The HotspotOrlando
From My Desk This is one more chapter in our history. We are proud to be here showing what oppresses us at this moment. War, elections spending, corruption is just one of the problems we face. Our first concern about the war is the harm it causes. We have been getting numb to all of it. It’s not good. We see cruelty, terrorism but since 09/11 we have been observers of a perpetual evil who never rests. It is changing all of us. First was terrorism then Communism and all isms are a regretful presence in our reality. Hell on Earth, the end of times? We are loosing our goodness, our humanity, leaving our continuousness behind. Politically corrupted, nobody to look after the People, before we have to give up our first Amendment. All is up for grabs. Hopefully one day we will be able to look back and contemplate a better world. Until then, we will keep looking and protecting our loved ones. See them grow and prosper. There is still hope
Laiz Rodrigues Editor in Chief The Hotspotorlando News Brazil America Council Our news website: https://thehotspotorlandonews.com
Laiz Rodrigues
In This Issue ‣ The War- Israel versus Hamas ‣ The rise of Anti Semitism. ‣ The War we never expected-By Laiz Rodrigues ‣ Good Anti Semirism by Stanley Lindoso ‣ Palestimians killed by Suspection ‣ Gaza Children Hunger ‣ Yohji Yamamoto-is living in his own terms ‣ Naza McFarren Brazilian Artist ‣ The Breakfast Club ‣
5668 INTERNATIONAL DR ORLANDO - FL 32819 (407) 354-0260 WWW.B0IBRAZIL.COM
WHERE IN THE HEART IS AMY? Amy came out of nowhere, I had just moved to Orlando and I needed a translation. She was the best, highly recommended, so I got in touch with her and scheduled an appointment. We met at her home office, she looked right in my eyes, sat down and said: Do you mind if I say a few things? I said no. Now remember, I never saw her before, but she seemed like she knew me well. I left there got into my car and cried a lot, touched, surprised, intrigued. Very powerful words/
We were like the two sides of a coin. Heads and tails. She often spoke about her family, and everyday she would call to speak with them or wait for their call. She said one day, I have been through so much, but I will never let go of my children. I would rather die.
So, our story had many victories, many dreams and great results. Her wisdom always prevailed, she was always right, and always forgave, always. I had to learn but now, I have to learn to forgive again, her disease and absence made me hurt so much, that it is impossible to be my best again. Amy healed me, and so many other people who After that day, I moved on with my life, could find her. saved the words she gave me and didn’t see her for almost a year. Little I knew, life is full of great surprises. Today, since her passing, I keep saying good bye, but I think she is around, watching over Amy! Is that her? And I see this lady smiling the ones she loved, accepted and guided at me like she was expecting me. She said, . Laizinha ! I was hoping to see you. I laughed. I know what you think. She was not I was so happy. Mother Teresa, but she never accepted no for an answer or disrespect. Amy was my From that moment on we were one. hero, we had great laughs, great days and reA journey she prepared for us. It was a great ally bad ones too. I still cant believe it. So my change for me. Amy changed me so much, question, was answered by a common friend. thought me lessons, words of wisdom and God knows who to call when he needs help. love. There was one thing she insisted, you And that was the best answer. need to love, put love on everything you do or it won’t matter. We were together every Amy moved into our hearts, where she day, her wisdom and my passion changed so could last forever andwe will meet again. many things, we helped so many people. We Until then, rest and get ready swett Amy. We had so many challenges. love you. Laiz Rodrigues
Mayor Dyer, Khalid Muneer, Luiz Martinez, Cristine Cosentino, Ademar Rodrigues, Sheriff Mina, Cinthia Annes, Laiz Rodrigues, Daisy Morales, Vitor Lozetti, Artista Dora Massini, Leo Annes, netos e amigoss
How the surge in antisemitism is affecting countries around the world Reuters
Authorities and civil society groups in many UNITED STATES countries have reported a surge in antisemitism Jewish advocacy group the Anti-Defamation since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on southern Is- League reported last week that antisemitic incirael and subsequent bombardment of the Gaza dents had risen by about 400% in the two weeks Strip by the Israeli military. following the Oct. 7 attack, compared with the same period last year. The following are details of how the surge is af- Government officials met American-Jewish fecting countries, compiled by Reuters report- leaders on Monday to discuss steps to counters around the world: er what a White House official described as an alarming uptick in reported instances of antisemitism on university campuses.
After a man screaming "Free Palestine" and "Kill Jews" attempted to break into a Jewish family's home in Los Angeles on Oct. 25, Mayor Karen Bass said police would continue stepping up patrols in communities throughout the city.
FRANCE Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on Monday that since Oct. 7 there had been 819 antisemitic acts. That compares with a figure of 436 for the whole of 2022.
A well-known Jewish school in Buenos Aires asked pupils not to wear their usual uniforms, Darmanin said there had been 414 arrests in while some teams pulled out of a table tennis connection with this trend. competition being held at a Jewish club for fear it could be targeted. GERMANY Local media reported last week an Argentine A survey by a civil society observatory, the man was arrested after calling on social media RIAS, found a 240% year-on-year increase in platform 4chan for attacks on Jewish children antisemitic incidents in the period of Oct. 7-15. in schools. BRAZIL Jewish leaders have noticed a rise in antisemitic discourse online, and incidents such as graffiti defacing a synagogue in Rio de Janeiro. No instances of physical threats or assaults have been reported.
NETHERLANDS No official figures are available yet, but Eddo Verdoner, national coordinator for combating antisemitism, said a sharp rise had been observed and anxiety was high in the Jewish community.
“We are very concerned. We have increased the security of our institutions,” said Ricardo Berk- He said Jewish parents had reported their chiliensztat, executive president of the Jewish Fed- dren had been harassed at school, with comeration of the State of Sao Paulo. ments such as "Hamas were right" and "they should have done it earlier" directed at them. He said he had seen comments online such as “Hitler didn’t finish, he should have finished killing Jews”. SOUTH AFRICA The number of antisemitic incidents in October BRITAIN is nine times higher than the average recorded London’s police force said there had been a 14- for that month over the past decade, according fold increase in incidents of antisemitism since to David Saks, associate director of the South the Oct. 7 attack. African Jewish Board of Deputies. The Community Security Trust, which collates reports of antisemitism in Britain, said the number of incidents in the three weeks following the attack was the highest for any three-week period since it started collecting data in 1984.
In one incident, a woman who shared a link to information about a protest calling for the release of Israeli hostages being held in Gaza was Article By Reuters abused online, including a post that said “we’ll come for her babies next”.
RUSSIA After an angry crowd stormed an airport in the Dagestan region searching for Jews to harm after a plane arrived from Tel Aviv, the president of Russia's Federation of Jewish Communities called on the authorities to harshly punish the organisers. Rabbi Alexander Boroda said the airport riot "undermined the basic foundations of our multi-cultural and multi-national state". CHINA No figures are available on antisemitic incidents. On Oct. 13, a staff member of the Israeli embassy in Beijing was assaulted and a suspect was arrested. Chinese social media is awash with antisemitic content, including posts suggesting the Nazi Holocaust was justified and likening Jews to parasites, vampires or snakes.
Hadas Kalderon, whose 3 members of her family, two children Sahar, and their father, Ofir have been kidnapped, while Hada and niece were killed, cries in the burned-out remains of her m home, following a deadly attack by Hamas gunmen from the G on Kibbutz Nir Oz, in southern Israel. REUTERS/Evelyn Hoc
A foreign ministry spokesperson said the law prohibited the use of the internet to propagate hate speech, but there were no discernible efforts by the authorities to curb antisemitic activity online. Reporting by Andrew MacAskill, Layli Foroudi, Julia Harte, Chen Lin, Eliana Raszewski, Maytaal Angel, Andrew Osborn, Carien du Plessis, Steven Grattan, Wa Lone, Thomas Escritt and Stephanie Van Den Berg, Writing by Estelle Shirbon
Friends and family mourn Albert Miles, 80, who was killed in in Kibbutz Beeri, in the deadly infiltration of Israel by Hamas from the Gaza Strip, at his funeral in Kibbutz Revivim, in sou el. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
A woman looks at newly dug graves for the victims of the Oct attack during the funeral of Albert Miles, 80, who was killed i home in Kibbutz Beeri in the deadly infiltration of Israel by H gunmen from the Gaza Strip, at the cemetery in Kibbutz Revi southern Israel. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
n Erez and as' mother mother's Gaza Strip ckstein Family and friends of Israeli soldier Ori Megidish, who was taken hostage by Hamas, react to the news of her release following an Israeli ground operation inside Gaza according to the Israeli army, near her home in Kiryat Gat, Israel, October 30. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
n his home gunmen uthern Isra-
tober 7th in his Hamas ivim, in
Police officers inspect a building damaged by a rocket that was launched from the Gaza Strip and landed in Netivot, in southern Israel, October 30. REUTERS/Amir Cohen
THE WAR WE NEVER EXPECTED, RECOGNIZING THE DANGERS By Laiz Rodrigues
We had our first contact with wars in school. Our teachers walked us through the history so we could to learn to recognize mistakes, learn our roots and fights and to avoid unnecessary fighting. During those days, wars were not just life or death, it was a fight for an ideal, to keep life as they envision, for a better world, for humanity. The fight was for rights, one abrangent concept of Freedom that was worth fight for, and make sure we were doing whatever was best, protecting our way of life. We learned from teachers who had a motivation for what was good, not evil. History is the root for a better life, learn from the past walking into a greater future. Once we lived that reality we would start allover again with our kids, creating a strong family with ideals and fighting for Democracy. What matters is God, Country, Family and the type of Faith that would always help you fix anything possible. We as Americans can and could stand in our own because we received an inheritance of Faith, with the certainty that we had the rights and the Freedom and what was necessary to keep our dignity. America is the beacon of Democracy and as such should continue for centuries to come. The light of America must always show the way to Democracy, rights and a promise of a better life. There is no other way.
has changed and absorbed other truths, vanity plays a bigger role than ever before, the lack of importance to strong principles are put aside. Sexual freedom is rubbed in our faces like it is the special of the day, and given excessive importance. Our History, Art, Respect to Family, parents is no longer the order of the day, we are faced with a woke (whatever that means) philosophy, where everything we learned to respect is now wrong and must be changed, broken, destroyed and removed forever. How can we? There is a sense of irresponsibility with our past and consequently with our future, reason why we are in this situation.,When society is compromised, the entire structure suffers. Politics have been through the biggest push, where values are questioned and Democracy abandoned, giving place to Socialism and Communism. With that in mind we look into two wars not one. Ukraine versus Russia and Israel versus Hamas . Both territorial and attenuating the situation in Israel, also religious. Both conflicts are hurting the world. Hurting us financially, and putting in doubt the ways the wars are fought.
The financial burden imposed to the US is gigantic. After money, armaments sent by the United States to Ukraine has surpassed any limits we have seen. In Israel, the attack they suffered by Hamas has overcome any inhuman mane way to provoke other human beings. The moment when these limits are no longer In the journey from these times I have described respected, it is when we can only respond in a to now, so much gas happened and unfortu- stronger way and leave no space for doubt. the nately changed. In the pursuit of questioning stronger will survive. and discovering new adventures, humanity
Two Palestinians accused of collaborating with Israel are lynched in the West Bank.
Aaron Boxerman contributed reporting. Christina Goldbaum and Rami Nazzal Reporting from Beitunia in the West Bank
Palestinian militants shot and killed two Palestinian men in the West Bank on Friday evening after accusing them of collaborating with Israel, according to residents in the area and videos circulating social media.
Hamas in Gaza, the Palestinian territory the group controls. Since the attack, tensions in the West Bank have flared. Israeli security forces have carried out daily raids, erected scores of new checkpoints and enforced curfews for Palestinian residents in some areas of the territory. Violence by Israeli settlers in the West Bank has also reached record highs, according to the United Nations.
