The Heart of a Marine

 

By Robert Hudson Westover

Once a Marine always a Marine is what we say.

Why?

We can be “out” of active duty for decades, be 100-years-old and received a dozen other honors But In the Mind of an honorable Marine there is only ONE honor and that was earned upon graduation when in a ceremony reminiscent of those of the Legions of Rome we are called, for the first time, Marines!

We Marines are the most mentally and physically powerful warriors in world history.

WE HAVE NEVER LOST A MAJOR BATTLE UNDER MARINE COMMAND

Not one!

Why?

Marines are men of Providence

We believe in Destiny

You do not sign up to serve in the equivalent of a Medieval knighthood not believing, not knowing that this is your Destiny and that she controls the very Fates.

 A Marine enters into battle knowing HE may LIVE or DIE but either outcome does not matter to HIM.

 It is only his HONOR that matters.

 And a true Marine will die before being made to dishonor himself.

 A true Marine will march into hell to fight for his country, for God, for what and who he LOVES.

 So even when HE is “out” of active duty a true Marine never stops being a Marine.

 I once witnessed a vehicular accident where a woman suddenly became trapped in her car.

Her door would not open, and gasoline was pouring out from under the wreckage.

All stood at a safe distance and watched—afraid to help her but not a Marine that happened to be on the scene.

He got out of his car, yanked open the jammed door and got the woman out taking her away from danger.

That Marine knew he could die that afternoon…

That Marine fought the demons of death, of fear of cowardice of dishonor.

But…

That Marine knew that if he were to just sit there in his car and watch her die, helpless in a flaming wreck, HE could NEVER live with himself.

So, having been “out” of active duty for a longtime that Marine mentally and in an instant:

Put on his breast plate of courage,

Grabbed his shield of resolve,

And with the sword of bravery in his hand,

the blood of generations of warriors pumping through his veins,

the helmet of honor on his head,

HE did what a Marine does.

Fortunately, fire trucks arrived a few minutes later and the car never ignited but that didn’t matter to the Marine.

He knew the potential of what COULD have very realistically happened.

All that mattered was he did not hesitate, nor let fear paralyze him—making him a coward—dishonor.

No, that would not happen to him that day—or ANY FUCKING DAY He was STILL a MARINE.

OORAH

Author's note: The Marine mentioned in this poem was me. What I don't say is that my spouse had to watch me as I left the car. He was quite angry when I returned but he also understood why I did it. Our running joke is "Mothers don't let you children grow up to marry Marines!" 

From the Ballet to the Marine Corps - One Man's Journey

 

Few men have ever gone from being a professional ballet dancer to being a US Marine. I was one of them. This multimedia video tells my story: From the Ballet to the Marines

2024 is Smokey Bear's 80th Birthday Year!

By Robert Hudson Westover

It's been 15 year for me and my bear. 

15 years of being what many jokingly call me "Smokey Bear's PR man". 

But it's no joke. 

In fact, I have been honored to have played a significant role in getting the word out about Smokey's universal and timeless message of "Only You can Prevent Wildfires". 

Click here to see my interview all about Smokey Bear: Interview with Robert Westover

As a recipient of a Gold Smokey, our nation's preeminent fire prevention award called the Smokey Bear Award and first handed out by President Eisenhower in 1958, I know the importance of getting the word out to each new generation of kids. 

President Eisenhower holding a
Smokey Bear doll in the White House.

So let's all give Smokey Bear the BEST birthday gift of all this year by doing all we can to practice safe fire prevention methods while visiting the Great Outdoors! Click hear to learn what you can do to prevent wildfires: Only You

Learn about Smokey Bear's 80th by clicking here: Smokey Bear Turns 80! 

Dali and Picasso aren’t the only forged artists

Artists on the cusp of worldwide recognition can find themselves victims of stolen identity

By Robert Hudson Westover

During a recent Google search for an artist friend of mine (I own some of his works) I discovered something impressive and something disturbing. The impressive something was the artist, James Purpura, is on Getty Images.

