31st congress of the D.O.N.A.L.D. (2008)

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The congress of the D.O.N.A.L.D. in 2008 was the first fan event I ever joined. I had a really good time and because I wanted to remember it I wrote an experience report ...

The early bird catches the worm - means, if you had to travel a bit longer to reach Bielefeld and you don't to be at the congress at the last, you had to get up a 5.30 am even on a Saturday. And so a tired wanderer, who is also an enthusiastic Donaldist, started up un this foggy morning to catch his train to Bielefeld. He arrived there at 10.11 am - and had to face the challenge to find the Sparrenburg (he had never been in Bielefeld before). However, this problem was solved with flying colors, too - and at 11.00 am he was finally there.

Donaldist and more or less enthusiastic membesr of the family collective on their way to the congress ...

... at the Sparrenburg in Bielefeld ...

... a place where - as can be seen here - also other important persons resided.

While the organizers were eager to fix the congress banner, the newly arrived Donaldist exlored the premises, feeling refreshed and filled with new enthusiasm looking at the donaldistic arts.

At the outer appearance is still being worked ...

... the intrinsic values are already right.

After he had secured himself a seat in the Great Hall, the place of the actual event, where he not only found a program but also, as promisd by the organizers, a Glibberbibb pudding, the enthusiastic Donaldist used the remaining time to start friendly conversation with like-minded people.

Glibberblibb sticker

donaldistic round of talks

Well, time goes by very quickly when you're having fun and so these highest level talks had to come to an end and their participants had to rush into the great hall to take their seats in time before the congress started. They looked forward to speeches with captivating simplicity and astounding acumen.

donaldistic mess shortly before the official start of the Congress - but in the end everyone had found his place

At 12.08 pm time had finally come: J. Murken as a speaker of the organizing S.N.O.W.L.S.-table opened the congress. Next the Double-Presidente gave a short greeting and for the first but not last time the anthem of the D.O.N.A.L.D. was sung

Now the first one of the researchers speaking today gave his talk to the best: T.-O. Ehlers spoke under the title "I lose the ground under the feet " about the function of phraseologisms in the comic translations by Dr. Erika Fuchs'. A work from the area of the outer Donaldism if one wants to ascribe it then at all to the Donaldism, because, actually – what the speaker also admitted slightly embarrassed - concerned it around the second utilisation of a Germanistic seminar work. During half an hour the audience followed the implementation Ehlers to the idiomaticity and the polysemantc of the phraseologisms.

T.-O. Ehlers talks about

"phraseologisms in the comic translations by Dr. Erika Fuchs"

The next speaker was P. Jacobsen with "An Inconvenient Truth - Global warming and the unraveling of Entenhausen's chonology" (remember: Entenhausen ist the german name of Duckburg). Although this lecture for the most part consisted of preliminary remarks and Jacobsen himself stressed that suspicion is approbiate when studying the sourses, he brought convincing evidence for increasing drought in Entenhausen: Dusty gutters, ice cream sales in a season called "winter", only one place in the Entenhausen world where there is eternal ice. The desert is near, and that it can sometimes deep snow only proves that the climate gets out of hand. J. Allen was quoted, who realized that animals living in warm areas have larger ears, because of body surface area and evaporation. Scillfully Jacobsen led the auditorium up the garden path, while he proved first that the inhabitants of the early, colder Entenhausen have developed mechanisms for the isolation of their bodies - to prove than in a breathtaking volte that actually everything is just the other way round and in Entenhausen the reverse Allen's rule applies! The increasing global warming on Stella Anatia caused - among the rest - a shortening of beaks on the Ducks, with which the speaker came then also to in the title of his talk announced point of the "chronology of Entenhausen": The longer the beak of the Ducks, the earlier the report is to be dated.

The climate on Stella Anatia hits caprioles, P. Jacobsen keeps up ...

... and shows young Mr. Duck with the regulation of his body temperature!