A Palestinian official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirmed that the two men had been killed and that the videos posted to social media were authentic. The official declined to comment on the motive for the killings but said that security forces were investigating it, though In Tulkarem refugee camp, home to more than they had not made any arrests. 20,000 people in the northwestern area of the West Bank, the Israeli military has conducted Around 9 p.m. on Friday, masked gunmen frequent raids, arresting dozens of people and dragged the two men to the main entrance of stoking unease among residents. Tulkarem refugee camp, shouting, “Collaborators! Collaborators!” residents in the camp said. According to three residents of the camp, the two men who were killed on Friday were kidnapped As a crowd formed around them, the gunmen by Palestinian militants earlier this month. The beat both men and shot them about a dozen militants suspected that the men had provided times each, according to residents. Afterward, information to Israeli security forces that led to others from the crowd spat and stomped on a deadly raid at the camp, the residents said. their bloodied corpses, residents said. Videos posted to social media show men hanging the The New York Times could not immediately two men’s bodies from an electrical tower near reach the militant group involved or the relathe entrance of the camp. tives of the two men who were killed. “Who are they? They are collaborators!” one Later Friday night, some people took down one man yelled as he kicked one of the bodies, one of the bodies and tried to bury it, according to of the videos shows. Hassan Hamdan, a resident at the camp. The killing comes as tensions have risen in the “These guys felt sorry for him,” Mr. Hamdan West Bank since the militant group Hamas said. “But the residents did not allow them to carried out a terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. bury him in the camp’s cemetery.” 7. Israel retaliated by launching a war against
“Good anti-Semitism”
Opinion
ARTICLE BY Stanley Viana #MoaiBJJ
“Good Antisemitism ”
Last day of the festival of Sukkot (Festival of Tents), October 6th. It was a Saturday and the families gathered to remember how their ancestors lived in the desert and what was to be a festive date, instead it became a day of tears and mourning. Entire families murdered, women raped, babies' lives taken in their cribs. They were hellish scene of unthinkable horror. Soon the perpetrators would admit these nefarious crimes. Israel, in its just and plausible reason, declared war against the terrorist group Hamas, who do not hesitate to use the civilian population as a shield. In fact, this custom has been around for a long time. Hamas attacked Israel; Israel retaliated and Hamas accused Israel of war crimes against the Palestinian people. It has always been like that. It was the terrorists words against those of the Israeli authorities.
Times have changed, but not that much. Old fears surfaced; scenes from the terrible past are repeating themselves. Anti-Semitism is becoming a political issue across ‘woke’ culture and what was supposed to be treated as a crime, is openly treated as a solution to problems, problems in the Middle East. “Dynamic” and “colorful” young people who are barely out of their diapers support Hamas and the end of the State of Israel; go further, they begin to raise the hypothesis stupidity, cowardice and criminal idea that Hitler was right in persecuting and murdering the Jews. Strangely, we don't see a single note of rejection from conventional media. The “intellectual” is naked and exposed, universities with their reputations are damaged and the “politically correct” turning out to be a lie and an excuse to censor those who think differently. Between December 9th and 10th, 1938, Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass) began. promoted by Goebels as a popular reaction to the death of German diplomat Ernst Von Rath. Shops were destroyed and 100 Jews were murdered. The year is 2023 - houses, associations, synagogues and homes are being marked with the Star of David and as well as in 1938, only an excuse is expected. It is “good anti-Semitism”, for “democracy” and for the “common good”. This is no time for inaction in the face of evil that grows and advances.
Today we have the internet in which convenStanley Viana tional media narratives are denied in real time, not allowing 'fake news' to go ahead.
Photos The Times of Israel
GAZA CHILDREN DIZZY FROM HUNGER AS WAR BY FADI SHANA AND IBRAHEEM ABU MUSTAFA
IMPEDES FOOD DELIVERIES
• Displaced families spend days searching for food • Doctor in Rafah says patients coming in emaciated • Mother serves meals consisting only of onions • Children getting dizzy spells, losing weigh
because access roads are active battlegrounds. Even in Rafah, which has a crossing to Egypt through which aid trucks enter and is an area where the Israeli army has told civilians to seek refuge, the dearth of food and clean water is so severe it is causing people to lose weight and get ill.
By Fadi Shana and Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
“We have started to see people coming in emaciated,” said Samia Abu Salah, a primary care doctor in Rafah.
The children displaced to south Gaza were craving chicken, but all their mother had left to feed the family for the day was a tin of peas donated by a man who took pity on her when he saw her crying.
She said weight loss and anaemia were common and people were so weak and dehydrated they were more susceptible to chest infections and skin conditions. Babies and children were particularly at risk, and their growth would be affected.
Left homeless by Israel's military offensive against Hamas, like most of Gaza's 2.3 million population, Tahany Nasr was in a tent camp in Rafah focused on one thing only: how to find enough food and water to get everyone through another day. She said her children had lost weight and were getting dizzy spells because they were not eating enough. “I’ve been begging to feed my children and don’t find anything. I go to Social Affairs, they say go to the mosque. I go to the mosque, they say go to the Affairs,” she said, referring to Gaza’s welfare ministry which normally organises distributions of basic goods like flour to people in hardship. Hunger has become the most pressing of the myriad problems facing hundreds of thousands of displaced Gaza Palestinians, with aid trucks able to bring in only a small fraction of what is needed, and distribution uneven due to the chaos of war.
A MEAL OF ONIONS “My children just told me today that they were craving chicken. Where would I find them chicken? Where? Do I know? May Allah save us,” said Nasr, breaking down in tears as she spoke. “We haven’t received any food in two days. How do I fool my children? With some pasta? Some lentil stew? If I could find it!” she said, adding that sometimes she had resorted to making meals out of only onions. Nasr went into her tent to fetch the tin of peas she said a kindly man had given her, even though he had bought it for himself. “This is it. This can is all we have for a whole day,” she said, holding it up, her voice rising in anger.
GAZA CHILDREN DIZZY FROM HUNGER AS WAR IMPEDES FOOD DELIVERIES
Far from being an extreme case, the account given by Nasr echoed stories told by many interviewees who spoke to Reuters in Rafah and elsewhere. People spoke of eating only once a day, of inadequate meals with insufficient nutrition, of rationing water, of children getting diarrhoea from drinking dirty water. The war was triggered by Hamas fighters who stormed into southern Israel from Gaza on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people including babies and children and capturing 240 hostages of all ages in the deadliest day of Israel's 75-year history. Israel has responded with a military assault on the densely populated, Hamas-run Gaza Strip, which has killed nearly 20,000 people,
mostly women and children, according to health officials there, and wrought a humanitarian catastrophe. Maha Al-Alami, a displaced woman sheltering in a school in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis with eight children and grandchildren, said everyone was traumatised by the experience of hunger. "I'm telling you, once the war is over, God willing, the Palestinian people should sit before psychiatrists," she said. Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo and Arafat Barbakh, Mohammed Salem and Saleh Salem in Rafah, writing by Estelle Shirbon; editing by Mark Heinrich REUTERS
Opinião
Article By Stanley Viana #MoaiBJJ
“Antissemitismo do bem” Último dia da festa do Sucot (Festa das Tendas), 6 de outubro. Era um sábado e as famílias se reuniam para relembrarem de como seus ancestrais viviam no deserto e o que erapara ser uma data festiva se tornou um dia de lágrimas e luto. Famílias inteiras assassinadas, mulheres estupradas, vidas de bebês ceifadas em seus berços. Eram cenas infernais de um horror inimaginável. Logo os autores assumiriam estes crimes nefandos.
