16eparis

As a kid, I grew up being surrounded by Politics and International Affairs for as long as I can remember. This was in part due to my father, and all his personal dealings and business connections that he had, as he made his living. Yet, despite all this in the background going on every day of my life, while growing up; I was both lucky to some extent and unlucky in other ways. I will explain in more detail later on.

I grew up in Brooklyn Heights, New York City. Early on in my life, things were quite good. In my younger years, I had access to my many friends from school at the Packer Collegiate Institute, also in Brooklyn Heights. Thanks to my father, we were members of the Heights Casino Club, a very ‘well-to-do’ club for the ‘elite’, despite this time being in the 1970s and early 1980s. This ‘members-only/private club’ actually was attached to our apartment building where I grew up on 200 Hicks Street. Whether having Tennis lessons every Thursday, or going to the Heights Casino to watch TV, hang out, do homework, have snacks, or have lunch and charge it to the ‘tab’ of our membership, it was a great hangout spot. So, I can ‘not’ deny it, during this time in my life, yes, things were quite good. However, with each passing year as I got older, and especially when I began my “prep-school” education, is when my ‘life’ turned out to be one that was really ‘not’ enjoyable at all. Then to make things worse, from that point forward, even 30 + years after graduating from high school, the same maltreatment I received as a kid at prep-school, I continue to get from the majority of the same people as adults today. Sadly, my life seemed to be best described as ‘uncomfortable’. Whether be from relatives within the family (after my father died in 2001) or those kids who I was surrounded with while in prep school: Rumsey Hall School (1981-1982), Vermont Academy (1983-1985), and Northfield Mount Hermon (1985-1987), and to those few who I’m still ‘connected’ with via social media as ‘adults’, things just seem no different than when I was a kid in prep-school.

It wasn’t until I was 13 years old when I first traveled to Europe for a school Ski trip in March 1982. I went to Bormio, Italy. It was then that I realized that International Cultures and people from other parts of the world were different than the ‘culture’ I knew while being in the states. In my view, Europeans are more ‘open’ to meeting ‘new people’ and giving others who they do not yet know on a personal level, the chance to get to know them. When you add all those qualities to the picture, they do then favor a better chance for a more positive outcome in the end. I feel that from my personal experiences, ‘those who I have been in connection with from school’ for example, are more rigid, mean, spiteful, and hurtful to others, and in a more carefree way, of which is ‘not’ anything to be proud of, ever! And often, they have no problem literally going out of their way just to be mean purposely. Sadly, I learned personally about maltreatment from the ‘criminal like actions’ from my older brother, soon after my Dad died in 2001. What was done to me, was so destructive and permanent, that I fear it has already, at least financially ‘ended my life’ or ‘chance for one’. My personal life, all that I have personally been through, and witnessed growing up and having the childhood I had, on top of all that is now actively going on in my life today, especially since after the passing of my father, Roy; has made me who I am today. And ever since, I no longer feel comfortable, nor safe within my personal surroundings today. That is putting it politely!

Sadly, ever since my father passed away from Malignant Melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer in 2001, both my handicap wheelchair-bound 83-year-old mother whom I been caring for alone now since my Dad passed, and I; have been living a nightmare in all senses of the word! Frankly, with the number of emotional abuses and crimes that have been committed against us; both financially and otherwise by numerous people, I sometimes am amazed that we are both still enduring this!

It is Europe, the atmosphere, the culture, the people, the languages, the different lifestyle, the ambiance, even the ‘air that I breathe’, that with me at least; gives me the sense of safety, purpose, and confidence that where I’m currently residing seems to drain out of me. To me, the area where I seem to be more of a dwelling for those who do not care for others. Unless ‘those’ who they ‘deem’ as their ‘equal’. Or in laymen’s terms, rich, and above the laws that the ‘slave, little people’ must not be anywhere near. If you desire “equality”, my area is not the place for you!

