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Photo by Jim Craven Cotty and Joan Middendorf of Medford look through a photo album from their years of hosting Up With People participants. One family's priceless memories Middendorfs have long hosted performers from Up With People By JOHN DARLING When Joan Middendorf first saw the Up With People song-and-dance show 30 years ago, she knew she had to join the families who house, feed and drive the young performers during their three- or four-day stays here every couple of years. For Joan, her husband Cotty and granddaughter Amanda, now 16, the connection has paid off big over the years, not just in learning about other cultures, but in forming long-lasting friendships and sharing memories that last a lifetime. They have memories of Beata, a young Swiss woman who stayed with them over Easter 1993, teaching them how to wrap eggs in leaves, grass and red onion skins and boil them to produce beautiful patterns on the shell. When the eggs were done, Middendorf said, everyone followed Swiss custom, taking turns cracking the tip of the egg against everyone else's and seeing whose breaks, until there was just one egg left. And of Jeff from Canada, who, entranced with Americans' energetic Independence Day celebration in 1990, implored a gathering of host families around the Middendorf pool to sing the National Anthem. The Middendorfs made lifelong friends with Solveig, a Swedish performer from the 1983 show, whom Middendorf calls "absolutely like the daughter we never had," visiting her and another woman they hosted. "It's a trip we would never have made if we'd not gotten to know them as host parents." The Medford couple is about to have the Up With People experience again. They and about 60 other area residents will host young people next week as the Up With People organization returns to the Rogue Valley with its road show. Shows are set at 7 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, March 27 and 28, at the Craterian Ginger Rogers Theater in Medford. Tickets are $10-$12 for the event, sponsored by the Mail Tribune. The show, "A Common Beat," dramatizes the interactions of two groups of people, one which wants to reach out to people outside their own culture and another which wants to stay comfortable in their own group, said advance worker Amy Wells of Chippewa Falls, Wis. Up With People is an international organization started in 1965 to promote cross-cultural understanding and world peace by engaging young adults 18-24 from all nations in one year of community service and performance. In this visit, Up With People will join Rogue Valley teens at risk of becoming high school dropouts as they work on restoring blighted houses. Middendorf, whose family has hosted a dozen participants over 27 years, called Up With People "the most awesome and positive program there is. They travel the whole world and are taught to sing, dance, handle equipment and set up the shows. They adjust to constantly changing cultures and climates and learn to really open up and make friends." Among the performers in next week's show will be Twila Barber, 24, a gymnast, Spanish tutor and graduate of Ashland High School. Her performance team, one of five worldwide, started in Colorado in February and has been to several cities in Wyoming. It comes to Medford from Hood River and will move on to Klamath Falls and, later, Mexico, Canada and Japan. "Twila loves it," said her mother Beverly Barber of Ashland. "She is thriving on the excitement. "She loves people and has a great attitude and lots of talent and enthusiasm. They keep the kids very busy and encourage them to work hard, learn a lot and to be open minded, warm and loving to the people they meet." Participants pay tuition for the experience and stay free in homes of volunteer host families at all stops. As of Saturday, about six more guest homes were needed in the Medford area, said Wells. Families wanting to host performers for several days may call her at 776-4441. Shows are set at 7 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, March 27 and 28, at the Craterian Ginger Rogers Theater in Medford. Tickets are $10-$12 for the event, sponsored by the Mail Tribune. The show, "A Common Beat," dramatizes the interactions of two groups of people, one which wants to reach out to people outside their own culture and another which wants to stay comfortable in their own group, said advance worker Amy Wells of Chippewa Falls, Wisc. Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA