the rix mix

An art exhibit reception at Kean University today, works from a local rehab/housing support organization, I helped hang the show. The Mayor of Elizabeth NJ, Chris Bollwage, showed up, I don't know why, he wasn't part of the formalities or mentioned during them. I pointed him out to the art teacher & suggested he go over, introduce himself & say "Hello." The teacher said to me,"I'm not supposed to discuss funding or anything," like that's the only reason to greet the mayor of a large city at a non-political event, who knows hardly anyone there, doesn't have anything directly to do with funding, & is wandering around trying to get his bearings? "Just go meet him, he's a friendly man." Mayors, & local elected politicians in general, are pestered wherever they go by transparent sycophants & constituents who see an opportunity for complaining about something; property taxes or a barking dog in a neighbor's yard. I was tempted to bring up the matter of an illegal rooster across the street. So if one takes a moment to be merely congenial, they are most appreciative. Kean University isn't even in Elizabeth, although it's just over the border & very much a part of the city's life. Also. most of the mayors I've observed have remarkable associative memories for putting faces & places together long after an initial encounter. (Some are better than that. When Jim McGreevey was Woodbridge mayor, I watched him go through a crowd before an outdoor concert, several hundred people, mostly seniors but lots of others, & was impressed at how many he greeted by name, how well-liked he was, & how much he seemed to be enjoying it. If only he had decided back then that it wasn't necessary to get married again & be governor. )