about the Holy Land amid all of our differences. We became great friends, talking late into the evening about everything from girls to religion, to the logic and limits of trust.
00:14:16:05 – 00:14:37:19
Jason Stershic
At times we talked about our assignments, but mostly we just liked hearing the different points of view the three of us had about topics, whether we agreed or not. We discussed and debated at all. All of this from one sip of a drink that I haven’t had since I was last in Israel. So what more could I do?
00:14:37:24 – 00:15:05:17
Jason Stershic
But take another sip and I drifted back into more memories of my adventures. Riding on a tour bus was how I saw some of the Holy Land, of which I wrote in my journal. It’s speechless. It’s amazing. I cannot say a thing. The beauty is unreal. It’s all that I can feel. We travel to every latitude and longitude of Israel, from the Golan to L.A. and everywhere in between.
00:15:05:21 – 00:15:26:08
Jason Stershic
In the Golan, we saw the green grass as it was meant to be seen. We walked on the elevations of land that might someday be given or negotiated away. In the Galilee we saw great vegetation on the shores of a beautiful sea, set in the middle of rolling hills, and more green grass on which we played ultimate Frisbee and football in the desert.
00:15:26:09 – 00:15:49:10
Jason Stershic
We climbed Masada and saw the beauty as we overlooked the Dead Sea and its shores. White with deposits from the salt. In a little town north of Tel Aviv. We met up with a group of Jewish youth from a program called March of the living, where we had a barbecue and dance with them among old and the king ruins from civilizations long since abandoned in the middle of the country.
00:15:49:12 – 00:16:18:42
Jason Stershic
We dug in the soil for artifacts linking us to our past. It seemed I was looking at the passing scenery through the tinted glass windows of the tour bus. However, I’m not complaining for within those tinted windows I forged some very strong friendships. All in all, we were a bunch of some 60 odd strangers when we met at the airport terminal for departure, and we formed into a family, strengthened by every challenge we overcame.
00:16:18:47 – 00:16:49:15
Jason Stershic
One such challenge came in the form of crushed Mazza, as we hiked from the Sea of Galilee to the Mediterranean Sea. During the hike, we were split up into smaller groups so that we could travel at our own pace. It just so happened that our hike was during the celebration of the Exodus known as Passover. Because of this, we hiked with kosher for Passover food that included Marta, a dry cracker like food, no matter whose turn it was in the group to carry the motto on any given day.
00:16:49:19 – 00:17:19:02
Jason Stershic
It was a given that that person was bound to stumble and crush the masa crushed matzo aside, it was an amazing journey that took us three and a half days and brought our groups together because we had to cook and camp on our own. Another challenge was in the form of an army uniform. When we spent a week on a military base, we learned some of the basic mental and physical skills necessary to succeed in the Israeli army.
00:17:19:07 – 00:17:45:21
Jason Stershic
Doing the obstacle course and learning Israel’s history from a military view was one thing, but just being on the military base and seeing the pride that everyone had in being there was just an amazing thing to see. We also learned that waking up at 5:20 a.m. to run the one and a half miles to breakfast while you’re half asleep is not fun, but we got through it because of each other.
00:17:45:26 – 00:18:10:38
Jason Stershic
Some of us may have wanted to be elsewhere and not in the army, but we were there and we did our best as we knew other Israeli youth would have to do. Upon their graduation from high school. The Army experience prepared us for a lot of the challenges that we had yet to face. At this point, we had all of the confidence we would need to experience a few days and nights in the Negev desert.
00:18:10:43 – 00:18:40:44
Jason Stershic
These were made easier knowing that we had overcome adversity as a group. The desert was beautiful. It was pure, mostly untouched by the human technologies of electricity and pollution. At night, because of the remoteness of the desert, we were treated to more stars than we knew existed. But on our last hike back to the bus, one of our major fire was informed of some very bad news.
00:18:40:49 – 00:19:04:33
Jason Stershic
A madrasa or modric is a counselor who watched over us like big brothers and sisters during the trip. Once we got on the bus, we drove for a while with the air conditioning to cool us down, and then pulled over just before sunset on the desert. I was sure that the beautiful sunset, which was imminently approaching, wasn’t why we had pulled over our head.
