4.8.10: Beauty Prevails | New York Social Diary

Beauty Prevails

"Snowing" Cherry Blossoms under The Pilgrim (statue) in Central Park near East 72nd Street entrance. 3:30 PM. Photo: JH.

April 8, 2010. Hot, yesterday in New York with the temperatures going over 90, a record. Like a midsummer’s day in New York. By midnight it was till warm but there was a breezy, balmy, coming off the river. The avenue where I live was mostly still except for the rising din of hundreds of air conditioners, a chorus for the song of the breeze.

Tiki Barber has left his wife who is eight months pregnant and mother of his two children. For a 23-year-old blonde bombshell. I’m sure there is another side to the story that is going around in your head. But still ... I know all this because a mass of new visitors came yesterday looking for images of Tiki Barber. JH and I met Tiki once a few summers ago at a party at Judy Licht and Jerry Della Femina. Nice guy. I didn’t know that Tiki had a thing about his father having left his mother and him and his siblings behind when he was a kid and how much he resented it. But still ...

More views of the Cherry Blossoms on Pilgrim Hill ...

The school bus across the street from Chapin on the corner of Gracie Square and Carl Schurz Park.

And the vista looking north on East End from 83rd Street. I took these because this stage reminds me of the Pointillists' vision.

A bower of freshly blossomed hyacinth on the corner of 72nd and Lex outside the Chase Bank. 2:15 PM.

I Started out the night at the Four Seasons restaurant where Dan Abrams, Boykin Curry, Celerie Kemble and Jeffrey Leeds hosted a book party for Vicky Ward and her new book The Devil’s Casino; Friendship, Betrayal,and the High Stakes Games Played Inside Lehman Brothers.

Vicky, if you didn’t already know, is a perspicacious reporter often featured in Vanity Fair with an eye and an ear for rarefied places peopled by the ordinary craven and greedy.


	Vicky Ward signs a copy of her latest, The Devil’s Casino; Friendship, Betrayal,and the High Stakes Games Played Inside Lehman Brothers.

We’ll probably see a lot of books on the subject of Lehman and further on the subject of what are now popularly known in the financial web sites and their mainstream media followers as “banksters.” Banksters, the 21st Century gangsters.

My first bank account was started in First Grade. You brought a quarter or fifty cents or a dollar (big big deal there) to school every Tuesday (or was it Wednesday) and the teacher recorded it in your own little bankbook, and into the bank it went. Where it stayed. Children in those ancient times did not regard money in the bank as something that should be removed and spent. Until. That rainy day. Or, in my case, when I was about eleven, we withdrew a good part of it to buy a second hand upright piano (with a mechanism for piano rolls) from Mrs. Crotty, the local druggist’s widow. $35. My very own piano.

Investment banks were of course unheard of to this little kid. I only learned about them when I came to New York after college when what seemed like the smartest guys in school got really great paying jobs training in investment banks. These were cherished positions to the outsider – made for smart guys who were ambitious and quick thinking and of stellar character.

Really; I’m not kidding. I am from the generation that came after the Great Depression and throughout childhood heard many references to that time and Those People, including the ones who jumped from their office buildings and others, like Richard Whitney, the head of the New York Stock Exchange who went to Sing Sing. And Albert Wiggin, head of the Chase Bank, who ironically went on to found the world's most famous credit card company, American Express. Bad guys. Sorry, but they were and everyone agreed.

Today they’d be sipping Cristal on their yachts or in their multimillion dollar mansions and apartments, resenting. As in resentful. Poor little lambs.

I have a friend, as I’ve written here before, an heiress of evidently great wealth who casually told me the day after Lehman Brothers closed, that she lost $80 million (in a day) because she owned a lot of their blue chip bonds. Uh-huh. Triple A, baby. They were actually considered blue chip to all those white shoe investment counselors and lawyers and money management firms who bought them for their clients. Eighty gazillion. The only good thing about the story is that when I expressed my sympathy, my friend remarked, “yeah, well it’s not like I went out and earned it.”

The rest of it is the bad news. I haven’t had a chance to read Vicky Ward’s book yet although I know when I start I won’t be able to put it down because: 1. She is an excellent reporter, and because 2. There are a lot of people close to the center who also were deeply betrayed both financially and in personal relationships. The foolers fooled ‘em.

Last night at the Four Season's restaurant Grille Room, cleared for the guests at the book party for Vicky Ward.

This is a subject that is not going to go away. And there is good reason to believe it’s going to get much much worse, extending far far beyond the foolery of Mr. Fuld and his personal band of banksters, as they are now regarded.

Big turnout for Vicky: Chloe Crespi, Marina Rust, Ed Epstein, Jonathan and Somers Farkas, Louis Grunwald, Arianna Huffington, Jennifer McGuire, David Margolick, Christopher Mason, Susan and John Nagel, Ronald Perelman, Eaun Rellie and Lucy Sykes, David Kuhn, Peggy Siegal, Jay Snyder, Susan Solomon, Cyrus Vance, Felicia Taylor, Dan Peres, Kate Betts, Norman Pearlstine, Maureen White and Steve Rattner,Tom Russo, Ed Skyler, Graydon Carter, Ken Auletta, Binky Urban, Milly de Cabrol, Jeffrey Podolsky, Suzanne Gluck, Stephen Graham, Tom Hill, Perri Peltz, Andrew Ross Sorkin.

