Regular Meeting November 2023

The club's November meeting as an afternoon tea at the Steigenberger-Frankfurter Hof was the complete opposite of the gray and rainy weather outside. The ballroom was brightly lit and the tables were beautifully laid for over 100 ladies, who were entertained and had a great time that afternoon.

Roberta outdid herself this time with her decoration idea: a book on the table with a rose stuck in it. Instead of the usual sticky dot under the plate or fork, this time there was a small demitasse cup on a place at each table. Thank you to the decoration team and Roberta for your creativity.

In her welcoming address, the President spoke cheerfully about her experiences with afternoon tea, tea drinking in general and the actual Italian preference for coffee.

This was followed by the honoring of long-standing members. As a "newcomer" with less than a decade of membership, one can only have respect for 40, 35 or 30 years of activity in the IWC. The President conducted a short interview with each of the ladies to be honored about their best experience with the IWC and their activities. She sent them all on an imaginary journey to various cities in her native Italy with the help of a book gift with the subtitle "Literary Invitations". Hospitality had also prepared beautiful bouquets in the IWC colors to hand over.

The highlight was the lecture by Dr. Joachim Unseld, publisher, on the subject of "Literature, reading and culture". In his inspiring and engaging talk, he pointed out the dangers to the development of children and humanity if reading skills are not developed. He pointed out very interesting, highly topical studies that prove that the absorption of short information in digital reading changes the brain and thus limits the understanding of complex contexts and the ability of people to make judgments. He made a passionate plea for in-depth reading and the "real" book. At the end, there was a brief exchange with the speaker on questions from some members.