PART
I REVISED OCTOBER 2, 2014
Linda
Leonard, Artist
Specializing
in Equestrian, Gymnastics Dance and Movement
Movement
Works Studio
MY
WEBSITE SHOWING MY PASTELS AND OILS:
http://movementworks.weebly.com/
------------------------------------------------
Wine
Surreptitiously Placed in Patients Food in at least One of Eric
Gordon's Cooking Classes
This
was about three years ago, I had hoped the
young guy with the start up catering business might
have made a formal complaint about Eric
Gordon.
I had shortly before had a Grievance
Meeting about
Gerda
Sejour,
housemate who had been acting out her family issues on me and did not
think it possible to make another formal complaint at that time.
This
young guy, with dark hair, very tall, somewhat heavy-set, who was
starting a
catering business,
he had given me his very nice business card in black and yellow with
a close-up drawing of a chef with a silver tray and was
probably in the Job Coach program
-- he should be possible for a DMH
Investigator to
find, he seemed like he
had the highest integrity--
and thanked Eric and SLH
LifeSkills by
donating food to the cooking class-- Eric mentioned it when we were
eating a meal and then gave this young man a chance to talk to the
group eating Eric Gordon's meal about how grateful he was to Eric for
teaching him about cooking and grateful
to St. Luke's for the LifeSkills
program and
that he wanted to give something back.
A
few weeks later this same young guy was outraged when
Eric
wanted to put 3 tablespoons of wine in
the food to be eaten by clients, this young guy and 2 much shorter
girls immediately,
vehemently, repeatedly told
Eric Gordon that "SOME
CLIENTS HAVE ALCOHOL ISSUES!"
Eric
Gordon said again and again trying
to
persuade them like a teenager who wants to do something dicey trying
to persuade his parents
that
the alcohol would burn off in a couple of seconds and shrugging, then
started saying he could use vinegar but kept pushing the
flavor the wine
would add, saying in a minimizing way, "it's
only 3 tablespoons, the
alcohol will just burn off in a minute."--
shrug,
the three continued to object with outrage, Eric started to reach
under the counter and said "Okay
I will use vinegar.", the
two girls had walked away in disgust but were still in kitchen, the
young guy surprised me by giving up and saying
with resigned disgust, for Eric to do whatever he wanted. So
Eric sprinkled the three tablespoons of wine in the food cooking in a
pan. The other clients in the dining area were not
informed of
this action.
Eric
Gordon has to disillusion even those who admire him like
a little kid, if
I do something this bad will you still like me, if I do something
badder than that will you still love me and
keeps on going until people are disgusted and turn away and don't
come back then
Eric
complains that he has given them things, art supplies, etc. and they
disappeared AND NEVER CAME BACK.
----
or
to be complicit with Mr. Gordon in wrong doing by giving him
"parental" permission for his off-the-wall actions. --
the Milgram Experiment. --
or
as a kind of loyalty test
It's
almost like Mr. Gordon wants
to get caught,
possibly as a
cry for help or
to show off his sales skills in getting out of the trouble he
created, like a drama queen, always creating some kind of upsetting
situation which is not good for patients.
---------
Did
Eric leave the cooking wine there in the LifeSkills kitchen all
the time? Maybe someone should check the shelves in the kitchen now.
Eric
showed no
concern for clients
who
are trying to deal with alcohol problems.
My
brother has been in AA for 20 years and he
would check the labels even of cold medicine to make sure there was
no alcohol in it. Eric
just kept shrugging and saying, "It's
only 3 tablespoons, the alcohol will burn off." One
reason for the
disgust
of the three people Eric asked "permission"
of
to do this, other clients who had helped prepare the food and who
were sitting in the dining area were not informed that there was wine
in the food. At the time, to me, it just seemed par for the course of
Eric's off-the-wall behaviour. It took all my strength to deal with
severe anxiety not just of being with other people, but Eric's
extreme need to humiliate and hurt clients made the Day Program
unbearable. How
many other clients won't go to the Day Program because they are
afraid of Eric Gordon???
I
have noted that the LifeSkills
Calendar now
titles preparation of "SIMPLE
Dishes" which
I hope means that, if
Mr.
Gordon has been allowed to teach classes again, Eric Gordon does not
place cooking wine in the food at the end of the cooking process to
"improve
flavor" unbeknowst
to most clients who are sitting in the dining area waiting for Mr.
Gordon to bring in the pot or pan to dish out for lunch.
If
Mr. Gordon seldom had a full house in his cooking classes it was due
to his hurtful sarcastic remarks and erratic behavior not because the
food lacked flavor.
------------------------------------------------
Eric
Gordon desperately needs immediate therapy to understand why he does
these things and to stop doing all manner of evil, hurting clients to
get back at who he is really angry at - needs help in finding
alternatives to abusing and destroying clients for a very momentary
boost in his very, very low self-esteem.
He
would play games with a therapist also so I hope he can find someone
who is both compassionate and strong willed because Mr.
Gordon will always be extremely competitive, challenging a therapist
along with everyone else to wrestle him to the ground to make him do
the right thing --then
he is angry that he can't have his own will in every situation. A
crying, screaming baby would kill if it had the strength, at a
certain young point 4 or 5 years old children/people begin to develop
a
conscience,
if Eric Gordon has one it has been seared by him and his experiences
that he needs to examine and work through in another way.
Other
people don't seem to be real to him, except for the use he can make
of them for his own benefit, no sense of the common good or even
common sense. Very self-destructive.
Like
Peter
Pan the
boy who never grew up. A perpetual adolescent. Sad. The serious young
man very much more mature than Eric.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.)
August 8 attendence at Eric
Gordon's
art class where he practiced his Mime
Mockery of Disfigured Patients
by Eric
Gordon,
Staff Member, St. Lukes House/Cornerstone Mongomery.
About
an hour and a half into the Studio
Insight class:
with
sarcasm just barely under the radar for the people in the class
"I
would like to introduce the GREAT
artist Linda Leonard."
out
of the blue everyone was quietly working, peacefully, Eric Gordon had
to stir things up the people quietly working looked up saying "huh?"
Eric
can't bear not to be the center of attention at all times usually by
exploiting a client.
For
truth in advertising Eric
Gordon's Studio
INSIGHT
should
be renamed THE
THEATRE OF CRUELTY
so
that clients know what they are getting into when they attend Eric
Gordon's "art"
classes.
Just
before I went into Eric's class on August 8, 2014, I met with Dr.
Parveen,
I told her again that I was afraid to go into Eric Gordon's class
again, though in our
previous appointment,
she had pressed me to go to Eric's class again and I reminded her of
the incident in November 2013 when Eric had strangled my jacket and
shoved his clenched fist in my face, Dr. Parveen said that since I
didn't have any opportunities to show my work, she thought I should
start attending again, as I was going out the door, she asked if Eric
had ever banned me from his class and I said no but thought, he
certainly provokes people enough to get angry as a strategy to ban
clients he doesn't like.
On
Aug. 8, Dr. Parveen said that if I couldn't handle Eric's moodiness,
"everyone
knows Eric is moody", maybe
I shouldn't go. I said to the nurse in the room, "Eric
came close to punching me in the face, that is way beyond moody."
Dr.
Parveen said I shouldn't let Eric bother me, she said come with her
and she would talk to Eric, motioned me away from the door and went
into the meeting room across the hall. Eric came out when I was
walking down the hall to have a cigarette before the class.
As
I was sitting at the table with rolled up black wrapping
paper where
I had done several underpaintings in acrylic of a gymnast and was
going to try to make glazes of oil over it but since Eric, despite
his Masters
in Art,
had previously stated he knew nothing about oil when I had asked for
advice on glazes without using strong smelling varnish and because I
was so nervous brought tracing paper and just made tracings of the
paintings for the whole "class."
Eric
did not ask about my work despite being more available to other
clients than he was in the past to talk about their work.
And despite several friendly client artists asking me about what I
was working on.
When
Eric walked in the room a few minutes later, he said to me in a firm,
unfriendly way that he would leave me alone to get used to being in
artclass, I nodded, he tapped the table and said, "Does
that sound like a plan?" and
announced to the other people there that he would be back in a few
minutes for the start of the four hour class. Don't think he enjoys
it as much, the clients who used to be there years ago were not there
on August 8, clients I knew from potluck suppers who did not attend
Studio
Insight at
that time 2 years ago, job
coach supervisor,
Dr. Parveen, RCs obviously pressured Mr. Gordon to accept them into
HIS class and he is not happy about it.
[ ]-Gruesome
"portrait"
of
a woman with her throat slashed and spatters of blood
_______bookshelf
o-Jane
Clifford
worktable |
_____|o-
Eric Gordon
o-me
Shortly
after
the class began,
Mr. Gordon
placed a
gruesome painting of a woman with her throat slashed and blood
spatters on the bookshelf so that it was
right in my eyeline when
I looked up from my work and he left
it there the whole time I was in the class.
An hour later Eric Gordon told the person who had painted it, (I
didn't look around to see who he was talking to but Mr. Gordon was
right by the painting pointing to different areas), that
it probably needed more black at the bottom for contrast.
There
was a large clothbacked book with
large cartoon-like paintings of vampires on
another table near the front of class. There was a very friendly
young blonde girl who worked on a small grid the whole time in class,
unlike
Mr. Gordon she
and others in the class asked
me about the paintings that
I had done on wrapping paper and was tracing. She told
me she was working on the grid for a mural of
Mr. Gordon's of a tree. I asked the young girl about the book and she
said she was more into fantasy art than vampires.
Three
hours into the art "class"
Eric
Gordon,
who had announced earlier to the whole class that he would go around
and talk to the people who were not signed up yet with the
gallery/show opportunities. I was sitting towards the end of the
long table, Mr. Gordon sat down katy corner ostensibly
to tell me about opportunities to show my artwork.
The
other consumers were working with heads down, Eric began talking
about the small canvas boards donated by Phil
Radner,
and the proviso that the September 2014 artwork by Studio
Insight artists
be of portraits though would not have to be the small size. I told
Mr. Gordon that I had a pastel portrait of Baryshnikov. He repeated
the name, Baryshnikov,
several times in a slightly sarcastic way. Eric said that it would
have to be framed. I asked if oil on paper mounted on masonite board
would have to be framed and he said yes.
Eric
then opened his mouth in an oval, stuck his tongue straight out and
twisted it around,
I have seen some cartoon-like Brut art like this but a human tongue
bunches in the back. He kept his tongue out long enough for me to
get his message. Then sucked in his cheeks several times and
fluttered them like someone making fun of someone without teeth.
Eric
Gordon then shrugged and looked at me to see my reaction then
leaned back in his chair as if to say, "What
are you going to do about it?"
I
felt a lot of shock and pain when he did this but tried to tell him
of my large acrylic painting on masonite board 54x48 inches with 50
figures I was doing with Laschenova,
a
gymnast with a clown/comedy theme, but Eric
Gordon was stone cold silent as he always has been when I tried to
talk about my artwork and
made no response so I stopped trying to talk to him.
My
mother had her teeth removed in three sections, within a month and
dentures made right away when she was in her late 30s. The dentists
I went to refused to remove my many badly abscessed teeth, said by
the time I was 50 would not be able to wear dentures due to gums
wearing down which was not true according to my mother's experience,
she was able to chew and wear her dentures in her 80s,
[so I suffered through root canals and then the teeth breaking off
shortly thereafter, getting infected, and could not afford so many
caps, I suffered for more than a decade and a half of this with
severe referred pain in my head and constant infections leading to
high air fluid level in sphenoid sinus with agonizing pain and
swollen right eye intermittently for several years before I found out
the cause and was not able to afford dentures.]
This
needless pain and infection affected my ability to work for decades.
When my mother was older, even though she had her teeth removed and
dentures in place right away, when my mother would talk or chew food
there
was a fluttering of her cheeks sometimes and
Mr.
Gordon, 35
year old juvenile that he is,
caught accurate and cruel mime of this action as well as the sucking
in of the cheeks to show caved in disfigurement of lack of teeth.
I
am
finally out of pain and do not suffer constant infections affecting
my whole system and now I have to put up with a mental health staff
member in charge of art supplies and gallery showings, etc. who
thinks clients are toys for him to play with and break further.
It
must have taken Eric Gordon a long time to learn how to stick
out his tongue at clients and then twist it all around in a point
like
a Brut painting of a demon and leave his twisted tongue out of his
mouth long enough for clients/consumers/patients to get his message.
Since
it took Eric so long to learn how to physically twist his tongue like
that - I DOUBT VERY MUCH IF I AM THE
ONLY ONE he
has used it on in his latest deliberately insulting Junior
High School ridicule.
I
thought sucking in and flutter his cheeks to mock someone without
teeth also shows
his
skill and dedication to miming mockery
of disability and disfigurement of the consumers he
is supposed to be helping.
Instead
of his stinging "wit"
or
berating Eric Gordon now relies on mime - unbelievably
cruel mocking of consumers' physical disabilities/disfigurement.
It
is not too strong a title at all considering Eric
Gordon's abuse and exploitation of clients,
esp. in the art class, art studio where only Eric is allowed to talk
- no free exchange of ideas in Eric's totalitarian country with Eric
as sole dictator and only voice.
By
looking at Cornerstone
Calendar,
for the past year, Eric Gordon has been relieved of most of his
former duties. I
believe Eric Gordon has been removed because of formal and informal
complaints by his clients who were victims of his cruel remarks,
insults
and dirty tricks/games,
so
why
is Eric Gordon still allowed to stalk around St.
Luke's LifeSkills
Day
Program causing
trouble, creating more pain for consumers and staff genuinely trying
to help patients?
Eric
Gordon's mocking client's physical disabilities, throwing
away my housemate consumer/client
Melissa Willard's criticism/suggestion
in the Cornerstone
Suggestion Box and
the arrogance of TELLING
Consumer
Melissa
Willard he
threw away her suggestion. It will never be known how many
complaints Eric threw away from the Suggestion Box with
or without telling clients he threw away their complaint, why is he
going into the Suggestion Box, to see how many people have complained
about his actions and to throw them away before any other staff
member can see them? Melissa said she had criticized the abstract
paintings on the walls and Mr. Gordon told her he threw her complaint
away because, "It
was degrading." Which
is how I would describe Eric's treatment of clients for the past 5
years.
Eric
has been standing at the end of the hall at Southport
LifeSkills/Day Program staring
at me in a threatening manner while I am in the waiting room to see
Dr. Parveen for
the last year,
since my meeting with Eric Gordon in November 2013 --promoted for
months while I refused to be in the same room with him again by my
then RC Christina
Taylor to
talk with Eric about the abuse I suffered in his classes and where
Eric strangled my leather coat as a proxy for me and shoved his
clenched fist squeezing around my leather jacket in my face.
