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Wednesday, September 28

Crossing Just Before Delancey

well kids im at it again
if you happen to be in nyc friday night october 7th
come on down!

Here's da fancy shmancy press release....

"Crossing Before Delancey"

Crossing Over by Rossi, the second exhibition at “The Artist’s Room, Manhattans only food centric gallery and showroom will be unveiled at an opening reception on Friday night October 7th from 7:00 Pm till 9:00 Pm.

“Crossing Over” explores the act of transition. Each painting displayed chronologically is impaled at its center with a crossing as the artist and the viewer travel from safety to turmoil, to loss, to acceptance and to peace once again.

“I like to think of the paintings as a very long bridge I took. I started walking in January of 2004 and reached my destination by summer,” says Rossi.

In the 1980’s Rossi joined a group of renegade artists who pioneered Crown Heights Brooklyn and co-founded the much missed” Lost and Found” gallery on Kingston Avenue. “Right next to the kosher dairy luncheonette and Weinstein’s Hardware,” says Rossi.
Her work has been featured in numerous exhibitions including a one-woman show at the Lawrence Gallery.


“Crossing Over” will be the second exhibition at “The Artist’s Room. Future shows will include a large-scale group exhibition of noted chefs who are also painters, sculptors and photographers entitled “Culinary Art." The Culinary Art show is tentatively scheduled for January, "When New York chefs finally have a day off," says Rossi.

Friday October 7th from 7:00-9:00pm
335 East Houston (corner Ridge)

Gallery hours by appointment only

Saturday, September 24

pass it on to Rita

Its hard to believe that after the horrors of Hurricane Katrina still very much in effect another killer storm has come in barely leaving enough time to catch ones breath from the last one.

To read about the people who bravely went back to New Orleans only to be asked to leave again is beyond sad.

To read about the elderly who died in the bus that caught on fire while idling at the endless traffic jam of those trying to evacuate brings one to a state of helpless fury.

Now Rita slams into Texas and the much scarred and weakened Louisiana.

More floods, more rain, more pain and loss.

How much can the gulf take one wonders?

I’ve heard rumblings from some about calling this a “wrath of god”….but if that is the case…we’ve had “wraths of god” for as long as we’ve been here, as long as this planet has been here.

I’m not saying I would be surprised to find out god is mad at us…look at all the evil we humans have created and look at all the damage we’ve done to this beautiful planet and continue to do, but I don’t think these hurricanes are about how mad god is or is not with us.

I think they’re just part of how cruel Mother Nature can be.

How we handle them, how we help our fallen brothers and sisters, that’s where the god thing comes in.

I’m certainly not a religious woman. Yep I’m Jewish. Yes I do believe in a higher power, but I think the bible was written by men, passed down by men and would have a whole different twist if it were written by women. Think about it. But I won’t go there right now.

What I do think is that times like this show us what we are made of.

Are we sitting in our comfy, dry, safe homes, feeling like all the pain is a million miles away and doesn’t mean diddly to us?

Or are we sending money, sending love, sending food, maybe even going out there and volunteering?

September 11th showed me the very worst that humans were capable of, but it also showed me the very best.

I have seen that compassion, that courage, that kindness, that self-less wonder again in Katrina.

Please don’t let it stop. Reach into your heart and find what good ness you have to share and then pass it on.

Pass it on.

We’ll roll all over this wrath with our massive kindness. Won’t make it go away, but it should ease the pain.

Sunday, September 18

The Big Greasy

Deja Vus…d0 do
Doo dooo dooo da doooo

Yep
It’s the money gang again
The same ol bush boys get the contracts at Katrina

Oh what a surprise Halliburton, Bechtel, Fluor, and the Shaw Group
Are taking center stage in the rebuilding of New Orleans
Cause they’ve done such a bang up job in Iraq.

Um..weren’t some of these folks the same folks who have been widely blamed for enormous moolah abuses in Iraq?

Like oh…giving contracts without even taking other bids…little things oh billion dollar of our money little things like that

But no matter cause dicky cheney loves his haliburton
And these companies love their bushies and everyone does have to get along at the golf course now don’t they

And well of course the baby bush is by now a proven expert on how he handles financial decisions having done such a bang up job in texas and in Iraq

And heres the best news of all
The spin doctor
The maestro of manipulation
Karl Rove is
Being put in charge of the rebuilding of New Orleans

Oh hurray
Now billions of our money will be in the hands of un-ethical bush loving corporations
And Rove will make sure that every penny spent furthers the bush agenda
Oh those pesky displaced victims
If only they weren’t in the way!!!!

