Girl Under the Bridge

 Description to follow shortly...

Cassandra Landau - Gallery Coordinator

The Final Page... et adieu

Untitled Nude: Keisha 

 Transcription © Suzanne Horowitz 2011
Recounting August 20-21

It was about 1: AM west coast time when the phone rang...

I’ve decided to abandon the writing project at backpage.com, said    a familiar voice. I don’t understand, the material seems to attract thousands of readers each month- why would you stop now? 

Go to the site online and see it for yourself. So I did... and omg! 

This is a losing battle and I have no control... when stuff like this happens, it bothers the hell out of me  

What Ron is referring to was the onslaught of weekend advertisers, companies that post everything from Indonesian farm equipment to XXX movies in the Arts and Entertainment Forum 

There are body parts- private parts all over the page and I can’t do a damn thing about it 

Historically speaking, the Village Voice has always had a reputation for being a Liberal, open-minded publication and over time... has faithfully supported the communities they represent 

It was a great run for what it was. I met some new people, made   

a number of contacts and shared experiences that otherwise would never have occurred 

Aesthetically, I’m not opposed to tasteless X-rated movies; many

of them are quite funny. I'm saying, there is a time and place for this type of entertainment. But when someone (metaphorically) nails an image to your forehead, I think it’s time to respectfully step back and bid the audience adieu... 

It’s really more the fact these ads are posted- then re-posted again and again… one on top of the other, 4, 5, 6, times in a row

Some of the ads have as many as 20 links listed in columns. When other advertisers see this (and get away with it), the event becomes a feeding frenzy- a Race for Space 

In short, they are disrespectful to all parties concerned... and an offense to fair play and balance  

After more than a year and 135,000 readers later... what do you think you'll take away from this experience?  

Before getting to that, I have to add one thing. While all this was going on, Regina (one of the co-authors) sent a memo the Voice editor as we have done in the past. She then went to the other article and noticed the same abuse, prompting a 2nd report

Bear in mind, this was happening on Saturday and Sunday... 

and the Voice (while working with a weekend staff) was probably overwhelmed by all the activity. 

I believe in the editor's haste to remove the offensive material, they mistakenly clicked on her link and banned Regina! 

She then followed a link to an explanation that stated something to the effect, You have been banned for a period of one week etc etc., this was absolutely CRAZY!  

Ok... so mistakes were made, but none of this has anything to do with my decision to move on  

You still haven't answered my last question . . . 

Unlike all of the other posts in that forum... the format (setup) for the two main articles was unique. It didn't start out that way and 

it wasn't planned, the layout and the dialogues merely evolved

In that... and aside from any formal statements, the space became a platform for launching social satires and new works of art 

It also acted as a mediator and Help Guide, for those who shared negative Internet experiences... and much more 

Summary of Articles

1- An Open Letter: To He, that shall remain nameless

(a commentary on premature political forecasting)

2- Silent Manifesto 

The Pathetic Yelpings of a Delusional Misogynist
3- Pygmy Surf-Nazi's Invade Croatia 

4- Ron Maubidea Interview

5- Farmville: Subliminal Time Bomb or Cultural Blight

6- Sabertooth Willie: The Psychedelic Gerbil

7- I Had a Dream

8- Death over Rehab: The Final Solution

9- Momo le Homo: Butt Bandit from Zanzibar

10- East Village Art Show - August 2010

11- Galerie de Maubidea is Open for Business

12- Ron Maubidea - Abstract Automatism 

The articles, An Open Letter (To He, etc) and Silent Manifesto remained the leading "5 Star Posts" in the Village Voice, Arts 
and Entertainment Forum (page 1) for over six months 

Of the more than 135,000 readers nationwide, they accounted 
for 120,000 plus... to be continued