Bless
Dr. Parveen for acting decently in an indecent situation.
Aug
8, Eric ran in and out of the room several times saying he was taking
photos of the other artists works, my camera broke several years ago
so I
can't upload my newer artwork to the website I
have been working on with my job coach. Christina
told him that I needed a camera and a large canvas for my work, I do
larger paintings on masonite board which is heavy and harder to hang
in gymnastic studios. Mr. Gordon said in the November meeting that I
would need to come to his class for a large canvas, then
he came as close as he dared to punching me in the face.
Eric
Gordon did not once during this class ask me about the artwork I
brought but when I attended his classes a few years ago Eric
steadfastly refused to look at my portfolio,
either on flashdrive or paper and canvas or
to discuss my art with me even if I only brought one piece, sketch
that I planned to work on, at that time wanted to do more complex
sequences of gymnasts, asked him on 3 different occasions for help
with composition but he either ran away or evaded ever responding.
The
Radner Gallery,
the first floor of which was given to Mr. Gordon ON BEHALF of the
clients at St.
Lukes/Cornerstone,
and supposedly every
September all
the mentally ill agencies in MC or Maryland could submit work every
September as told to me by Mr. Gordon at our November 2013 meeting
and I believe in the open letter sent by Ms. Cho at that time. This
plan seems to have been dropped. I believe there
is something like a jury/committee instead of Mr. Gordon who
now seems to like very violent, slasher movie type art, possibly
because Phil
Radner did
not want the gallery space of the whole first floor dedicated to Brut
art/violent imagery.
But
Eric is still a sort of gatekeeper to
which works the Committee sees to chose works to hang in the Radner
gallery, restaurants he is associated with and other show
opportunities plus
the camera.
Which is why he did that shameful mockery of me on August 8 and gave
me a hard time about the frames, and did not tell me of some of the
show opportunities he had earlier told to Jane
Clifford,
and told me I was too late for the Art
Enables show
but that he would give me the application form to do submit my
artwork myself, but that if I wanted to be at the Radner, finally
got some information from him,
needed to have it framed and shown to Mr. Gordon then
launched into his shameful mockery of my face.
Many
people attending the gallery or Mr. Radner's fundraisers, tables
folded on the first floor when I visited with my friend, Bonnie,
might not share Mr. Gordon's taste in Brut art/Matt
Secow art
esp since Eric
seems to be stoking his anger more and more by drawing and chosing
such violent artwork.
Clients know what kind of work he likes and are unduly influenced if
they want Mr. Gordon to choose their work for shows.
Eric
Gordon taunting
"Are
you leaving now?... until the
next time
then." referring
to the fact that in 5 years he has gotten away with stonewalling my
every legitimate question and by his outrageous
insults
which makes attending HIS art class impossible --depriving
me of art supplies, esp a large canvas
and use of a camera for
the work I have done in the past year and the half of the portfolio
from previous years work that I cannot upload
to my website because
my camera broke 4 years ago -- and
a chance to exhibit at
SLH/Cornerstone properties, the restaurants and other places he has
contacts with and Radner Art Gallery and companionship with other
consumer artists.
His
defiant taunt was also aimed at Dr.
Parveen, my job coach and her supervisor,
RC supervisor Arlene and
Assistant Supervisor Keith Ellis who
like my work, wanted me to have better supplies than wrapping paper
to paint on, and have pressed
Mr. Gordon to act with decency, if
they could persuade me to come to his class again. I told all of
them repeatedly,
for months that
I
was afraid to be in the same room with Eric Gordon and
that the last time I had met with him supposedly to talk about my
hesitation to return to his class due to his rudeness to me, he was
so angry that I let him talk on and only said a few sentences none of
them provocative and Mr.
Gordon strangled my coat and put his fist in my face.
------
in
Eric's neverending inappropriate, unprovoked competitiveness with
clients, he must have lost a lot emotionally in his family and in
school to need to do this to consumers who are already broken from
abuse, other
violence, caretaking of mentally ill family members and ill health in
their lives.
Eric
likes to provoke people to anger and to respond so he can bar them
from his exclusive club. I never reacted angrily or said much but
felt sick and stunned for long after his vicious attacks for daring
to show up in Mr.
Gordon's private club
called Studio
INSIGHT
paid for by taxpayers and fundraisers and
space provided by Medicare/Medicaid and other government funding of
St.
Luke's House/Cornerstone which
has merged with Threshhold.
Eric
has made everything a competition which he must win, why? how can you
do any work in the art class with this harrassment? Eric picks off
one or two patients at a time and uses the rest for cover.
Mr.
Gordon, for 5 years, has played a game of KEEP AWAY by stonewalling
legitimate questions and
has deprived me of things I need for my work like a large canvas, he
knew from Christina
Taylor and
mentioned in in November 2013 meeting before he swung his clenched
fist in my face making it impossible by this non-verbal but very
clear threat making it too dangerous to go to Eric's class and then
he
complains, as he did at the Nov. meeting and before a few years ago
when I attended HIS class that patients
take art supplies and never return to his class.
Newspapers
used to write all the time isn't it wonderful that men will take
orders from women and accept a subordinate role but the Wash
post and
media never mentions that some of these men then go to secretaries to
take out their anger/rage on powerless secretaries, ask the
receptionists at St. Lukes if they or friends have experienced this
maybe
from Eric since he needs so many scapegoats.
Could
have framed Baryshnikov
portrait for the September 2014 Radner Gallery show - please see my
website or had several ideas for new portraits could have completed
but sick and angry from Eric's outrages in this one class Aug. 8 and
had to write a complaint not only for my sake but for the other
clients he will mangle and damage if he is not stopped. very painful
to try to write the attempt of a staff member to destroy fellow
artists and helpless vulnerable clients whether in his art classes or
cooking classes.
What
is the procedure of compliance of making sure that clients are safe
and free of harrassment by a man posing as staff at Southport??
What
kind of mental health
"staff"
throws
away client's suggestions, then brags to the client about it or who
shoves his fist in a client's face if they
ask him something he doesn't like?????????????
Apparently
he admitted to this in a meeting with Dr. Parveen and gave that
excuse????
I
was mostly silent at our meeting last
November because
from the beginning he was obviously so upset possibly over some of
the minor things I had written about what he had done to me in his
class as responses to his Studio Insight questionnaire given to my by
RC Christina, that was
not available when I went to Mr. Gordon's Studio
Insight 4
years ago,
I
had still hoped we could work together so did not write about the
heavier more painful things that
I experienced when I was still going to LifeSkills Day Program, and
he mentioned having come out of a difficult meeting, Eric
Gordon justified strangling my jacket and jabbing his fist in my face
at the end of the meeting - to
other staff later by saying I asked him to do something he didn't
want to do.
So
you don't dare say anything whatever to Eric Gordon in his class or
elsewhere or he is justified in strangling your jacket and jabbing
his fist in your face. If Eric really can't help it, he is even more
of a danger to client consumers of St. Lukes House/Cornerstone.
Eric
Gordon's barely leashed rage, though more vocally than physically
acted out at
that time, is
why I did not go to Southport
for
the LifeSkills
Day Programs or
the computer lab Internet access for almost 3 years except for
meetings every few months with Dr.
Parveen and
then went directly home instead of staying for other classes as I
used to since it is so far.