Yep
They’re gonna build New Orleans all right
Only it won’t be the big easy anymore

It’ll be the Big Greasy

way greasy

Friday, September 16

too much too little too late

It was fascinating to watch an hour of Ted Koppel's expose'
on what went wrong with the Katrina crises
which would have left anyone except for the blind and deaf
looking at the Bush Administration with concern
if not full out fury
then to watch the baby bush spend a half hour trying to spin
his lowest approval ratings ever
with some huge ass promises
how he or shall i say WE are going to pay for those promises
is the next question

many people
who point to the biggest screw ups here
point to
where the hell was the national guard
and what the hell happened to the communication

i thought the biggest lesson of 911 was communication
so clearly nothing learned here
and hello folks
the national guard
you know they're in um IRAQ

so we can't save our own people from drowning cause our money
our military
our energy
and our resources are still fighting in Iraq

id like to think the baby bush will follow thru on some of his promises
but i kept hearing that song in my head the whole time he was talking

too much too little too late

listen folks
the speech the baby bush gave
was all about rebuilding new orleans and the gulf
but what i saw is something i have rarely seen in the baby bush's face
fear
his presidency is now at an all time low
and he knows it

the baby bush has won over perhaps half of this country
with his cowboy mantra
under me you will be protected
but honey
to new orleans
its more like under me
you may well die of neglect at the superdome
while waiting
waiting
waiting for federal aid to come


I am glad bush took responsibility for the federal governments failures
as every captain should do with his ship but i have a whole lot of concern with the investigation he said he is ordering...if he really wants to rebuild trust
i certainly think a good start would be to have the group that investigates
the katrina errors be a group that is not loyal to him


they say this will be the largest rebuilding in history
and i believe it
but i also know that given a chance to do this rebuilding
can not
be a time for a conservative agenda
but a time for a bi-partisan
open minded
voice
this bush does not have
and i do not think he is in-cabable of rebuilding new orleans
without sticking in his own agenda while doing so
and yes i admit few people could be this self-less
but thats that what this job calls for
a no agenda agenda

i will say
that i too
like many americans
have concern about how much racism
played in the katrina tragedy
i do not believe
that were the same thing to have happened in Boston
the federal response would have been as late coming
but of course i can not prove this


i will go back to what i said awhile back
that this is not really the best time to put our full energies on the blame game
but it is also not right to let people die without answering why it happened
and how it could be better next time

as much as i full out just can't stand this president
i do hope his plans work
and that this city is rebuilt
and these people's lives are restored

i also hope that maybe this tragedy
will cause people in this country wake up
open their eyes
and pay attention
its our world
lets not get snowed over

Tuesday, September 13

Dance like you're fucking Martha

for those who thought it would never happen
rossi and pals heather and rhonda
were coerced into dancing on the bar
at nycs famous hogs and heifers
the bar the movie "coyote ugly" is based on, insiders say

the blonde bitch bartender started screaming at me from her
bull horn
yes bull horn
to dance
and i said i don't dance on bars i'm jewish
and she screamed
dance jew
dance jew dance
and heather who is in love with martha stewart
said we are just here to see the martha show
and she screamed
dance like you're fucking martha
i kid you not

dancingonbar1.jpg

dancingonbar2.jpg

Sunday, September 11

Four Years Later

This morning the sky is clear, blue
The air is crisp, still cool but waiting for the next wave of morning to warm it as the sun grows brighter, still brighter moment-by-moment
Much like the morning four years ago when I awoke to face a new day feeling optimistic, feeling ready for whatever a September morning in New York City might bring

Then the world was inexplicably altered
In a matter of hours, in a matter of minutes, in a matter of seconds
Everything shattered

This morning those memories come shooting back, the slide projector in my head, playing image after image… the first tower falling, the sound of screams of miles away, the smoke, the smell, the fear, the panic..

But what comes next is what I most want to remember..
The kindness, the bravery, the love, the pride, the thousands and thousands of strangers who gave up their time, their money, their goodness to do anything they could do to help..

I remember the face of the broken policeman who stared at me glassy-eyed and dazed as I placed food on his plate and whispered, “thank you.”

Where is he today? Is he whole again?

I remember the young Indian man who stumbled into ground zero and slept on the benches of St. Paul’s Church for a month while he gave our clean socks and bottles of eyewash to the rescue crews.

I remember the great butch, teddy-bear Dom who looked around at the hungry, thirsty, tired rescue crews and found some folding tables, covered them up with all the donated food he could find and when the canteen he’d started became a publicity boom for the church, he was no where to be found. He didn’t care about taking credit. He only cared about helping.

