Statement by Gina Buffone, Construction Project Manager

I am an Italian American, proud to be studying to teach Aesthetic Realism. I can say, based on my experience studying in Aesthetic Realism classes, that the statement on Michael Bluejay’s web page, that “the overwhelming majority” of people who teach and study Aesthetic Realism are Jewish, is simply untrue and bizarre. Of course there are many people studying Aesthetic Realism whom I don’t know (I’m sure I know many more than Michael Bluejay does); but even if this statement were true, what significance does it serve? The persons I attend classes with are diverse and representative human beings, from different parts of the country and the world, from different walks of life and backgrounds. One of the reasons I love Aesthetic Realism is because it is completely democratic, non-prejudiced or biased in any way. If this were the worst lie on the Bluejay site it would just be silly, but the web page has ugly, hurtful lies from beginning to end; and I take personal offense at being accused of being a cult member. I hate it that a person who hasn’t been in an Aesthetic Realism class since the age of two considers himself an expert on the subject!

And in the second website, the accusations that Aesthetic Realism discourages bettering oneself in “non-Aesthetic Realism ways,” and is against ambition and accomplishments, are the farthest things from the truth. I have had the pleasure to study Aesthetic Realism for the past 17 years. Other than the classes I’ve taken over these years—which include poetry, acting, anthropology, the visual arts, music, and education—at the Aesthetic Realism Foundation, I’ve also taken classes in Italian at the New School, architecture at Pratt University, as well as cooking, drumming, and dance. Aesthetic Realism has expanded my mind—strengthening my previous loves for art and architecture, and widening my interest in the world as such.

I’m interested in things I never imagined I would be and am more interested now in what’s happening in the world and current events than I ever was—and that includes my wanting justice to come to other people. Since the age of 18, I wanted to join the Peace Corps and do some good in the world, but I never took the desire too far. This ambition of mine was encouraged and propelled into action as I learned that wanting to be fair to things and other people was not just altruistic, but the one way to take care of myself. I grew to have a passion against homelessness and now have a job that has been a dream of mine since college: working at a not-for-profit housing organization in behalf of justice to people. This is not to say, nor does Aesthetic Realism say in any way, that every person should have a job such as this, but for me, as an individual, it was a hope finally achieved.

Commenting on just one more of the ridiculous lies on the web: it is absurd to say that people who study Aesthetic Realism are watched—“check[ed] up” on “during work hours.” I am a single woman living alone and my workday is very busy. The only people who “check up” on me (if one chooses to call it that) are my work colleagues. Occasionally, I speak with family or friends during work hours, some of whom study Aesthetic Realism, some of whom don’t. It is usually to confirm or make plans, which I imagine most of America is in the habit of doing—how strange!!!

A person with a certain purpose can twist just about anything they wish and present it as sinister; but in this case, lying about a person and body of knowledge that has done nothing but benefit people’s lives in big and beautiful ways, including mine, is the most despicable thing I know.

With much more to say,

Gina Buffone