Media Mentions; Kedar Pix

On December 16th, Jay Leno reverted to ugly form and attacked Newark in approximately these words:

Amtrak has announced that it will allow people to carry guns on trains. Finally! Now, when they're passing thru Newark, New Jersey, they can return fire.

We are not amused. It had been a while since Leno was nasty about Newark, and I wondered if celebrities from Newark, or close-in to Newark (like Queen Latifah, Jason Alexander, or Anne Hathaway) had complained to him, so he minded his manners for a couple of months. He needs a reminder that jokes about Newark are like kicking a man when he's down — not funny, not defensible, and definitely hurtful to the people of a major American city that has played a major part in American history.

The Kedar Studio of Art shares the second floor of 585 Broad Street with Index Art Gallery. The two spaces together are not very large, but the Kedar space is quite small, and had room for only some 20 small artworks, but I found some very striking. These papery 3D works are by Victoria Allen Hanks. The painting under the show title is by Victor Davson, but didn't turn out in this foto.

On December 21st, David Letterman spoke of personal ads on the Internet. In that discussion, this approximate exchange took place.

Letterman: You could get a call from Hong Kong. You could get a call from Nepal. You could get a call from Australia.

Paul Shaffer: Or just from Newark.

Not nasty. Not particularly funny, but not nasty, unlike the remark I quoted above from what I call "NBC's nasty crack" (think plumber under the sink). Realize that Shaffer did not feel it necessary to add "New Jersey" to be understood. Absent a modifier, in North America, "Newark" means "~, New Jersey".

These intensely colorful paintings are by Jersey City's Robert Piersanti.

Today, Newark was all over the tube. On one of the evening national newscasts (I watched all of them, switching during commercials or a story I wasn't interested in), in a story about the air-travel snarl, a blond woman is shown talking about it being impossible to get to Newark (mentioned twice) or anywhere else on the East Coast.
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Then NBC Nitely News (with Middletown's Brian Williams) mentioned that Newark's hands-on mayor, Cory Booker, was himself helping to dig cars out of the snow.
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That same story was covered in print by Z. Byron Wolf of ABC News, about Booker using Twitter while helping remove snow.
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Here's one paragraph from that entry in "The Note: Washington's Original and Most Influential Tipsheet":

Booker has more than a million followers on Twitter - making him one of the most followed politicians in the US. Newark has about a quarter the population of Booker's Twitter account.

Not right. Newark's 2010-census population figure is likely to be well above 300,000, which is closer to a third than a quarter of Booker's Twitter following. But the point is worth noting: the mayor of Newark, NJ has a MILLION followers on Twitter.

And these two works, "paint marker and caulk on canvas", are by Newark artist Daniel Brophy. I have seen two-dimensional works of his in more than one show at NJIT.

Last, but not least, ABC World News had a story tonite about a 74-year-old Continental flite attendant who, after something like 56 years on the job, holds seniority spot #1 in the Continental organization (and will presumably have the same spot in the merged United-Continental airline). The reporter on that story signed off from Newark too. And that's all I personally happened across. It was a good day for Newark in medialand.

GlassBook Project at NPL Closes 12/31

[Note: My usual graffics program would not work with these fotos from late October. I'm still learning how to use the graffics program I had to install to make up for the insane (and as-yet-not-completely-fixed) problem with my usual program, Jasc Paint Shop Pro 8, that adversely affected fotos from that timeframe. If the fotos today are not as crisp as you might expect, rectangles are distorted by perspective, and so forth, please just look to content and ignore visual defects.]

I mentioned here October 27th that I met Nick Kline when he was working on the installation of the GlassBook Project in the gallery around the magnificent atrium in the headquarters of the Newark Public Library (which is near the northern end of Washington Street, across from the northern tip of Washington Park).

The NPL webpage about this exhibition says:

The Newark Public Library is honored to host GlassBook Project: Newark, an exhibition of dynamic, mysterious and evocative artworks that examine the healing processes and coping mechanisms used by survivors of traumatic experience. Presented in conjunction with Domestic Violence Awareness Month, the exhibition will be accompanied by a reception and special programming on October 28 that addresses the nature and impact of trauma "beyond sensationalism." * * *

The Project was founded and created by Nick Kline, a fine artist based in New York City, in partnership with the organization Witness Justice. Kline, a professor in the Department of Arts, Culture and Media at Rutgers University-Newark, introduced the project through a Book Arts class he was teaching there in 2009. The foundation of the project rests on students learning about often "taboo" topics such as self-inflicted violence and domestic abuse, and creating glass books to represent the stories and perspectives of individuals who have endured those experiences. Through the project, students begin to recognize that behaviors that may appear to be symptoms of mental or other illness, may in fact be coping mechanisms adopted by individuals for emotional release, regulation, or self-preservation. * * *

The exhibition features 35 books on loan from the project that present perspectives of survivors of domestic violence, self-inflicted violence, and other traumatic events, that were created in 2009 and 2010 by students at Rutgers-Newark. The books are paired with wall text, and large-scale photomontages by Kline that wrap around the gallery space. The exhibition also includes artists' books and related works by Sarah Stengle, who co-taught the most recent class with Kline.