terrível estão se repetindo. O antissemitismo está se tornando assunto político pela cultura ‘woke’ e o que era para ser tratado como crime, é tratado abertamente como solução para os problemas no Oriente Médio. Jovens “dinâmicos” e “coloridos” que mal saíram de suas fraldas apoiam o Hamas e o fim do Estado de Israel; vão além, começam a aventar a hipótese estapafúrdia, covarde e criminosa de que Hitler estava certo em perseguir e assassinar os judeus. Estranhamente, não vemos uma nota sequer de repúdio das mídias convencionais. O “intelectual” está nu e exposto, universidades com as reputações abaladas e o “politicamente correto” se revelando uma mentira e uma desculpa para censurar quem pensa diferente. Entre os dias 9 e 10 de dezembro de 1938 tem início a Kristallnacht (Noite dos Cristais) fomentada por Goebels como uma reação popular à morte do diplomata alemão Ernst Von Rath. Lojas foram destruídas e 100 judeus foram assassinados. O ano é 2023 - casas, associações, sinagogas e residências estão sendo marcadas com a Estrela de Davi e assim como em 1938, espera-se apenas uma desculpa. É o “antissemitismo do bem”, pela “democracia” e pelo “bem-comum”. Não é tempo de omissão diante do mal que cresce e avança.
Israel em sua justa razão e plausível, decretou guerra contra o grupo terrorista Hamas que não hesitam em usar a população civil como escudo. Aliás, esse costume vem de longa data, o Hamas atacava Israel; Israel revidava e o Hamas acusava Israel de crimes de guerra contra o povo Stanley Viana palestino. Sempre foi assim. Era a palavra dos terroristas contra as das autoridades de Israel. Hoje temos a internet em que narrativas da mídia convencional são desmentidas em tempo real, não permitindo que uma ‘fake news’ vá a frente. Os tempos mudaram, mas não tanto. Antigos medos vieram à tona; cenas de um passado
Has the American Dream of Home Ownership Been Eclipsed by Renting? By Mark Gilman n 1995, President Bill Clinton released his National Homeownership Strategy, a lengthy, 100-point plan with the eventual goal to “boost homeownership in America to an all-time high by the end of the century.” Eight years later, President George W. Bush looked at homeownership as a means of reducing racial inequality, signing the American Dream Downpayment Initiative to help first-time homebuyers land a home. But that move brought us to the most catastrophic mortgage crisis in U.S. history, igniting the Great Recession of 2008–09, resulting in more than eight million home foreclosures. In the United States today, according to analysis by real estate services and investment firm CBRE, buying a home is now 52 percent more expensive than renting.
A former CFO for real estate agency Keller Wiliams in Manhattan, Mr. Ritacco says the biggest cause of the dream shift is the Federal Reserve’s decision to raise interest rates from near zero in March 2022 to a range of 5.25–5.5 percent by the summer of 2023. “It’s supposed to happen slowly. What they did is like driving a Ferrari 100 miles an hour, pulling the emergency brake and going through the windshield. When you talk about crushing the American dream, that’s how it happens.” U.S. Census Bureau data have shown that the homeownership rate has remained flat over the past year, at 66 percent, down from 68 percent in 2020. A sizeable drop in the share of buyers under 35 years has led to the decline, with that age group now at 38 percent, the lowest level since 2021. Michelle Gonzalez, who along with her husband Kevin operates Floridian First Realty in Miami, told The Epoch Times that some of the younger potential homeowners are moving from rental to rental until they find an opportunity to buy.
This type of economic reality is leading some to believe that renting has replaced home ownership, which has been one aspect of the American dream. “One hundred percent, I believe this is the end of the American dream of home ownership. Foundationally, I’m a true proponent, but every way you spin it, home affordability has gone out of reach,” Then they say, well, it’s too expensive and get Nicolas Ritacco a real estate portfolio man- in line for another property later. ager with IB Global in New York said to The Epoch Times.
” In its 2023 end-of-year report, rental platform company Zumper reported on what they referred to as a “seismic shift in attitudes toward renting versus buying a home” due to high interest rates, an uncertain economic climate, remote work opportunities, and a low consumer attitude toward home ownership.
that to be a successful adult, you have to buy a home.”
However, according to Zumper, not all cities in the United States are seeing an increase in rental availability. The company reports that New York City is “notoriously undersupplied” while maintaining its status as a desirable location to live, contributing to conIn a written statement to The Epoch Times, sistent demand resulting in extremely high Zumper Chief Product Officer Tanguy Le rental prices. Louarn said more people than ever are putting home ownership out of their plans while The city is still the most expensive in the prices and rates remain high. United States with the median price for a one-bedroom apartment at $4,160, an in“Some Americans will continue working to- crease of 11.2 percent since December 2022. ward the goal of buying a home, but they’ll Two-bedroom apartments are up 10.2 perwait for interest rates to drop before making cent year over year. that investment. In our survey, 79.8 percent of renters said they don’t think now is a good Those factors have contributed to even the time to buy a home. That’s the highest per- well-heeled and famous residents of New centage since we started asking that question York deciding to rent rather than buy, acin 2020.” After a huge price spike following cording to Mr. Ritacco. the pandemic, nationwide, the cost of renting a one-bedroom dropped by a tenth of a “Renting versus buying is a big deal in New percent this year, according to Zumper. In York City, and you now have celebrities renttheir report, the company said it believes ing because the house they actually want is rent prices will drop by larger margins next $10 million. They’d rather waste millions on year in cities where supply has caught up rent. So it’s not just people without cash that with demand. With lower rental rates and are renting.” more supply, Mark Gilman Mr. Le Louarn says that many renters today are foregoing plans to move into homeown- Author Mark Gilman is a media veteran, having written for a number of ership at an increasing level. “We asked rent- national publications and for 18 years served as radio talk show The Navy veteran has also been involved in handling commuers if they ever plan to buy a home, and 38.5 host. nications for numerous political campaigns and as a spokesman for percent said no. That’s the highest number large tech and communications companies. since we started asking and a 5 percent jump over last year. Many economic and social factors have been chipping away at the idea
The Principles of Journalism are being degraded We must go back to the roots By Leo Vilhena Real If you can read a text devoid of passions and if you can control your emotions, this text is for you, an honorable Press Professional , otherwise, don’t even waste your precious time reading something that even you will not understand in its essence…
as it really is, ceased to be a ‘north’ that guided journalists, editors and editors as a moral compass, and became just an option …
I inquire based on my experience as a reporter, journalist and editor-in-chief. The question that arises at such a time and immediately becomes imperative is:
Today newsrooms are clogged with Bolsonaristas, lulitas and the like, who defend their positions with their crazy passions and forget to tell the story really as it is. They let their emotions swallow their reasons.