Paula
Weiss my
therapist was aware of the
reason
I started at that time seeing her in the
Silver Spring instead of
the Bethesda/Southport office two
and one half years ago.
The
only thing that I can think of that fits Eric
Gordon's statement of asking him to do something he didn't want to do
is
my attempts, interrupted by Eric each time, of the opportunity for
sales for all
clients artwork at specialized forums such as gymnastic and dance
studios and esp. equestrian schools and stables,
and had clipped an article about an
artist who had done a 1960's Mural
at a local record/cd shop --I
also asked Eric if he would help me hang my artwork in gymnastics
studios, I never badgered him, in fact he never let me complete more
than 3 sentences at a time about any subject whatsoever in 5 years
and when he would interrupt me or stonewall my questions I rarely
even attempted to follow
up because
of his
lightening quick changes to anger or rage or
because I didn't know what else to say to a staff member art class
"leader"
who
refuses to answer the simpliest question or to allow me to talk.
Eric
apparently likes to use a variety of insults to provoke clients to
react and argue and then slap them down and throw them out of HIS
classes.
Why
didn't Eric Gordon just say "No",
instead
of jabbing his fist in my face with no comment.
Eric
had made a disgusted noise at this very short meeting when Vanessa
my
young job coach who had just been hired at that time who missed a lot
of what was going on said to me, "And
you thought it was going to be so bad." For
most of the meeting Eric just talked,
and talked and talked and
I just listened to Eric with my mouth open and jaw dropped at his
vehemence, I had not seen him for 2 1/2 years except in passing when
waiting to meet with Dr. Parveen, and there was no space for me to
talk about the issues CONCERNING ME THE CLIENT CONSUMER the
meeting was supposed to cover.
Eric
Gordon then hustled us out of his office and when I was at the
Southport
main exit doors a few steps away, I remembered my jacket and went
back to get it, Eric unexpectedly came very quickly out of his office
with my somewhat heavy leather jacket encircled COMPLETELY by his
tightly closed fist, he thrust it in my face, came very close to
hitting me in the face with his fist and turned away and started
stalking down the hall with a rage filled look on his face.
If
you want to use someone as a scapegoat and to the Junior High School
type cruelties, mostly
in mime now,
since he was caught out too many times in using words of sarcastic
cruelty, Eric used to zing people in cooking class if they did
something stupid or just because he could and later I could see in
the cooking class, Eric was struggling with controlling his quick
sarcasm and deep hostility to clients, I doubt he would have tried to
restrain himself if clients had not complained.
Now
he uses mime to insult clients very quickly so
no one can see and testify but his being relieved of almost all of
his duties shows that some clients not as vulnerable as myself and
more articulate managed to both see and complain about the abuse to
themselves and others.
The
1960s "alternate"
Theatre
of Cruelty
in Eric Gordon's personal DOMAIN mistakenly called Studio
INSIGHT
-
to gain any real insight you have to sometimes stop talking and
listen and consider the ideas of others but
clients are only useful as an
audience for Mr. Gordon's monologues, part of his demanded fanclub,
cover for his personal ambition or as scapegoat dolls and
their needs not worthy of ANY consideration to Eric but he is smart
enough to cultivate a few consumers with outrageous favoritism and
try
to make trouble by using his
favored clients to listen to his - deliberately audible to the victim
- gossip about other clients
-- which
not all the "favored"
ones
respect Eric for and leave because
they have a conscience and don't like being exploited to hurt other
consumers.
Eric
runs HIS art studio like 20 of the worst and most inefficient offices
I have worked in as a temp, makes clients run a hellish gauntlet if
he has chosen them as his scapegoats instead of refusing them
entrance into HIS art class - drives
anyone who dares to do realistic art away with all out personal
attacks.
Answer
me why
any adult much less one in the field of mental health/illness would
need to do these cruel acts to vulnerable patients especially in the
vulnerable, sensitive area of artwork? Eric
Gordon recently added the words to his description of Studio INSIGHT,
that it was a place
for client to explore their creativity
"IN
A SAFE ENVIRONMENT".
Except
for out and out physical violence, I
can't imagine a less safe environment to try to create art than one
of Eric Gordon's THEATRE OF CRUELTY classes.
Eric Gordon needs intensive therapy to deal with his not
anger but rage issues in
a way that does not let him play
with human beings like dolls to
damage and mangle patients/clients/consumers.
The
constant
focus in museums and other venues for the mentally ill on "Brut"
or Raw, brutal art as
the
only artform
permitted the mentally ill leads to a feeling of violence if not
actual violence. See
Wikipedia and follow links.
-----------------
I
am working on a painting of gymnasts with no
features on their faces
called Sinfornio
Per Addio, The
Dolls of Paris,
WHEN
THE FACELESS ENVY THE LEGLESS.
It
is based on a Russian short story after World War I - set in France.
It
is about doctors unsuccessful attempts to help those maimed in the
war trying to make a doll-like plastic faces for patients whose faces
had been disfigured or destroyed in the war.
Those
with part or all of face blown off or badly scarred by fire or
mustard gas who complained that those who had lost a leg or part of a
leg could travel outside their apartments on crutches or wheelchairs
and people soon got used to seeing men with out legs or arms but the
horror of seeing disfigured faces never went away and to help
veteran/patients there was an unsuccessful attempt to use plastic in
a similar way that dolls are made so that the faceless could go out
in public without stares
of shock or insults or mockery and not have to hide in their homes.
A
phrase was repeated about the horror of war and of people's cruelty
WHEN
THE FACELESS ENVY THE LEGLESS.
I
will dedicate my painting to Eric's extreme cruelty in mocking my
face, lack of teeth and denigrating comments about my looks.
In
our July 2014 meeting, Paula told a story about a Home Economics
teacher who did not like her and though Paula was usually a good
student, she made constant mistakes in this class until this teacher
fell ill and had a substitute for the rest of the year and Paula
said she did fine in the class with this new teacher.
Apparently Eric then has THE NERVE to complain to Paula that I am
awkward too after his insults and abuse and games, and deliberate
attempts to psyche me out.
----
the
power afforded to him by the consumers he despises and uses as cover
for HIS great ambitions for HIS art and is greatly offended by
physical disability and infirmity in HIS DOMAIN.
So
much of Eric's cruel Junior High School tricks, MIME MOCKERY and
ridiculing comments are so hurtful that most people do not complain
even to their therapists because they do not want to repeat such
terrible things said to them especially by a purported "staff"
member
taking his salary under false pretenses. But
an adequate investigator from DMH should be able to find that enough
clients have complained to their therapists if not filed a formal
complaint, plenty of evidence from therapists and psychiatrists who
have had to try to put patients back together after their encounters
with Mr. Gordon.
---
ERIC
GORDON is a very skilled mime. He should go on the stage and leave
the mentally ill or any other vulnerable people/populations alone.
If
you want to abuse people and are so insecure you need to shoot fish
in a barrel, you chose to work among vulnerable populations like
daycare centers, prisons or Mental HEALTH organization.
Where either patients won't be believed or if they are, do not make
good witnesses against a smooth operator.
There
needs to be something in place to weed out such people early on
before they do the type of damage to people that Eric Gordon has been
allowed to VICTIMIZE for more than 5 years.