00:19:04:33 – 00:19:32:04
Jason Stershic
Modric gathered all of us and gave us the horrible news. I wasn’t entirely sure I heard him correctly. I think he said that someone’s mom died. That was way too much to handle. I walked off by myself for a bit, trying to gather pieces of lucid thought, but it felt like I was running to catch the pages of an unstable manuscript in the grasp of a great tornado’s gusts, grasping what I could.
00:19:32:09 – 00:20:03:20
Jason Stershic
I realized that there were 60 other members of my family, just as full of pain and questions as myself. I also realized that I had recently had some conversations with strangers in a bar about life and death. The night prior to our leaving the stone streets of Jerusalem, it was a habit of mine, albeit a bad one. I walked into bars and sat down with a beer, scotch or some other drink and proceeded to talk to strangers.
00:20:03:24 – 00:20:33:23
Jason Stershic
Sometimes they got their names, but names come and go. But what I remember is the important stuff. I remember getting into the same debates I had in class with these strangers, such as whether Israel should be a Jewish nation or a nation of Jews, or which political party should be in charge of Israel’s future. They were nice and as respectable as they were respectful, unlike in American bars, making it easy to communicate and open up to them.
00:20:33:28 – 00:21:00:38
Jason Stershic
I may have been 30 or 40 years their junior, but they still treated me as an equal. In turn. I gave them the opportunity to teach me, or at least enlighten me with some of their opinions. Biblical, historical, cultural, anything. And sometimes, if they really got me thinking, I’d buy them a drink to thank them for sharing a little bit of knowledge and themselves with me, I guess.
00:21:00:43 – 00:21:29:24
Jason Stershic
Looking back, I missed that a lot. Walking into bars and talking to strangers that are just as, if not more thirsty for your conversation than the drink in front of them. It was in the bars of Jerusalem that I learned many lessons that were supplemented by, or supplemented those that I learned in the classroom. Learning in the bar by talking to different people gave me a better grasp of the variety of the different aspects and opinions of the Jewish religion.
00:21:29:29 – 00:21:51:47
Jason Stershic
I also learned in a three hour core class. The curriculum covered 4000 years of Jewish history the people, the land, and the culture. In four months. For the most part, I learned a lot of things about all aspects of Judaism on the trip, like the importance of Israel as a state and the history behind the lands that I traveled upon.
00:21:51:52 – 00:22:22:36
Jason Stershic
Because of this, I came to appreciate how historically rich Judaism is. The reason we learned so much about Judaism was because of the different perspectives we got from the discussions we had in class. Our core class was commonly split in two because of the two sides that often appeared during most of the in class disagreements. Modernist or traditionalist Billy, who liked to be called Shamir and Rachel, were the two heads of the class faction of traditionalists.
00:22:22:41 – 00:22:46:18
Jason Stershic
Erika and I were two heads of the modernists faction of the traditionalists. Shamir was the leader. He was from California and told those of us in the modernist camp many times that we were wrong. Rachel did most of her talking off of things that Shamir said. On the other side, I was the leader of the modernists, and Erika had my back.
00:22:46:23 – 00:23:17:52
Jason Stershic
At times, Rachel and Shamir seemed to parody Erika and myself. In the middle was the rest of the class. Most tended to lean towards the modernist point of view because they could relate to it more easily, being mostly liberal and thought anyway, but not as extremely modernist as Erika or myself. The four of us Shamir, Rachel, Erika and myself were very capable of turning a three hour class into a three hour debate or heated discussion, as we like to call them.
00:23:17:57 – 00:23:48:33
Jason Stershic
But in that forum, how can one learn in that forum one can learn easily. Enter our core teacher, Tamar. She understood that if we were discussing our lessons, we would be forming thoughts and opinions rooted upon the facts that she fed us. So that is what she did. Tamar would start off the class explaining a situation or period in time of the Jewish religion, and then she would eventually come to a place where the discussion could start from there.
00:23:48:38 – 00:24:12:01
Jason Stershic
Shamir, Rachel, Erika and I knew what to do, and as the discussion moved along, Tamar would throw out more information on one side or the other in order to give us more to think about, more to debate about, and more to learn. There was one other special thing about core class. It was one of the most important aspects of the trip.