Some of the things that my father went through, that I have not spoken about in detail here, is plenty to have hesitation with regards to where I’m stuck. Yet, the easiest example of the ‘nightmarish’ scenarios that my poor handicap mother and I have been experiencing for over 19 years and counting, all thanks in part to who in one way or another have been ‘connected to us’, whether relatives or ‘authorities’ of some sort for one sole purpose: make life as unbearable as possible for my mom and me! When I’ve told certain people in detail, about all that we’ve endured… their reactions are; astonishment, sometimes even; silence and they don’t know what to say! They are speechless! Then when it all sinks in, they often have anger! Yes, it has been a tough life, for us, to say the least!

In other areas, I’m someone who appreciates all European & Middle Eastern cultures that are foreign to most. My father Roy, when he was alive and being an International Businessman his entire life and my being ‘surrounded’ by his phone calls, or being more aware of ‘the places he would travel to for business’ etc.. All played an active role to my upbringing, whether or not I was aware of this as it was happening. What’s more interesting is, I have a huge desire for and admiration for the Arab/Muslim person & culture. Why? It’s really ‘not’ difficult to see ‘why’. Whether it would be growing up with my father, who often would be on the phone with his International Business figures/Arab friends/Business Contacts like Salah Sharaf, or his closest personal friend Adnan M Khashoggi, or Manucher Ghorbanifar, or Rakesh Saxena, or Roger Tamraz, or other associates connected with King Fahd, Cyrus Hashemi, John Shaheen or others. All these ‘names’ are all ‘familiar’ to me. It’s what I was used to hearing as a kid growing up, let alone as an adult as well. Let’s just say, I was immersed with lots of info growing up around my dad all those years!

In other interests, the top languages I appreciate the most are: French, Italian, Hungarian, Czech and Serbian and Arabic. Can I speak all of those? Sadly, no. However, I know more French than any other and know very little Italian and bits and pieces of Czech and Hungarian. Yet, whether I am listening to radio stations of any of those languages, (and I could listen to them for hours on end, and never get bored.) my ability to read French is better than any of the other languages, and speaking it; while it’s really ‘not’ great, but it’s better than any other foreign language – but again, I ‘appreciate’ which each language has to offer.

This blog centers on my overall broad Interests pertaining to International Politics and Worldly Events – with a slight bias to those parts of the Globe and or Topics, where I may have had some kind of ‘inner’ personal relationship or ‘tie/connection’. Whether this tie/connection was from when my Dad was alive and his background, and contacts, or from since his passing and from those connections that I have that are connected to prestigious and powerful International Business figures as well. Either way, if something is breaking news, regarding the Middle East, or something like this, I will have many interests in this area and be depending on the ‘topic’, it could be quite personal.

I am aware that I am unlike most people anywhere on the planet. I know people who personally ‘knew’ (if someone is no longer alive) or still knows (if they are alive still…) such prominent figures, such as Yasser Arafat, Mouammar Kadhafi, The Shah of Iran, Shimon Peres, Ariel Sharon, Emir of Kuwait, King Fahd of The Saudi Royal Family, Prince Faisal, Sultan of Brunei, and many others…

Another part you will learn about me, is that I am absolutely 100% Pro-Palestinian! It angers me deeply with how their situation is as of today, let alone how it’s been for all these past decades of abuses and loss of life they/Palestinians have suffered over the illegal occupation, during their struggle for freedom of their own land sans the Illegal Occupation of Ramallah/Gaza/Palestine. Interestingly enough, my personal friend was with Arafat in 1994, when he picked up his Nobel Peace Prize. I never did meet him in person, he surely would’ve been my favorite #1 choice of prominent person to meet. It is sad to think that he was illegally murdered/poisoned by the evil Israeli government.

On a personal note, I am able to relate to all the injustices of the average Palestinian, to a degree. Granted, we (my Mom and I) do ‘not’ suffer the same amount of violence that Palestine, and especially Gaza suffer. However, we surely can relate to the nightmare of emotional abuse, and other forms of personal injustices, thanks to a wide range of people who just desire our personal demise as well. Whether be familial, or outside the familial spectrum, or often by those who are considered ‘State authorities’ the fact is clear for my mother and me. Its been a very upsetting life for my mom and me, all this time since my dad passed away. I so often have expressed some parts of my personal life in this manner: My one sibling I have is like ‘evil Israel’. Israel took the land of Palestinians, while my sibling took something of mine, that wasn’t his! Israel manipulates and abuses Palestinians within their own homes and land, and my sibling and other of their supporters have also done the same to my mother and me as well! Israel doesn’t care when they are to blame when murdering Palestinians, and I can honestly say that my ‘blood relatives’ could care less that they are active participants in our impending demise as well! When a Palestinian begs for their lives, or help……it falls on deaf ears. And when I have begged for help from our ‘relatives’, they not only ignore our cries for help, they often will call others to come ‘invade’ our apartment as a way to abuse us tenfold! It’s truly been awful!