---
Last
September, I visited the RADNER MUSEUM and pointed out to my friend
Bonnie, Eric Gordon's scratchy drawing of man with
angry fist upraised
and over the whole figure the razor
slash type
of ink slashes like newspaper critics of the artist Matt
Secow have
described --who thanked Eric for helping him
but
Eric
Gordon is not content to work out his rage in paintings but
exploits clients he selects as scapegoats or proxies to whoever he is
really enraged at - as unwilling,
unconsenting participants
in his
violent and cruel psychodramas written by and starring HIMSELF.
That is what he considers his real artwork and should be upfront
about his real intention when begging money from the
Montgomery County Council and
taxpayer funded grants for HIS studio.
in
my painting dedicated to eric gordon and his fathomless cruelty I
will include in MY painting
WHEN
THE FACELESS ENVY THE LEGLESS.
I
will include some of the photographs of REAL
soldiers maimed and burned esp facially in
the current
wars/occupations
against Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere - instead of realistic and
exploitative vampire-FANTASY
blood and gore.
THE
REAL THING of thousands of young men and women who are currently
struggling
with being faceless, legless, armless and worse at
Walter
Reed, Bethesda Naval Hospital and
other military hospitals and these
wounded young men and women should not be subjected to Eric
Gordon-type cruelty about their disfigurement by
anyone much less art
therapists/
art classes, art teachers. And
his excuses about teaching consumers to toughen up by submitting
to
his cruel
remarks and intricate and infantile "games."
Since
Eric Gordon told me that I was basically on my own in submitting my
artwork, I will send a photograph of my painting WHEN
THE FACELESS ENVY THE LEGLESS to
Phil Radner for
the RADNER
MUSEUM September 2014 showing
of portraits and
tell him how it was inspired by Eric Gordon's stunning and relentless
cruelties, now in mime.
Eric
likes the young interns' looks and the power afforded to him by the
consumers he despises and uses as cover for HIS great ambitions for
HIS art and is greatly offended by physical disability and age
related infirmity in HIS DOMAIN. Eric Gordon needs to find another
place of work.
I
will also ask the Montgomery
County Council and
the
Grant makers how
they like the money they have given Eric Gordon for supplies
supposedly
so the mentally ill can have access to creating art --if
they like the way Eric Gordon is using constituents' money.
I
know that Eric Gordon has testified in front of the Montgomery
County Council about
the need for housing for the mentally ill and Eric can be quite
charming but who
but politicians would
know about office politics and that some well-spoken, seemingly
charming people can be extremely cruel AND ABUSIVE to their staff or
families or those they consider to be subhuman or negligable worth as
human beings and Eric's
mockery of disfigurement or awkwardness/physical incapacities or
infirmities of age should be out of the question in any mental health
facility. The
Patients' Rights specifically
mention the right to be free of emotional, mental and/or physical
abuse but who
will investigate and enforce this right???
-------------------
Last
winter my Donate Dental application came through after waiting about
3 years,
I thank Dr. Ziomek, dds and Al Lichaa Microdent Dental Lab trying
to help, donating $5,000 worth of help in obtaining dentures compared
with Eric Gordon's psychopathic savaging of disfigured clients.
fluttering
cheeks sucked in, how
many people has he done this to????
Brut
art mimecry Eric Gordon is no longer in the reality based community
and has not been for some time.
Eric
deadly competitive about the smallest thing.
Last
winter after waiting 3 years on the Donate Dental list went to Dr.
Mary Ziomek,
dentist, donating
her time to help people who can't afford false teeth,
and Mr.
Al Lichaa,
Microdent Dental Lab donating $5,000 of their time so my face isn't
quite so caved in, but after having been so long without dentures can
only help a limited amount and then Eric
trying to destroy me one the basis of physical disability because
Cornerstone staff
members wanted me to have access to the things Mr. Gordon controls,
like
a good camera to take photos of my current and past artwork for my
website, laptop and printer, canvas making materials, Eric's stated
Master
of Arts degree for
advice on composition, digital art etc. gallery showing information.
Dr.
Ziomek seems
to be involved in a lot of charitable work through Jewish and
Interfaith organizations maybe they should be informed as to how
a staff member at Cornerstone
is
allowed to mock a client they tried to help because
the disfigurement is still there, just not as bad.
Donated
Dental Services might
be interested as well in a Cornerstone
staff
member
who uses mime mockery of disfigured clients in
HIS class.
A
friend had sent me an article when encouraging me to push for Donated
Dental with
a photo of a
woman in a group being helped by a group of dentists who had realized
it was not only in Third World Countries that Americans also could
not afford dentures, This
woman, I believe in West
Virgina,
was crying because her face looked more normal after years of living
without teeth or dentures.
I will ask the
Washington Post, The Sentinel and
the
Gazette to
do an article on the
contrary side of a purported professional staff member mocking the
disfigured and driving them out of HIS art class.
What
Eric Gordon did on August 8 ,2014 in HIS Art Class was unspeakable
and as many people in a position of responsibility and authority need
to know about it. His atrocities against clients have been swept
under the carpet for too long.
I
lived with years of agony and referred pain from badly abcessed teeth
putting blockades in my ability to work and so to get dental care,
and Eric mocking the aftereffects which I have also had to live with
because I
committed the crime against him of caring about my art, having some
training in art and computer graphics and
his mission as he sees it is to chase away, kill, destroy, maim
anyone who is good at art. I am by no means the only
consumer/patient he has attacked in this way.
Eric,
like the
Highlander TV show,
believes there
can only be one,
I used to think "Why
can there only be just one." Eric
doesn't want to be just the best, he wants to be the only one with
skill or knowledge of art in his Studio
Insight..
His
insecurity would be okay if he did not use it to destroy people who
have done nothing to harm him.
when
Dr.
Ziomek took
an interest in my art when I was in the dentist chair more
of an interest that eric ever took in 5 years --she
asked me where I exhibited and I said I had one painting at Radner
and she said "That
is just up the road.", she
was very kind in her interest as me as a person and artist in
stark contrast to Eric and
I think it possible that she is part of the Fundraising groups that
go on at the
Radner Museum which
has given Eric such a chance to play the big man and to
destroy mental
health care patients who
are serious about their art.
why
would a grown man, an adult male need to do this to so many
vulnerable people?
I
sent Dr.
Ziomek
and Al
Lichaa a
thank you card, thank you for allowing me to smile again and learn to
chew food again. "Thank
you so much for allowing me to smile in public and learn to chew
again, your kindness and sacrifice for the good of someone you don't
even know. A fellow citizen --"
On
Monday following Eric Gordon's shameful actions on Friday, Aug 8, I
was screaming and hysterical and I am never that way, ask Dr.
Parveen,
who sent my screaming voicemail to her to Sharon
Fishman but
doesn't look like Eric will suffer any consequences and what can they
do but fire him since thay have taken his other jobs away and he
persists in abusing clients, and I was screaming when called Paula
Weiss telling
her she was not objective enough about Eric to be my therapist,
called later and unfortunately apologized to Paula for yelling and
said I did not know if I could get used to another therapist. Arlene
said she would email Paula about the other therapist who uses art
with clients that Paula mentioned in Feb 2014, but I have not heard
back.
Was
still so upset when my job coach came on Tuesday could not meet with
her and I
was screaming told
her some of what Eric had done to me and that I was not well enough
to meet with her that day.
Management
has not been taking seriously patients
rights to
be free from emotional, mental and physical abuse and
that
means intimidation or
coming
as near as Eric dared to punching me in the face, plus his staring
when I
am sitting in the waiting room to see my psychiatrist.