They are impartial when it suits them and partial when it is interesting to them…
What does Journalism have to do with the lack of passions? Writing is not the place for Marxists, socialists What is the link? or conservatives… A newsroom is a sacred land of journalists, without ideologies or flags, who I will try to explain: don’t turn the ‘corner’ to the ‘Right or to the Left’… And who don’t even go forward (CenIn the dark times we live in, where emotions and ter). Do you understand the metaphor? passions supplant reasons or Reason , being assertive, dissertative, investigative, non-partisan, We are just storytellers… loyal, honest, sincere, truthful, and above all IMPARTIAL , seem to be mere words or letters I feel real disgust when I walk into a newsroom that many do not understand the meaning. and they ask me if I’m from the ‘Right or Left, Bolsonaro or Lula…’ Let me be more direct, clear and transparent… The desire I have is to send it to xxxxxxx’s house… (With freedom to exercise free poetic When I say that The Principles of Journalism expression)… are being degraded , I mean that the essence of journalism is being lost, is dying and today it A newsroom is a secular and non-partisan ‘breathes through devices’… field… Or it should be! And why do I say this? Because being impartial and telling the story
A mere message to the Press Professionals :
The Principles of Journalism are being degraded We must go back to the roots By Leo Vilhena Real They tell the stories as they really are, without opinions, without sides, without narratives, We are storytellers and not story inventors… without their own judgments and leave the value to the sacred for THEY to We judgment are storytellers and not valuereader judges… be the real ‘opinion makers’, based on what they heard journalists impartial… Are youfrom coming with me on this trip? Shall we go back to the origins?
Leo Vilhena | Journalist After all, aren’t they the ones we work for? The @LeoVilhenaReal
public?
Os Princípios do Jornalismo estão sendo aviltados; devemos voltar as raízes
The Principles of Journalism are being degraded , we are no longer ‘cold, icy and impartial’, to become ‘passionate, partisan, selfish, false, liars, mere talkers of stories, who judge and induce to judgments what suits us ; we bend facts and stories. We must go back to our roots and our bases… There is still time. Being non-partisan is no virtue at all , it’s just a response to the oath we took: Tell history as it really is, without bellies or fabrications, I would say, ‘no right or left…’ We are flaming talkers, impulsive and insatiable after good stories… Good and true! We are storytellers and as good storytellers, we must be faithful to the facts, we must narrate History as it is, and not tell stories… We must respect History!
For all that I said, I believe that Journalism lives in a dark era and to save our essence, we must rescue the most modal and basic values of our profession, we must go back to the ‘little school’, we must rescue our ethics and our values, and we must remember that in Journalism there is no Lula or Bolsonaro, Right or Left, Vasco or Flamengo… We are storytellers and not story inventors… We are storytellers and not value judges… Are you coming with me on this trip? Shall we go back to the origins? Leo Vilhena | Journalist @LeoVilhenaReal
Yohji Yamamoto is living on his own terms By Rachel Tashjian
At 80, fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto Billy Wilder couldn’t direct a better scene. still chain-smokes, still dreams of gangsters and cowboys, still gambles like there’s no After 51 years in business, the name Yohji tomorrow. Yamamoto stands for humor, finesse and a wild pursuit of originality. His definition of “Marlon Brando! I loved him,” he says. He beauty is like no one else’s — he seeks imloves “The Godfather.” He grew up loving perfection and obsessively tailors and cuts to American movies and Hollywood stars. “I hide the human body. respected Clint Eastwood for a long time. I respected him.” But then he heard he was a “The people who admire Yohji are a very, gun enthusiast. “I hate him. Then I decid- very specific group of people, and they have ed I’m done with him. He is tall and a very very specific taste,” says Max Vadukul, the beautiful face for a man, but a gun club — I black-and-white fashion photographer who has worked with the designer for more than can’t accept.” 40 years. “You have to be quite bold and To relax, he gambles. A lot. “Because the job know yourself to wear it.” itself is a gamble. Ready-to-wear business is a gamble. You have to pay everything before you put anything into the shop. It’s a big gamble. So naturally, I started to like gambling.” He sometimes goes to Monaco or Cannes after a show to blow off steam.
This fall, he opened his first shop in the United States since his SoHo store closed more than a decade ago. His new space is around the corner, a slender hall with enormous windows facing Wooster Street, which make the shoppers inside look as if they’re part of some European avant-garde movie about Is he lucky? “I became strong.” shopping in the rugged metropolis. On Wednesday evening, the brand celebratAt one point, we’ve been talking for nearly ed the opening with a party, and the room 40 minutes and he’s smoked three cigarettes. was filled with fanatics in their all-black enHe opens the package (Hi-Lite cigarettes, sembles — layers of painstakingly cut black he smokes two packs a day) and glances up. jackets, coats and pants, some with the ti“May I smoke?” niest hint of color. His customers are more like practitioners, layering themselves up in these plain but complicated clothes.
Wearers of Yohji Yamamoto are more like practitioners. They crowded in front of his store on Wednesday evening to celebrate its opening. (Dominik Bindl/Getty Images)
At the end of the evening, each attendee was A fashion designer usually works to produce given a rose dipped in black paint. new feelings and designs, heaving themselves toward relevance through shapes and “I think he’s now, more than ever, highly, fabrics. Yohji-san has a different measure of highly admired and respected for just doing success: He wants to make things more diffiwhat he does,” Vadukul says. cult for himself each season. He calls readyto-wear “broken,” and thinks made-to-orYohji-san, as he prefers to be called, is a rap- der clothes are more compelling. And like scallion. He’s a flirt. Mischievous and sophisa couturier of the golden ages of the 1930s ticated but funny. A naughty dude. Refining or 1950s, his clothes are experiments in taiand elevating his language year after year, questions of trends and relevance are be- loring, attempts to stretch the limits of cloth neath him. His spirit and creations celebrate and imagination.
ambiguity, contemplation and a passion for what seems niche or anti-establishment. He often looks to previous designers — And what is establishment in today’s world most recently, to Hubert de Givenchy, Coco is what’s obvious, corporate and self-serious. Chanel and Cristóbal Balenciaga, all masters of the black dress — not to copy them or siSitting in a room in his Marais atelier with a phon off their glamour, but to converse with defiantly sloped ceiling that feels like a medi- them, somehow. The final seven looks of the eval town hall’s secret keep, a few days after Spring show were a series of black dresses, his Spring 2024 women’s show in October, which unfolded like a seance with those dehe talks about his one true love. signers’ ideas about elegance and sensuality. “First of all, I have to say, I love women.” And because he loves women, he doesn’t like to emphasize the body. “I hide.” But he noticed, when he was in Paris for his men’s show in June, how many women were exposing their bodies, dressing with a new kind of freedom. So he decided to show a little skin, putting laces in his clothes and exposing midriffs under waistcoats and sheer paneling. Yohji-san loves black, and wears nothing else. “Maybe blue jeans. That’s it. Never color,” he says. Today, he wears a black T-shirt, a black button-up, a black waistcoat and a black jacket with his sleeves rolled up. And his Borsalino hat — the brand sends him one every year. “So, I have many.”