In addition to the exhibition, The Newark Public Library is also supporting a program open for public participation. * * *

For more information about the exhibition, please call the Special Collections Division at 973-733-7745, or email Jared Ash at jash@npl.org. For information about the GlassBook Project, please contact Nick Kline at 973-353-5600 or visit http://www.glassbookproject.org/.

I was reminded by this show that the first fotografs ever, were made by means of glass plates with emulsions of silver salts on them. The NPL exhibit shows many artworks on etched glass to tell a story in both words and images.

Here we see a medicine cabinet with its mirrored glass door open.

This piece has various layers, and the viewer can bring more to it than the artist may consciously have intended. For instance, the plaque speaks to the things inside the cabinet. I, however, see the mirror and think of Michael Jackson's song, "Man in the Mirror". Different passages speak to different issues.

I've been a victim of
A selfish kinda love
It's time that I realize
There are some with no home
Not a nickel to loan
Could it be really pretending that they're not alone * * *

I'm starting with the man in the mirror
I'm asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and then make a change.

Especially did I think about Michael Jackson inasmuch as he died from prescription drugs administered by a doctor. MJ didn't store his meds in a medicine cabinet, tho that would be where most of us would store our prescription drugs. I have seen online articles about guests in your house snooping into your life, and one of the snoops' favorite places is your medicine chest. They'd be bored by my medicine cabinet, because I use NO drugs of any kind. I have aspirin, and maybe Ibuprofin or whatever Tylenol is. But I have read the cautions, and some of these pain-relievers can cause serious liver damage! So I don't take them. Every three to ten months I might take a couple of aspirins, for a headache (from whatever cause; yes, I do drink alcohol, but rarely, now, to the point of having a hangover the next day).

No, Michael Jackson's, and Elvis Presley's, drugs were fresh on hand. MJ had his own personal physician administer his drugs — but he still died. We must do much more to keep people away from all kinds of drugs, be they recreational or prescription. Elvis Presley also died from prescription drugs given to him by a physician. I am extremely indignant that this has become a Nation on drugs, and that the evening newscasts on all three networks are interrupted every day for commercials for prescription drugs. Drug companies push their wares, legally, via commercials, some with horrifying cautions about "side effects" — that we are supposed to ignore.

I am a member of a group, gay men, who have suffered extremely high death rates from recreational and prescription drugs. I refused the drugs that were offered to me innumerable times by fools who are now DEAD. They were cool, for using drugs. I was uncool. Now they, or what remains of their bodies, are very cool: room temperature. I am most UNcool: 98.6°F.

The theme of many of the works in this show is SIV — Self-Inflicted Violence — a very unpleasant topic that normal people cannot understand in the slitest and most people don't even want to think about. For us, the objects in this exhibit may be visually interesting, but we don't want to delve too deeply into what exactly it is we're seeing. For a person trapped in habitual SIV, however, these objects may be deeply affecting.

Whereas most people may take a quick look, and perhaps read the descriptive placard, then move on, people with a pattern of or attraction to SIV will see much more. Whether they will see themselves in, and latch onto these objects or the words in the plaques, I cannot say. But I suspect that just seeing the topic dealt with in different, visual ways might help them. Might.

Some people adrift in a world of physical pain of their own creation to distract them from emotional pains not of their own creation, might find a doctor who can prescribe them drugs to reduce their anxieties. Do those drugs work? Do people involved in a grotesque world of Self-Inflicted Violence benefit from chemical treatments? Do they benefit from talk-treatments? I don't know.

I do know that you can't talk people out of madness. I have tried to use reason with people I have met who are lost in a world of unreason.

For people who cannot be talked out of madness, will drugs do the trick? We all want to believe in a "silver bullet", of chemical nature, that will "cure" people of any madness they may have stepped in. But drugs do NOT always work, and even when they seem to help, they may not really do the trick, even when the patient first takes the drug, but most especially when several hours have passed, and the drug has worn off.

There is one video in the exhibition, which speaks to the process of creating these works.