00:24:12:06 – 00:24:34:22
Jason Stershic
Therefore, the trip was built around it, and usually once a week we would wake up early and take our core notebooks on to a bus and go somewhere. Many of the journeys we engaged in, otherwise known as tools, were educational in nature, and for the most part, if we went to a Crusader castle, we would learn about the Crusades and take notes.
00:24:34:22 – 00:24:55:30
Jason Stershic
And yes, have our heated discussion. We had those discussions all over the country, from our classroom in Jerusalem to the shore of the Mediterranean, to Masada, to the Dead Sea, to the Sea of Galilee, to Tel Aviv, and everywhere in between.
00:24:55:35 – 00:25:19:27
Jason Stershic
Aside from the in-class lessons and my out of class discussions, we had a supplementary book. James, a missionary, is the source from which some of our essays were written. I neglected to read this book, aside from the assigned chapters, and because of this, I feel that I negated some of the lessons I could have learned. However, I did learn more than just Judaism.
00:25:19:32 – 00:25:49:42
Jason Stershic
I learned about the hard working life of those who live on a kibbutz from actually being there and working with them at Kibbutz Lotan in the river valley of the Negev desert, where residents live and work together under the slogan where desert and spirit come together. I learned about the army from actually being there, which is a part of every Israelis life, and I learned about belief from seeing it in the eyes of everyone around me in the holy city of Jerusalem.
00:25:49:46 – 00:26:20:48
Jason Stershic
Walking through the Old city, walking through the new city. Whether I past a Hasidic Jew where a Jew in a metallica shirt. It didn’t matter how deep their level of commitment to the religion was, all that mattered was that they were Jewish, and so was I. One example of having just Judaism in common with someone was exemplified at the Taka or community project that I did, where I helped mentally challenged adults in a shelter in Jerusalem known as Magen David.
00:26:20:53 – 00:26:47:51
Jason Stershic
There, most of the residents didn’t have much contact with any of their relatives, and there was no common language. Some spoke Russian, others German, Italian, Hebrew or any other language you can think of. But just our presence and our help in doing activities with them or singing songs to them brought smiles to their faces. And that was very gratifying for all of us who were there at the Kotel.
00:26:47:53 – 00:27:49:11
Jason Stershic
Also known as the Wailing Wall, I saw the faces of Jews in prayer, Jews in army uniform, and Jews and study. All of this has had a great impact on my individual faith. I am thankful to have been in the places that I have been. This experience was amazing.
00:27:49:16 – 00:28:13:49
Jason Stershic
Unfortunately, or fortunately, it had to come to an end. I remember sitting in the airport awaiting the boarding call for our flight. The family that we had become had only 13 hours left together. I remember thinking, whatever happens to us after this will happen to us as individuals, but we will never forget what has happened to us these past four months, and we will never forget each other.
00:28:13:54 – 00:28:48:57
Jason Stershic
Israel or the meaning of Judaism on the plane. After an hour or so, I took out my journal and paged through two and a half composition notebooks with detailed entries for every day of those past four months. The ink from my last entry was still moist, as were my eyes. As I turned to my very first entry. I still have a vivid remembrance of exactly how I was feeling when I wrote it down, and I think that I always will, for I knew that that was the moment when my life and my luck changed forever.
00:28:49:01 – 00:29:12:39
Jason Stershic
And I was aware that when the plane landed, we would see our old lives for what they were. We were different people now in faith and personality, in experience and maturity, and our friends and families would notice the difference in who we had become. I did not know what the future would hold at that moment, but I knew this experience would never leave me.
00:29:12:44 – 00:29:33:53
Jason Stershic
Before the plane landed, I shed many tears with my close friends and I kept paging through my journal, looking at the entries and remembering what it was like when I ran around the Old City of Jerusalem with Freya on a cool spring night, when the stars were out and the moon let us places no other light shone and what it was like shooting an M16 in the army.
