A Salute to American Small Businesses (and Pizza!)

As Americans get robbed by corporate treachery, and as our taxes get funneled to bail-out the destruction caused by monumental greed, it is still small businesses that are at the heart of the U.S. economy.

Small business owners are hard-working people many of whom provide local services.  And they are everywhere, from small towns to large cities.  They have no hidden agendas; there is nothing underhanded going on.  Your hard-earned dollars are exchanged for their hard-earned services.  It’s the proverbial “win-win” situation in its most basic form.

We can all live, and live much better, without “upper echelon” corporate criminals and the politicians that enable them to prevail.  But we can’t live without the small businesses that provide us with so many essential products and services, many of which, quite simply, make us very happy.  Like pizza!

New Yorkers will argue that the best pizza in the U.S. is made in NYC. Among themselves, of course, New Yorkers will argue about just where in NYC that pizza is made. Manhattan? Brooklyn? Queens? Staten Island? Jersey, even. Well, you can find great pizza pretty much anywhere in NYC (even in Jersey). But the best...that would be the pizza in The Bronx! Pictured here is the pieman from this Bronx native's favorite pizzeria in all of NYC.

Portraiture

In a portrait you can see a whole world.  Every person is an amazing story.  After the lighting, composition, and all the technical details are in place, the photographer only then begins creating the portrait.  When the right note is struck and the ambience enjoins subject and photographer, the subject will emerge.  And the portrait is made.

Marjorie Borgia in her home posing in front of an oil painting of her by her late husband Cesare Borgia. Margie has enjoyed a long and successful career as a professional cellist. As an 80-something senior, she still plays the cello regularly and is a member of the Yonkers Philharmonic.

Marjorie Borgia, then and now. Music and art transcend time.

Marjorie Borgia, a brilliant and seasoned cellist, performs privately for me. Can I get any luckier?!