Published:
"Harvest of Innocence,"
a book about global health by Michele Leight, Editorial Director
of Edit Squad.
Links to reviews and writing samples from "Harvest of Innocence,”
and many other reviews, reports and articles are provided below.
Extensively cited, including at:
http://www.thecityreview.com/harvest06.html
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=+site:www.ashraya-ny.org+michele+leight
http://www.amazon.com/Harvest-Innocence-Michele-Leight/dp/1419646362
WRITING SAMPLES FROM REVIEWS, REPORTS AND ARTICLES
History/Fashion:
From the article "Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years; Selections from The John F. Kennedy Library and Museum" by Michele Leight at http://www.thecityreview.com/jackieo.html
Cited extensively, including at: http://www.askmen.com/money/successful_100/147b_success.html & https://wikis.nyu.edu/ek6/modernamerica/index.php/AmericanPowerAmpCulturalHegemony/FromGownsToGrungeWomensFashionFrom1950-1970
"Mr. and Mrs. John F. Kennedy were the most luminous icons of America after World War II, and after his death she persevered and cultivated a persona that was celebrated and became a legendary fashioner of impeccable taste. Her impact on American culture was significant. She took America out of the staid and conservative 1950s and into the world of classy international elegance, and also became an important champion of the arts and historic preservation. Although the world would plunge soon after her husband's assassination into a wildly liberated mode of often outrageous fashions and off-beat lifestyles, Jacqueline ("Jackie") Kennedy would long continue to represent for many Americans the epitome of good taste."
Art/Art History/Museums:
"Matisse/Picasso"
at Tate Modern London/Les Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais,
Paris/Museum of Modern Art LIC 2002 at : http://www.thecityreview.com/matpic.html
"Picasso, the prince of darkness, did not look to console or be consoled. He stared defiantly into the eyeballs of unpleasantness and hypocrisy, never disguising his anger, disgust and condemnation at the atrocities of life: he painted "Guernica," an awesome modernist work symbolizing the cruelty of war and he remained in Paris when it was crawling with Germans during the Occupation of France during World War II. ('Guernica' was not included in the exhibit). When Picasso recognized in African Art its innate beauty and greatness, he rejected everything secure and comforting in the western, classical art tradition that had nurtured and elevated him. He re-invented painting in the African/Cézannesque cocktail called 'Les Demoiselles d'Avignon,' opening the floodgates of modernism and tearing off the shackles of preconceived notions of 'good art' and 'good taste.' Always the 'enfant terrible,' he challenged, provoked and pursued till he hit his mark, exhausting everyone around him including Matisse. The result is etched in art history forever. There is only one Picasso.
It is the potent mix of Picasso's angst, energy and outrage and Matisse's healing, sophisticated 'c'est la vie' acceptance of life - and above all his capacity for joy - that brings greatness to this show and to their collaboration. Together they covered the gamut of artistic genius, causing havoc and controversy as they prodded and poked at the conventions of their day. All angst and no joy would make life a dull business. These titans were fortunate to have found each other."
and
"The Aztec Empire" at The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, at http://www.thecityreview.com/aztec.html
Cited extensively, including at: http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2005_01_01_ionarts_archive.html
"Ancient works of great originality and beauty have always evoked paradigms in modern art and sculpture - and vice versa. The textural qualities of some of the stone pieces in the Aztec show evoke some of the sculptures at the retrospective exhibition of Isamu Noguchi at the Whitney Museum of American Art on exhibit at the same time, just as Noguchi's sculpture reminded this reviewer of the ancient artworks from Mexico viewed barely a week earlier at the Guggenheim - pounded, windblown and patinaed by centuries of heat, wind, dust, burial and the plain old passage of time.
