A note from Cynthia Tignor Borgani

Dear Classmates

I have some news that I thought might of interest. I've been living in Sao Paulo since 1993 singing jazz professionally and teaching voice and improvisation at the college level here. Now things in Brazil have always had a funny way of working themselves out nicely under the table... especially in the popular music field. The Minestry of Education here is working to put a stop to that, though. Their requirements are that I validate my college and graduate school (Stanford,... sorry) diplomas. Validating them here means getting the Brazilian government to agree that they are 'equivalent' in merit to those which would be offered here in Brazil. Even though I was a resonably decent student at Yale and at Stanford, Brazil will not give me the needed stamp saying that my diplomas are equivalent since I graduated in Latin American Studies and the same department does not exist in this country!!

Since Brazil will not recognize my Yale and Stanford degress, the long and the short of it is that I find myself at this ripe old age needing to START OVER AGAIN!!! Since I am the professor at one of the top schools here, that seems to entail admitting myself and giving myself passing grades, so perhaps all is not lost... After having three kids I do find that some of my neurons have hidden themselves from sight, but since I'm such a nice professor, perhaps I could overlook my own missing brain cells and give myself passing grades so that I could have a diploma of "equal!!?" value to Yale's in Brazil's eyes... (I'm joking a bit here, but the predicament is fantastically and sadly real!)

I accept any and all advice on how to resolve my predicament!!

Cynthia Tignor Borgani
(Saybrook 87)