Seventy years ago, George Horner was a prisoner in Theresienstadt, a concentration camp outside of Prague. He was a musician and played the music of Karel Svenk, another prisoner. They played cabaret pieces, the Theresienstadt March, and “How Come the Black Man Sits in the Back of the Car?” for other prisoners. By some historical accounts, music, and more specifically, the creation of music, kept them alive.  

Most people have heard about the Running Back Adrian Petersen's two year old son who was beaten to death by his mother's boyfriend.  At least two different sports columnists wrote pieces decrying Petersen's personality and lifestyle choices for having multiple children with different mothers without being involved in their lives.  Both or these reporters were widely castigated for their "bad timing" and "lack of compassion".  

Part of what we hope Gotham does best is to provide a forum to build relationships from which we know great things follow. As a result, we are rolling out a new program for 2014, “The Gotham Touch”.  

I am writing this blog early as my husband and I will be in Europe for the two weeks before it is posted. I am so excited about this trip as I have never been in Europe before.

Give me a good biography, a Skinny Cow chocolate ice cream bar, a couch and a lamp and I am very happy.  Fiction is a struggle, and much of it, unfinished, is on my bookshelf.   Recently I have plowed through biographies of Hamilton, FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, Einstein, and now about to finish Steve Jobs.  

The Affordable Health Care Act, affectionately know as ObamaCare, is getting so much attention these days. It was the focus of a government shutdown but this blog is not about the politics...it's about the website.  

When I was young and in high school and college I always sat in the back of the room. When I was in law school and they had the Socratic method I was always in dire fear of being called on and having to present. This was not only because I was sometimes unprepared.   Needless to say, as in the case of many, I was in dire fear of public speaking.   Over the years my fear has abated and presenting skills have somewhat improved. I attribute my improvement, in no small part, to the breezy give and take at Gotham meetings.  

   With the change of seasons, I am motivated to get into my closets and do a little cleaning.