Each year the European Union chooses an area (or two or three) to be an “European Capitol of Culture.” The selected areas receive funding to create an extensive year-long program of activities that can showcase the area’s history, current lifestyles and overall community culture.
Lucky for me, the Ruhrgebiet happens to be one of these selected places for 2010.
It seems like the list of activities I can attend never ends. There are thousands of activities going on, with art and music festivals, new museums built to showcase the mining history of the area, theatrical performances and diversity projects that help to represent and educate people about the many, many types of people that live here naming only a few.
Each day brings something new, and it’s wonderful. There’s excitement each day, and everyone is invited to participate.
The first activity I attended this week was seeing the Schachtzeichen project. Consisting of hundreds of large yellow balloons elevated into the sky above the old mining sights in the area, I was able to see a visual representation of how extensive the mining networks were by simply finding the “pin-points” on the living-map. It was great, because honestly I really didn’t have much of an idea about where all of the mines actually were in the past unless there was an obvious building left behind.
On Wednesday my activities moved away from learning about Ruhr history to enjoying a theatrical performance on what is my most-hated form of local transportation, the S1 train. Infamous for 25-30 minute delays or simply not showing up at all, I was lucky enough to find that the train was on time and I was able to enjoy a play created by TU-Dortmund students. Acting out skits about everything from Shakespeare searching for inspiration to Alice in Wonderland and a scene from Murder on the Oriental Express, I really enjoyed the show. However, I must say the highlight of my evening was watching the expressions of uninformed passengers and train security officials as they tried to figure out what was going on.
Finally, Friday evening was dominated by attending the ceremonial opening of the “U” downtown in what was formerly the Union Brewery. One of the largest projects in the area, the old building has been converted into a center of creativity that will play an important role in offering new opportunities to residents of Dortmund (and the Ruhrgebiet) to explore new opportunities and think creatively.
I’m really enjoying taking advantage of these activities and I think that it would be really neat if we did something like this in Cedar Rapids, the state of Iowa, or even on a nation-wide level. Everyone gets involved and everyone enjoys the final outcome. It’s great to see people out of their homes and active in the community. It will be one of the things I miss most about living here.


Sean Kingston, a rising star in the world of hip-hop, pop and blues, performed to a sold-out crowd in the Regents Center at Luther College on Nov. 13. Rousheen Paisley, Luther College news writer, caught up with Kingston before his performance.









