Good morning. Im jane pauley and this is sunday morning. Every day in classrooms across america our children pledge allegiance to the flag, to one nation, indivisible. But in so many ways, we are divided culturally, economically, and, of course, politically. How do you heal a divided nation . This morning well look at a project focusing on young people, as lee cowan will explain, its like a Foreign Exchange program, only for students right here at home. Its nice to meet you. Reporter there is a lot of talk about how its too late for us. That its the Net Generation thats going to bridge both our politics and our social divides. But that hope still needs to be nurtured. I feel like we have the vaccine. I think this can scale enormously and i think it works. Reporter how a new Student Exchange program is laying the groundwork that just might connect us all coming up on sunday morning. Back in the 60s and 70s, sly and the family stone was a sensation. With a string of topop ten h hi. But asas kelefa sasanneh will l us, it w wasnt all l fame and fortrtune. I am every day people reporter how did sly stone, the ultimate rock star, find sobriety . With help from his daughter, who sometimes had to literally chase the drug dealers away. So someone would come to the house and you come downstairs and say, i dont ever want to see you again . Put your foot down and let them know, you are not welcome. Dont come back over here or its going to be a problem. Reporter sly and the real family stone ahead on sunday morning. After which with Martha Teichner well run off to the circus. Reporter after shutting down in 2017, ringling bros. And Barnum Bailey is back. Betting that the elephant in the room, the fact that there are no elephants in the room anymore, or any other animals, wont matter once families see the new greatest show on earth. Americas Living National treasure. Its our privilege to bring it forward for new generations. Reporter later this sunday morning, an American Icon reborn. Seth done will have a story from ghana which can only be described as bittersweet. Faith salie sizes up the past, present, and five of the skirt. Our rita braver is in conversation with cable news host Rachel Maddow. Plus, Steve Hartman with a message in a bottle tale with a twist. Well have the latest on the deadly surprise attacks in israel, and more on this sunday morning for the 8th of october, 2023. And well be back after this. Were going to begin this morning with a deadly attack on israel by hamas forces. Imtiaz tyab has the latest from tel aviv. Reporter it was under the cover of a massive Early Morning barrage of thousands of rockets that hamas fighters were able to make their shocking break into israel. Its an assault being described as unprecedented. Targeting towns and cities as far away as tel aviv. But unprecedented feels almost inadequate for scenes like this. Heavily armed hamas militants roaming the streets in at least 2 southern israeli towns and border communities for hours, setting fire to tanks and gunning down soldiers and civilians alike. The death toll is staggering. So far, at least 300 have been killed and over 1,600 injured, according to israels government. And in unknown number of soldiers and civilians dragged into gaza are being held captive inside the territory. Caught off guard, the Israeli Military scrambled to respond, carrying out strikes across gaza, killing more than 250 palestinians and wounding at least 1,600 more, according to the territorys ministry of health. The question many zbliisraelis are asking. How was hamas able to carry out a massive and sophisticated attack without israels well funded intelligence apparatus having any inkling . A catastrophic intelligence failure that israel will likely spend years trying to understand. Some regional observers suggest its archrivals iran and the lebanonbased hezbollah may be involved. Something neither are confirming. In the backdrop it what Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu is calling a fullscale war, israel has been gripped for months by mass demonstrations opposing netanyahus extreme farright governments plan to gut the judiciary. In the occupied west bank, around 200 palestinians have been killed in confrontations with the Israeli Military and settlers since january making this the deadliest year there in decades. And now hamas brazen assault, which is far from over, is likely to lead to yet another dark and Even Deadlier chapter in this 75yearold conflict. President biden yesterday pledged rock solid is support for israel. But with concerns growing hamas deadly assault could trigger a wider conflict in the region, biden had afternoon for any country looking to exploit these attacks, saying the world is watching. theres two things a young man wanna be a cocowboy or a a gangst. Anand a gangststers outtata s. I got t back to mymy roots. We come from a long line of cowboys. My g grandfatherer, mymy greatgrandfather, my aunt even rode horses. When i s see all of f us out hehere on thisis ran, i see how w far our lelegay can n go. you know t that feelining of h having to r rewash dishss that dididnt get clclean . I dont. Cascade plplatinum plulus. With dououble the dadawn greae fighghting powerer anand double the scscrubbing popower. For a no r rewash cleaean. And a cabibinet ready shine. Upupgrade to cascade platinum plus. Dare to dish differently. Holy c cannoli. Look at this. Its like a science project. Ordering lunch easy for you and me but can n be so difffficut for r a young hohomeowner turnrning into t their paren. Arare those alall different t lettuces . . Uh, yes, sir. Brbrown rice, white rice, or quinoa . A . [[ groans ]] wwere gonnana need a mimi. Dodo you have e any food a all . Well,l, my teethh arare sensitivive to cold. Prprogressive e cant prototeu from becomoming your p pare, but we c can protectct your homome and autoto whwhen you bunundle with u. Thatatll be 1919. 