"“I hope grown-ups get in a room and behave like grown-ups, not simply actors on a political stage.”"

From:

Clock Is Ticking for Recess, and for a Deficit Deal

By JONATHAN WEISMAN

Published: August 22, 2013

The New York Times

 

"WASHINGTON — Budget talks between the White House and Senate Republicans have gone nowhere since Congress began its summer recess, increasing chances of a fiscal stalemate that could lead to a government shutdown in October or the threat of a government default later in the fall.

 

Negotiators who had hoped for a summer breakthrough say the chances for a major deficit reduction deal are rapidly slipping away. While many members of both parties say they would like to avoid either a shuttering of the government as of Oct. 1 or a default caused by failing to increase the federal debt limit, no acceptable solution has emerged. Lawmakers say the consequences could be severe.

 

“It ends badly for the American people and the Republican Party if we shut down the government,” said Representative Reid Ribble, Republican of Wisconsin and a member of the House Budget Committee. “I hope grown-ups get in a room and behave like grown-ups, not simply actors on a political stage.”...

 

Given the lack of progress, those involved say Speaker John A. Boehner will need to play a crucial role in finding an agreement. House Republican leaders consulted with their rank and file via a conference call Thursday night to sound out their ideas to avoid a fiscal crisis as early as Oct. 1. Mr. Boehner pressed gingerly for a straight short-term extension of funds to avoid an immediate government shutdown in October, but faced immediate opposition from conservatives demanding that funds be stripped from the health care law. One thought is to use a short-term spending bill to keep the government running into November, when Congress must raise the government’s statutory borrowing limit. That way, with both a debt default and government shutdown looming, Republicans could apply maximum pressure on the White House to either agree to scuttle President Obama’s health care law or accept significant changes in programs like Medicare and Social Security....

 

“We’ve seen a faction of Republicans in Congress suggest that maybe America shouldn’t pay its bills that have already been run up, that we shut down government if they can’t shut down Obamacare,” the president said in Buffalo. “That won’t grow our economy. That won’t create jobs. That won’t help our middle class. We can’t afford in Washington the usual circus of distractions and political posturing.”"

 

Check Out The Entire Article Here. 

 

 

 

 

Maybe we all would be a little better if we turned to our fellow human being.

This morning, I was standing on a very crowded 4 or 5 train coming to work in Brooklyn, reading advertisements and zoning out really. I had noticed the guy sitting in front of me fiddling with his phone, but I didn't pay much attention to him or what he was doing. After a few minutes, he spoke up to the girl sitting next to him, asking if she knew why his text message only allowed him to type so many characters or words or something. And then he told her about a problem that he had with his phone over the weekend. But the most interesting thing about this observation was that I honestly felt that he was being completely honest and sincere with his question and explanation; it appeared that he had no ulterior motive. I felt like he truly needed her help and assistant; he was simply curious. The girl hesitantly smiled, but she must have felt the same way because she did engage him and attempt to help him figure out the problem. And the mood was so comfortable in that moment because the girl sitting next to her chimed in and joined the conversation. Once the interaction was established, I felt myself smiling and wanting to join the activity. The positive energy in that car was contagious for a select group of people, and I observed humanity at its best this morning, and it felt good for a change. It's too bad that there were others around us, who ended up getting off at the Wall Street exit, that rolled their eyes in disgust because one human being decided to express himself and turn to his fellow human being. Reactions are a good way to determine the good from the bad...

The guy eventually went about his business, but before he got too far away from the situation, he said, "I'm getting off at the next stop, but you ladies have a nice day." They thanked him and wished him the same. Maybe we all would be a little better if we turned to our fellow human being. Is it possible to create a healthier society by asking our neighbor a simple question and for a little help?

"In dealing with the dream world of the outcast of society, it explores the human condition, the alienation of man, his solitude, his futile search for meaning and reality."

"Genet's theatre is, profoundly, a theatre of social protest. Yet, like that of Ionesco, and of Adamov before his conversion to epic realism, it resolutely rejects political commitment, political argument, didacticism, or propaganda. In dealing with the dream world of the outcast of society, it explores the human condition, the alienation of man, his solitude, his futile search for meaning and reality.

Although Genet's theatre differs in many aspects of method and approach from that of the other dramatists discussed in this book, it bears many of the essential hallmarks that they have in common-the abandonment of the concepts of character and motivation; the concentration on states of mind and basic human situations, rather than on the development of a narrative plot from exposition to solution, the devaluation of language as a means of communication and understanding, the rejection of didactic purpose; and the confrontation of the spectator with the harsh facts of a cruel world and his own isolation. As such THE BALCONY and THE BLACKS can with certainty, THE MAIDS with a good deal of probability, be regarded as examples of the Theatre of the Absurd."

From:

The Theatre of the Absurd

by Martin Esslin

"Bringing Some of the Rust Belt to Sag Harbor"

From:

Bringing Some of the Rust Belt to Sag Harbor

Frank Oriti’s Paintings at Richard J. Demato

By ERIK PIEPENBURG

Published: August 15, 2013

The New York Times

 

"“Homeland,” at the Richard J. Demato Fine Arts Gallery in Sag Harbor, N.Y., is exhibiting the work of Frank Oriti, who paints detailed portraits of blue-collar protagonists, mostly relatives and friends from Parma, the Cleveland suburb where he was born and raised, and fellow steelworkers from the mill where he and his brother, a former Marine, labored. The paintings depict 20-somethings, mostly men, dressed casually in T-shirts and baseball caps, gazing out impassively, or with an edge of aggression. Mr. Oriti repeats motifs of the suburban homes like the ones his subjects grew up in, in gray-toned backgrounds, then paints over them in messy white acrylic. In many cases the subjects have returned not just to Cleveland but to their childhood houses. It is an unsettled homecoming, resignation etched on young faces."

 

 

 

Check Out The Entire Article Here.

 

From:

 

New York Story

All of Broadway’s a Stage

By PETER KHOURY

Published: August 9, 2013

The New York Times

 

This article brings back memories of when I first moved to New York.

 

Check Out The Entire Article Here

From:

Melikhovo Journal

At Chekhov’s Estate, a Pastoral Literary Shrine Belies a Turbulent Century

By ALISON SMALE

Published: August 10, 2013

The New York Times

 

Check Out The Entire Article Here.

"In a Theater Mecca, ‘Fringe’ Tends to Mean Choosy"

From:

In a Theater Mecca, ‘Fringe’ Tends to Mean Choosy

By LAURA COLLINS-HUGHES

Published: August 9, 2013

The New York Times

I saw this article in the paper this morning. It brought back good memories from last year, and I'm still proud and honored to have been chosen to be a part of FringeNYC last year, and I hope that I have that opportunity again in the future.

Check out the entire article here.

Beware Of Artists

Albert Camus