00:29:34:08 – 00:29:57:31
Jason Stershic
Feeling the gun kick back into my shoulder as I shot at the target some 50m away. As I paged through, the memories piled up and the tears just kept coming. As the time of arrival at Newark came closer, we were all up and moving around the cabin of the plane, not just to say goodbye to people, but to relive memories with them in their company.
00:29:57:36 – 00:30:18:13
Jason Stershic
A benefit not many of us would have. Once the plane landed and we all went our separate ways wherever they were to take us. We knew that we always had shared experiences that none of us would soon, if ever, forget.
00:30:18:18 – 00:30:41:11
Jason Stershic
What came to be after I came back from my adventures in the Holy Land was culture shock. The shock of how unopened and self oriented everyone in America is. I never experienced culture shock while I was over there, but when I came back, it hit me like a 30 ton truck with no brakes going down Mount Everest. It was in the bars that I couldn’t even enter.
00:30:41:16 – 00:31:13:04
Jason Stershic
It was in the public transportation that I tried to avoid taking, though in Israel it was my preferred way of travel because public transportation is safer over there. Or at least it seemed that way. It was also in sports. Over in Israel, they have a national soccer team and a national basketball team. Everyone pays attention to the teams when it is their season, and there is not much of an interest in how much money a certain player makes, just that these players represent Israel.
00:31:13:09 – 00:31:34:10
Jason Stershic
Even before I could try to shake off the culture shock, I was faced with the task of finding a place to complete my high school education before I left Israel. My principal had a meeting with me and told me that if I wish to be as successful as I was in Israel academically, then I was better off not going back to my high school.
00:31:34:15 – 00:31:59:28
Jason Stershic
Seeing as how I had just had a college like experience, I decided to see what was out there. Fortunately, I found that I could complete my high school education and get a jump on my college degree at Keystone College. Three days after an interview with Keystone’s vice President of admissions, I received an acceptance letter and two months later, I was attending classes at the college itself.
00:31:59:33 – 00:32:23:30
Jason Stershic
During those two months, life was a blur. I have very little recollection of the actual transitions that may have occurred in my being those first few weeks, or even those first two months back from Israel. All I know is that I had a hard time reacquainting myself with some of the people that I used to know. It was a difficult time for me because as much as this place I returned to was my home.
00:32:23:35 – 00:32:43:45
Jason Stershic
I had developed a relationship with Israel that rivaled that of what I had at home when I left. Therefore, when I returned, my home didn’t feel like my home. Making it both easier and harder to move right into a residence hall on the campus of Keystone Colleges. My first year, there was one that had quite an influence on me.
00:32:43:50 – 00:33:09:00
Jason Stershic
I made friends and tried to adapt myself back to America, though I was now in college, which is a completely different American environment than I was used to. Even before I left. Needless to say, my freshman year was a learning experience. During my second semester at college, I celebrated the one year anniversary of my departure to Israel with a 45 minute trip home to look over my journal from the trip.
00:33:09:04 – 00:33:29:30
Jason Stershic
I opened one of the journals and went right back to the steak dinners that I loved so much, I found myself lost in a memory walking from Beach World to the Blues Brothers Steakhouse with the guys and sitting at our regular table receiving an appetizer, salad, steak, potatoes, dessert and drinks all for 40 shekels each. The equivalent to $10 apiece.
00:33:29:34 – 00:33:52:22
Jason Stershic
A great deal we had made with the owner because we frequented the place so often. After that semester was over, and I had one year of college behind me and a high school diploma in my hand. I celebrated the one year anniversary of my return from Israel. This celebration was a bit different. I began to realize that there was still more to be learned about Judaism and about myself.
00:33:52:26 – 00:34:11:49
Jason Stershic
So I sat down and picked up the source. Read it from start to finish, and then became frustrated with myself for not reading it while I was in Israel. You see, it was great to know that some of the places Michener talked about were places that I had been, but to know that I could have been there while I actually was reading the book.
00:34:11:53 – 00:34:36:43
Jason Stershic
That would have been amazing. After summer I went back to school and had a great semester. Realizing that I was supposed to be a freshman, although I was actually a sophomore, gave me more incentive to be the mature person that I had become upon my return from the Holy Land. During my second semester, while walking in a little grocery store not too far from campus, I saw the most remarkable sight.