Bullies
keep ratcheting it up, doing worse and worse until or if they are
stopped by someone in authority and
Eric Gordon is following this pattern. If
Administration were serious it would not be impossible
to find the names and contact information on the three consumers on
the Board. What
use is it to have consumers on the Board if clients of Cornerstone
are stonewalled when they try to find out how to contact them? It is
just for show since managment does not want to deal with even very
serious threats like Eric Gordon to clients' well-being. The 3 Board
of Directors consumers should have an extention at Cornerstone and
listen to the messages themselves.
Eric
Gordon did not get this bad overnight, though he was very abusive
even 4 years ago, has gotten much, much worse. His behavior is so
outrageous that I do not believe management has not been aware of it
and they
did start taking his jobs other than the 2 art classes away from him
beginning
in the fall of 2013, but obviously no one has wanted to go any
further and do the
only thing that will keep clients safe from emotional abuse and
intimidation.
I
wrote a quick outline of what Eric had done on Aug 8 titled MIME
MOCKERY OF THE DISFIGURED and my job coach was kind enough to email
it to my psychiatrist, Dr. Parveen. The job coach supervisor sent it
to Arlene, supervisor of Bel Pre and the feed back that I have gotten
from RCs is that Eric will not be fired and how
else he could be held responsible and clients and staff protected
from
Eric Gordon, I don't have any idea what else could be done, since
Eric has proved he is going to do whatever he wants despite having
gotten in trouble for his utter lack of caring about his juvenile and
criminal behaviour against consumers
----------------------
Like
a little kid Eric told class 3 years ago that next time he would
"bring
in my robot painting."
Especially
after he refused to answer Susie who request specific instruction in
scribble drawing 3 years ago. Eric said repeatedly, I
don't know what you are talking about and
Susie would say come
on remember you showed us.
For
someone with a Masters in Art, to say he doesn't know what scribble
drawing as an exercise to understand gesture and movement is
comparable to a ballet instructor saying she doesn't know what a plie
is.
Eric
had done a 3/4 length of photo of Susie computer graphic with outline
similar to xerox. I almost mentioned the Nicolaidi
book
which is the basic text for drawing in art schools but knew Eric's
lightening quick rage so didn't say anything. In a previous class I
had told the young guy who asked me about art training that I would
bring in my copy of the Nicolaidi
book.
Eric
hiding his work from me while talking to young guy -- we don't have
to exhibit with the other group like a kid with a personal clubhouse
but like an adult in barring membership to people he doesn't like,
ie, mostly those with some knowlege and training in art and digital
media.
TROUBLEMAKER
left
early, not many there hour or so early how much others may be
suffering from eric how much humiliation pushing
his face in yours, deliberately violating clients' personal space,
running
away -- personal space deliberate violations -- telling clients who
try to talk about one of their successes you
are not so special
All
the HOW TO SWIM WITH THE SHARKS dirty tricks, advised practicing on
friends and acquaintances pushing the salt and pepper shaker into
their personal space to make them uncomfortable, stopped reading the
book, I did not want to be like that even in defense Eric has no
conscience about practicing all these tricks on
clients/patients/consumers.
afraid
to say anything -- he
is sinning against his own soul
always
needs to be sole center of attention
not
happy unless upsetting someone's applecart
no
peace in himself
24
hours can
never get away from himself and
constantly
needs new scapegoats to
try to relieve his guilt
Jesus
is the only true sacrifice of God himself only if Eric repents turns
from doing dirt to people can he find peace, the
more Eric does to hurt people the more enraged he gets, gets in
trouble, then more enraged by being called on his behavior, the more
savage become his dirty tricks on mental health care patients. self
destructive
where
is Lisa?????, until last month the staff member who transferred from
Bel Pre to LifeSkills was mentioned in the Calendar - she told me
that Eric had been treating her well, I think Mr. Gordon was
responsible for some of Lisa's training and was replacing Eric in
some of his duties such as EFC contact which this month Sept. 2014
has been returned to eric gordon -- has eric been returned the
classes he was banned from teaching so that he can once again damage
more clients??j
Will
eric be allowed to continue undermining and chasing
away skilled staff members who care about clients so
that he and his enabling cronies can ignore and abuse them???? Megan
was wonderfully professional and caring of consumers.
Exit
interviews to find out where the troublemakers and abusers of
patients are
staff noting other staff's abuse of the vulnerable and not able to do
anything about it but quit. Why
is it allowed to go on year after year??
Are
the names of the instructors blanked out on the last two month's
LifeSkills Calendar so that those patients who have complained about
Eric in the past won't know he has been given a free hand to abuse
patients not just in the art classes??
throwing
away Melissa Willard's suggestion complaint what kind of staff member
does something like this????
Consumers
who could have been contributing for years,
messed up deliberately by eric so many people, so many artists
the
list of artists with depression in the poster down the hall with Dr.
Parveen's office lucky
they never met eric or would never have accomplished anything
have
thought and told David that everytime see Eric not only wonder why i
ever wanted to be in art spending thousands of hours learning how but
now wonder why I want to live.
Eric
twisted inside --needs therapist and to stop emulating demons from
satanic rock and brut art and denigrating any real true beauty ideals
spirituality.
when
Jane Clifford said praise
God,
I say thank
God expression
of feelings --Eric's body language he would have gone for Jane in the
past but had to wait to finish me off and be somewhat more subtle in
playing cat and mouse with Jane Clifford before dismissing her once
and for all - let it play out--control freak to end all control
freaks wants to control every word and feeling of those unfortunate
enough to be pressured into attending his classes
Dr.
Parveen's, Paula's, Vanessa's work made to nothing by this
troublemaker Eric Gordon
My
One Visit to SOCIAL NIGHT
Pressured
by RCs to attend Social Night about 3 years ago, I was the last one
seated after Eric Gordon dished out food. Mine was the only table
left with space, Eric asked if he could join me, I said yes.
A
young man then joined us at the table with his plate of food,
graciously introduced himself, said he was a non-religious Jew who
had questions about the
New Testament which
he had obviously read. I was wearing a cross which is probably why
he wanted to talk about Christianity.
Somehow
Spanish accents with a deliberate lisp were mentioned, Mr. Gordon
completely took over the "conversation"
which
at once became a
monologue as
Mr. Gordon shared with us all
his
knowledge of Spain and accents and Andalusian and other
sections/territories around Spain.
After
Mr. Gordon's
long monlogue
in which this young man and myself patiently and politely listened to
Mr. Gordon expound his knowledge, we started talking about the New
Testament again, whereupon, Mr. Gordon dramatically threw his balled
up paper napkin on his paper plate, stood up with paper plate lifted
high and announced, quite dramatically that, "I
don't care what religion people are as long as THEY DON'T TRY TO
CONVERT ME." Mr.
Gordon then, once again, put his nose in the air, turned and stalked
away.
The
young guy and myself were too astonished and embarrassed by this
over-the-top rudeness to continue the conversation. I walked around,
was not interested in the movie, don't like card games, haven't kept
up with TV or newspapers in years so Trivial
Pursuit was
beyond me.
I
thought that SOCIAL NIGHT was for clients
to socialize,
not
that clients had been hired to be listening posts for Mr. Gordon.
