On November 7, a true American icon visited Houston. In his 80 plus years, Arnold Newman has made opportunities for himself, with his camera, creating important images of the Twentieth Century. He photographed international leaders, including Emperor Haile Selassie (Jah Ras Tafari), Shimone Peres and Yassar Arafat. But, he didn't just make the photographs. He asked Harry Truman why he dropped the Atomic Bomb; He wept with Anne Frank's father, Otto Frank, in Auschwitz; He portrayed Alfried Krupp in truly sinister light; He gained an all-access invitation to the Kennedy family; He witnessed the demise of Marilyn Monroe.

Arnold Newman made the family album, as he calls it, of great artists, like Gordon Parks, Georgia O'Keefe, Igor Stavinsky, I.M. Pei, Pablo Picasso and Man Ray, to mention just a few. Newman documented great thinkers and commentators, Langston Hughes, Elie Wiesel, Edward R. Murrow, Isaac Asimov, and many more.

Seeing Arnold Newman's images, as he recounts the creative documentation of an era, is a great and rare opportunity, indeed. He is, perhaps, a most important link between history, art, culture and media -- an artist who studied the times and a man we will study.

As I left the Museum of Fine Arts following the presentation, I couldn't imagine that there was anything happening in Houston at that moment which offered a more valuable experience than a personal showing of Arnold Newman's life work. I did not marvel at the large audience that filled the Brown Auditorium, since the value of this event was not in question. I felt sad for those who missed this great experience and that I could not recreate it for them.

I asked the age-old question: Is the audience 95 percent full or 5 percent empty. It was surely 5 percent empty, as the missed opportunities for some bothered me most. The few empty seats represented people I know who have been stricken with laziness, or whose lives outside the workplace closely resemble their work.

Participating in a great interpersonal or educational activity is like planting a seed. The experience results in opportunity, inspiration and, sometimes, great achievement. The ability to do what is not simply required, but what is desired, defines a person.

Unfortunately, the need to contemplate the workday ahead, or to unwind for several hours after work and through the weekend is a terrible condition that many Americans have developed. The lack of self-deliberation is the lack of growth, the withering of any seeds which were planted by new experiences. In the worst scenario, the idle time people throw away is often dominated by television, where advertisers and agencies plant their own seeds to establish public interests and generate support for mass ideology and all-important consumer confidence.

None of this would matter if we did not need new interests to stimulate and develop our minds. Independent organizations promote contemporary ideas and preserve traditional values, though it is usually more difficult for them to promote their activities than large arts organizations like the Museum of Fine Arts. If audiences do not come to events, such as Arnold Newman's presentation, the Asian American Festival or a drum demonstration by Babatunde Olatunji, and if organizers quit trying to make unique opportunities available to us, our interests will be almost entirely determined through sponsorship of mass media. It is the reason I cringe when twenty seats are empty at a great experience in the making, amidst a city of more than three million people.

I was once inspired by a tremendous advisor who wrote to me, "Good luck in whatever you are about." I was adventurous, as most are, but I often missed the meaning of my unique opportunities. At the time, I was merely seeking a way in and out of deepest Copper Canyon, but I learned to benefit greatly from deliberate actions and difficult challenges. Now I live for and truly appreciate all of the experiences available to me. I hope others will learn to plant more seeds to improve their lives.

View Arnold Newman's photographs:
http://www.liaisonphoto.com/newman.htm


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M A R K   L A C Y / mark@cultural-crossroads.com


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