No Small Feat...

Getty Images picture
of James Purpura 
(courtesy photo)

Having an image with Getty is basically saying you exist as a viable professional in your field, or you are a person of notoriety. James, at this point in his career, clearly falls into the former category but, possibly, not for very long.

I feel this because the disturbing something seemed innocuous enough—an ad from someone on eBay reselling one of James’ paintings. The first thing I found unusual was the price. At about $900 it seemed rather low as a Purpura painting often sells for many times that price. But what was most unusual was the art itself.

Those Colors...

If you know Purpura’s works you know how his use of color is mind bending unlike this portrait of a woman which, in my estimation, was so drab, so plain, and so grounded-in-reality, that it completely violated James’ philosophy of art: have the observer question reality.

An actual portrait by artist
James Purpura. Note the use
of color. (courtesy photo)

So, I contacted James and sure enough it wasn’t his work.

He was understandably upset. On a month’s long sabbatical in Palm Springs (so art guy like!), he would have to wait until returning to Paris to deal with these alleged forgers. Truth is the person(s) selling the Fake James may be victims themselves of the international market in forged works.

Maybe Not a Forgery?

The "Purpura" portrait 
in question. (courtesy photo)

And, of course, there is a small chance that another painter named James Purpura has a strikingly similar signature—anything is possible in the world of art.

Obviously, there will be more to follow (for sure) but for now I told James that this is a good thing: His name in the art world is prominent enough that even thieves want to cash in on him.

I think I might buy a couple more (real) Purpuras.

If you would like to see James Purpura’s reality challenging art, go to: https://www.singulart.com/en/artist/james-purpura-15851

My (unexpected) Journey to the Heart of Mary, Mother of Christ Jesus

This is the first article in series of an unintentional eight-year pilgrimage I took that led to my baptism in the Jordan River

By Robert Hudson Westover

Hundreds, no thousands of little white pieces of paper seemed to magically cling to the stones of the long wall with the occasional note falling off in the light breeze among the tall trees on this mountainside property.

With a modest stone built, two-room house and its very own artesian well providing water up a steep mountain (which seemed nearly impossible) this wasn’t any other property either in its location, on Mt. Koressos above the ruins of Ephesus, Turkey, or its purported former owner, Mary, the mother of Christ Jesus.

That’s right. The Virgin Mother, or as Catholic’s refer to her, Mary the Mother of God lived here.

And we, a gathering of folks from a cruise of Greece and Turkey, were unintentional guests. In fact, when exiting our cruise ship and boarding the bus as the sun rose over the small port town of Kusadasi, we thought we were going to see the ancient "ghost town" of Ephesus, once the third largest city in the Roman Empire. But our tour guide suggested we first visit the site of “Mother Mary” as the gates to enter the ruins of Ephesus had still not opened.

At the time I was not Catholic--the faith of my husband, Tom. However, Tom had no idea that this holy site even existed and was as surprised as me and our newest traveling friends, Randy and Charlotte, when told of the surprise stop.

As we entered the front approach to the house our tour guide pointed out the “miracle well” where Mary would have drawn water and said that the well "proved to be a powerful piece of evidence" that the property was indeed the site of Mary’s last earthly home. The reason being a nun in the late 19^th century. This nun had had a vision that this precise location in the mountains surrounding Ephesus was were Mary had been brought to live when John, the only disciple not to disavow Jesus during his trial and crucifixion, took Mary to protect her.

An ancient icon of Mary the Mother of Jesus. 
The blue cross on the left was purchased at
the House of the Virgin Mary, Turkey.
(Photo credit: Robert Westover

The Vatican Curia staffers are renowned for not jumping to conclusions on any subject, so it was decades before the site was investigated. The big hesitancy being: How could Mary live on a mountainside with no running water? 

Upon investigating, not only was an artesian well discovered, but so were the foundations of a two-room house.