The Waldorf Grand Ballroom last night, set for the WIN dinner, 8:10 pm.

WIN. That’s the real story. That’s the acronym for Women In Need. And boy, there are a lot of them, and many with children.

There was a benefit for the organization last night at the Waldorf. A thousand men and women filled the grand ballroom and balconies for dinner. I can’t remember the last time I was at an event and there were a thousand people. Maybe Evelyn Lauder’s Breast Cancer Research Hot Pink evening.

I was seated between Gillian Miniter and Susan Rudin, I asked Susan how they pulled it off. A thousand guests is a great number at anytime, economically speaking. At this time it is a miracle. How’d they do it? “Jacqui Lividini,” was Susan Rudin’s reply. “Jacqui Lividini,” she repeated. “She did it.”

WIN was founded in 1983 by Rita Zimmer. Founded is a big word for what Ms. Zimmer who was simply looking for a workable solution to the problem of women and children, victims of domestic violence who needed shelter and food. Now. There was a lot of the problem then, and there is even more of it now.

The table. The starter plate: Tapas, Grilled Baby Artichoke with Fire Roasted Pepper, Mini Vegetable Timbale, Carmelized Goat Cheese on Parmesan Chip. All good but oh that Carmelized Goat Cheese on Parmesan Chip. The table favor was a small round ivory and silver picture frame by Monica Rich Kosann.

Rita Zimmer couldn’t get municipal organizations to do it, so she decided to do it herself. I met Rita Zimmer last night. She’s quite matter of fact and unimpressed with herself. She told me about her newest project, which is a controlled living environment for women who are in prison, so that they can live with their children. She has set up the first facility of its kind in Brooklyn with the assistance of DA Bruce Hines who is himself a child of domestic violence.

We forget as adults what it is to be a child dealing with the madness of adults. The child processes it all quite differently coming from its naturally defenseless and dependent position in the dilemma. And fearful and confused and anxious and lonely.

That’s when we children find our own paths of flight and fancy and bid for survival that take us down all those twisted paths and roads in life. That’s when things go wrong, and often become irreparable.

Kayce Freed Jennings about to present the Peter Jennings Prize with last year's winner, Moussa, age 11.

This year's winner Taliq, age 11 reading his essay: " ... Reading opens doors to everything for me ..."

WIN provides transitional housing to more than 2500 people each night. 1800 of them are children. Every one of those children are deeply aware of the uncertainty of their own days. Children know they can get thrown away also, not to mention brutalized mentally or physically or both.

The housing they provide are family units – apartments. WIN operates almost 600 of these family units in Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx. These are units of solace especially for the children. It’s a leg up and often provides inevitable mobility.

Last night Kayce Jennings presented the Peter Jennings Prize: A Child’s View, to Taliq, age 11. There were also three finalist and two Honorable Mentions: Diamiles, age 11, Fatoukmata, age 13, Ronell, age 9; Karesse, age 12 and Michael, age 9. All graced by the efforts of WIN, and all experiencing respect and rewarded by it.

President and CEO of WIN, Bonnie Stone.

There was a video about Mutiya Vision, a woman of 40 who came into one of WIN’s housing programs as a teen with her mother seeking refuge from her abusive stepfather. The video is called “Breaking the Cycle of Homelessness – the Next Generation; Bio and Reflections,” Mutiya also had a disability since birth.

I mention it because there is nothing disabled about the adult Mutiya. Despite the scary, even terrifying, time in her life with her stepfather and her mother, Mutiya was able to get a strong start in life as a child with her mother’s love and with WIN’s help. It’s such a moving story to see.

Afterwards I talked to Mutiya about her life. She’s married to a record producer and they have seven children – three of whom performed in the video. Mutiya is a jolly, charming woman full of laughter and awareness of the world around her and of herself. You might think, if you didn’t know the story, that she is untouched by sadness. She is very grounded. I said to her: “It seems like despite your mother’s problems in her own life, she was able to infuse you with a sense of love and confidence.” Mutiya agreed.

Meredith Viera, in person and on the big screen.

The balloons of bountiful fill the Grand Ballroom.

Last night Meredith Viera was emcee. Is Meredith Viera the nicest, most real woman on national television? Is she one of those women who would actually go out there to help? You can’t help getting the feeling she is. They honored Cindi Lieve, Editor-in-Chief of Glamour, and Brendan Hoffman, President and CEO of Lord & Taylor. Mr. Hoffman was presented his award by the great Burt Tansky, the President and CEO of Neiman Marcus. The beautiful Iman presented Ms. Lieve with her award.

They had an additional fundraiser, selling balloons -- $100 for a white one, $500 for a gold one, every dime going to provide housing and assistance to these familes who come to WIN. The addition was a hit as you can see by the photos.

Lehman Brothers and WIN all in one night. Can you identify who the REAL LEADERS are in our community, the ones who need all of our support? It’s us, kids. There’s the WIN and there are the losers, well-heeled and fattened by their ill-gotten gains though they may be. Right Vicky?