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Posted on 12/18/2001 5:17:23 PM PST by a_Turk

It was Food for Thought, a small, Chicago-based production company, that took teacher Ralph Scalise into the heart of an Islamic nation in the days after Sept. 11.

He'd been with the group since the mid-1990s. But its name had never proven more fitting.

Scalise spent 17 days in Turkey, acting as an assistant producer for the "Hidden Journeys" series - a show delving into food and culture.

For that time, he was an American living among Muslims during a critical time in U.S. history.

He learned many things.

Among them, he said, a basic rule of human existence: we all should be able to get along.

"They were absolutely peaceful," Scalise said of his hosts in Turkey, who welcomed his crew with open arms into a mosque for filming.

The trip, planned well in advance of the terrorist attacks, put the Elk Grove High School teacher in an educational gold mine, providing him a wealth of experiences to share with his students.

He did and saw things they can only hear about on the news.

Scalise talked with Muslims in the immediate wake of U.S. retaliation on Afghanistan. He watched them put hands on their hearts when they heard he was from America and say, "We're sorry."

"They all mentioned to us that what those people (the terrorists) were doing is not Islam at all," Scalise said. "It's no religion at all."

He spent time in an overwhelming network of rooms making up a 5-mile-long underground cave city - one he says must be much like the one Osama bin Laden is believed to be using.

"It was kind of like, there's absolutely no way you'd find this guy when you look at how elaborate the tunnels are," Scalise said. "The only way we'll find him is if someone turns him over."

Turkey, a country nestled partly in Europe near Greece and partly in the Middle East next to Iran and Iraq, isn't close to the target of American military action.

Nonetheless, a smattering of friends and relatives, pinned to the television sets for coverage of the ongoing drama, urged Scalise not to make his planned trip.

He had other thoughts.

"I knew Islam's not like this. A tiny fraction of a group is not what Islam is like. I was not nervous," he said. "I was not going in ignorant."

He left for Turkey on Sept. 26.

He speaks only an "inkling" of Turkish, but the veteran traveler says a smile can work pretty well.

"You're trying to be a part of these people," he said. "When they see you want to be a part of them, I guess that gets us a long way."

While in Turkey, Scalise and his crew did the job they always do: traveled about the country - at one point getting within 150 miles of the Iran-Iraq border - sampled food and talked with people in a land that is influenced by a variety of cultures and religions.

The food was "wonderful," he said, but the people were better.

The goal of the TV series, he said, is to expose others to a culture they probably don't know much about.

But this trip opened his eyes, too.

The people on the streets in large cities like Istanbul wore Western clothing. Scalise blended in.

He never felt threatened.

In a photo tacked onto the wall of his Elk Grove High office, he sits next to two friends from Turkey, wearing a fake beard. They had wanted him to dress like a sultan.

He also has a stack of other photos of him with students in a school and with children on the street.

He'll keep those pictures, and the lessons he learned in Turkey, with him to use in his classes.

He'll tell his students: "You shouldn't believe these negative stereotypes. It's wrong. You wouldn't want to be lumped into a big group."

But, he said, it'll be a tough sell.

The Turkey trip was among several Scalise has made since 1994 with Food for Thought.

The shows typically take about a year to put together, but this one could be done sooner because of the timeliness of the issues.

The producers include lesson plans for each movie, geared toward kids in elementary, middle or high school and even college.

Scalise teaches world history, world studies, Italian and public service classes at Elk Grove High School.

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