I come from a family with a strong interest in history either for amateur or professional purposes. In both cases one learns to be skeptical of any claim even when recorded over centuries let alone one based on a vision. 

However, to be taken seriously, at least for historians, some clear proof needs to exist and with the case of both the well and the house, it’s about as much evidence as can ever be hoped for with a lost trail of records especially after the passage of nearly two millennia.  

So I began to accept that, indeed, this claim should be taken seriously and respected. So I did. I took the que from Tom and with great reverence walked through the rebuilt rooms of the home-now-shrine and watched Tom as he lit a candle in prayer. In fact, Tom’s piety inspired both Randy and me to do the same and three candles were lit in gardens just outside the “House of Mother Mary.”

As we excited the grounds of the shrine, we walked past the long wall of prayers. Looking at the hope, sadness, and devotion in the eyes of those, including Tom, who put a note in one of the many tiny crevasses I pulled from my pocket a little translucent blue cross I bought as we were walking into the compound, and I too said a prayer.

Little did I know but that day would begin a journey of mystical revelations of such profundity that I would humble ego, all that I had been raised to believe, all that I had rationally learned, and fall at the feet of God.

A Westover Family History with Queen Elizabeth II.

By Robert Hudson Westover

Like most families with Anglo-Saxon roots we Westovers grew up with a profound respect for Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. I mean mom had several coffee table books celebrating the British Royal Family! And, when in the early 1980s, my brother, Mark, got to “sign” both Queen Elizabeth and Philip, the Prince Consort (her husband) onto the backlot of 20th Century Fox the family was impressed with such a brush with “The Queen!”

Letter sent to me from
Buckingham Palace

Years later, I co-authored a book about the ocean liner SS United States and sent the Queen a copy to which I received a reply from one of her Ladies-in-Waiting on Buckingham Palace letterhead telling me how “Her Majesty” was interested in learning about the plight of the great American ship that took the Transatlantic speed record from the HMS Queen Mary!

Although I never actually met Queen Elizabeth,
apparently Lord Westover has--indeed! 

Then, I had my “brush” with the Queen. It was at NASA Goddard Space Center and Her Majesty was touring the facility. I worked just down the road and thought I would head over to see if too could catch a glimpse of the world’s queen. As luck would have it I got that glimpse as Queen Elizabeth’s limo drove right passed me and I got to wave like a true smitten fan at a little old lady dressed in a yellow dress. I’d like to say we made eye contact (I was that close) but I’ve never been a good liar so I gave up fibbing years ago!

Now the World’s Queen is gone and except for strange reoccurring dreams, I never actually met her. But as the Fates would have it I did meet a now Monarch of Great Britain when he was the Prince of Wales. It happened at the Common Good City Farm in DC. My husband, Tom, called one morning to tell me that Prince Charles was making a visit to the collective farm near our house in Washington, DC. So I walked over and sure enough there he was! I shook his hand and we had a brief conversation about Climate Change.

There are no accidents.

God Bless the Late Queen and God Save her son, King Charles III!

Below is a photos taken of the Future King Charles III in Washington, DC (Photo Credit: Robert Westover):

King Charles III as the Prince of Wales

Below meeting a Future King:

Me shaking the hand of Prince Charles now 
King Charles III 
(Courtesy Photo Common Good City Farm)

Celebrating Smokey Bear!!! My Livestream with Darley Newman!

I’ve "Impressed" Everywhere, Man -- 40 Years of Making Headlines

By Robert Hudson Westover

What does it mean to be seen, read or heard by over one billion people? Well, apparently not much--or much. 

I say this because as I completed a bibliography (of sorts) of my published works, broadcasts, and newspaper quotes, I soon realized that with the coin of the realm of what I do for a living in public relations, media hits and impressions, I have, well, somewhat conquered the world. I mean from just 1999 to 2000 my media impressions alone where over 100 million!

Like Johnny Cash, "I've been everywhere, man.”

