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Sawanee Khongsawatwaja
is one of those working moms who barely has time to catch a breath - but she
doesn't let that stop her from trying to do more anyway. Her daughter, Emma,
just two years old, may be absolutely adorable but she definitely has her
mother's genes - rambunctious too! Her husband, Howard Hua, SBU
Class of
1999, after working in the legal field decided to become a lawyer himself.
He is now a first year public interest law student at CUNY
Law. Meanwhile,
Sawanee is a senior budget analyst at The
New School in Manhattan, on the Diversity Committee, and a grad student
at Milano getting her Masters in Health Services Management.
The New School, now a conglomerate known as New
School University and containing Parsons School of Design, Eugene Lang
College, Mannes College of Music, the Actors Studio Drama School, Robert J.
Milano Graduate School for Management, and more, began as The New
School for Social Research by academic refugees from Europe after WWI. One
of its goals is to bring the university and the NYC community together, and
one way of doing that is to sponsor a wide variety of lectures and
performances that are free and open to the public.
Sawanee, who is on the Board of (AA)2, while discussing its goals with her
Dean, was offered the opportunity to put on events for the Asian American
community sponsored by The New School. Of course she said yes and last week
was the second annual event, a screening of Piccadilly
with a panel of noted filmmakers and authors. It was a 'sold out' success,
even on one of the coldest nights on record, and you can read all about it
in the Local and Regional News Section when that comes out later this week.
As an undergrad at SBU, Sawanee was involved in everything, including
co-chairing the first President's Diversity Day in 1998. She was also Chair
of the Nations of Asia Semi-Formal, Treasurer of PUSO (Philippine United
Student Organization), founder of TSA (then the Thai Student Association),
put together the first Asian American bone marrow donor day, and a myriad of
other things.
Sawanee is also a 9/11 World Trade Center survivor. In September 2002 we
wrote a story about her experience for two important reasons: Like many of
the survivors, it is the story of a miracle, and one that showed how our
world is really more about good Samaritans than it is about terrorists. http://www.aa2sbu.org/aaezine/Alumni/09-SurvivorsStory.shtml
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Piccadilly 1929. B&W.
Silent. 108 minutes. Restored 2003.
Anna May Wong's impressive filmography spans four decades, however, none of
the fifty films from her diverse career compare with the inspirational story
of talent and determination that was her life.
Following the screening of Piccadilly, a panel of experts will
discuss issues relating to Asian / Asian American women in films, Hollywood
racial politics, and gender discrimination in Wong's time and now.
Moderated by Michelle Materre, core faculty at The New School, the
panelists include:
Graham Russell Gao Hodges, author and Colgate University History
professor,
Anna May Wong: From Laundryman's Daughter to Hollywood Legend
Yunah Hong, NYC-based filmmaker, Anna May Wong
Shirley Lim, author, Stony Brook University History professor, Girls
Just Wanna Have Fun: The Politics of Asian American Women's Public Culture,
1930 to 1960
Yiman Wang, Haverford College Comparative Lit and East
Asian Studies professor
Reception and book signing with Graham
Russell Gao Hodges to follow.
The event is presented by The New School Diversity Committee, the University
Diversity Initiative, and The New School Media Studies and Film Department.
For more info contact: 212 229 5363
or email specialprograms@newschool.edu
And here is a great review on Shirley Lim from a former SBU student:
http://www.aa2sbu.org/aaezine/articles/vol8/no1sbu.shtml#IfYouSeeProf.ShirleyLim'sNamefora
Talk-Go
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