00:34:36:48 – 00:35:08:33
Jason Stershic
I saw a 12 pack of Fanta. Needless to say, I bought it and took it back to my room, where I popped open a can and this entire fantastic voyage began. It amazes me that I’m here now because I had the ambition to challenge a teacher who wronged my faith. It amazes me that my course of action from that one little event has bumped me one year ahead in education and a million years ahead in my beliefs.
00:35:08:37 – 00:35:37:46
Jason Stershic
Reflecting back on my experience in Israel and my early entry into college, I can see many lessons learned. Sophomore year at Keystone was one that directly relates to my experiences in Israel. The program that took me to Israel was for young Jewish leaders. Although I usually downplayed the leadership aspects of my trip. The sheer magnitude of my involvement and student leadership on campus was most likely in direct relationship with the various aspects of leadership that I had learned in Israel.
00:35:37:51 – 00:36:06:23
Jason Stershic
However, there was one lesson left to learn, and that was learned during my sophomore year. Anyway, I was the president of the Campus Activities Board, president of the Radio Club, a member of Student Senate, a member of Inner Hall Council, a member of commuter council. I wrote volumes for the school newspaper, and oh yeah, there were some 12 plus committee and other organizational involvements dealing with issues from campus safety to accreditation that I had on top of my actual schoolwork.
00:36:06:28 – 00:36:27:51
Jason Stershic
Israel, though I didn’t know it at the time, prepared me to become not a good, but a great leader in Israel. I learned to interact and communicate well with lots of different individuals, which helped me to accomplish a lot my sophomore year, as well as do a lot and do a lot effectively because I had more confidence to try new things.
00:36:27:55 – 00:36:54:24
Jason Stershic
With that confidence came the allowance to be open to failure if it should happen. Failure also serves as a good example of what not to do. For instance, I wasn’t just writing an article here or there for the paper. I was writing about 6 or 7 per issue. I wasn’t just the president of the Campus Activities Board. I attended and assisted in the presenting of 90% of the activities that were on campus that year.
00:36:54:29 – 00:37:27:13
Jason Stershic
Let’s just say there was one thing missing. The ability to say no. That I learned in retrospect after my sophomore year, when I realized that there was more in saying no than in saying yes in some situations. A lesson that I didn’t learn in Israel, though I found the opportunity to learn that lesson because of my Israel inspired involvements.
00:37:27:18 – 00:37:48:31
Jason Stershic
Another lesson that came full circle that year was my realization of how teachers can effectively motivate me when I am otherwise uninterested in Israel. My world history teacher, Efraim, and I never really saw eye to eye for most of the class. He saw that for whatever reason, I wasn’t living up to my potential in order to motivate me.
00:37:48:36 – 00:38:10:38
Jason Stershic
He actually confronted me angrily and hurt as he yelled at me, explaining how I was wasting my potential. That did the trick. And from then until the end of my time in his class, I did better to meet his high expectations of me. Needless to say, two years later, in a math class at Keystone College, the same thing happened with my algebra teacher, West.
00:38:10:43 – 00:38:37:01
Jason Stershic
It was after the first test which I aced, that I decided not to focus much attention on the class. The second and third test proved to West that I needed to put more energy into the class, but even after a few casual talks, the fourth and fifth tests were no better. Late in the semester, West let loose and yelled with the same anger and hurt that I saw in the frame, and that helped me to come to the realization that I needed to focus more on algebra.
00:38:37:06 – 00:38:56:38
Jason Stershic
It wasn’t necessarily because of the grade, as was the case with the frame. It was because these teachers were trying to teach me something, and I was denying them the right to get through to me. Understanding that as a student, in any aspect of the word means that you are giving the right to a teacher to educate you is a great lesson to have learned.
00:38:56:38 – 00:39:25:11
Jason Stershic
At that time in my life. That year was a great example of how I kept learning lessons based on the concepts that I was taught in Israel. Lessons that I was able to learn in retrospect because I didn’t just forget the trip and move on with my life. I kept remembering lessons that I had learned while in Israel, and I applied that knowledge in addition to what I was learning in the classrooms and dormitories and on the grounds of Keystone.
00:39:25:15 – 00:39:48:22
Jason Stershic
Looking back, sophomore year was the time that some of my lessons came full circle. It was also during that year that I started to get back in touch with some of the people that I went to Israel with, not for any reason in particular. It was more like when you just call up an old friend because his name popped into your head one random day and you were ambitious enough to pick up the phone or write him a letter.
00:39:48:27 – 00:40:08:45
Jason Stershic
One person that I got in touch with was my friend Danny, who at the time was going to college somewhere in California where he had a radio show on which he talked and debated about Israel. Having the internet allowed me to listen, and I even called in once. That was just a continuation of my fantastic voyage. That hasn’t stopped.
00:40:08:50 – 00:40:37:22
Jason Stershic
That was the year that I got by on my leadership skills, from which I am in debt, to my Israel experience for honing. That was the year that I first started to realize that I had the opportunity to make my experience at Keystone just as memorable as that of which I had in Israel. However, I did go overboard, which served as a great lesson in how to stretch oneself extremely thin regardless of how it happened.
00:40:37:24 – 00:41:00:36
Jason Stershic
I made it through my sophomore year at college without stepping down from any of my positions. I did this because I was able to pull all nighters almost at will, and for all of the sleepless nights that year, none compares with the night in Israel that I stayed up doing homework with friends and then was blessed to see the sunrise over old Jerusalem.
00:41:00:41 – 00:41:25:18
Jason Stershic
I remember how that particular day started. I had an early wake up for tequila, a morning service, and then I dozed off in Hebrew class in core after a snack and some coffee. We had a good discussion on Jewish leaders, freewill and the importance of Israel as a state. That was also the day that my core class came to the realization that all in our class were gaining more respect and acceptance for one another.
00:41:25:23 – 00:41:47:28
Jason Stershic
As the debates and discussions got hotter and hotter. We were all getting more and more emotionally involved. During lunch, I received a letter from my parents containing an article that was written about me in the local paper. The article reminded me as to the reasons that I was sent on this magnificent journey. After lunch, I had a meeting with Barak, the principal, to check up on how I was doing.
00:41:47:33 – 00:42:06:59
Jason Stershic
He did that from time to time with all of us. In the meeting, I showed him the article and we discussed all of the opportunities we have to learn. Then I took a walk to Ben Yehuda Street so I could clear my head before getting back to my room to do some massive homework, including an essay on Israel, a Jewish state, or a state of Jews.
00:42:07:04 – 00:42:26:05
Jason Stershic
When I returned, I ran into David, one of our counselors, and we discussed what three books or movies or albums would you have with you if you were stuck on a desert island? After the conversation, I ran across the street to pick up some Beasley, a crunchy snack, and some Pepsi Max to help me create my paper with the Pepsi and Beasley.
00:42:26:06 – 00:42:45:30
Jason Stershic
I started writing. It was getting late and Ben had fallen asleep long ago, but Eric was writing his paper and Jake had come over to work on his. We were averaging about a paragraph every hour because we were discussing what we were writing before we wrote it, and by the time we had all finished, it was about 430 in the morning.
00:42:45:35 – 00:43:10:02
Jason Stershic
We all decided that we had come this far. Why not stay up? So we all took turns taking showers, and around 540 we headed up to the roof of Beit Shmuel. It was there with headphones in all of our ears, YouTube blasting in mind, that we awaited the sunrise.
00:43:10:07 – 00:43:31:55
Jason Stershic
When it came. We were not disappointed. Seeing the sunrise over the old city walls was a sight to behold. And even though I have actual pictures of the sunrise, I don’t need them to remember the beautiful oranges and purples I saw in the sky around the fiery sun that we have all seen. Although before I had never seen it look that magnificent.
00:43:32:00 – 00:43:56:17
Jason Stershic
And I have never again seen it look that magnificent since. After my sophomore year, I used my ups and downs in Israel to get me through life. If I had a bad day, I would think back to the good times in Israel. Or if I had a great day, I would think back to Israel and thank God for allowing me the experience and all the things that followed to get me to this great day.