45. Oh, im just p paying for my ownwn salad. Some Young Americans head overseas to meet people with other cultures with other points of view. In a country as divided as ours appears to be, lee cowan explains how that same experience may be available without ever leaving our shores. Its like koorper of it. Reporter under a nearly full moon in the unpolluted darkness of a night sky over kansas there is two there is two satellites reporter a group of student stargazers sat in a circle taking turns on the telescope. Some craters tiny. Reporter a bonding experience out of this world, especially given a day before they were as foreign to each other as the lunar landscape itself. Politically and just morally when we believe is completely different. I was like are we are going to get along . Everyone is, like, what are your plans . Oh, i am going to kansas. Without fail, everyone is, like, why . Why would you go to kansas . Reporter why . The better question may be, why not . You dont want to always be comfortable. You have to do things, talking to a new person. It might make you uncomfortable. You are not going to make new friends, experience life. Its nice to meet you. Reporter this past summer, more than 300 High School Graduates signed up for a unique Student Exchange program. Unlike the well known Foreign Exchange model that affords students a chance to study abroad in, say, europe or asia, this Program Gives students the opportunity to soak in a brandnew culture without ever leaving the country. We fund kids to spend a week in the summer after senior year in an american town that is politically and socioeconomically and culturally very different from the one they grow up in. Reporter its called the American Exchange project, or aep for short. Cofounded by 29yearold David Mccullough iii, grandson of the great pulitzer prizewinning David Mccullough. Grew up in the ivory tower. Enormous privilege. I wanted to get out of that. See a part of the country i had not been exposed to but i knew was out there. Ready to go. We will miss you. Reporter so, in 2016 he borrowed his moms maz do and spent the next two months driving across the country, part jack kerouac, part tom sawyer, heading down the mississippi. I thought doors would be slammed in my face, people wouldnt want to talk to me. Not only did that not happen. The opposite of that happened. Reporter for the past three years, he has been giving High School Graduates that same experience. So far, at least, its having the impact he hoped it would. My groups of friends are friends are not really close to each other. So i feel like i actually bonded with you guys more than i have with my own friends. [ applause ] i have never been a part of a community where i could just im not the minority, the odd one out. So this is very much, like, an experience i appreciate so much. Ready . Ten seconds. Reporter David Mccullough hopes to offer the program to a Million Students a year by decades end and all free of charge thanks to bigname donors, including the likes of Steven Speilberg and others. I think this out to be as typical to the American High School experience as the prom. I think every kid in every town should have an experience like this. Reporter we called kaya woo and evan quach as they lifted their liberty blue bubble albany, california, north of uc berkeley for the reliably red bubble of dodge city, kansas. Its flat. Its so flat. Reporter with each flat passing acre their eyes widened, jaws dropped when they passed one of dodge citys massive feed lots. Its sad, but its how our economy grows. Oh, my goodness. Reporter cowboys and cattle are a way of life near in dodge, just as american as the golden gate bridge. I dont usually get this close to horses. Like, its on a very rare occasion. Reporter but also a world apart. Yeah, you can tell they are pretty happy cattle. They even have a swimming hole. One, two, three. Reporter the City Slickers visiting dodge learned how to dance the cancan at the boot hill museum. Cheers. Reporter they drink sarsaparilla in the Long Branch Saloon and watched the sun go down while enjoying a dodge city delicacy. Pickledflavored shave ice. Is it good . Yeah. Yeah. When you drink it i want a whole thing of it. My whole torso is twisted. We are using the big muscles in our back and chest rather than the little ones in our arms. Reporter a dodge city native. When it was her teurn to immers herself in the california way of life oh right. Reporter her peers rolled out the blue car pet. We are on a rhythm. Back on zoom. Reporter while navigating the less than conservative currents of San Francisco bay, for example oops, oops, collision. Thank you. Oops, another collision sorry reporter franely found herself asking people about their preferred pronounce. Politics are, like, black and white. But really everyones gray. Like, we mesh. We just dont realize it because we are so focused on splitting. Reporter after paddling up an appetite oh, my gosh reporter franely was treated to in and out, the holy grail of california fast food. I dont like onions, but it works in here. Re. There had to be a little bit of worry about what are we what happens if we put these two perhaps diametrically opposed kids together. I was a little bit worried that the communities were so different that the kids wouldnt quite get it. Reporter thats not what you have seen . Not