This type of monologue was not an isolated event, it's Mr. Gordon's
basic way of "communicating"
with
clients. You never gain any INSIGHT if you are forever talking and
refuse to listen if someone does manage to say a sentence or two
In
5 years, Mr. Gordon has not permitted me to speak more than 3
sentences at a time in his presence. It's like he loses 100 points
if he allows me to complete even one sentence and is furious if I
ever make it to three sentences in the ongoing
inappropriate competition with clients about EVERYTHING.
Eric can and will turn the least thing, something you never suspect
could be turned into a competition and he is so stone-cold fierce
about winning this imaginary competition it is frightening to think
what he will do if he "loses" so let him win and walk away
shaking and shaking head.
If
you want to use someone as a scapegoat, you don't want to think of
them as a person which listening might endanger that dehumanization
of the chosen scapegoat clients Mr.
Gordon tries to repeatedly chase out of HIS personal space, which
apparently is all
of Southport,
the entire
clinic and
Day
program.
I
never returned to Social Night again. Later
Mr. Gordon did similar things in art class if he saw me enjoying a
conversation with another client including Aug 8, 2014.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
First
Class at Radner with Megan
Substituting for Eric
The
class was conducted as you would expect an art class for the mentally
ill. Megan gave us a collage project with a theme. Distributed
black or white poster boards to EVERYONE. Explained, answered
questions with respect, provided requested supplies easily, with no
mind games. Relaxed and enjoyable work time.
Two
Classes at Radner Gallery Annex and Eric's Vicious Mind Games - Cat
and Mouse Games with Art Supplies
Rushing
clients at end of class or to get in van for beginning of class at
Radner,
I had called for permission to be in class, Eric came in computer
room and announced van was leaving immediately for Radner - he would
not
wait two minutes for me to go offline as required by the rules of the
lab, and told me repeatedly to walk to Radner, Megan objected and
said "she
has a cane",
which like a badly brought up teenager or preteen Eric has only
impatience or worse with infirmities or any physical or emotional
weakness. While they were arguing I went offline. There were others
in the computer lab who signed up for his class and we ran down the
hall trying to keep up with Eric who had to load clients' artwork and
some boxes so there was not need for him to tell me to
walk to Radner and
refuse to wait 2 minutes for me to go offline.
GAMES
OF KEEP
AWAY OR
CAT
AND MOUSE WITH
ART
SUPPLIES FINANCED
BY COUNTY
COUNCIL
After
setting up the tables at Radner
annex,
most of the clients working on Eric's new project of some type of
plaster of paris to make 3-D type friezes on paper, it was an
interesting project but I wanted to finish the collage theme that
Megan had given us. Eric asked if anyone wanted him to order
supplies, Troy said he would like to work on a similar project but
with clay, Eric said clay was too expensive.
Eric
asked if anyone needed supplies, I asked if he had an exacto knife
because I wanted to cut off a portion of the thicker black cardboard
I was working on that was folded over. Eric shook his head back and
forth quickly several times and made a Donald Duck-type noise and
said empatically, "NO!!!!
I
DON'T
HAVE AN EXACTO
KNIFE!!!!" I
did not ask for a knife but
an EXACTO knife which
is what is used for cutting cardboard and every artist is acquainted
with the first few days of art studies.
I
then told Eric that I needed to glue some garden-type clear large
buttons which I showed him, but wanted
the glue to dry clear and
that I had not been able to find rubber cement at Giant or CVS.
Eric
then did the longest calculated mind game that I have seen him
perform.
He
was standing opposite a long table, Eric
walked very
slowly around
the table and in a massively
sarcastic voice started talking about glues their
names, their purpose and properties that
was way over my head,
sounded
like a foreign language,
when he reached my chair after walking around, his
voice even heavier with dripping sarcasm said, "Or
you could just use Elmers."
Eric
did not provide or offer Elmers or any other type of glue and
I was so stunned by this very hostile attack that I just looked down
at my collage for the rest of the "class."
I
believe he had heard by then from Melissa
Jacob,
supervisor of
Peppertree Cluster,
who saw my artwork as I moved in and from the RCs who had seen my
work that it was realistic and very good. Can't understand why else
this massively sarcastic attack in my first day at the Radner art
class which unlike Eric's secret class is listed in the LifeSkills
Calendar and
in which everyone is supposed to be welcome.
Lillian
Hellman wrote
an autobiography called Pentimento,
she
and Dashiell
Hammet went
out to dinner with some writers and their wives, Hellman sat with the
wives, when she passed by the table, Hemingway was bending a spoon in
the inside crook of his arm and telling Hammet that he
was not a real man unless
he did the same. Hellman wrote Hammet who was very drunk told
Hemingway, "I
know what you did to Scott
Fitzgerald,
and you are not going to do it to me." Hemingway
worked on Fitzgerald's insecurities and almost convinced him he was
homosexual because he was not a macho caricature, Fitzgerald had
gotten his editor to publish Hemingway's first book. Hemingway
wanted to destroy all the competition of his generation. Hemingway
did not end up so well, couldn't stand to live with himself.
Norman
Mailer invited
Tennessee
Williams to
a party where he was attacked by Mailer and his friends and left
crying and afterward Ralph
Ellison told
Mailer that he could not make himself as good a writer as Tennessee
but
could only try to destroy him as a man. Possibly Mailer repented and
often spoke later of the terribleness of what he called "Little
Murders" saying
something
so vicious to someone that it kills off a part of them which they can
never recover.
If
Mr. Gordon had a family and 4 kids, he could work on destroying and
abusing only 5 people, his wife and his children which would be very
sad but as it is, Mr.
Gordon has access to and damaged and abused scores or hundreds of
consumers in
his 8 to 10 years at St.
Lukes/Cornerstone and
if he is allowed to continue to abusing already damaged people until
Mr. Gordon's retirement, he will have damaged, abused or destroyed
hundreds
or thousands of mental health patients
if
he is allowed to continue. What a legacy! and who is to enforce the
Patients Rights of
not being abused emotionally or intimidated physically????
Mr.
Gordon is trying to convince Dr. Parveen and others that his vicious
and calculated
attacks on mental health patients should be ignored and that
therapists should train patients not
to be bothered by
Mr.
Gordon's "moodiness".
Keep
an eye on Jane
Clifford.
Because of the push for the Job Coach program success Eric Gordon
has been pressured into accepting clients that paint realistically,
he is not very happy about not having complete control in his very
private clubhouse domain, he will keep jabbing at her, she will
ignore the emotional damage being done and when he dismisses her with
a final dirty trick I hope she will still be in good enough shape to
paint or even to fix meals. On August 8, 2014, Jane lifted her hand
and said aloud, "Praise
the Lord!" Eric
looked upset but will bide his time. I often say to myself, "Thank
God!" when
hearing good news. Eric had told her about a juried show that
accepted 7 slides for consideration, he did not tell me about this
gallery show when he spoke to me and did his mime
mockery --
One
of Eric Gordon's techniques is to poke
and jab and insult, lightening-quick like a boxer, not give clients
any time to answer his insulting questions fired at them and
try
to provoke a
client he doesn't like to fight back then
ban them from HIS art studio when they protest Mr.
Gordon's treatment of them. I never got into a fight with him but
was so stunned that someone so vicious to clients had not been fired
long ago that I would just look down or stand or sit with jaw
dropped, shaking.
Anyone
who has developed
their talent spending thousands of hours on their skills and
knowlege of technique and meaning is Mr. Gordon's sworn enemy and he
will use any dirty trick to get the competition to leave. For many
artists/mental health patients this skill is all they have and they
have dedicated much of their free time to being as good as possible.