00:43:56:22 – 00:44:19:42
Jason Stershic
Junior year, I put more focus into my education in the classroom. Out of the classroom, I limited my involvement to the newspaper and a work study job. The lessons of my sophomore year were well learned. That year was a slow one, and during the weeks or days that dragged on forever, I would pick up my journals from Israel and relive the trip.
00:44:19:46 – 00:44:40:37
Jason Stershic
I was wishing at that time that just reading about and reliving the trip would change my present luck and speed up the day or week. But luck can’t be wished or willed. I needed to dig back into the lessons that I learned. I needed to remember how to listen to different points of view as I did so well in core.
00:44:40:41 – 00:45:01:53
Jason Stershic
I was stuck in first gear, out of neutral, but still far from my potential. Yes, I was doing well in school, but I still felt empty. In Israel, I never felt empty. There was always something to explore or something new to try. Freshman year I wasn’t empty because one can’t be empty when in a new and different place.
00:45:01:58 – 00:45:25:29
Jason Stershic
Sophomore year, there was no emptiness in sight because I was full to the brim. Being extremely busy now. In the same old place. New at one time now just an old pair of shoes. Having done almost all there was to do, or at least having taken many of the opportunities afforded to me. I was just there, a junior and empty.
00:45:25:33 – 00:45:50:07
Jason Stershic
It was this emptiness that led me to the realization that Israel was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and that void was a hunger for another experience similar to that of which I had in the Holy Land, an experience that we are all capable of providing ourselves with. So long as we keep our minds open and our eyes looking forward.
00:45:50:11 – 00:46:10:40
Jason Stershic
I was not granted the past five years because I sat around and waited for something to come to me. It was not wished or willed for on my behalf either. It was because I took advantage of what was given to me. There is some luck involved in what is given to you, but one must still take the right path and make the right decisions.
00:46:10:45 – 00:46:34:01
Jason Stershic
I took a path less traveled and it has changed my luck, my life and who I am. My senior year in college is a great example of how, in some ways, I have completely evolved as a person, and yet in some ways still have a long way to go. For example, before I left, I watched TV as a reason not to do what I needed to.
00:46:34:06 – 00:46:58:16
Jason Stershic
Now I do what I need to and turn the TV on for educational value and the occasional drama. I still watch sports, but now I watch while I am reading, writing, or doing work. This is an example of how I haven’t completely changed the person I was just how I altered the person I was to improve my life and the lives of those people around me who benefit from my work.
00:46:58:21 – 00:47:20:23
Jason Stershic
It wasn’t until I found Fanta that I started to think back on who I was and who I am now, because of the trip and Keystone College. But now, with the rest of my life ahead of me, I look back and remember who I was. I remember being a very arrogant person, which today I am still, but not so much.
00:47:20:28 – 00:47:47:03
Jason Stershic
I remember that I hadn’t learned the art of restraint, but now I develop my thoughts. I remember that I didn’t pay attention to consequences, whereas now I am selective in what I do because I realize the impact that it will have on the future. I know that then if I didn’t like something, I didn’t listen. Whereas now I am more open to hearing the truth of life and creating it at times.
00:47:47:08 – 00:48:09:39
Jason Stershic
I realize that it is only in retrospect that we grasp the full experience. And as I have almost begun to fully understand the experiences that I had in Israel, I can now start to grasp the lessons I have learned during my time at Keystone College. In comparison, I spent only four short months in Israel and four years at Keystone College.
00:48:09:44 – 00:48:37:28
Jason Stershic
Both are major steps, but still just a part of my own personal evolution. I am not done growing or learning. If anything, Israel has taught me that I will always be learning and growing. And Keystone has solidified that lesson. I can only hope to take advantage of the opportunities afforded me in the future. And if I need to change my location to change my luck, I am no longer afraid of that change.
00:48:37:33 – 00:49:33:13
Jason Stershic
Because if Israel and Keystone have taught me anything about the concepts of learning and growth, it’s that they can happen anywhere, even in the most special of places. It has also proven to me that the old Jewish proverb, sometimes in order to change your luck, you need to change your location holds true.
