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6 Degrees of Fort Hunt...on the African Continent |
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Wednesday, 28 January 2009 |
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 Many of us have enjoyed watching Lynn Novogratz's (FHHS 79) public speaking exploits online. She's a talented speaker/entrepreneur with a mission to alleviate poverty. She has recently published a book about those efforts, entitled "The Blue Sweater." You can read her bio, see the website for the non-profit that she has founded, Acumen, watch videos of her speaking events at the TED website (or just search for "Novogratz" on YouTube). She also has a listing in Wikipedia.
The first video that many of us saw, a couple a years ago starts out with a "6 Degrees of Fort Hunt" moment on the African continent. She describes a favorite sweater given to her by a favorite uncle, with a depiction of animals and scenery. She was wearing that sweater in Jock Hall one day, a 9th grader whose body had changed since her days at Stephen Foster. Matt Mussolino said "in a booming voice, that we no longer had to go far away to go on skiing trips, we could all ski on Mt. Novogratz." The humiliated young girl promptly donated that formerly favorite sweater to Goodwill.
Fast-forward to a 25 year-old Lynn, jogging through the Rwandan countryside, when she encounters an 11 year-old boy wearing her sweater. She turned his collar over to find her own name. It was the quintessential Fort Hunt moment, and a fabulous metaphor for her work, and, (I'm guessing) the title of her new book.
Check out the hyperlinks contained here. You'll be proud of Jacqueline Novogratz, one of our own Fort Hunt sisters, and amused and amazed anew at the fact that long arms of Fort Hunt find their way all around the globe.
P.S. She did not mention that Matt Mussolino was one of the boys who set fire to Fort Hunt High School in 1979. You are a class act, Lynn.
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