|
Around the WorldBoston January - February 2003
Our Mission: WorldBoston is a catalyst for global engagement that offers cultural perspectives and promotes international thinking in individuals and organizations. WorldBoston provides a staging ground for issues-focused forums, one-on-one dialog, networking and personal and professional growth for residents, businesses and institutions of Greater Boston and around the globe.
FEATURES Corporate Member Spotlight Global View The WorldBoston Wish List World Affairs Emerging Leaders Contact Us
CORPORATE MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
The Boston Park Plaza Hotel
|
||||
|
GLOBAL
VIEW Brandie E. Conforti, Executive Director
A Message to All of Our Members. In these uncertain times, I’d like to point out to you the
many ways in which you can help play a role in global affairs by becoming
more involved in one of the many activities that WorldBoston offers.
The coming months are shaping up to be quite busy for our World Affairs program. In late February, World Affairs, in conjunction with the John F. Kennedy School of Government’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, held an intensely informative panel discussion on the regional repercussions and impact on American foreign policy of a war in Iraq. At a luncheon/discussion on March 6th, we will be welcoming Ambassador Stephen W. Bosworth, Dean at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, and Former U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Korea. Ambassador Bosworth will speak on “Korea: Searching for Options.” Through this event we will extend our focus to another equally important and potentially explosive area of the globe meriting our attention. March will also mark the beginning of our Great Decisions series, sponsored by the Lowell Institute. We hope that many of you who have joined us in the past for these highly informative sessions will join us once again, and that many of our newer members will take this opportunity to explore topics that range from “EU Expansion” to “China” to “Genetically Modified Crops.” Read more about the Great Decisions 2003 series below. For those of you looking for a more hands-on approach to getting involved in international affairs, WorldBoston’s Emerging Leaders offers several opportunities. In May, through our Community Connections program, WorldBoston will be hosting 10 individuals from Russia’s Far-East. Perhaps you might be interested in welcoming one or more of these individuals into your home for a two-week home-stay. If a two-week commitment is too difficult but you would still like to meet an upcoming leader, you might consider offering social hospitality to one of the many international professionals visiting Boston through the International Visitors Program. I encourage all of you to take advantage of these and other benefits that WorldBoston membership provides. At a time when many of us may feel that we have little to no control over the events that surround us, WorldBoston offers opportunities to help make a difference.
Check Our Website. We are constantly updating the WorldBoston website to keep you informed about our programs, upcoming events and visitors, and to make it easier for you to contact us. Please check out our website regularly.
THE WORLDBOSTON WISH LIST We hope that you will consider making a donation to WorldBoston. Please visit our website and click on Give a Gift to see the kinds of activities your gift will support, as well as a donation form. Other things on our Wish List are: * Volunteer part-time bookkeeper * Volunteer part-time computer consultant * Color printer (PC compatible, 14ppm color; installation software must be included) * Event sponsors and space
If you are able to donate your time or a top-quality color printer, or are interested in event sponsorship, please contact Brandie Conforti (phone: 617-542-8995, ext. 103; email: bconforti@worldboston.org). WORLD AFFAIRS Elizabeth J. Streiff, Director, World Affairs
World Affairs strives to educate, inform and foster understanding of international affairs; and to provide accessibility for the general public to participate in the discussion of global issues.
World Affairs is busy preparing for our premier series, Great Decisions. Made possible through a grant from the Lowell Institute, this series of lectures is presented on eight consecutive Tuesday evenings in March and April at the Boston Public Library. Open to the public and free of charge, the lectures are held from 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM. We hope you will join us at the first Great Decisions 2003 lecture on Tuesday, March 4, 2003, in Rooms C105-C106 of the Boston Public Library. The topic is “Expansion in the Future: A Look at the Future of the European Union.” Our speakers will be George Fergusson, Consul General of the United Kingdom to Boston, and Marek Lesbiewski-Laas, Honorary Consul of Poland to Boston. All of the topics in this year’s series, along with the confirmed speakers, are listed on our website. If you are interested in reading more about these topics, you can purchase a “Great Decisions Briefing Book” prepared by the Foreign Policy Association. This book contains balanced, in-depth articles about each of the eight crucial foreign policy issues covered in this year’s series. To order a copy ($15 each), please call us at 617-542-8995, ext. 106. We hope to see you at the Library! For more information about these and other future events, be sure to check our website or call World Affairs (617-542-8995, ext. 112). If there are any topics that you would like us to address in the future, please send your suggestions by email to wac@worldboston.org.
|
EMERGING LEADERS Kate Harvey, Director, International Visitors Natasha Palmroth, Director, Community Connections
The
mission of Emerging Leaders is to engage and develop dynamic thinkers from
around the world who will drive global change in the future. It involves the administration of two United States
Department of State programs: the
International Visitor Program and Community Connections. International Visitors. The International Visitors Program is experiencing one of the busiest winters on record, welcoming visitors from Morocco to Mexico. One recent group of eight mental health professionals came from the West Bank and Gaza to learn how post traumatic stress disorder is treated in the United States. Over a period of four days, members of the group met with local professionals from several area hospitals and universities, including the National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress, the Boston Center for Refugee Health and Human Rights and the Victims of Violence Clinic at Central Hospital. Feedback from the associate director of the National Center characterized the discussion as both “eye opening” and “poignant.” The visitors hope to develop the relationships forged in Boston to establish future professional collaborations. Over the last two months, several WorldBoston members have kindly provided social hospitality to visitors from China, Latvia, Russia, Germany, Estonia and Sweden. By balancing the rigorous professional itineraries set up for visitors by WorldBoston’s program officers, members who provide social hosting enhance the overall experience of International Visitors. Some hosts spend a day showing a visitor around the city; others invite them into their homes for a meal or to simply meet over a cup of coffee. Regardless of the activity or venue chosen, social hosting offers a relaxed and enjoyable opportunity for both parties to learn more about each other. Moreover, this less formal and simple gesture is one way of helping to build bridges between individuals and nations. If you would like to become involved with International Visitors for professional meetings, social hospitality or home hosting, please contact Kate Harvey, Director of International Visitors (phone: 617-542-8995, ext. 105; email: el@worldboston.org). Be sure to check our website for an up-to-date listing of our March International Visitors. Community Connections. On Friday, February 7th, 10 tired Russians stepped off a plane at Logan Airport after traveling from Kaliningrad to Moscow to New York and finally to Boston. Our most recent group of Community Connections visitors, these individuals were here to learn first-hand about Boston’s travel and tourism industry. Members of the group hailed from Kaliningrad, Russia, a city sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic coast and with no border on the Russian mainland. Formerly part of the Prussian Empire, Kaliningrad has a unique history and culture that draws visitors to it. The desire to further develop its tourism industry is what brought these tourism professionals to Boston. During their two-week stay, the group visited with
many members of the Boston and Massachusetts tourism industry in order to
learn as much as possible about every aspect of tourism, ranging from how
to give a tour to how to market a particular destination.
A highlight of their stay was a visit to the USS Constitution, where, thanks to Seaman Kiril Drozdov, the group
was given a complete tour of the ship in their native language, something
they never expected! As for
Seaman Drozdov, he appeared to enjoy providing the tour and narrative as
much as the group enjoyed being with him.
Community Connections group photo with Rep. Jay Kaufman at the Massachusetts State House. Our next Community Connections group, all youth advocacy professionals from Magadan, Russia, will be arriving in Boston in May. Magadan (pop. 122,000) is a seaport and industrial city located in the Russian Far East. Founded in 1933 near the fishing village of Nagaevo, the city developed into a large port and center for mining activities in the mountains of the Kolyma Basin. Although Magadan lies on the northern coast of the Sea of Okhotsk, many visitors associate the name of the town with the Gulags, which earned the region the reputation of being a vast concentration camp, where thousands upon thousands of prisoners worked in the gold mines of Kolyma and also laid the first streets of the future town. Today, Magadan is a memorial to those who met untimely deaths working in the Gulags. It is also a gateway for the vast gold mining region of the Kolyma mountain range to the north. Other industries include a shipyard and manufacturing plants for glass, building materials, mining equipment, clothing, metal and leather. The city is also becoming a regional center with museums, theaters, educational institutions, hotels, shops and various enterprises. Please check back on our website to get up to date information on this group.
If you are interested in becoming a homestay host or business host for our Community Connections professionals, please contact Natasha Palmroth, Director of Community Connections (phone: 617-542-8995, ext. 104; email: el@worldboston.org). |
|||
