Alumna Mayssa Karaa performs her original "Call Me a Stranger" live with Berklee World Strings. Directed and arranged by Eugene Friesen. Originally from Lebanon, Mayssa has called the US her home for the last 11 years. Like many people of middle eastern origin, she contends with the daily struggle with mistrust, often judged as guilty until proven innocent. For Mayssa, having to prove that she isn’t some kind of threat to westerners and no different from them demanded examination. “I knew that mine wasn’t a unique experience and the song speaks to everyone feeling this way, by addressing the people who wrongly fear the unknown.” "I could have been you, You could have been me It's all in the hands of destiny" These lines speak to the fact that we’re all born into the lands we love and call home by accident, whether that’s America, Lebanon, anywhere. Fate has dictated who we are, and but for that, we could easily be standing in each other’s shoes. "You could have been me I could have bee
