found photographs

More Old Polariods

Some Old Polariods

a painting that I've been working on.

a painting that i did about a meat ice cream cone.

Julie Lemberger/Crazy Person/Bigot

Yesterday I had the most confusing experience of my life yesterday. I had just started interning for this woman (see photo above). Supposedly she was a photographer for the New York Times and now she has her own "studio". I put studio in quotation marks because it is actually her living room in her dark Brooklyn apartment. I had only interned for her for one day and after that day she sent me an e-mail praising the work that I had done and inviting me to this dance festival. So I responded and thanked and told her that I would see her the following week. Well I didn't hear back from her and I went to my internship on and there she was, waiting outside for me. I asked her if she was on her way out and she started to accuse me of stealing her camera which she said went missing between Wed. & Fri. (now I was only there on Wed. and she wrote me this e-mail thanking me) Needless to say I was very confused and so I tried to talk to her to see what was going on. This woman, definitely has issues. She said that I stole her camera because I cant afford food. I feel ridiculous even typing this. I doubt she would have said something like to me if she weren't white and I wasn't someone of color living in bad neighborhood. It was like she had no proof to back up her accusation so she had to dig low for something that she thought proved her position but in the end only proves her bigotry. She then proceed to compare this whole situation to being raped. Incredible! I couldn't hold back my laughter. Really? I can not say what is wrong with this woman but I can say that I will remember this for my whole life to come. Its a reminder that race is at the forefront of every interaction and sometimes it doesn't matter how educated you are or how well you dress someone like Julie Lemberger will try to reduce you to a criminal because to her all people of color are hungry thieves. I never went to her house looking like a homeless person, nor did I ever share any of my financial information, I am college educated and even attended Pratt Institute a prestigious private art school. I showed her my photographic body of work as well as my resume. But I guess Julie is well aware that the world is populated with people just like her and unfortunately a lot of Hispanic and African American people do go hungry. The unemployment rate of African Americans has always historically been double to that of Caucasians, and homicide is up 10 % right now in African American communities just like the one that I live in and most of it is black on black crime. Or what about the fact that 46% of home purchase loans made to Hispanics in 2006 were high-cost, as opposed to only 18% for whites. So maybe to Julie these statistics fuel her belief that Hispanic and African Americans are are hungry and poor which is partly true but are all out to get her! I wish you the best Julie!

statistics are from Wnyc and the Center of for American Progress website. Photo of Julie Lember found on her flickr account.