Yet, unlike the country music legend, no one knows my name, man. Truth is if I were to get hit (the bad kind of hit) by a meteor doing yardwork the headlines would read: local man killed by meteor. Not, “man who did all this amazing, fun and exciting stuff”—you know him, right?

Robert in the New York Times,
Easter Sunday, 1999

Robert standing next to a
Smokey Bear sign in
Griffith Park, Los Angeles

So, all this begs the question: Why do so many of us in the public relations world (and its cousin profession, advertising) desire that brass ring of fame--of recognition?

And we do.

I guess it’s the desire to be relevant, immortal. Right? I mean, we’re all going to go from this amusement park called Planet Earth sooner or later—even if we can all live more than 100 years--someday our number comes up and we’re escorted out of the place--with most of us leaving as if we had never been here at all.

I did have that moment of feeling relevant once and it was, well, meteoric. It happened at work. A new intern had started for the summer. She had come in from Los Angeles and me also being a native Los Angelino I went over to introduce myself. As I welcomed her to the shop I said, “Hi, I’m Robert Westover and I work on…” at that moment she looked like she had seen a ghost. I had to asked her if everything was ok—I mean she was literally shaking. She said yes everything was ok and then explained to me that an article I had written about conservation vs preservation in managing our national forests and grasslands had inspired her to follow a career in wilderness land management!

So perhaps this is why we carve our names into those proverbial trees or want to have a building, park bench, or something named after us. It’s our hope, I think, that future generations might stumble on one of our achievements and connect the dots to get an outline of who and what we were and how we added to the Autobiography of Us.

Now I can see why I have done a lot of carving on trees. Maybe I might even have a billion more carved by the time I’m escorted out of Planet Earth having been “everywhere, man.”

My Bibliography and How I Came Up With Over One Billion Impressions

The list below is by far not exhaustive of all hits and impressions my news stories have generated over the past 40 years. In fact, none of my media awareness campaigns where my name isn’t mentioned appear below.

I’ve organized my major media awareness and personal achievement third-party validation* reach into nine categories:

·        The SS United States awareness campaign (1998 to 2005),

·        Stories related to my service in the United State Marine Corps (2004 to 2006),

·        My historic run for Congress in 2000 (as the first openly Gay man in Virginia’s history),

·        My time as a ballet dancer and actor (1982 to 1992),

·        My husband and my LGBTQ activist work (2012 to 2015),

·        My performance art character, Lord Westover, and other royalty related stories (2010 to present),

·        My articles/social media livestreams with the USDA Forest Service (2007 to present),

·       My work in bringing awareness to the importance of the Digital Millennium Copy Right Act (1999 to 2000),   

      Miscellaneous: Jackie Kennedy connection, book credits, career promotion articles, movie, TV and other videos.

A photo seen around the world of Robert and Tom
taken on the day the US Supreme Court ruled in
favor of Gay marriage equality. This was the lead
photo on the Huffington Post that day. 
(Courtesy photo, Huffington Post)

I need to point out that many of my hits and impression happened when the Internet age was just getting started (or before the Internet even existed!) so the reach was much more limited. For instance, before the ubiquitous use of Internet search engines the New York Times, like all major newspapers, could count its possible impression by its subscribership x 3 as it was estimated that up to 3 people would share a story via hardcopy in those olden days. In fact, this is exactly how those of us in the Public Relations world calculated the worth of a hit to our clients.

Robert's first news story

Now, with something like 20 million subscribers, and the ability to easily send a story to reach far more than 3 people per subscriber, the impressions generated by the New York Times is potentially well over 100 million. It is for this reason you’ll notice that my hits in the New York Times, that were not picked up by its syndicate, were in the several millions vs the syndicate pickups that exceeded 75 million impressions—but would now be in the hundreds of millions. It’s a little confusing for sure!

