Time for reflections & celebrations

The month of December is usually reserved for observing holidays linked to our beliefs and ethnic backgrounds.  If you haven't visited the Christmas page on our website this may be a good time to take a look at how this holiday is celebrated in our sister cities around the world - www.scawilmington.org - there is a link from the home page. 

In my November post I mentioned we held our national elections and President Obama won a second term.  There are a large number of individuals in government, business, academia, science and the arts who play a very important role in a country's history. In America presidents are among those who have shaped the building of a nation that became a leader on the world stage despite it being one of the youngest.  December is the birth month of three American presidents that governed during unique periods in our history- Martin Van Buren (5th president); Andrew Johnson (17th president); and Woodrow Wilson (28th president).    One of these men had to deal with an economic crisis and a fear that the nation would fall into insolvency. Sound familiar?  In response to the crisis he created an independent treasury.  One was born in North Carolina and became president without having won an election for that seat.  How is that possible in American democracy you might ask.  One became known for his international leadership and created the League of Nations.  You may know the answers already but if not you can find them by visiting the white house in our nation's capital - www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents.

Did you know that North Carolina is the second largest producer of pine trees in the United States? Thirty million trees annually.  Can you identify the location of the tree in the photograph to the left?  Hint - it's not in North Carolina.  North Carolinians are proud to note that this year's Christmas tree in the White House came from a farm in the western region of our state, which thousands of people will get to view this holiday season.

This will probably be my last post for 2012 and on behalf of Sister Cities Association in Wilmington -
 we wish all of our friends peace and joy during this beautiful season! 

Smiles,
Marilyn

Sister Cities Association of Wilmington
Wilmington, North Carolina (USA)  

Do we dare hope for world peace?

It has been a challenging year in several ways from struggling economies and natural disasters to politics in America and abroad. We began 2012 on the head winds of a presidential election as rising tensions in the Middle East resulted in violence and disruptions to the lives of millions of people. Sister Cities continued its efforts to work toward a more peaceful world and held a concert as part of  Daniel Pearl World Music Days last month.  It was an amazing evening of dance, song, music and words that brought us all together.  This year we also paid tribute to the journalists who died doing their job in 2012 and told the story of Malala Yousafzai the young girl from the Swat Valley in Pakistan who was shot by the Taliban for her education activism for all girls and women.  Malala may in fact be one of the youngest journalists in modern times since she was not even 12 years old when she was asked by the highly respected British news organization BBC to write about education and conditions in her homeland.  She had to hand write her news and pass it along to a reporter that would scan and email her comments to be posted on a BBC blog.  Malala survived her injuries and is now recovering in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in the UK.  We wish her well. If you go to our website you can find more information on the peace concert and even a cookie recipe.   If you are interested in journalism and global affairs check out the Taking It Global web site and hear what others are doing.  It may inspire you to share your stories and report on items of interest in your part of the world.

I am happy to say not everything was so challenging this year. Wilmington hosted its first sister city symposium this spring and it was a good start.  Many individuals dedicated to expanding global learning opportunities and cross-cultural programs participated in several sessions over 3 days of meetings and special events.  The result is new connections were made that have already led to some exciting exchanges between Wilmington and partner cities.  Teacher candidates from the University of North Carolina in Wilmington completed another field assignment in San Pedro, Belize during that same time period and we were able to learn about their work via skype at the conference.  The exciting news is that teachers from San Pedro will have the opportunity to spend time in North Carolina classrooms to continue their professional development; and a short documentary covering the field assignment in San Pedro has completed production  and can be viewed online through the Watson School of Education (UNCW) portal.

A delegation from our sister city in Dandong arrived in May and were able to tour our junior college and port in addition to sharing a meal with some local Chinese American community members and elected officials. 

Americans went to the polls and re-elected President Obama for a second term, and the  People's Republic of China convened its Congress in Beijing this November completing a reorganization to lead the country going forward.


Barbados will be celebrating its independence this Friday. Wilmington sends its congratulations and our wishes for all your citizens to enjoy the festivities!



Smiles,
Marilyn
Sister Cities Association of Wilmington USA

2011 Top News Stories from Wilmington

Having just finished celebrating the lunar New Year I thought it was time to take a look back at 2011 for notable events that happened in our corner of the world.  Of course, it would  be impossible to document everything that made the news so I am paring it down to a few topics touching on  historical events, marine life, and democracy.

The end of May we thought was the last filming of a long running and popular television series, 'One Tree Hill'.  The producer learned that the network picked up a ninth and final season, making it the longest running TV series.  'One Tree Hill' continued shooting through the summer and an evening with 'One Tree Hill' was held at the University of North Carolina in Wilmington as a tribute to the cast and crew in late October. The film industry is very important to the local economy and many people who are not professional actors often get to be hired as extras, which is quite fun.  Can you imagine yourself on television being viewed by millions of people? 

Weather events are always big news stories.  We all know hurricane season runs from June through November.  Scientists using technology combined with historical records help us anticipate these potentially damaging weather events early enough to warn people and keep us safe.  We had a single hurricane, Irene, that made landfall in North Carolina as a Category 1 on August 27.  The categories let us know what to expect in terms of wind speeds and possible damage.  Wilmington was more fortunate than our neighbors to the north in the Outerbanks where 2,500 people were cut off from the mainland due to storm surge closing off the only roadway.   

Irene leaves 2 new channels on the barrier islands (Outerbanks NC)

On September 15 the nearby North Carolina Aquarium at Ft. Fisher announced the arrival of 8 bonnethead shark pups - 7 females and 1 male.  Bonnetheads are part of the hammerhead family with rounded rather than rectangle heads. The pups are about 1 foot long and will grow to 4-5 feet adults.  They can live up to 10 years and eat crustaceans.  What are crustaceans?  This was only the second time that the aquarium had sharks born in captivity.  They were isolated initially to make sure they were healthy and to keep them safe from predators in the tank where they were born.

October 2 marked the scene of an exciting 50th anniversary of the USS North Carolina battleship arriving in Wilmington.  The ship was launched in June 1940 and earned 15 battle stars in World War II.  Over the years it has become a major tourist attraction in the area attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.  On its anniversary celebration the entrance fees were slashed back to 1961 prices - 50 cents for an adult and 25 cents for a child - with concerts and living history demonstrations it was a spectacular day.

October was a busy month here.  Chef Keith Rhodes, owner of 'Catch' a popular local restaurant was honored with a nomination for the James Beard Southeast Chef of the Year for his winning Carolina crab cakes with Texas Pete Aioli.  You can find his recipe on the Internet.  Chef Rhodes is a strong believer in the science based management of fish stock which ensures a sustainable supply and supports local fisherman. He also pairs his fish with locally grown organic produce making sure his customers have a 'healthy' meal.  He is also known for being selected as a 'Top Chef' contestant on Bravo's reality show.

In November we hold general elections and 2011 was the year that our current mayor was running for re-election along with two town council members - one council member was not seeking another term .  Mayor Saffo won re-election and the council seats went to incumbent Laura Padgett, and two new members, Margaret Haynes and Neil Anderson.   They will sometimes face difficult decisions and we have to trust their leadership to keep our neighborhoods safe and allow our community to continue to grow and prosper.

What were your top stories from 2011?

Smiles,
Marilyn
Sister Cities Association of Wilmington (US)