At least one object from this exhibition had been removed to show elsewhere. Why? This itself is a short-term exhibition. Why would they take anything from it? The foto put in place of the actual object looked good, too. Surely there should be other objects for other places.
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The various glass objects — etched, painted, whatever — in the NPL version of the GlassBook Project exhibition are, to my mind, well worth seeing. If you have the chance to get there before the exhibit closes, you should assuredly do so.

The exhibit is on the third floor of the NPL HQ, which is open to visitors whenever that 'branch' is open. ("Main branch" is logically challengeable; if "branch" is seen as an analogy to a tree, then the 5 Washington HQ should be termed the "trunk", no?)

There was, however, a program in the fourth floor Auditorium, which I had not theretofore seen. Here you see the speakers at a table at the front of the room.

And here you see some of the audience.

The founders of the Newark Public Library were men of immense public spirit and grand vision. If people were only now planning a Newark Public Library, I suspect they would try to push off onto us a library-on-the-cheap, minimalist in every way. We need, all of us, in every part of this country, to prove ourselves worthy, every generation, of the wonderful things created for us by prior generations, and resolve to create now things that future generations will also regard as wonderful.

St. Lucy's, Apart from Its Crèche

I showed fotos of the crèche, which is perhaps 12 feet wide and 6 feet high, last Sunday. This week, I show some fotos of the church and its grounds. St. Lucy's, at 118 7th Avenue in near, north Newark (07104; (973) 803-4219) traditionally served north Newark's once large Italian community, and many former parishioners who have moved to the suburbs or even farther away have maintained fond ties. But today the church receives a more diverse crowd.

It also hosts the National Shrine of Saint Gerard, which has a room inside the church (shown last Sunday), where the Nativity Scene is set up, and a stone arc with statues outside (see landscape slideshow, below).
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I have created two small slide shows, one in landscape orientation, the other in portrait. Here's the portrait slideshow.

And here's the landscape.

I had a lot of trouble trying to show the mural over the altar, because the liting difference between the lite-colored marble and the dim mural was too great for my autofocus and auto-exposure camera to cope with. Here's perhaps its best try.

This Romanesque church's many statues and murals are well worth seeing, on an artistic expedition. Newark is very lucky to have such a wonderful building.

My Christmas Card to Readers

[I intended this to be a block-copy of a post from last Christmas. I intended to repeat it not because I don't have other things to put up, since I always have much more to put up than I can deal with; nor because I get lazy around the holidays, because I'm sometimes tired but never lazy; but because it says what I want to say again, and incorporates a wonderful Christmas video. When I reviewed that video within last year's post and separately, direct from the Blip.tv website, the two seemed slitely different, so I am leaving last year's post intact but updating to the new code I got from Blip today. I showed here last Sunday a bunch of fotos of the crèche in St. Lucy's that the video below also deals with, but that too has changed in some particulars, so you might want to check my fotos (which are in any event taken mainly without flash, so have less glare than some of the fotos in the video slideshow). Unlike my post of last Sunday, the video shows the church overall and various things on its grounds as well as the enormous crèche. Even if you remember the video somewhat from last year, you may well enjoy it again this year. And if I am right that it has changed somewhat, you'll see a few fotos that were not in it last year.]
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It's that time again, when I think of a magnificent video slideshow with music, by "charles1789", of many fotos of St. Lucy's Church at Christmas (http://blip.tv/file/733465/ — 8 minutes and 42 seconds long), to music by Andrea Bocelli and by the late Sergio Franchi and Luciano Pavarotti. I embed the video here, but the explanatory text on Blip.tv below the video is worth reading.

Niece Now Famous; 'McLandscapes'

Fotos today are from Joe Waks's "McLandscapes" show at Index Art Center. I was very surprised when I first walked in, because from a distance, this work seems nothing like other things of his that I have seen.

My brother Alan, who has written a bunch of books on a number of topics, mostly poker now, and who has a poker column on an online service, has a dauter named Erica. Erica is Jewish (in Judaism, religion descends from the mother) and has taught Jewish studies in, among other places, Harvard. Recently she met David Brooks, who is also Jewish, and he wrote an admiring column about her (under her married name, Brown) in The New York Times. In that December 20th piece, Brooks discusses her work with Jewish adults, challenging them to see the relevance of aspects of Judaism that some of them might prefer to dismiss. Perhaps I should say that David Brooks met Erica, judging from the way he talks about her.

The McLandscapes exhibit shows stock paintings of various scenes and styles with McDonald's signs and joewaks.com stuck into them. As you can see below, some of the locations are unlikely, others impossible. Cute. (Oddly, joewaks.com misspells Joe's hometown, Bayonne, in the title bar.)