By far the largest media story I was ever part of happened in June of 2015 when the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of Gay and Lesbians having the legal right to marry nationally. The side story of my marriage of 15 years (at the time--we're now at 22 years and counting!) to my husband, Tom Fulton, was picked up by nearly every major media outlet in the US and by the Agence France-Presse (AFP), the oldest and largest media outlet in the world. With bureaus in over 100 countries the AFP’s potential impressions exceed 2 billion. I cut this figure to 500 million as many of the dozens of newspapers and broadcast news stations that picked up the story internationally were the English editions as was the case in both China and India.

And just for fun I added my book sales and my acting career “hits” as they certainly deserve some mention, though the impressions are difficult to calculate.

National/International Broadcasts:

CNN (SS United States Foundation, 1999) 15 million impressions

ABC World News Tonight (SS United States Foundation, 2000) 20 million impressions

BBC World News (SS United States Foundation, 2000) 350 million impressions

PBS New Hour (LGBT issues 2015) 10 million impressions

AFP (LGBT Issues 2015 – Was picked up and broadcast internationally in dozens of news stations and newspapers as well as being picked up by Getty Images.) 500 million impressions

PBS News Hour (Capitol Christmas Tree 2015) 10 million impressions

Op Eds and other published pieces:

Soundings Magazine (SS United States Foundation, 1999)

Westmoreland Times (SS United States Foundation, 2000)

Letters to the Editor:

Christian Science Monitor (Ballet 1990) 100 thousand impressions

New York Times (SS United States Foundation, 2004) 3 million impressions

USA Today (SS United States Foundation, 2000) 5 million impressions

Features/Articles/Mentions in Newspapers:

Morro Bay Sun (Ballet, 1981)

San Luis Obispo Tribune (Ballet, 1981)

Associated Press (Chicago Sun Times—SS United States Foundation, 1998) 2 million impressions

Washington Post (job promotion/Arnold Worldwide, 1999) 1 million impressions

Washington Post (Run for Congress, 2000) 1 million impressions

Wired Magazine (DMCA cover story, 2001) 3 million impressions

Maritime Magazine (SS United States Foundation, 2003)

Honolulu Star Bulletin (SS United States Foundation, 2003)

Seattle Times (SS United States Foundation, 2003)

Readers Digest (USMC, 2005) 100 million impressions

Washington Post (Washington, DC ANC work, 2005) 1 million impressions

Washington Post (Grand Mother’s obituary —appeared first in the San Diego Times Union, 2007) 1.5 million impressions

USA Today (Real Estate Issues, 2009) 5 million impressions

Washington Post (Lord Westover/State of the Union Contest, 2010) 1 million impressions

Yahoo News (Royal Wedding/William and Kate, 2011) 3 million impressions

Christian Science Monitor (Lord Westover at John Stewart Rally, 2010) 100,000 impressions

South Tahoe News (Forest Service, Fire story, 2014)

TSI Magazine (Forest Service antique furniture story, 2021)

The Patriot (Forest Service fire story, 2021)

Roanoke Times (also appeared in Advent News and Opera News Forest Service fall colors, 2021)

Quotes in Articles of Major National and International Media Outlets:

New York Times (SS United States Foundation--Save the SSUS–1999 front page national section and entire syndicate including Dallas Morning News, Detroit Free Press and the Times Herald) 75 million impressions

New York Times (SS United States Foundation), Visit to New Port News in Metro section)—1999) 2 million impressions

New York Times (SS United States Foundation, 2003 NCL buys SSUS/Front page national section entire syndicate including the Times Herald) 10 million impressions

New York Times (SS United States Foundation--Commodore Anderson obit– 2004) 4 million impressions

Newsday (SS United States Foundation – 1999)

Newsday (SS United States Foundation, Book – 2002)

Philadelphia Inquirer (SS United States Foundation, 1999 – 2004) 500 thousand impressions

Orange County Register (SS United States Foundation, 2002-2006) 300 thousand impressions

