Friends of Aesthetic Realism
       Countering the Lies
“It’s a lie, and not a well told one at that.
  It grins out like a copper dollar.”

                  —Abraham Lincoln

Statement by Faith K. Stern, Executive Assistant & Aesthetic Realism Consultant

I am a person who has studied the Aesthetic Realism of Eli Siegel for 39 years with a critical mind, and know that when it is looked at honestly, this body of knowledge stands up in its grandeur, width, specificity, depth, and kindness every time. Its principles are solid and have been abundantly tested over the decades. Yet the picture various people—mostly anonymous, of course—present is, quite simply, an ugly caricature.

As to the lie about Ellen Reiss:
Take the latest onslaught, largely against Class Chairman Ellen Reiss. I have known Ms. Reiss since 1966, both personally and professionally. I love and admire her, not only for the scope of her knowledge, but also for her wide, generous heart-a combination of thought and feeling all too often missing in academic minds. She is as at ease in discussing Shakespeare or a current happening in the world as she is talking to a wife whose husband is critically ill. The quality of her mind and heart, her integrity and professionalism, are to be seen too in her commentaries printed in the biweekly international journal The Right of Aesthetic Realism to Be Known, in her teaching of poetry, in her conducting of professional classes for consultants and associates. Yet I saw that certain people were furious at Ellen Reiss because she wouldn't water down the principles of Aesthetic Realism to accommodate their egos, and that is why they are attacking her.

The facts make the anonymous persons' diatribes against Miss Reiss look like the paltry distortions and lies they are. They remind me of the trial scene in Dickens's Pickwick Papers (Chapter XXXIV), in which the prosecutor twists Mr. Pickwick's innocent note about "chops and tomato sauce" into the most suspicious and ominous interpretation possible.In the same way do the anonymous calumniators attempt to twist Ellen Reiss into something she is not and never has been.     

 

 

 

READ WHAT'S TRUE—
  • Read statements by many individual men and women
  • Reviews from the NY Times Book Review, Saturday Review, Library Journal, Harlem Times, Popular Photography, and more
  • The poetry by Eli Siegel, so greatly respected by William Carlos Williams and many others
  • Read lectures by Eli Siegel on subjects as diverse as literature, love, & economics
  • What is learned in classes taught by Ellen Reiss

  • A Little Anthology of Comments (Some Funny We Hope) on Further Misrepresentations.

    >> Continue

    "On the Pleasures and Advantages of Anonymity: An Ode"—
    >> Continue

    A Dramatic and Cautionary Tale about an Unknown and Very Unimportant Person

    There once was a young man of ancient Greece named Milos. And Milos knew Socrates. He did not like Socrates because the great man asked far too many questions.... >> Continue
    Statements by Friends of Aesthetic Realism

    Barbara Allen
    Frances Amello
    Jerry Amello
    Christopher Balchin
    Mara Bennici
    David Berger
    Alice Bernstein
    Rachel J. Bernstein
    Barbara Buehler
    Gina Buffone
    Beverly Sue Burk
    Maureen Butler
    Jeffrey Carduner
    Margot Carpenter
    Lori & Robert Colavito
    Albert Corvino
    Nicholas Corvino
    Henry D'Amico
    Matthew D’Amico
    Ernest DeFilippis
    Vincent DiPietro
    Carol Driscoll
    Donita Ellison
    Anne Fielding
    Lorraine Galkowski, RN
    Pamela Goren
    Edward Green
    Avi Gvili
    Ames Huntting
    Mark Lale
    Dale Laurin
    Rose Levy
    Timothy Lynch
    Lorraine Mahoney, RN
    Derek Mali
    Glenn Mariano
    Haroldo Mauro Jr.
    Joseph Meglino
    Pauline Meglino
    Allan Michael
    Marvin Mondlin
    Robert Murphy
    Michael J. Nadeau
    Meryl Nietsch-Cooperman
    Ruth Oron
    Arnold Perey, PhD
    Lauren Phillips
    Jack Plumstead
    Maria Plumstead
    Rosemary Plumstead
    Rev. Wayne Plumstead
    Marcia Rackow
    Zvia Ratz
    Ann Richards
    Anthony C. Romeo
    Leila Rosen
    Rhonda Rosenthal
    Sally Ross
    Claudia Senatore
    Sheldon Silverman
    Jeffrey Sosinsky, MD
    Barbara Spetly McClung
    Joseph Spetly
    Faith K. Stern
    John Stern
    Arlene Sulkis
    Devorah Tarrow
    Jaime R. Torres, DPM
    Dennis L. Tucker
    Francine Weber
    Steve Weiner
    Miriam Weiss
    Carrie Wilson

    Also see the Aesthetic Realism Online Library  the Aesthetic Realism Foundation  Terrain Gallery  What scholars, writers, artists & teachers are saying  the Aesthetic Realism Theatre Company  & Links

    Home: Friends of Aesthetic Realism   |  site map  |  < Previous  |  Next >

    © 2004-8 Friends of Aesthetic Realism—Countering the Lies. All rights reserved