I think Alan said that he and his wife at the time, Phyllis, entertained the thought of naming their dauter "America", because they'd been living in Europe for a few years. (The star of Ugly Betty actually was named "America" (Ferrara) by her parents) But Erica was born in Pittsburgh, so didn't get the initial "Am-". Maybe Alan was joking about the "America" thing.

Part of the fun of the "McLandscapes" show is finding the McDonald's sign. It's certainly not as hard as finding Waldo, but sometimes you have to search.

I mentioned here last year that Erica and her husband, a physician from England named Jeremy Brown, had been invited to the Hanukkah party at the White House. They live in Silver Spring, MD, just outside the capital, tho Erica lived for several years in Deal, NJ (Monmouth County), a few blocks in from the ocean.

I wasn't sure all my sibs knew who the writer of the column was, so sent this note:

AMAZING. I don't know if you know how famous David Brooks is. He is a frequent member of panels of pundits all over TV, and is the conservative half of a liberal/conservative duo (the other half being Mark Shields) that analyzes the week's events each Friday on the PBS NewsHour (formerly the McNeil-Lehrer NewsHour). This glowing piece in The New York Times would be huge even if the author were not himself hugely famous. Congrats to my niece and her busting-out proud father.

I had some letters published in The New York Times many years ago, at least one of them illustrated with a cartoon by the editors, but never an article about me. In various major Canadian newspapers and the now-defunct (I had nothing to do with it) Washington Star, and an editorial cartoon in The Globe and Mail of Toronto, yes, but never an article in the Times.

Updated my Who's Who Profile. Erica is not the only well-recognized member of my extended family. Her father (Alan N. Schoonmaker, Ph.D.) has a number of books carried by Amazon.com, and I recently got a reminder from Marquis Who's Who (the legit Who's Who) to update my profile in time for the 2011 editions of its publications. I'm not sure which publication I'm in, or just on the website. The first Who's Who I made was Who's Who in American Politics in 1987, for my role as founder and chairman of a small, international political party/educational group/pressure group/fringe group, the Expansionist Party of the United States. Several years later, Marquis put me into its Who's Who in the East[ern United States], perhaps because of my role in gay history (coining the term "Gay Pride") as well as in politics. I'm not sure if I'm now in "~ in America" or what. Some publisher inquired about including me in a "~ in the World", but I didn't hear any followup. Hey, I would definitely be included in a "Who's Who in Newark".

When I attended the Big Picture student fotografy show at the Barat Foundation (like "Barrett") yesterday, a young black woman with her hair in a bun or French twist atop her head and wearing a little black dress (see, you don't need a camera to convey a picture) came up to me and said, "Are you Newark USA?" I know she meant "the guy who does ~", so said yes. She said, "I'm a HUGE fan", then recounted that when first she encountered my blog, she spent hours going thru the archives.

(The archives are clickable from the long list of dates in the white space in the right column of the template of this blog, giving access to all 1,453 prior entries going back to May 2004. Hundreds of fotos that used to appear no longer appear because AOL closed all subscribers' online storage areas in late 2007. There are fotos in all posts from after October 19, 2007, however, plus the entry on the demolition of the Guyon Pipe building (to make way for the current Red Bulls soccer stadium) in Harrison from November 23, 2006, to which I restored fotos via Picasa after several people requested copies and I thought it simpler just to restore the fotos than keep sending them out by email.)

That enthusiastic young woman turned out to be Nina Pilar, who herself blogs on GlocallyNewark.com, which I should check out more often. When I have time. But when, exactly, is that?
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The "McLandscapes" show runs thru Friday, January 7th at Index Art Center, 585 Broad Street (2d floor); (201) 218-9725; http://indexartcenter.org/.

Arts High Tonite, Koats and Fotos Tomorrow

PENewark logo.

There is a community forum tonite at Arts High concerning the Partnership for Education in Newark, the organization founded to determine what to do with the $100 million donated to Newark Public Schools by Facebook founder and Time Magazine's Person of the Year (2010) Mark Zuckerberg. This is a bit aside from my general areas of interest, but I should still, ideally, have mentioned this earlier. I'm not at all sure I will attend. Here are descriptions from the Newark Arts Council and City Without Walls.

Have your voice heard!

What role do curricula in the arts and culture play on academic achievement? Come share your thoughts on the most appropriate role for these disciplines in Newark Public Schools on Monday, December 20th.

Join us @ Arts High School
550 Martin L. King Jr. Blvd. on Monday, December 20th
Refreshments will be served

Arts High is this familiar part of the Downtown skyline.

