Sister Cities News
Besuch von Doug Berry in Magdeburg
The German-American Dialog Center invited Doug Berry, President of Sister Cities of Nashville, to Magdeburg. Dialog Center members had nominated him as a candidate for Magdeburger of the Year 2003. Since this wasn't Doug's first visit, he was especially pleased to be able to see his friends from Magdeburg on Tuesday.
The first point on the agenda was an appointment at the Magdeburg Volksstimme where local news editor Rainer Schweingel warmly welcomed Doug. The election results for Magdeburger of the Year were made known in the evening at the Ratswaage Hotel. Our friend placed a fantastic third behind handball star Stefan Kretzschmar and Johannes Wrubel. Doug was extremely surprised and repeatedly affirmed what a great honor it was for him that he of all people took third place. Without his commitment and involvement none of the good relationships to Nashville would have been possible, nor the many friendships that have already ensued from the partnership. He is always endeavoring to establish new contacts between Nashville and Magdeburg, irregardless of whether for university or school students, artists, theater groups, choirs or associations. The more contacts there are, the more vital the partnership will be.
Wednesday started off early with a discussion with Tobias Wellemeyer director of the freienkammerspiele and his team. The freienkammerspiele would like to initiate a multimedia theater project with the residents of Magdeburg and Nashville on the occasion of the city's anniversary celebration of "1200 Jahre Magdeburg". Theater colleagues, artists and students in Nashville have to be found for this transatlantic cultural project. The two responsible teams will be working together closely to create a project simultaneously on both side of the ocean. Doug was immediately taken by the project "We've been living in the same village for a long time" and pledged his cooperation. In the afternoon, Doug attended the Magdeburg Seniors Association's New Year's reception. The seniors and their chairman Siegfried Brosza were there to cordially welcome him. Many seniors reported about their "pen pals" in Nashville and how much they are enjoying the exchange despite some language problems.
A full program awaited Doug again on Thursday too. The new additions to the Sister Cities website were presented. The firm Yaway Media provided a lot of helpful information about the joint Internet portal. This makes it possible to carry on sustained discussions in various forums with the people of Nashville and to make new friends, for instance, with the help of the newly added theater forum. In a conversation with city commissioner Dr. Rüdiger Koch and representatives of the Otto-von-Guericke Gesellschaft, plans were finalized for the Magdeburg Cultural Week to be held Nashville in April this year.
A pleasant finale to Doug Berry's visit took place in the evening at the restaurant "Möwe" at the Petriförder. Everyone had an opportunity to talk with Doug Berry and to hear about the experiences of other guests who have already visited Nashville. Doug was visibly overwhelmed by the hospitality of the people of Magdeburg when he was given the gift of a T-shirt with the Magdeburg logo. He's already looking forward to his next visit to his home on the Elbe and invited all of us from Magdeburg to Nashville, "…but please not all at the same time."
