Wanda HennigLeverage. Ubuntu. Sustainability. Transitions.

Poetry Africa 2011, Durban
Colombian poet Fernando Réndon, in Durban this week for the 15th Poetry Africa festival, has helped transform Medellín, Colombia’s second largest city — known as a world capital of drug trafficking, terror and violence — into a world capital of poetry.
© Wanda Hennig, 2011
When Fernando Réndon and a few of his friends organized the first International Poetry Festival of Medellín in 1991, the city was known as the epicenter of the cocaine trade and the world capital of drug trafficking. The so-called ‘Medellín cartel’, a multi-billion dollar …

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
“It’s really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to …

Story first published op-ed page, Sunday Tribune, Durban, South Africa, on August 29, 2010

It’s Sunday morning at North Beach in Durban. The sun is shining. Somewhere the sardines are still running. The new, improved beachfront promenade is alive with foot traffic. People cycling, strolling, jogging, walking their dogs, walking their kids. The surfers are out; the fishermen are complaining to anyone who’ll listen about their ban from the piers; the skateboarders and BMX-ers are shooting the ramps at their graffitied concrete park …

What South Africa, Clint Eastward’s movie and Morgan Freeman’s Mandela moment can teach the USA. Ten reasons to see the Oscar-nominated film (with Freeman nominated for Best Actor and Matt Damon for Best Supporting Actor).

By Wanda Hennig

Invictus is the story of the 1995 Rugby World Cup, hosted and won by South Africa. The movie is a tribute to Nelson Mandela’s vision and leadership — and a lot more. Go see it and be inspired. Perhaps it will give you new thoughts and insights on Washington politics and the US health care debate. The Top 10 list starts with rugby

An inner journey can be more spectacular — and revealing — than a trip around the world. And a weekend spent doing something you really would prefer not to be doing can change the course of your life.
By Wanda Hennig

Can this really be me writhing around the floor in a large, darkened room with a number of other should I call us crazies? I have my eyes glued shut but I know the others are out there because I can hear grunts and whines and hisses and the odd …

Richard Avedon Photographs, 1946 – 2004, runs July 11 to November 29 at SFMOMA.
James Freeman’s newest Blue Bottle coffee shop is located high above the streets of San Francisco in the new SFMOMA sculpture-rich rooftop garden.
Working from a small kitchen next to the espresso counter is his wife, Caitlin Williams Freeman. She makes all the goodies — a selection of them inspired by the museum’s art. The unmistakably Mondrian cake, for example, deliciously coated in ganache.
Then there’s her Wayne Thiebaud collection; and other sips and bites inspired by what’s showing …

Story and photos by Wanda Hennig
First published in Sunday Life Magazine, South Africa
“I ENVY you. That’s just the sort of holiday I need. Somewhere to relax, space out and unwind.”

The comment comes from a colleague. We’re in the newsroom of the Sunday paper we’re both working on

Story by Wanda Hennig
Photo courtesy the artist
First published in Black Diamond Living magazine

We all know Sinatra, Paul Simon and Sting. Most of us, however, didn’t know trumpeter Chris Botti until late in 2004. Strange when you think that his first professional gig was with Sinatra; that for five years, starting in 1990, he played the world with Simon; and that he joined Sting as a featured soloist in 1999 and the two have collaborated ever since.

Do you Twitter, Facebook and have a bunch of people following your daily blog? If not and you feel you should — or need — to know how, go speak to Anca Mosoiu in her 14th Street technology hotspot and salon in Oakland. She’s committed to leveling the playing field, teaching social networking and essential web skills to da people.

South African artists opens at SFMOMA with huge traveling show.
By Wanda Hennig for Sunday Tribune, South Africa
San Francisco Street photos Wanda Hennig
You know your countryman has attained superstar status when you walk around San Francisco’s busy downtown and see banners with his name plastering the city streets. And clearly, in United States art circles, South African artist William Kentridge is a rock star.
“About 15 years ago we started seeing William’s work at international exhibitions,” says Mark Rosenthal, adjunct curator of modern art at the Norton Museum of Art, Florida. “The …