00:49:33:17 – 00:50:00:52
Agent Palmer
I hope you enjoyed that. The process by which I recorded it this time around was different in many ways. But what is most obvious is that this was kind of a script by committee. And as the original project was completed by me, with the backing of a committee of three faculty members, and I was hoping for a passing grade to graduate, I did take their suggestions under advisement, but now, looking back, some of it is apparent that ideas were not fully thought out.
00:50:00:57 – 00:50:29:33
Agent Palmer
The people I mentioned where they were from, Ben from Connecticut, Ark and Shamir from California, people were from all over. Why did I just single those three out? The phantom detail is nice for a through line to go back and reminisce, but it worked off. The original essay titled A Fantastic Voyage, which doesn’t really work in audio. And while the inclusion of the four years in college works well with the four months abroad, the conclusions that I reach are a bit holier than thou.
00:50:29:47 – 00:50:51:20
Agent Palmer
For me, even if I was being nice to myself. But I promised a few people behind the scenes that this outro would not become a running commentary on everything that I found difficult or wrong, or had issues with. And revisiting this project for the sake of this podcast, why I even consider doing this might come to mind as a question.
00:50:51:20 – 00:51:17:49
Agent Palmer
And well, I have discussed this being my podcasting unquote experience before I even really got into podcasting. Since I hinted at it a few times during the first 20 odd episodes, I decided that it would be a good idea to share it out. Second, and perhaps most importantly, the next few episodes are about friendship and this experience and even this original project factor into the first two of those four episodes.
00:51:17:55 – 00:51:41:59
Agent Palmer
So it was important for context, but you’ll get that context next time. And during those episodes. So what’s left to say? Well, I did enjoy revisiting all of this. And while there are circumstances that have changed, I still believe a good chunk of what I originally wrote. I continue to learn. I want to be educated because what’s existence?
00:51:41:59 – 00:52:04:33
Agent Palmer
If we’re not searching for more knowledge and with that knowledge may not come complete fulfillment. But it’s a start. And what of the Jewish proverb that literally started it all, and that I finish the piece with? Well, my anxiety may have a little more influence on where I go. But changing your location doesn’t always have to be a physical location.
00:52:04:38 – 00:52:25:35
Agent Palmer
Think on that, won’t you? Seriously, think about it. Thanks for listening to The Palmer Files episode 24. As a reminder, all links are available in the show notes. And now for the official business. The Palmer Files releases every two weeks on Tuesdays. If you’re still listening, I encourage you to join the discussion. You can tweet me at Agent Palmer.
00:52:25:37 – 00:52:44:16
Agent Palmer
You can tweet the show at the Palmer Files. You can see all of my writings and rantings on Agent palmer.com, and all links will be available in the show notes. Email can be sent to the show at the Palmer Files at gmail.com. If you have any feedback on this or any previous episode, or if there’s a topic or guest you’d like me to consider.
00:52:44:21 – 00:53:04:20
Agent Palmer
You can also hear more of me in the meantime on our liner notes. A musical conversation podcast with host Chris Maier and my other gig as co-host of the podcast digest with Dan Lizette.
00:53:04:25 – 00:53:12:28
Unknown
You.
00:53:12:33 – 00:53:25:20
Unknown
Need.
00:53:25:24 – 00:53:35:33
Unknown
Me.
00:53:35:38 – 00:53:40:15
Unknown
Even.
00:53:40:20 – 00:54:02:38
Jason Stershic
All right. So I will share a little bit of the original with you. But remember, the quality is not that good and, well, you’ve probably gotten used to this voice, but, you know, I was younger and that’s okay. Well, it’s not going to be long. Here it is. It’s a very amazing thing that happens when you notice some little detail about your life.
00:54:02:38 – 00:54:26:33
Jason Stershic
Now, and your head begins to spiral, and you think of one particular moment in your life not too long ago, where had you chosen another path? Your life would be drastically different. I have had such a moment. I was drinking Fanta and orange soda, my drink of choice, when I was in Israel, and it sent me on an amazing journey that had me reliving the past few years of my life.
00:54:26:38 – 00:54:32:34
Jason Stershic
Let me tell you the story of how these past few years have changed my luck and the course of my life forever.