Wall Street Journal (USMC 2004) 6 million impressions

Huffington Post (LGBTQ issues – lead picture 2015) 12 million impressions

CBS News (LGBTQ Issues 2015) 15 million impressions

Yahoo News (LGBTQ issues 2015) 3 million impressions

Muck Racker (Stories written about the USDA Forest Service—not exhaustive)

Books:

SS United States, Fastest Ship in the World (Turner) sold over 20,000 copies

Lessons in Nobility (self-published) sold over 1000 copies

Nobility Lessons for Dummies (self-published) sold over 10,000 copies

Academic Recommendations/Scholastic References:

Course Hero (Forest Service – Conservation vs Preservation)

Course Hero (LGBT+ Issues)

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review (Forest Service -- Conservation vs Preservation)

A Man and His Ship – The Story of America’s Greatest Naval Architect (SS United States Foundation reference)

Janet, Jackie and Lee (Jackie Kennedy bio where I am both quoted and referenced)

Jackie: Public, Private, Secret (Jackie Kennedy bio where I am both quoted and referenced)

Movies/TV/Livestreams/YouTube:

IMDb (entertainment listing) 

Uncle Joe Shannon (MGM/Actor -- 1978)

Love Thy Neighbor (ABC/Actor -- 1982)

MCI (national ad campaign/actor--1993)

Historic run for Congress (News 8, Washington, DC)

DNC National Convention in Los Angeles (News 3 LA -- DNC spokesman, 2000)

History of Veteran’s Day (History Channel/highlighted--2004)

Meet Robert Hudson Westover (Faces of the Forest Service, 2016)

Woodsy Owl’s 50^th Birthday (Forest Service livestream)

Pride Month (Forest Service livestream)

JFK's Summer White House (You tube video that features Hugh D. "Yusha" Auchincloss, Jackie Kennedy's beloved stepbrother.) 

Smokey Bear’s 78^th Birthday (Ad Council livestream)

*Third Party Validation is a term used in public relations to emphasis the importance of a media outlet selecting to broadcast a story without being paid to do so by the firm or author. Unlike paying for advertising space, something anyone can do, third party validation means one has had to convince an editorial board that the story is worth being disseminated to the public. 

God’s Love in icons both large and small

 By Robert Hudson Westover

Who hasn’t turned the wheel of a kaleidoscope and looked in amazement as a hidden cluster of crystal beads, painted mirrors and glass create color patterns that make you wish you could jump into that little handheld toy? Of course, now we have virtual reality goggles which almost make one feel like they are doing this—diving us into a galaxy of iridescence--but virtual isn’t reality.

However, in Paris, the City of Light, such a place does exist, a real structure made of stone and glass but mostly stained glass. It’s the chapel built over 800 years ago by the good king of the French, Saint Louis, and the Parisians call it the saint’s chapel or Sainte Chappelle. From the moment you step into this sacred space of a million fragments of colored glass you are transfixed by the eye sensory overload of so much color.

Sainte Chapelle in Paris

You are in the kaleidoscope.

And it’s in this place of Holy wonderment that my husband and I had a rare encounter with a person who studies and creates, or I should correctly say, writes the spiritual arts of sacred colors that prefigured the glowing stained glass imagines of Biblical scenes seen in so many churches and cathedrals.

It’s called iconography and the artist’s name is Sue Jones. A devote Christian from Texas, Sue had never really liked icons and thought the (often) small rough wood blocks with two dimensional painted figures of Jesus and his mother, Mary (and many other saints) almost ugly and even kind of strange.

An icon of the Archangel Gabriel
by iconographer Sue Jones 

However, all that changed when she started visiting an icon “writing” class held at her church, “I started understanding the significance of the meaning behind icons. An icon is to be written, not painted, and read by the onlooker,” said Jones.

The class is called The School of Sacred Arts and the master iconographer leading the course, Jane Ladik, has her work all over the world. Jones explains the icon writing process taught to her by Ladik as one that starts with a pattern and the writer is always referring to the pattern, “just as we refer to our master pattern, Jesus Christ.”