That organizers seem to have anticipated that the brains of the congress members were in danger to go cheese after Jacobsen's implementations, because the next point of the program was one that required more skill of the hands than intelectual abilities. Under the battle cry "Anas trachea" R. Köricht demonstrated how to form a duck from elangolated balloons and invited the audience to do the same. Full of enthusiasm rushed the present Donaldists on the task set to Tim, it squeaked and blethered, finally the present team of the WDR (a local TV station) came to the longingly expected "amusing pictures", but also the promised medals for the five results best did not lead really to persuasive results...

The task to make a duck out of a balloon ...

...enjoyed the WDR team ...

... but led to some rather questionable results.

Now that the mental apparatuses had come to their well-earned rest, it went on with serious donaldistic researches. A. Platthaus reported under the title "Bzzzz – unbelievable states" on the subject of the position of the bees in Entenhausen. At the beginning he pointed out to the fact that it was not the first one which dealt with bees and quoted from the works of Vladimir Wladimirowitsch Nabokow to enter Lew Nikolajewitsch Tolstoy and Dietmar Dart around then on the bee into Entenhausen. There one knows them before all as piercing insects, why it is also forbidden explicitly to carry bees through the town. Bees as producers of honey play no role in Entenhausen, one has artificial honey.

"The sums of bees are not recognised as such!"

Next, the presentation of the winner of the Mac Moneysac Award 2008 was on the program - but this had to be canncelled because no worthy winner was found ...

Now the time had come for the first highlight of this day: After 13 (in words: thirteen) years of hard work, intensive studying of the sources and neverending enthusiasm J. Wollina and C. Pfeiler finally presended the complete and exact city map of Entenhausen ! The individual work steps were explained, also some echnical details. And when the map was finally shown, the Donaldists not only honored it by singing the anthem of the D.O.N.A.L.D, but also stepped forward to see it in detail. I myself was deeply impressed by this work and I truly believe only real fans were able to do such devotional labor.

Genesis of a master piece!

And again the organizers showed great wisdom, 'cause now it was time for a break.

This break was not only used to fill fill the hungry bellies, but also for the obligatory group photo.

True Donaldists don't fear the weather!

Up to now I thought, the city map of Entenhausen could not be topped, but the next speaker, M. Söllig, proofed me wrong. His topic was "The Mystery of the nephew identication" and during the folllowing 90 minutes he made it absolutely clear and understandable that Tick, Trick and Track (Hewey, Dewey and Louie) are not three single persons but one multiple creature, one person with three bodies! It's absolut logical, because there is no way how the three can be differentiated from each other, not by the color of their caps, not by some physical characteristics, not by anything. Add to this that if it is necessary a fourth body can be formed, that the three often speaks like one person and that they have such a precise coordination, which - as it has been demonstrated in an experiment - is imposible to achieve for three individuals.

I was and still am very fascinated of this topic and if you want to know more about it, you should read M. Söllig's research report (it is great).

How can the nephews be differentiated?

They can't, although there were a lot of theories.

The next speaker was T. Hassdenteufel, he talked about sexual symbolisms in the report "Erntesegen" ("Red Apple Sap", WDC 205).

Let's talk about sex, Baby ...

Now it was time for the presentation of the Professor Püstele Award winners. This year there were even two: V. Dioszeghy-Krauss for "Language and features of speech and language comprehension in the Anaversum" (DD130) and R, Cziske for "The Sons of Greed".

And the winner is ...

And now the time had come for the last of today's speakers. It was P. Bahners and he focused on the question "what we actually learn in the Bielefeld School" (by which he meant the historical sociological school at the Univertsity of Bielefeld, founded by Hans Ulrich Wehler). Well, I'm pretty sure we learned a lot, but I can't remember what it was ...

School's out for summer ...

The following break was used by the enthusiastic Donaldist to say good bye. Although the congress wasn't over yet, he had to leave. However, he participated the whole scientific part, what he now misse were "only" club interna.

Next time ...

Photos taken from the "Frühlingsgabe der Presidente 2009". If someone does not want his or her picture to be shown on this site, please contact me and it will be removed.