at all. They assimilate quickly. Credit to being young, i think. Reporter any skeptics . There is a lot of folks worried that were either a liberal trojan horse or we have a hidden agenda. We dont. We dont do a lot of talk in politics and have no agenda we are trying to get through to the kids. Hi i remember from the zoom. Reporter like Foreign Exchange programs, host families are aeps foundation. Go around here reporter for the last few years, dodge city wife and mom Kirstin Bangerter has opened her home to students as a place to sleep and eat, yes, but also learn from her family. They seem very happy, very cheerful, very open, excited to experience new things. They dont seem afraid or nervous or anxious. They just want to be with our group. They knew different crowd. Yeah. A lot of the time you make the most progress in those informal breakfast table conversations and sharing experiences before bed and things like that. I am appalled when i go other places and there is styrofoam. It freaks me out because there is no styrofoam in california. There is to to styrofoam plates here. Over there its, like, normal. Everyone when you are eating, you use a paper plate or styrofoam or cups that are disposable. Reporter a week may not seem like a lot of time, but at the end of those seven days you might be surprised at just how much change actually takes root. You seem like you are all pretty good friends. Yeah i just learned that if i get along with them, thats cool. If they respect me and respect what i stand for, were good. Sometimes its better to just be quiet and listen and really, like, process what people are saying, think go it, maybe sleep on before you disagree. Reporter there is that old adage about walking a mile in someone elses shoes. Problem is, you cant really see that person face to face if you are walking away. What David Mccullough is hoping is the next generation will turn around, look those they differ with in the eye, and just talk. I love my country. I love what it stands for. And i love the ideals of what we are supposed to be about. And when thats in jeopardy, how could we all not want to rush to the fire and try to put it out with everything weve got . Here att ononce upon a a farm, we chosese the new cacapital one e venture xx bubusiness carard. Wiwith no preseset spendining , our purchahasing powerer ads to m meet our bubusiness neee. And unlimimited doublele s means we e earn more t too. Whwhats in yoyour wallet . . My m most importrtant kitchen n tool . My brainin. So i chohoose new neneuriva u. Unlike some others, it supports 7 brain health indicators, including mental alertness from one serving. To help keep me shararp. 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Of course. When i say the word skirt, what words come to your mind . How big can it be . What length would you like it to be . Reporter for designer christian siriano, the skirt is a transformative piece of clothing. The options are endless. Mini, midi, maxi, asymmetric, straight, or frothy. The skirt is about being free, having more movement and not being kind of trapped inside something, which i think a pant does. A skirt is more freeing. Reporter that feeling is sewn into the definition of the word skirt. A piece of clothing meant to dangle with the waist and move around the body with few restrictions. I find them more comfortable. They are a canvas for beautiful textiles, which i love. Kimberly chrismancampbell is the author of skirts. And she says as unfettered as they might appear, skirts are tied to some meaningful history. They tell us a lot about our culture anand our valulues and we t treat and t think of wowom themselveses. Repororter whilele skirts h certainlyy hemmed w women into tradititional notions of femininity, they have dramatically demonstrated the power of the wearer. Textiles were extremely expensive before the industrial revolution. The bigger the skirt, the more fabric you needed, the more wealth you were displaying. Reporter early 20th century skirts gradually became shorter and narrower, especially during world war ii when material was rationed. But in 1947, designer Christian Dior repudiated that starkness with an ultra feminine silhouette called the new look. While the 1950s poodle skirt was an evolution of that voluminous look, chrismancampbell sets the story straight about its popularity. Poodle skirt comes from poodle fabric, which was a sort of hairy, stiff, lightweight fabric. It was later after the skirt came into being that designers started decorating them with poodles. Reporter and while we are mythbusting, you may be surprised to learn about the origin of the miniskirt. No one thought it was sexy to begin with. It was introduced in 1964, it was something that looked like you could buy in the childrens department. It had ruffles, bows, polka dots. It looked like little girls playing dressup. Reporter the miniskirt was created for young women who didnt want to look grown up . Right. It addressed that gap in the marketet, dressining womomen wh young but didntt want to looko lilike their motherers. Repeporter foror many women though, the choice to wear a skirt wasnt theirs to make. It was only in the late 1970s that woman were allowed to wear pants in many schools and restaurants and workplaces. Reporter it wasnt until this year that the u. S. Marine corps ended its last skirt mandate for women. Whale the skirt has become a ubiquitous female symbol, men across the world have traditionally shown some leg. Skirts are an extremely masculine garment in many cultures. Think of something feminine in the west, but the scotch kilt is associated with tough warrior high