Noguchi is the master of surface texture created in modern times to simulate ancient effects, while the magnificent sculptures of The Aztec's have earned their textures through longevity. Try to see "The Aztecs" and "Isamu Noguchi" in the same week and marvel as the years and civilizations fuse and melt away in the ageless, universal language of great art."
and
"Ruskin, Turner and the Pre-Raphaelites" at Tate Britain at http://www.thecityreview.com/ruskin.html
Cited extensively, including at: http://muff.uffs.net/skola/dejum/ruskin/ruskin.php
"Ruskin attacked, in print, those around him who represented 'establishment' views on what did, or did not, constitute 'good' art. He championed Turner, whom he idolized, and the Pre-Raphaelites vehemently and with steadfast self-assurance and stated plainly in 'Modern Painters,' published in 1843, that Turner’s 'Snowstorm' was '…One of the very grandest statements of sea-motion, mist, and light, that has ever been put on canvas, even by Turner,' adding that 'Of course it was not understood; his finest works never are.' That last sentence captured both his perceptiveness and the frustration he felt at what he considered to be the deliberate ignorance of the critics and the general public when confronted with true genius. His tone was designed to blow those critics out of the water who had panned Turner’s work in as disparaging terms as the Rev. Eagles."
Global Health:
From the review “Auction (RED) at Sotheby’s New York February 14, 2008, Organized by Bono and Damien Hirst,” by Michele Leight at http://www.ashraya-ny.org/bonodamien.html
“What is (RED)? Bono and Bobby Shriver founded (RED) in response to the 22.5 million people in Africa living with HIV/AIDS, the continent the hardest hit by the virus – representing 10% of the world’s population, but with a disproportionately large infection rate (69 %). At present 33.2 million live with the disease globally. HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of death in Africa, with roughly 4,400 people dying every day. Sadly, women make up almost 61% of adults living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, so they – and inevitably their children – are the hardest hit by the disease. The survival of these endangered children becomes more likely when an adult begins AIDS treatment, including anti-retroviral drugs. Almost 2000 children are infected with HIV each day, most within sub-Saharan Africa.”
The Environment/Health:
Report: "The Perils of Pesticide, New York Attorney General's Office Warns Urban Children at Risk"
Cited: http://www.thecityreview.com/pest.html
Cited: New York Lawyer Information Resource: http://www.newyorklawyer.collegednld.com/newyorkattorneygeneraloffice.html
"For those who remember Meryl Streep in "Silkwood," and more recently "Erin Brokovitch," for which Julia Roberts received an Oscar, and for anyone concerned about the corrosive effects of chemicals on the environment, in the air, in food and most crucially on our children, a report published August 20, 2002 by the New York State Attorney General's Environmental Protection Bureau is a wake-up call for all those who think that ethics and morality rule when it comes to the manufacture and sale of chemical pesticides."
and
Report by Michele Leight and Carter B. Horsley: “Climate Change and the Global City,” Conference at Columbia Earth Institute at http://www.thecityreview.com/climate.html
Cited: Association of Energy Engineers, New York Chapter at http://www.aeeny.org/nl/02-05.html
"On March 1, 2002, the Columbia Earth Institute of Columbia University held a one-day conference on "Climate Extremes and Change: Decision-Making in the New York Metropolitan Region" at which numerous speakers addressed the findings of a major recent report entitled the Metro East Coast (MEC) Report Climate Change and a Global City: The Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change." The 210-page report, crammed with many interesting charts, tables and statistics, might not thrill those who lust after tsunami and cataclysms and is somewhat reassuring about New York City's water supply and many health issues, but it does present some rather sobering scenarios about infrastructure and environmental concerns as a result of sea level changes and rising temperatures. Such concerns, the report's authors argue, should not be ignored or put off and need to be addressed sooner rather than later."
