CONNECT, a yanasisters publication (WINTER 2024)

Page 8

ENDLESS LOVE (Syd and Audra’s Love Story, 57 years and counting)

Whoever said opposites attract must have been talking about Otha (affectionately known as “Syd”) and Audra Sydnor. Syd describes himself as a “country bumpkin” because he grew up on a farm in southern Virginia. He left there to attend Elizabeth City State University (an HBCU in North Carolina), then went on to NYU to get an M.B.A. Notably, Syd had a strong appreciation for all kinds of music – including jazz, blues, and R&B. Audra, who Syd affectionately refers to as a “city slicker,” grew up in Philadelphia. She left there to attend Morgan State University 8

(an HBCU in Baltimore), then went on to Columbia to get an M.A. in literature and languages. Notably, Audra thought jazz, blues, and R&B music “was polluting the mind” because that’s what she’d been taught in Sunday School. One thing they did have in common, however, was an interest in politics. Audra and Syd had both been involved in the civil rights movement while in undergrad and each had spent a small amount of time in jail after participating in political events that their parents warned them against. As fate would have it, mutual friends led to


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CONNECT, a yanasisters publication (WINTER 2024) by YANASISTERS - Issuu