Today the media coverage of the four year anniversary of “911” is mixed with media coverage of the after-math of Katrina. Interspersed in the images of the families of those lost on September 11th holding up photographs of their loved ones as the memorial ceremonies at “911” begin, are images of families who have lost everything in New Orleans and the surrounding areas, who are living in shelters, home-less, city-less, who may have lost their loved ones, their pets, who have lost all their possessions, in many cases everything but the clothes they are wearing.

And again there are those people..the ones who borrow vans on Long Island to drive to New Orleans and rescue cats and dogs, the ones who are sharing their homes with strangers, the ones who give money they don’t have, the ones who are wading through contaminated water to get to people trapped in their homes..

Kindness, bravery, love, decency, the ability to risk your own well being to save a stranger…on the morning of the four year anniversary of 911, we are seeing all this again..

And this…this….this…is the legacy of “911” that I hope prevails..

Not the hate, not the terror, not the horror, not war, but goodness, kindness, selfless-ness and compassion..

To honor all the lives lost on that terrible morning four years ago…help a life, support a life, save a life, nurture a life…give of yourself to a life….today..

Saturday, September 10

To Point a Finger Towards the Bush Means to Burn

I’m trying very hard to post-pone joining the blame game right now while the aftermath of Katrina seems to be just as bad if not worse then Katrina itself, but with the Bush camp going back to their tried and true methods of avoiding any blame by making us feel like creeps if we ask the hard questions it’s getting harder and harder to keep my yap shut.

This tactic that has from day one worked fabulously well for the Bush camp is the “If you don’t support the president you are part of the crises," method.

It got him re-elected after there were no weapons of mass destruction. It deflected the nay-sayers of Donald Rumsfeld too.

This is how it works...if we dare to engage in pointing fingers at the Bush camp and how they have handled the Katrina crises we are taking away from the rescue effort of Katrina.

To question the decisions the white house has made right now means we are taking food out of the fingers of starving infants.

I resent this tactic but hey why shouldn't the Bushies use it. I certainly have witnessed how flawlessly well it has worked for the Bushies in the past.

When we questioned Iraq we were told we were not supporting our troops.

When we questioned Bush’s war on terror we were told that we were dishonoring all those who died on September 11th.

Now if we question the Bush camp’s errors in the Katrina crises we are told that we are pretty much stamping on the recovery effort.

I know full well that if a Democratic president sat in office right now and exactly the same things had gone on, the Republicans would have called for a nation-wife lynch mob.

You know it too.

I’m still trying to post-pone the blame game a little longer and concentrate my energies on doing what little I can to help, but being told that if I do point my finger towards the white house, I’m no better then another broken levee certainly isn’t sitting well with me.

From Arianna Huffington I have this on the subject
see Huffington Post
**
Here's one for the Hypocrisy Hall of Fame: At the same time the administration is putting Karl Rove's "pin-the-blame-on-the-locals" plan into effect, President Bush told reporters gathered at a cabinet meeting today, "I think that one of the things that people want us to do here is play a blame game. We've got to solve problems. We're problem solvers. There will be ample time for people to figure out what went right and what went wrong. What I'm interested in is helping save lives."

As if those seeking answers will have blood on their hands.

That's certainly the ominous rhetorical tack being taken by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. He's all about moving forward, and not looking back (which isn't surprising given how many corpses he'd see in his personal rear-view mirror). "What would be a horrible tragedy," he said, "would be to distract ourselves from avoiding further problems because we're spending time talking about problems that have already occurred." Gee, Mr. Secretary, I thought that was called 'learning from your mistakes.'

So the White House is for time management and against "finger-pointing" -- a two-talking-points-for-the-price-of-one Chertoff scored when he asked, "What do you want to have us spend our time on now? Do we want to make sure we are feeding, sheltering, housing, and educating those who are distressed, or do we want to begin the process of finger- pointing….

When it comes to managing political crises (as opposed to national ones), the Bush White House has earned a reputation as masters of damage control. And rightly so -- let's see you get reelected after Abu Ghraib, the "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US" memo, no WMD, no bin Laden (dead or alive), and "Mission (Most Definitely Not) Accomplished."

Well, according to the New York Times , Rove, Bartlett and the damage control boys are at it again, rolling out a plan to hang the post-Katrina debacle around the necks of Louisiana state and local officials... and, in the process, erase the image of a crassly incompetent administration too busy vacationing to worry about the dying in New Orleans.