Art/Architecture:
"Tate Britain Opens" at http://www.thecityreview.com/tate.htm
Cited: http://www.london-architecture.info/LO-099.htm & http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
Film:
From the review of "Slumdog Millionaire,” (2008), that won 8 Academy Awards, by MicheleLeight at:
http://www.thecityreview.com/slumdog.html
Cited at: Internet Movie Data Base: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1010048/externalreviews
"From the injustice perpetrated upon orphaned and vulnerable children in one of Bombay's most infamous slums to the emotional and mental turmoil that must inevitably engulf them, this film is a heart-swelling tale of love and loss, and love regained and triumphant against all possible odds. If that isn't a winning formula for a film, what is? However, British Director Danny Boyle, with co-director Loveleen Tandon (India), rescues the film from becoming a predictable melodrama by skewering the intoxicating beauty, effervescent spirit and sumptuous colors of India with harsh realities confronting three children who are unable to realize their potential because they are trapped by poverty and adversity and ruthlessly exploited by those that seek to profit off their misfortune."
and
From the review of "A Beautiful Mind," that won several Academy Awards, directed by Ron Howard, and the book by Sylvia Nasr, about the life of John Forbes Nash at: http://www.thecityreview.com/beautim.html
"Nash was lucky that he was born a mathematician, that he has a wife like Alicia, and that the academic community of Princeton nurtured him through thirty years of struggle with schizophrenia. Nash was extraordinary: but he was sustained, even saved, by ordinary, loving and kind people, the kind director Howard obviously admires.
While the most spectacular scene in the movie is the Nobel ceremony in Stockholm, where Nash receives the recognition he has longed for all his life, it is the images of Nash's fighting spirit, in the grip of a merciless illness, which linger. Few of us will reach the heights or depths of John Forbes Nash, but we can all relate to the struggle.
The book is a keepsake, a story
of love, courage and a quiet heroism drawn from daily life, and
of the vicissitudes of genius. It is a very American story. Nash
is now a loving family man, devoted to his wife and two sons,
and he makes time for his friends. The arrogance has gone, his
work includes matters of the heart. Perhaps right now all four
Nashes are seated around a table playing a board game invented
by Nash while the Nobel looks on approvingly."
Social History/Biography:
From a review by Michele Leight of "The Stork Club: America's Most Famous Night Spot and the Lost World of Cafe Society," by Ralph Blumenthal at http://www.thecityreview.com/stork.html
"Sherman Billingsley was an unlikely proprietor for a club that was called the 'New Yorkiest spot in town' by the legendary gossip writer for the Daily Mirror, Walter Winchell. From the roaring Twenties to the 1960s, the one-time bootlegger from Oklahoma ruled the premises of the Stork Club, the favorite watering hole of New York's sophisticated high society, glitterati, heads of state, famous Hollywood and Broadway stars and anyone who was anyone.The club once stood in an elegant brownstone on a site that has now been transformed by a waterfall and a cobble-stoned sanctuary for al fresco diners seeking an escape from the high towers that have risen like megaliths on East 53rd Street, a site created by CBS head William Paley as a memorial to his father after he bought the property from Sherman Billingsley."
Social History/Autobiography:
Review of "Lazy B: Growing
Up On a Cattle Ranch in the American Southwest," by Sandra
Day O'Connor and H. Alan Day at: http://www.thecityreview.com/oconnor.html
"Reading of the calves roaming freely on the Lazy B with
their mothers drove home an image imprinted in my mind (from a
TV program about the meat industry) of baby calves kept in pens
till the day of their slaughter, never seeing the light of day
or smelling fresh air, so that their flesh could be preserved
as 'muscle-free' as possible, to fetch the maximum 'milk-fed veal'
price in our nation's supermarkets and gourmet butcher shops.
Somehow it is impossible to imagine that Harry Day or his son,
Alan, would ever have resorted to such a barbaric practice to
turn a profit. It is a darn sight harder to go chasing after calves
and corral them as the sun set each day than it is to imprison
them in a pen."
Social History/Photography:
From the review "New Photography 2005, The Museum of Modern Art," by Michele Leight at http://www.thecityreview.com/nuphoto.html
Cited: http://theonlinephotographer.blogspot.com/2005/12/currently-at-moma-new-photography-05.html
"It is impressive that these humble everyday artifacts have survived wars, emigrations, evacuations, or just the longing for a fresh start in a new land. Bertien van Manen created the photographic "still lives" from possessions and memorabilia found in the homes of real people. With permission from their owners, she re-arranged them into abstract compositions that heighten their ordinariness - and their importance.
