Always da best! A wondrous spirit in our world.. Sindiwe Magona

The amazingly talented author/poet/social worker.. Sindiwe Magona. From International House, NYC to Columbia University (Faculty House and school), to the UN.

Clearing out thousands of photos. Love the lifes of Sindiwe Magona that I have been so blessed to witness! 

"How many white AIDS orphans have you seen lately?"

Happy Mother's Day weekend! A statement from a book reading about Mothers, dead from AIDS.


God Bless Sindiwe Magona.. a treasure in our world! Her comments at a book launching event in Johannesburg, RSA about ten days ago. Link to the press account. http://news.book.co.za/blog/2009/04/20/hivaids-angry-sindiwe-magona-holds-mirror-to-black-south-africa-with-videos/

I have known Sindiwe since 1980 when we were social work students at Columbia University. We are all buddies who live around the world now! Zurich, NYC, Penang, South Africa!

Emailed everyone the past few days and it is a joy to share Sindiwe's voice!

The posted photos are from 1992 into 1993. In 1992, I would meet
Sindiwe in the UN employee dining room. I was up for a job in the UN Secretariat. Sindiwe worked as a
Xhosa translator.
Her books were published in London by Women's Press in 1991. We decided to then have a book reading at Columbia University. Photos of Sindiwe and a CUSSW Dean, Muriel Reed when we were planning in October, 1992. Lastly, photos from the book reading in February, 1993. Wow what an event! Sindiwe also spoke at the start up of Dean Reed's scholarship fund at Columbia in 1999. The fastest growing scholarship fund at Columbia! http://www.columbia.edu/cu/record/archives/vol25/07/2507_SSW_Fundraising.html

In 1993, Sindiwe also spoke to my first college stint! the students loved her! These days in teaching research methodology, I use Sindiwe's books to illustrate memoirs. I read from her first book this week to the class. Later, I googled her and thereupon found the latest news! I will the YouTube share with my classes on Monday! They will be so awed by the words of this one person!

I feel so blessed to have known Sindiwe, her process and work! It is amazing and hopeful to know that such an advocate is being heard around the world! The biggest hugs and best wishes!

Zwart Piet en Sinterklass brought me...

I fantasized if Zwart Piet en Sinterklass would get to me this jahre! The post came and... Wow! "Diane: a signature life"!
During the last Project Runway season, I wrote to Diane von Furstenberg about the value of garmentos to NYC, as well as my adventures walking Kim, a dog I took care of in the West Village, by here first W Village boutique. And, I wrote about my general wierdness often running into Barry Diller in my across Central Park to/from work in the 1990s. (my usual preoccupation with work dramas as I walked from the subway to work or back).
What a read and in only 6 hours! Thoughts of Emmanuel Levinas post Shoah... procreate is the best revenge! The zeitgeist of the 70s/80s/90s in NYC. (Such geist! My buddy Issac who once had a radio show on WBAI lost most of his memorabilia from that time. I sent him one of the Keith Haring interview posters, posted in this blog!) The challenges and the really hard work in the garmento world! her loves and opportunities as well as the story of an empowering woman! Wow!
I shared the book with my methods of research class. We had just discussed memoir as a method last week. (I had also shared my friend Sindiwe Magona's book... among the first of her at least 39 books now in print!) And, of course, a favorite, powerful memoir by my former instructor Ann Burack-Weiss on caregiving! The students were impressed by von Furstenberg's memoir (or my spin on it).
Sending a thanks to Diane von Furstenberg! I am blown away by her generosity! Such a mensch!
I am also sending along link to the video I made on my Mom, thanked for her advocacy and listening to people with mental health issues.
Most of all, it is always a big joy to know people like von Furstenberg are in our world! I also very much appreciated the comments by her friend Barry Diller recently on the economic crisis in our world. Poignant thoughts.
Big thanks to her! many hugs, peace and compassion