Jay Harris got his first taste of international living one horizon-broadening summer in Australia while staying on a piggery as a high school exchange student. Since then, he has worked 30 years overseas as an international education specialist for universities, advisory councils and community outreach programs, making 60 trips to Jordan alone. During the course […]
San Cristóbal de las Casas was Asheville’s first Mexican sister city. The relationship dates back to 1994—a difficult time for both the city and the southeastern state of Chiapas in which it lies. That year, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation used San Cristóbal as one of the staging points for its rebellion against the […]
Asked why Asheville needed a sister city in France, Barbara Hodgson says she’s had two great loves since she was a child: opera and all things French. Add in her travels in the country as an adult and a stint with the American Field Service during which she hosted French people at her Asheville home, […]
The well-traveled Kitty Boniske hasn’t been to Africa yet, but she acknowledges the cultural challenges facing the partnership between Asheville and Osogbo, Nigeria. “One of the things we tend to do is project our assumptions on other cultures,” notes the woman who helped launch Asheville’s sister cities program about 20 years ago. Dancing queens: Osogbo […]
Dennis Hodgson likes to eat and drink coffee at the old Eckerd’s lunch counter in north Asheville, and that’s why Asheville’s fourth sister city is Karpenisi and not some other Greek town, says his wife, Barbara Hodgson. Dennis is a former president of the Asheville Sister Cities board, among other civic service, and one day, […]
If you think it’s easy to set up a sister city program, talk to Kitty Boniske. “Vladikavkaz was our third try,” the longtime Asheville Sister Cities volunteer recalls. Two other Russian cities—Klintsy and Kislovotz—just didn’t pan out. Snowy cathedral: The major religions in Asheville’s first Sister City, Vladikavkaz, are Russian Orthodox and Islam. Photo courtesy […]
Sister city initiatives are all about forging connections and recognizing what a small world we live in. That’s clearly the case with one of Asheville’s newest sister cities: Valladolid in southern Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. The circle begins in Barnardsville, where retired National Geographic Society archaeologist George Stuart lives. Distinguished visitor: Vallalodid, Mexico, officials honored Barnardsville […]
I moved to Asheville from Tombstone, Ariz., after searching the Net and coming upon the YMI Cultural Center’s Web site and information about the historic Block. “Wow,” I thought, “a town in the South where the black community still owns property. Got to see that!” I trace my roots to a black town called Pelham, […]