It is sad no matter how one looks at the world, and how so often maltreatment, is getting to be more and more the ‘in’ thing to do with a wide variety of people. In fact, nowadays, when and if others ‘see’ or bare ‘witness’ to maltreatment, the excuse now is to just ignore it, and pretend it’s not even happening!

My other interests are: Music, Writing, working online, and of course always keeping up to date with what is going on in the world, especially pertaining to the recent current events within the Middle East: Palestine, Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, etc…

With regards to ‘Writing’: I have not only this blog, but I also keep a journal. It’s over 13,000 pages long, and over 10+ years of information.

The kind of Music I prefer would be considered: Euro-Pop, Italo Disco, Italo Pop, French Pop, Russian/Dance/Club, etc… most of which would also depend on my mood and other factors. Some singers & groups that I prefer and love are Axelle Red, Patricia Kaas, Lara Fabian (all three of whom I saw in concert in Montréal. I also sort of, kind of met Axelle Red in person at a concert while sitting in the front row during a concert in Summer 2000. I gave her a Greeting Card in both English and French and a Rose. She stopped everything, took about 3-4 minutes to read all I wrote, and even said; “Thank You, very much” as the crowd went wild!) Other singers or groups I like are Akcent, Spagna, Silver Pozzoli, Alexandra Stan, Sak Noel, Playahitty, Eros Ramazzotti, Inna, Edward Maya, Alizée, Anggun, Bad Boys Blue, Arash, Axel Bauer, Chicane, Calogero, Chris Rea, Cock Robin, David Tavaré, Dr. Alban, Étienne Daho, Fragma, Falco, Gérald de Palmas, Imagination, Laurent Voulzy, Level 42, Lewron Orchestra, Manu Chao, Modern Talking, Thomas Anders, Murray Head, Mylène Farmer, Patrick Hernandez, Pet Shop Boys, Sandra, Sophie Ellis Bexter, Talk Talk, The Twins, Yannick Noah, Youssou N’Dour, Zucchero, etc… and many, many more, etc…

I hope as you are reading all of this about me, you are beginning to get a little better understanding of me, my history, and the person I really am within. In many ways, I was lucky to be brought up within a family where my father at one time in his life became an International Political Figure himself, thanks to his career. All you have to do is take a look at the videos on both sides of the primary page of my blog, where the majority of those videos are pertaining to my dad, where you can see and learn about my father. In doing so, you will get a little taste on all that he worked on or was a part of while at the same time being connected with many prestigious and powerful people as well. Some of those business deals were actually headlined news to the entire International world. Where many of those prestigious & powerful people that worked with him on these deals, were not only business partners or politically connected themselves with other International governments, but were friends of his as well. Almost all the videos on that front page of this blog, are all regarding my Dad, Roy. Here is one of my favorites where he was introduced to the world by CNN “Prime News”

I even devoted one article blog about my Dad as well. This is a more detailed article/blog about him, where I speak in detail about some of the most interesting occurrences he had in his life. Whether that would be when he was almost killed, twice by terrorism. Or, when he had dinner between two famous people, or when he partied at the Nixon Inauguration or other interesting facts about his life. In this article, you will see just how amazing his life really was, and of course not to mention, the incredibly famous and powerful, and wealthy people he knew, met and worked with, throughout his career. On top of all this, there are some parts within this article, on how his interesting life, affected me while growing up as his youngest son. So that being said, his life, was in turn, my life as well. Looking back at everything today, despite all the other stuff that maybe was difficult in my life, I am glad that this life was mine too. I wouldn’t want to change any of it, ever.