Hence, Monday's Presidential Visit, Take Two. Can't you just see Rove yelling "Cut!", hopping out of his director's chair, pulling Bush aside, and whispering in his ear: "Okay, Mr. President, this isn't Armageddon meets The Wedding Crashers . So this time 86 the stories about how you used to party in New Orleans, and, for heaven's sake, do not focus on the suffering of Trent Lott. And no more hugging only freshly-showered black people who look like Halle Berry -- this time you gotta get a little closer to the living-in-their-own-feces crowd. Alright.... action!"
**

Anyway, here we are the anniversary of 911 is tomorrow and certainly all the New Yorkers I know myself included are finding the feelings coming up around Katrina are eerily similar to those that came up around 911 only this time, we’re the out-of-towners looking at the disaster from many safe miles away feeling helpless and frustrated at the site of so much death, loss and sorrow.

And here we are again watching the death, loss and sorrow of innocents be used as political pawns in another mass wave of propaganda.

The thing that has pissed me off perhaps more then anything else these last few years is the baby Bush lassoing “911” for his own political purposes, much of which had NADA to do with "911" and telling us that if we don’t support him we are spitting on the graves of those nearly three thousand lost lives.

If he does that now with Katrina I swear I’ll just drive out to the white house and take a poop on the sidewalk.


Tuesday, September 6

There is no Ark for the animals

Heartbreak after heartbreak

Today my good pal Margot called to tell me she was giving money to the North Shore Animal League here in NY as they are begging, borrowing and or well who knows every van they can get and driving out to New Orleans to rescue the pets left behind by the evacuation

Its just too terrible to fathom the beloved pets of families who were forced to leave them behind on top of all their pain to drive off while their fine furied friends starved or drowned..

Many made the decision to stay behind because they could not bear abandoning their pets, some of those people died.

Hundreds of these pets have drowned, their tiny dead bodies go floating by all over the place..hundreds others can be heard crying in the distance; hungry, scared, confused..

There are thousands of these pets in this city right now.
Their owners were simply not allowed to take them into the shelters, not on the buses, not into the boats.

There are stories of owners who had to kill their own pets after being told they could not take them so as not to know they would suffer.

Now the volunteers are coming to go to the addresses where owners left animals.

Special pet shelters have been set up with vets on hand to treat the survivors, many of whom have not eaten for days.

My favorite story is thaf of Diana Womble, who was picked up by boat six days after the flood waters surrounded her house. She would not leave unless she brought her 15 cats. The rescuers fought her but she was tough and won. They put the cats in boxes and sent them off with her.


Donations to help animals are being received by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals with Petco offering to match offers.

I myself may donate here in NY to the North Shore Animal League.

When someone has lost their home, their possessions, their city, their heart…to at least give them back their beloved pet is something, not to mention saving that pet from a terrible fate.

I have two fat 16 year old cats, one I may have to put to sleep within the year, the other is hanging on for the long haul…but if my home were flooded…I just don’t know what I would do…put them in their carriers and hang on to them no matter what.. if I had to abandon them in the water…a part of my soul would always stay there floating along beside them, hearing them cry…I just don’t think I could go on…how could I?


p.s. the number for the North Shore Animal League
is 516-883-7575
they have already brought back several van loads of animals
they are now trying to get adopted from the disaster area
or go to
www.nsalamerica.org

Monday, September 5

blame game

It's human nature to want to blame someone
anyone besides God when something as horrifying at Katrina happens.

With the body count rising, more and more lives destroyed and the beloved, magical, wonderful city of New Orleans looking much like a scene from one of those disaster movies in which the world is destroyed... many people have turned their sites on our government.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin
who I have adored ever since I saw him standing next to Bush
wearing a t-shirt on which read DESIRE
has been quite vocal in his fight to save his city..
He clearly has been less then thrilled with the amount and the speed of the help he's recieved from the white house.

Just about everyone seems horrified with the job FEMA has done.

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, has asked Bush on to appoint an independent national commission to examine the relief effort. Clinton also wants to oust FEMA from the Department of Homeland Security and restore its previous status as an independent agency with cabinet-level status.

Whoever you want to blame here, the fact is this relief effort has been a disaster.

FEMA has certainly seemed to be a hindrance and not a help in this terrible time.
HOW on earth could they turn away the three truck loads of water that Walmart sent?!
and fuel from the coast guard?!

The thousands of people who went to the super dome for relief would up, sick, dieing, raped,
starving, shot, dehydrated and needing to be saved from what was supposed to be their place of safety.

Help arrived late...not enough... and failed miserably...

So who dropped the ball here?

FEMA-- most certainly say yes

The White House--- local officials certainly say yes...

I don't know...
But what I do know is that there will be months and years to do investigations and studies and figure out who is to blame for this in-ept relief effort...but now is not the time..

Now is the time for action to save what is left of a vital part of our country sinking
in the quick sand..

send your prayers, your aid, your kindness, your money, your bodies
help however you can

tomorrow
or the next day
or the day after that

we can resume the blame game

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