During the 1990s, the world returned the feeling. His shows during this decade were unmissable, and along with Martin Margiela and Alaïa, he asserted that fashion could be art, sure, but also that it had the potential for creativity and self-expression, for commentary and the creation of culture, on the level of filmmaking, writing and the visual arts. His Spring 1999 show, a tribute to weddings, is widely considered one of the greatest fashion shows of all time. n the 2000s, fashion became much more corporatized, even sanitized, as the conglomerates LVMH and what’s now called Kering consolidated power, and it could be hard to see where the brand fit in.
I In 2009, he declared bankruptcy. Over the past decade, a new corporate structure and the continued success of his Adidas collaboration, Y-3 — which launched in 2002 as the first high-fashion and sportswear collaboration of its kind — have restored his brand.
The collection was a small theater of brides and wedding tableaux. (Fairchild Archive/Penske Media/Getty Images)
His vision of beauty and his instinct to rebel comes from his mother, whom he worked for after graduating from law school. Her cusYoji-san's Spring 1999 show is considered one of the greatest fashion shows of all time. (Giovanni tomers “liked color, print,” he says, and the Giannoni/WWD/Penske Media/Getty Images) clothes his mother created were exacting. “It was hard! Very hard work. ” The things he made were pretty, he says, “But I got bored He remembers growing up in Tokyo, a city with making fantastic, colored outfits. I was that had just been destroyed by World War tired.” In 1972, he started a label called Y’s, II. He spent his childhood trying in vain to which still exists now. please his mother, a dressmaker. He recalls passing a difficult exam and, rather than celYohji-san pauses. “Ahh,” he says, sighing. Afebrate, she fretted about the expense of anter he showed the men’s collection in June, other school. He laughs. His vision of beauhe says, he went home to Tokyo to visit his ty and his instinct to rebel comes from his mother, who was staying in an assisted-livmother, whom he worked for after graduating facility. ing from law school. He laughs.
He talked to her about the collection, how he tried to
make clothes that were more difficult for him. “But I felt … she didn’t know if I was her son or not. I wasn’t sure. Because she always remembers me when I was young. I got too old.” He laughs. “I felt painful. Two days later, she’s gone. I rushed to the care house and touched her face. Her face was so cold.” He sits with his cigarette. “But at the same time, I feel happy.” His father died when he was 7. It’s a kind of closure, maybe. He remembers obsessing for much of his childhood, without his father: “I didn’t know what kind of person, what kind of adult I’m going to be. I really don’t know. I really hated to become an adult. So in my heart, I’m still a child.” Yohji-san smiles. Now, he must go. He has appointments and must return to Tokyo in three days. “My dog is waiting for me.” It’s a bear hunting dog, named Rin. “Rin means brave.” Before he goes, does he have any pearls of wisdom? “I’m sorry to say this, because I … I don’t talk about this. I hate this word — success. I became rich. And I hate it. Very often, richness changes people. I don’t want to change. So I forget. He’s managing my money.” He gestures to a man he calls his business partner, who declines to be named. “All of my money. So I often ask him, ‘Do I have money? Okay, that’s good.’” He smiles and looks up at him. “I’m rich?” The manager looks up, nods eagerly. “Certainly!” continue. Yohji-san sighs with content. “My purpose, my dream of creating, is very high. Too high. I never arrive [at it]. That’s the reason I can continue. If I feel I have arrived, maybe I would die.”
Yohji Yamamoto in Paris in October, his cigarette not far away. (Louise Desnos/Agence VU for The Washington Post for The Washington Post)
In celebration of its 50th anniversary, Unifor hosts the “Naza na Natureza” exhibition nThe exhibition can be seen through
virtual reality glasses and, in person, in trees on the University campus The University of Fortaleza, an educational institution of the Edson Queiroz Foundation , will host, from June 5, 2023 (Monday), the exhibition “Naza na Natureza” , by the artist from Piauí based in the United States, Naza Mcfarren . The exhibition can be enjoyed in two ways: physically through artistic intervention on the Unifor campus with the wrapping of trees with the artist’s works, especially around the Rectory, and with virtual reality glasses in the Unifor Cultural Space . The exhibition is part of the special commemorative program for the institution’s 50th anniversary, celebrated on March 21st. Regarding her creations, Naza states that she can paint on any subject, as long as she has the freedom to follow her emotions. Among the themes present in her collection is nature, its fauna and flora. “For me, being an artist means being free to let emotions flow about a certain model/subject. Part of my artistic production focuses on endangered animals. I do this to draw people’s attention to the need to preserve the environment. It is for this same reason that I decided to hold the in-person exhibition on the trees”, explains the painter. At the exhibition on the University campus, Naza will “dress” the trunks of 20 trees with fabric art created especially for them. A
painting greets the visitor at eye level, and extensions of it continue above (up to 5 meters high), below and to the sides. Each package starts with a high-resolution photo of a painting or digital art. The fabric is elastic, highly breathable and will not harm the tree during the months of installation. “I needed someone in the right place to believe this”, comments the artist. The second part of the project involves a computerized version of the exhibition in 3D, to be visited by people from all over the world. The idea is being developed by the Vortex laboratory, which is maintained by Unifor’s Technology Directorate (DTec) , which is also investing in 3D glasses for local visitors. While a viewer experiences the display with glasses, others in the room will be able to immerse themselves in a 2D version on a large screen. This exhibition’s innovative and pioneering initiative will enable any Unifor art exhibition to be transformed into 3D for people around the world to view online. Techniques In her works, the artist opposes abstraction and realism to convey the way opposing points of view interact. In creations where he uses oil on canvas, Naza starts with a completely abstract approach, then works to make certain elements resemble recognizable objects, events or living beings, or starts in the opposite direction: quickly creating a very realistic image and, before it dries, she abstracts it.