Jones added, “Back in the day when people could not read, they would know what they were looking at, the colors have a message, and other things you see, curly hair, a knob on the forehead, even where the eyes are looking. Writing an icon is done in prayer, contemplating the life of the saint.”

In fact, when you see Mary, or the saints, it indeed does appear that the eyes are often not looking in the same place. Jones explains that this is because the icon both looks at the observer while also keeping an eye on the heavenly realm.

Listening to Sue that day in Sainte Chapelle, and feeling the holy spirit move me, I looked up at the many images of the stained glass and thought about the stories of faith they were telling and experienced the chapel with new eyes. Iconography, whether in wood, stone glass or paint inspires us all to love God more and experience the promise of his Love through art.

Let’s call it the kaleidoscope of the Holy Spirit.

(Pictured to the left: An ancient icon of Mary and Jesus. The lettering is in archaic Cyrillic and the icon is thought to have written anywhere between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries.) 

A Dream in the Desert leads to an art career in Paris

By Robert Hudson Westover

The Joshua trees were darkly silhouetted against a faint yet deep shade of blue—a color James Purpura would never forget. When he woke up from the dream, in the desert outside Palm Springs, he didn’t know it at the time, but this hue of blue would haunt him beyond just a day of contemplating this unique vision.

He became obsessed with it and bought paints to mix and find it.

A new language of blue.

A new language of art.

A work by James Purpura. One of 13 that will be exhibited 
this November in Palm Springs.

Paris, 20 years later and my husband and I are walking the storied boulevard Rivoli on our way to the Louvre. We were in no rush, having been to the awe-inspiring former “other” palace home of the Sun King, when just a few blocks away, we spotted a rather strange looking building that stood out from the very well-kept limestone and marble facades of Rivoli.

I mean really stood out as in huge blue humanoid looking statues climbing up the façade.

Curious as he is my husband wanted to go for a closer inspection. He was utterly fascinated. I wasn’t. Just another weird art gallery, I thought as we entered the foyer of 59 Rivoli, a former hotel now covered in paint of multiple colors and a strange assortment of odd-looking art. Everywhere. As we ascended the stairs of the seven-story structure, we soon discovered that there were at least 30 artists of varying talent either displaying or creating their art.

As we looked at the amazing, contemplative and wonderous works I remembered one of the lessons I learned when I worked at the NationalEndowment for the Arts in Washington, DC: Every new great artist must distinguish themselves from the past and other artists. To break new ground, they need to speak a new language of art.

As we turned a tight corner in the maze-like complex, we stumbled on James Purpura’s studio and looked into colors in such placement as I have never seen before, an interpretation of reality both surreal and accurate and that blue. That Purpura blue.

Lucky for us James had just come back from an errand and we struck up a conversation. Somewhere in between James’ normal pitch to sell his art to us, and me being pulled into his alternate realties on canvas, I thought, “I not only want to buy one of his works, I want to help promote him.”

James Purpura's surreal take on the
Eiffel Tower in this painting is one of his most
well know works.

As a fulltime PR specialist, I was in no position to commit fulltime, but I went to work talking James up to anyone and everyone in the art world I happened upon. Then, when James was given the distinct honor of having his work displayed by the city of Paris in the 5th district across the street from the famed Pantheon I wrote a blog which has been viewed over 5000 times—for a yet-to-be, world-famous artist this is a big number. 

I know enough about art to know that James is the real thing. All I can say to those thinking of buying his work is to do it now. It won’t be long before the whole world knows about the dream in the desert.

This Pride Month I Honor LQBTQ Hero Frank Kameny

Let us never forget that we stand on the shoulders of giants. Frank Kameny's efforts to fight for Gay Rights throughout his long life means we all owe him a debt of gratitude. Yes, Gay is Good! 

Watch my tribute video: Happy Pride!