We've scaled back the gala. We were very hesitant at first to host it this year, but thought it would be best to press on, keep our heads up and keep moving forward.

We want to encourage younger art fans, 21 and up, to come out for a night of dancing and for a chance to appreciate some great art.

It's about trying to revive our community, its artists and our museum. Like so many other museums, residences and businesses around here, we suffered some damage from the storm.

It's going to be a really good time. A chance to put on your party clothes, have some wine, listen to some great music, eat some great food and enjoy some beautiful art.

In my case, I was not frightened in the least bit at the thought that I might live because I was certain, quite certain, that I was already dead. The actual dying part, the withering away of my physical body, was a mere formality. My spirit, my emotional being whatever you want to call all that inner turmoil that has nothing to do with physical existence, were long gone, dead and gone, and only a mass of the most fucking god-awful excruciating pain like a pair of boiling hot tongs clamped tight around my spine and pressing on al my nerves was left in it's wake.

Mechanical difficulties with language are the outcome of internal difficulties with thought