If you want to see the arts play a major role in how the $100 million donated by Facebook's founder will improve education in Newark, then please join cWOW and PENewark at the "Arts, Culture, and Academic Achievement in Newark Forum," this Monday ... at Arts High School .... This is your chance to share your thoughts on the importance of the arts in education!

Koats for Kids, and Others. Despite the mention of women in the graffic I was sent by a publicist for a free-coat event tomorrow, the press release also sent says there will be coats for "any Newark resident who needs one", and the publicist says I should rely on that information.

Kars4Kids, the national car-donation charity, will be in Newark, NJ, all day on Tuesday, December 21 (snow date: December 23) giving out brand new coats to Newark’s needy.

"December 21 is the first day of Winter and it’s already getting pretty cold," said Clifford Meth, spokesman for Kars4Kids. "Kars4Kids is delighted to have the opportunity to make this holiday season a little warmer for folks who are down on their luck. We have plenty of brand new winter coats for any Newark resident who needs one and we’re looking forward to helping lots of people." * * *

At the Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium, the Kars4Kids team will be assisted by the Newark Bears’ staff and the Bears’ mascot Ruppert (and perhaps a few more guests!).

"We’re coordinating with local law-enforcement agencies for crowd control and traffic management," said Meth. "We’ve been told to expect a huge turnout."

Kars4Kids offers educational programming and financial assistance to children and their families. For more information about this event please visit the kars4kids blog or visit kars4kids.org to donate a car.

I have wondered if NJ had an equivalent of the New York Cares Coat Drive. You've presumably seen their PSA's (Public Service Announcements) on TV, showing the Statue of Liberty seated, huddling under the snow). Now I see there is one active in Newark this year. Good. I am not personally familiar with Kars4Kids, but known legitimate organizations are cooperating in Tuesday's event, so I imagine it is bonafide. As to whether you should donate to that organization, I cannot say. You should do your own due diligence, as with any other charity you are thinking of giving to.

Foto Exhibit at Barat Foundation Tuesday, Too. It's been a while since I attended an event at the Barat Foundation, which has scaled back its activities, probably in response to the Great Recession. But they're back in the game tomorrow.

The Barat Foundation and Newark Big Picture Schools invite you to a special photography show for the Fall 2010 Class of Adventures in Seeing! * * * Refreshments will be served.

To RSVP, contact:

CHANDRI BARAT
Barat Foundation
(p) 973.534.5314
(e) baratfoundation@gmail.com

You might be surprised by what high-school kids can do. Here are three pix of the Arts High gallery show that was in place at the end of September during Open Doors 2010.

I was puzzled by "Big Picture Schools" and thought it might be a fotografy school or program in Newark. When I did a Google search, I found something quite different, a national program concerned with educational reform. So I emailed Dana Luria for more info. S/he replied:

While we are not a photography school, we are a high school that focuses on building relationships with students and the community, helping students discover their passions, and then connecting them with real world experiences that will further develop these passions. To that end, a small group of our students (about 10) are participating in a semester-long internship that helps them develop their photography skills and express their ideas through images at the Barat Foundation.

About our model: Big Picture Schools brought a progressive model of education to NPS [Newark Public Schools] a year and half ago. We've been in existence around the country for the past 16 years (www.bigpicture.org/). Our three Newark Schools (Ironbound, Urban, and Brick City Academy) are under the auspices of Newark Innovation Academy.

I'm afraid I don't know any of the student artists whose works appear today. If someone from the school would like to provide that info, I'll add it.

A Star-Ledger article I found on the Big Picture website says that in 2009 there were five alternative schools in the NPS system, in cooperation with various foundations and organizations. That brings us back to PENewark, which is soliciting ideas for educational reform in this city.

Arts High is itself an artwork. I show its ornate roof above. If you check out its art gallery, which I think is open to the public, free, also look around at the WPA murals around the lobby. There is some damage to them, probably from water, but they are terrific.

I think I'm going to suggest using my Fanetik spelling system to teach reading to kids for whom other methods have failed. I could offer instruction myself (free, afternoons). There is so much variation in the way things are spelled that it's very hard for some people to make the connection between symbols and sounds. In Fanetik, there is a one-to-one correspondence between spellings and sounds. Once kids are able to make that connection, and become confident in it, they may be able to transfer that comfort and understanding to the much more varied patterns in traditional spelling. Certainly what has been done so far doesn't work for some kids. Why not try something new?

The Art Deco hanging lites in the lobby are terrific, and I liked the stained-glass work by students of some years ago in the window over the main entrance as well.