Dear Reader

I had no idea what I wanted to write to you about when I first contemplated my letter to you. Should I tell you about the FIFA Women’s World Cup? Surely you followed the German teams glorious run towards another world cup. The last game with Brazil was as exciting as any world-class soccer event we have seen.

I decided against a report on this, because I know you are informed already, but it does not hurt to share a bit of national pride, just about now, when Germany is so well represented here with the Frankfurt mission in Toronto. The symposium was covered for Echo Germanica by Alexander Oolo, who will return to the fold occasionally with a special report from Frankfurt, where he has resided for the last few years. I will fill you in on some of the other events surrounding this, like the Jazz Fest and the Gala Ball, which were both sponsored by Frankfurt.

Another void was filled when we could not decide on a front page photo. But then, last minute, Marianne Schmidt from Berlin sent us her thoughts on the Unification of Germany, so close to the Day of Unity, October 3^rd, that we reverted back to an older format, translated the article to English and offer you both in our original award-winning format on the front page.

I would much like to hear how you like this idea. In fact, I welcome all your comments, even if we do not often have the space to print them all.

Just recently we received another letter from someone who is addressing the old problem of the missing youth in our ranks.

Folks, let me tell you, I think we missed the boat. The ones we do have in the fold occasionally are too busy making a living and the other ones are not interested in our organisations, or not necessarily so. It is a different world out there now. German Clubs in the traditional sense do not hold any fascination for the majority of kids. If there is a bit of glitz and glamour involved, and is business oriented, modern - not traditional, well then we will see a lot of young folks trailing along and even vigorously participate, as was the case at the ball and the jazz concert in honour of the Toronto-Frankfurt friendship celebrations.

At Echo Germanica we shall try to serve the various interests with equal vigour and we hope you find this trend as interesting as we do.

Last but not least, I am not going to comment on the election campaign at all. I have said privately all I want to say to some friends. Let us not forget, we do arts and culture, not politics, really. But please, do not let others speak for you. The ads are correct, do participate in the voting process, or else we will not be heard.

I hope to see you around the many festivities this fall, and please, do come up and say hallo. I love meeting you!

Until then

Sybille Forster-Rentmeister