In her digital art pieces, Naza uses virtual brushes. For each detail, choose the size and shape of the brush; how wet or dry she wants the line to be; how much pressure she wants to use; how transparent; how soft, among other attributes. It does not make use of any automatic tools, such as filters, brightness or shadows. From time to time, she adds an illusion of texture that then distorts and/or enhances, whatever she chooses to do at that moment. “Whether I’m painting in oils or using the computer, my style is the same. I still oppose abstraction and realism as the coexistence of opposing points of view; I keep placing the main subject inside and mixed with the background, rather than in front of it; Ultimately, it is emotions that guide me in the process of making
art”, highlights Naza. Unique trajectory of an artist The trajectory of this Brazilian-American painter is truly unique. As a child, she drew with charcoal on the sidewalks of her hometown, Santa Cruz do Piauí. She studied in various parts of Brazil and, at the age of 21, began her artistic career in Brasília. From Brasília he went to Campo Grande (MS), then to Fortaleza and Recife, always painting and exhibiting his work, including at the São Paulo Museum of Art (MASP). In 1985, he moved to the United States. Among the places she has lived is Panama, where she was commissioned to paint the Noriega family amid the pre-war turmoil of the late 1980s. Still in the 1980s, she lived in the Washington, DC area, where Naza began to develop her particular style called “abstracted realism”, a technique for which she is known. A change in her private life led her to spend three years in North Carolina, from where she moved to Florida in 1993. In Boca Raton, she opened a studio/gallery and became known for her involvement with social and environmental causes, both in Palm Beach County and throughout South Florida.
The Art of Naza
“The idea is to paint not just a certain subject, but also my own perception of what is happening to it, how it influences its environment and how it is influenced by it. Thus, each work of art is like an event. There are no extra layers and the texture is negligible. The only tools used in the painting process are brushes and a piece of cloth to clean certain areas. The only materials are oil paint and thinners. Most of the apparent texture of the final work is an illusion obtained through the use of light and dark”, details the painter.
Among other awards, the artist won the Woman of the Year award (Boca Raton), Croix D'Argent award (Le Mérite Dévouement Français) in Paris (France), Renascença Commendation (from the Government of Piauí), key to the city of Boca Raton and other honors. The painter was chosen to paint the painting that President Barack Obama presented to President Dilma Rousseff. Her art has been published in numerous books, magazines and newspapers in several languages, including textbooks used in schools across the United States. Among its collectors are Neyde and Viviane Senna, Roberto Carlos, President Bill Clinton, Ivana Trump, Brigitte Bardot, Maurício de Sousa, former Chancellor Airton Queiroz and other personalities. Unifor 50 years The University of Fortaleza, owned by the Edson Queiroz Foundation, reached its 50th anniversary on March 21st of this year. In its half century of existence, the institution has trained more than 110,000 professionals of excellence in all areas of knowledge, contributing not only to the technical but also the human training of these individuals. Over this period, the University has accumulated several successful experiences in teaching, research and extension, with national and international credibility and recognition; Unifor is currently the best private higher education institution in the North and Northeast regions, according to the British Times Higher Education (THE) ranking. Translated By Laiz Rodrigues University of Fortaleza Article
A artista brasileiro-americana Naza vai expor suas telas na feira de arte Red Dot durante a Art Basel Week, no stand The Wall of Arts do dia 6 ao dia 10 de dezembro de 2023, no endereço 2217 NW 5th Ave (esquina com a NW 22nd St), Miami, FL, 33127. Os visitantes terão a oportunidade de conhecer novos trabalhos da artista, tanto na técnica óleo sobre tela quanto digital em tela.
Ao trabalhar com óleo sobre tela, Naza aplica uma textura quase imperceptível na tela. Foram anos de experimentação até chegar a uma fórmula que fosse forte e não tivesse contato direto com a tinta – uma base é usada antes de começar a pintura com óleo. Essa textura vai desaparecendo assim que começa a ser coberta com a tinta; é quando a artista escolhe quais partes da textura pretende mostrar e intensificar, adicionando luz, escuridão e destaques.
Assim, Naza começa a pintar com temas reconhecíveis e rapidamente, antes que a tinta seque, os abstrai; ou começa com um plano abstrato e aos poucos acrescenta detalhes até que formas, objetos ou coisas vivas tomem forma. A dicotomia entre figura e fundo evapora. Cada uma das pinturas de Naza é uma jornada imbuída de seus sentimentos mais profundos guiando o caminho.
A Arte de Naza
The Art of Naza
Sua abordagem para pinturas digitais é semelhante. Com óleos, suas únicas ferramentas são tintas, diluentes, pincéis e molambos. A textura aparente do trabalho final é uma ilusão conseguida através do contraste entre claro e escuro. Na criação de uma peça digital, Naza utiliza pincéis virtuais. Ela escolhe o tamanho e quão líquida ou seca é a pincelada, a pressão e outros atributos que possui em seu arsenal digital. Ela rejeita ferramentas automáticas como filtros de efeitos especiais. Naza mora em Hollywood, Flórida. Sua arte já foi exibida em museus e galerias na Europa e nas Américas do Norte, Central e do Sul, inclusive no MASP (Museu de Arte de São Paulo. Sua arte foi publicada em livros, revistas e jornais em várias línguas, inclusive livros didáticos usados em escolas dos Estados Unidos. Há trabalhos seus nas coleções de Neyde e Viviane Senna, Roberto Carlos, o Presidente Bill Clinton, Ivana Trump, Brigitte Bardot, Maurício de Sousa, entre outros colecionadores.
Website: www.naza.com email: naza.artist@gmail.com Instagram: @naza.artist
The Art of Naza
Brazilian-American artist Naza exhibited her paintings at the Red Dot art fair during Art Basel Week, at The Wall of Arts stand from December 6th to 10th, 2023, Visitors had the opportunity to discover new works by the artist, both in oil on canvas and digital on canvas techniques. When working with oil on canvas, Naza applies an almost imperceptible texture to the canvas. It took years of experimentation to arrive at a formula that was strong and did not have direct contact with the paint – a base is used before painting with oil begins. This texture disappears as soon as it starts to be covered with paint; This is when the artist chooses which parts of the texture she wants to show and intensify, adding light, darkness and highlights. Thus, Naza begins to paint with recognizable themes and quickly, before the paint dries, abstracts them; or she starts with an abstract plan and gradually adds details until shapes, objects or living things take shape.
