See the ElectricRailroaders.org website: "Transport Legend John Stern Gives Subway Talk." Includes an illustrated transcript of John Stern's October 23 talk at the Aesthetic Realism Foundation, “The New York Subway: A Century!”
 Graduate of Columbia University and Senior Planner and Researcher with the Tri-State Regional Planning Commission in New York (ret.).
I was born in Orange, NJ, and lived in New Rochelle, NY, for the next 41 years. I have enjoyed a lifelong interest in geology, architecture, history, cities, and transportation, which includes extensive reading on these and many other subjects. My travels include most of the United States, much of Canada and Mexico, and 13 countries in Europe.
Since 1970 I have been married to Faith K. Stern, my dear friend, colleague, and Aesthetic Realism consultant.
Mr. and Mrs. John Stern
I have studied Aesthetic Realism since 1968, the first ten years with its founder, Eli Siegel. It is the privilege of a lifetime to have studied with him, to see firsthand his unparalleled knowledge, impeccable logic, beautiful and accurate passion, kind humor, and good will.
I have presented publicly papers such as,
“Pride and Humility in the Woolworth Building and in Ourselves”;
and, together with art historian and consultant Carrie Wilson, “The Brooklyn Bridge: A Study in Greatness,” which we gave to overflow audiences at the bridge’s 120th anniversary celebration in Brooklyn in 2003.
Among my papers written for Aesthetic Realism seminars are “The Bothersome Question That Won’t Leave One,” including a consideration of Sinclair Lewis’s Babbit; “Why Is Family Life Often Unhappy?,” discussing John Steinbeck’s East of Eden; “The Ordinary Doom: What Is It?,” including the life of W.C. Fields; “Men, Ambition, and Justice,” looking at Robert Moses; “What Does a Man Want from the World?,” including a discussion of The Grapes of Wrath; and “Is There a True Selfishness?,” with a consideration of Fiorello LaGuardia.
And to have Americans meet the knowledge of Aesthetic Realism, so needed by people, letters and articles of mine on health care, the economy, road rage, and more have been published in 17 states.
I feel passionately that Aesthetic Realism must be studied worldwide for wars to cease, racism to end, and economic justice come to people everywhere. |
