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 of Pauline Meglino, Aesthetic Realism Consultant & School Secretary, NYC Department of Education

The crock of lies about Aesthetic Realism, cooked up by some people with malicious intent, is revolting, and I want people to know they’re the furthest thing from what I and many, many others know this education to be!  

On the attempt to besmirch Mr. Siegel’s integrity:  Despicable!   I’m a woman who was very angry at men, very suspicious of them, and who had concluded that I’d had enough pain from them and would be much better off avoiding them. By no means was I or am I a pushover. I had the honor to study in classes with Eli Siegel and be understood by him and am qualified to say: his understanding of and respect for women was unmatched—as it was for every person. For Bluejay and any conveniently “anonymous” coward to suggest anything other about him is a malicious lie. Plain and simple.  

For instance, Mr. Siegel articulated and explained deeply something we women have suffered about but have not understood. His remarkable essay The Everlasting Dilemma of a Girl begins:

Girls have always found it hard to know what they should be liked for. Of course, they have wanted to be liked for how they looked; but suppose they couldn’t feel that how they looked was the same as what they really were? Then there was something missing; and there were incompleteness and pain.

This respect and comprehension by a man is what Mr. Siegel had all the time and is what I met in classes he taught. Always. It’s a reason why I and other people trusted him, and he rightly deserved my and people’s utmost respect and, yes, gratitude!

Now, to the lie that people give up their identity and ability to think with an open mind. Huh? What hogwash! My Aesthetic Realism education has included studying literature, poetry, current events, economics, history, the self, parenting, marriage, and more. My mind is much broader and sharper than it had been. And I’m so much more an individual: my self-expression is deeper, fuller, and my life has so much in it, including work at a city agency, friends, marriage, and motherhood. This brings me to another lie.

On Mali’s lie about people being discouraged from/not allowed to go to college. Absurd! As a parent and an Aesthetic Realism consultant, I’m in a position to say, that’s utter and complete nonsense. Our son not only attended college, graduating with honors, but he also went on to law school, graduated a year ago (2007), and is now a practicing attorney. He has told us many times he’s grateful for our encouragement. (And by the way, he does not study Aesthetic Realism.) For anyone to claim anything other than that Aesthetic Realism is for a person’s full and complete education is a sick fabrication and they know it! Just this past Mother’s Day our son gave me a card in which he said, “You have encouraged me at every turn.”   That is the true story.

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

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