The great Flemish and Dutch painters have had a long tradition of exquisite still-life painting - if they had been equipped with cameras they might have created compositions like these. The ordinary trappings of the past are transformed through van Manen's lens as she makes space for them in the 21st century. Who knows what circumstances surrounded the safe transport of these family relics, now more precious with the passage of time. The faded and worn set amidst newer acquisitions and homes are a reminder that the same transformations are occurring in our world, even as this bright New York day glistens in a thriving modern metropolis."
Philanthropy/Micro-Credit/NGO:
From the report "Shining a Light in Darjeeling," by Michele Leight at http://www.ashraya-ny.org/darjeeling2.html
"The importance of places like Hayden Hall in Darjeeling is that they keep children safe, and they help keep a paycheck in the family. When parents can maintain a roof over their children's heads, and put food on the table, half the battle is won. When children regularly attend schools that have their best interests at heart, it protects them from predators - including terrorist and criminal organizations with hidden agendas. Paying school fees is where mom's income usually goes in developing nations. Women I have spoken with in India tell me they use their income from a grassroots business, sewing, or domestic service to send their children to as good a school as they can afford, because they see education as their child's ticket out of poverty. Only then do they dare hope for a better future for their kids."
History/Travel:
Article: “Somerset House Reopens in London,” at http://www.thecityreview.com/somerset.html
"Somerset House, designed by Sir William Chambers in 1776, with grand entrances on the Embankment and the Strand, has risen out of the ashes of decay to be re-invented as a vital cultural complex with a spectacular 18th Century Courtyard and a memorable River Terrace on the Thames, not far from the much mentioned power-station conversion – Tate Modern – on the opposite bank."
Art/Auctions:
Christies Contemporary Art Auction, May 2008: http://www.thecityreview.com/s08ccon1.html
"Lot 15, 'Abstraktes Bild (625)' by Gerhard Richter is one of the largest, most intensely saturated, lusciously pigmented and textured of his well-known abstract oil paintings. The magnificent effect is achieved with a humble squeegee and traditional artist's brushes, a reminder that this definitively contemporary and forward looking artist was classically trained within the repressive confines of the Social Realist style favored by Nazism and Socialism in East Germany during his youth. None of this had any effect in suffocating his genius.
For an artist that is famous
for his copies of Polaroid photographs of banal subject matter
like toilet rolls, flickering candles, or murdered nurses gleaned
from newspaper clippings - an artist who questioned the very act
of 'painting' in the modern world - it does not come more painterly
than 'Abstraktes Bild (625).'"
Sothebys Contemporary Art Auction, May 2008, at: http://www.thecityreview.com/s08scon1.html
"Those who believe that last week's grand totals for Impressionist and Modern art at both auction houses is a sign that New York has 'peaked,' or that stronger sale prices for art will emerge elsewhere may be a little hasty in their judgment. We get greedy when our auction houses rake in prices like those for the seminal Rothko consigned by a Rockefeller, and Andy Warhol's 'Green Car Crash,' from his important 'Death and Disaster' series, which sold at Christie's for slightly less than Sotheby's Rothko in November 2007 for $71,720,000, pulverizing its prior auction record of $17,360,000. That gives some idea of what has happened in just a few years - and the need for perspective."
International Relations:
From the article "From Tragedy to Unity: A Celebration of the Human Spirit," by Michele Leight
http://www.virtuefoundation.org/cms/front_content.php?client=1&lang=1&idcat=68&idart=118&m=&s=
"In a perfect world, peace and unity should be possible for everyone, and that universal goal or impossible dream, depending on your point of view, was the underlying theme at a symposium entitled 'From Tragedy to Unity: A Celebration of the Human Spirit,' presented by the Virtue Foundation at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York on September 11th, 2002, a day when most of New York came to a standstill to mourn the memory of the fallen on the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in tributes and services across the city."
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