Yet, despite my many personal losses in life from my mom becoming handicap, and my saving of her life when I was 12 years old, some 5 days before my 13th Birthday, my mom was diagnosed with having an ‘attack’ of the brain stem called: Viral Encephalitis, making her a quadriplegic and me being her full time 24/7 caretaker, since Dad died. And then my sister died when I was 13 years old and she was 16, seven months after my mom’s ‘attack’. She died from Mononucleosis and Hepatitis. Then by the time my Dad died, my Mom and I have been treated terribly by another ‘relative’ so much so, that laws were broken by this person to harm us and our ability to care for ourselves financially.

Yes, a lot of terrible things have occurred to me and my handicap Mom since Dad died. Thank God she is still alive, and I am blessed that I am the only family member she has left who loves her and cares for her, while I continue to try to reach my goals and desires as well.

In case some of you were wondering how the website came about of my blog 16eParis.com, it came to be by one simple factor. The 16th arrondissement is a section of Paris, where the ‘upper’ working class of the French reside. It’s a very ‘well to do’ neighborhood and actually was where our family friend *AK* {Khashoggi} had his Paris, France office. When my father was alive he would always stay at one wonderful hotel close to the Passy metro, and after he passed away, it is where I normally would stay as well.

Wikipedia writes about this part of Paris in this way: “The swanky 16th arrondissement is home to foreign embassies and renowned museums, including the Foundation Louis Vuitton and the Palais de Tokyo with its contemporary art. Hilly Passy, home to the city’s wealthiest residents, features trendy restaurants and the Maison de Balzac, a house museum where the novelist once lived. Families head to the Bois de Boulogne for its boating lakes and kids’ theme park”.

In fact, for all the times I am there, there is one thing that I absolutely love about this area of Paris. Well, okay, there are many reasons why I really love this area. But the two most important reasons why I love this part of Paris is first; it’s extremely close to the Eiffel Tower & the metro. Secondly, for whatever reason, the women there are extremely classy, elegant, sometimes even sultry and seductive, while as they walk past you, you can smell their incredibly sensual, yet exotic European perfume. This is truly something that I feel makes it even more unique, and seductive, all in of itself. Yet, the overall ambiance of this part of Paris, is class, and elegance, while feeling safe walking around at almost any hour of day or night. If I could, I would love to make my full time home here, in a heartbeat.

I thank you for taking the time to read a little about me, while at the same time getting a little feel for what this blog will have to offer. This blog is for me and only me, and I only write about things that both interest me, and or have affected me one way or another in my life, thus making me who I am today. Thank you for your time – and thank you for taking the time to learn a little more about me! 🙂

{Please Note: The ‘Collage’ On My Blog Primary Page ‘Header Picture’ Does Hold Major Significance. For Every Political Figure, Or Internationally Known Person Shown, Either Alone Or With Another ‘Known Figure’, Have/Had Personal Connections To My Father/Myself/Our Family Whether Directly Or Indirectly. Or In Laymen’s Terms: My Father Personally Knew & Worked With King Fahd, Sultan Brunei, Farrah Fawcett, etc… (many others) People like Emir of Kuwait, For Example, Is The Personal Friend Of My Medical Doctor In NYC. The Former President Of Libya, Mouammar Kadhafi Was Close Friends With My Dad’s Close Friend Manucher Ghorbanifar. I have Been Close Friends With Nelson Rockefeller Jr & His Mom “Happy” When She Was Alive Back In the 1980s. So You See…Those In The Collage Were Hand Picked. We Used To Have ‘Direct Or Indirect’ Connections/Ties With These Within The Collage. Truly Incredible, If I don’t Say So Myself. To learn More Detail, Read The Article About My Father’s Life. }

Merci de prendre le temps d’apprendre un peu sur moi.

Köszönjük, hogy időt, hogy megtanulják egy kicsit rólam.

Vă mulțumesc pentru a lua timp pentru a învăța un pic despre mine.

شكرا لأخذ الوقت لتعلم قليلا عن لي.

Děkujeme vám za čas se dozvědět něco o mně.

Спасибо, что нашли время, чтобы узнать немного обо мне.

Benim hakkında biraz bilgi edinmek için zaman ayırdığınız için teşekkür ederiz.

Grazie per aver dedicato del tempo per imparare un po ‘di me.