The dichotomy between figure and ground evaporates. Each of Naza's paintings is a journey imbued with her deepest feelings guiding the way. Her approach to digital paintings is similar. With oils, your only tools are paints, thinners, brushes and sticks. The apparent final work’s texture is an illusion achieved through the contrast between light and dark. When creating a digital piece, Naza uses virtual brushes. She chooses the size and how liquid or dry the brushstroke is, the pressure and other attributes she has in her digital arsenal. It rejects automatic tools like special effects filters. Naza lives in Hollywood, Florida. Her art has been exhibited in museums and galleries in Europe and North, Central and South America, including at MASP (São Paulo Museum of Art. Her art has been published in books, magazines and newspapers in several languages, including textbooks used in schools in the United States. Her works are in the collections of Neyde and Viviane Senna, Robertore Carlos, President Bill Clinton, Ivana Trump, Brigitte Bardot, Maurício de Sousa, among other collectors. Website: www.naza.com email: naza.artist@gmail.cm Instagram: @naza.artist
No intersecting link> Roberto Rivas, right, with Richard Brooks, the founder of the $1,000 Breakfast Club, in June 2023. Brooks and other club members left Rivas a $1,600 tip at the IHOP in Norwood, Mass. (Laurie Brooks)
At breakfast, this group always leaves at least a $1,000 tip By Cathy Free For The Washington Post RRRoberto Rivas teaches Spanish full-time at a
Brooks pulled out a pile of $100 bills and counted local high school, and on weekends, he waits tables them into Rivas’s hand, explaining that he and his at two restaurants, including an IHOP, so he can friends were members of the $1,000 Breakfast Club. pay his bills. Each person had contributed $100 to leave for the server, $1,600 in all. Rivas had just finished serving pancakes and eggs to a party of 16 on a busy Saturday morning in Nor- “This is a golden opportunity — I want to be able to wood, Mass., when one of the customers at the ta- contribute to society in the U.S.,” Rivas said. ble called him over. He said he was shocked to receive such a large tip “We have something for you,” the customer, Rich- from the $1,000 Breakfast Club. ard Brooks, told Rivas. “The only reason we came to breakfast today was to give you this tip.”
Groups that leave large tips for servers have become more popular since the covid-19 pandemic, with 100 Roberto Rivas teaches Spanish full-time at a Dollar Dinner Clubs taking off in places such as WyoloRivas, 29, said he almost burst into tears that Sat- ming an“I’ll never forget the first time I got a tip that
urday morning in June.
He said since his family immigrated to the United States from Venezuela in December 2022, he’d been saving money to buy his mother new hearing aids, and the tip now allows him to buy them. He and four family members have humanitarian parole so they can work in the United States until December 2024, he said. He hopes to get an employment or student visa so he can stay longer.
was worth anything,” Brooks said. “Somebody gave me $20, and it just made my day.” In January, he decided to post on Facebook:
“I want to start a group to go to breakfast, 10 of us, and we each bring $100 to tip the waiter,” Brooks wrote.
“The Thousand Dollar Breakfast Club. Anyone can go,” he continued. “We will find a small place where “This is a golden opportunity — I want to be able to the server will be shocked to get $1,000. It will be contribute to society in the U.S.,” Rivas said. a fun quick morning breakfast and will blow the mind of the server!” He said he was shocked to receive such a large tip from the $1,000 Breakfast Club. Ten people — a few friends and some people he didn’t know who saw his post on Facebook — After a six-hour shift, he said he is usually lucky to showed up at the first breakfast in March at an take home about $200 in tips. IHOP in Framingham, Mass., while another three who couldn’t make it each sent him $100, Brooks “Sixteen hundred dollars is unheard of,” Rivas said. said. “Servers work hard, but a tip this large is rare. I’m “I chose IHOP since they take bigger tables and I still amazed they wanted to surprise me like this.” also knew that breakfast was a time when waiters aren’t making as many tips because the bill is usualBrooks started the $1,000 Breakfast Club earlier this ly lower than for lunch or dinner,” he said. year after his brother, Justin Brooks, mentioned he’d gone to breakfast in California with a group that left When he thanked the server and handed her $1,300, a stack of $100 bills for their server. “the look of surprise on her face and the happy look on everyone’s face at the table told me we were on When his brother told him about his own $100 bill the right track,” Brooks said. “It’s a great pleasure to outing, “It just hit me that this was a great idea and give money to people you don’t know.” I should do something with it,” Brooks said. When he thanked the server and handed her Brooks said the idea is long overdue. $1,300, “the look of surprise on her face and the happy look on everyone’s face at the table told me While he was attending law school in his 20s, he we were on the right track,” Brooks said. “It’s a great said he worked as a waiter on campus at Boston pleasure to give money to people you don’t know.” University for five years to help pay his bills. He said group members decided they would continue to visit a different IHOP every few months in “I’ll never forget the first time I got a tip that was the greater Boston area and ask that a single server worth anything,” Brooks said. “Somebody gave me be assigned to their table at random so the money $20, and it just made my day.” would have a greater impact.
Maldonado, left, a server at the IHOP restaurant in Saugus, Mass., receives a $1,300 tip from Brooks of the $1,000 Breakfast Club. (Laurie Brooks) <Variable overset>
“A thousand-plus dollars is a lot of money, but it doesn’t go as far if a bunch of people are sharing it,” Brooks said. “By giving it all to one person, you’re doing something that could make a difference in their life.” About 20 people now belong to the club, but not everyone can make every meeting, he said. Some of the members didn’t know each other until they started bringing $100 bills to breakfast. Brooks said he picks up the tab for the group’s meals. “They chose to come and give away $100 to make someone happy, so it’s the least I can do,” he said.
“[Tulio] told us he was going to pay his bills with it, and that makes you feel good to know He said it doesn’t matter if his group doesn’t get you helped make that happen for him,” he said. top-notch service. “We’re proof that you don’t need to be a celebrity or a millionaire to do this.” “We don’t know what’s going on in the server’s day — isn’t that the kind of person you would want to Home Depot to customers: ‘Please do not take help?” he said. “If bad service happens, we’ll give Leo’s shirt off ’ them the money anyway to help improve their day.” Jeff Paris, a special-education teacher from Reading, Mass., brings his wife, Melissa, and their 1-yearold daughter, Eliza, to the breakfasts. “I really love making new friends around the table — the camaraderie is incredible,” he said.
Brooks said he recently heard from someone in Atlanta who hopes to start a club like his, and someone in Chicago has also expressed an interest. “We’d really love for this to catch on,” he said.
“I don’t have the means to do something like this on my own, and most of the other people are everyday Rivas said that would be fine with him. working folks, too. But together, what we do really adds up.” “Someday, I’d like to be in a position to give
back to somebody else in this way,” he said.
“It’s a small effort for us, but the impact it has on “The $1,000 tip. It’s brilliant. those recipients is huge,” said Janet Meaney, 73, a club member who said she was among the first to Source: The Washington Post sign up. “It’s a wonderful way to thank hard-working people,” she said.