Mr.
Gordon doesn't just want to be the best he wants to be the only one.
Vulnerable
people, especially artists need to be protected from this incredibly
sick, empty and selfish man.
First
Class at Studio Insight with Elaine Substituting for Eric
Like
Megan's one substitute teaching class normal, nice, calm atmosphere,
questions answered directly and easy, even a more complicated
question from a girl who had done a drawing from a photo of an
ancient statue, she did the face well but asked for help in
understanding the headdress, Elaine spent time pointing things out
and talking with girl. Elaine volunteered some useful suggestions
for the collage that I was still working on while she knitted calmly
and we spoke briefly about art in general.
without
Eric Gordon's perpetual stonewalling,
ever present dramas, sarcasm, dirty tricks and games, like running up
to you pushing his face in yours deliberately invading personal space
for no reason and saying something inconsequential and then running
away-- acting like
any information about
art is top
secret and
you need to be like a prosecuting attorney to get the least bit of
information, usually I give up after the first question, at first
would ask a second question but Eric
delights in being incredibly withholding and
I would think his mother must have been terribly withholding and Eric
Gordon is perpetuating his mother's legacy to him.
Eric
was always screaming at me, "What
are you doing, WHAT ARE
YOU DOING?" over
nothing.
After
my then RC Amanda
Tillman spoke
to him, Eric agreed to help me make a canvas, the artroom had spare
parts of wood to frame and finally found 4 that matched. As we were
walking back to the workroom just entering the hall, my then new
housemate, Melissa
Willard started
talking to me and I didn't want to offend her so backed slightly out
of the hall into the waiting room so as not to block the narrow
hallway and Eric started berating me,
"What
are you doing?
What
ARE you doing?"
I
said I
was talking to my new housemate which
he could see. He said, "You
were going the wrong way."
----
On
Aug. 8, 2014, I noticed that everyone in the class had a large
cardboard portfolio that they took their work from, same size, same
printing on outside, as they did when
I was in Eric's class years ago,
when making the canvas with Eric I tried to ask about this and he
slid his answer, as usual, when he bothered to answer me at all,
saying, "You
can find cardboard anywhere." When
I asked about a portfolio, they all were the same size with same
printed logos and had obviously been provided to client artists by
him, he said to go to Visual
Systems.
Eric
never offered me a portfolio as most or all of the others did, I
asked him this at the 6th time I attended his classes, which was the
3rd or 4th time at Studio
Insight at
Southport and while we were making a canvas and I had a roll of
wrapping paper with sequential sketches of gymnast project I intended
to do and this was the
third time I had tried to show it to Eric and talk about composition
which Eric steadfastly refused to look at.
As
I was painting the canvas with gesso, Eric showed the class slides on
his laptop and then spoke to me of the nice gallery where they
did not have to exhibit with the other group,
with freestanding gray walls. I complimented the very nice gallery.
A few seconds later when Eric started to talk at the same time I
started to talk, he
bellowed at
me at the top of his voice, "I
WASN'T TALKING TO YOU!!!"
He
showed Vickie her wall, and the other people in the class but made
no mention of ever showing my work at a future gallery show.
Approximately
5 classes at Studio Insight with Eric "Teaching
My
Last Two Classes approx. 2 1/2 years ago at Eric's Very Private
Studio Insight
My
second to last Eric Gordon class --
When
I rushed back from cleaning paintbrushes,
Eric's gossiping about me with a young man that I sometimes talked to
about art with because Eric did not give us enough time in this four
to four and a half hour class to clean up, there were 4 or 5 people
lined up ahead of me at the sink in the artroom a distance from the
workroom, what
was I supposed to do, shove the other people out of the way to clean
my paintbrushes because
Eric likes to wait until the last minute to create his dramas at
clients' expense, crack the whip and shout at people repeatedly to
clean up or get in van or whatever?
The
young man did not respond so
Eric just used him as a straight man to gossip about my being the
last one back after
cleaning my brushes. I said to myself I
have experienced this enough at workplaces being
sometimes the victim and sometimes exploited by a boss just
like Eric exploited the young man I used to talk to as
a straight man to aim audible negative comments at someone always
over nothing issues and making
them sound like the enemy of the people over nothing.
What
is Eric Gordon's misnamed Studio
Insight really
supposed to be about????
Mr.
Gordon in an earlier
class showed this young man some photos of his artwork, was
explaining that he usually liked working dark, I was sitting next to
the young man and glanced over to see the photos that Mr. Gordon was
showing him. Mr. Gordon was crouching down at the end of the table
and when he
saw me look over curled his arm and shoulder around the photos so I
couldn't see. I
just thought Eric must be sensitive and shy about his work as I am
sometimes and looked back at the small drawing I was working on and
didn't look that way again until Mr. Gordon had finished talking to
the young man.
Whenever
I would mention Eric to Gerda Sejour and say "He
is very sarcastic." Gerda
would say, "He's
GOT a MOUTH on HIM." then
would launch into the same story that a few years before Gerda had
gone to the beach and it would only have taken a minute for her to
get fried bread which I never heard of but Gerda said it was one of
the main reasons for going to the beach which was the only place you
can get it - that despite her protests, Eric made everyone rush into
the van. Each time she told the story it was almost like she could
almost taste the fried bread and have it snatched away. Each time
she told the story with passion and anger that it would only have
taken a minute to get the fried bread. I asked her if she liked the
fried bread so much why she didn't sign up for the beach trip again
and she said no. Anyway, that is the only memory she had of Eric and
even now if someone asked her she would dive with passion into how
Eric needlessly rushed people including her and deprived them of the
fried bread going all the way back home without it.
Caked,
Ruined Paintbrushes a
Year after the Last Time I Dared to Go To Receive Abuse at Eric
Gordon's Theatre of Cruelty
After
my last class with Eric Gordon, just left my bag in the basement, a
year later when I felt recovered enough from Mr. Gordon's abuse to
try to paint again found
my old but very
good quality paintbrushes
that you can't find any more still caked with dried acrylic paint.
A
year spent not painting Told David, and have
felt this way for years,
that
after being near Eric Gordon, not only do I not remember why I ever
wanted to paint, I don't remember why I ever wanted to live.
---------------------------------------------------------------
one
year of cooking
classes with
Eric Gordon before got up courage to ask to be in his secret class,
as
Melissa Jacob called it,
rarely full, because of his QUICKLY zinging other patients with
outrageous insults then acting like nothing had happened and
continuing on with the class or telling a charming joke, as part of a
mind game, "did
that really happen, did a staff member actually
say
that
to a client."
When
I asked Eric if I could join his Studio INSIGHT during the eating in
the dining area after one of his cooking classes, Eric looked down
and reluctantly said very glumly singsong like a preteen, "I
guess you can come." [aw gee whiz, ma]
Waited
for 4 months after this very unfriendly welcome and brought a
flashdrive of my work this was the second time I went to Radner,
after I got in the van, Eric
started poking and jabbing and saying "how
am I supposed to remember something months ago", and
"you
didn't really want to come to the Radner class, did you?? did you????
You just wanted me to look at your portfolio, You don't really want
to go to the Radner class." 20
or 30 extremely hostile questions fired at me,
not
giving me a chance to answer
[as
he did after the Unitarian church political meeting, and when I tried
to show him my paper portfolio which Melissa Jacobs had told me was
necessary to be admitted to Eric's secret class and he yelled and
screamed that there was no place to put it and walked away] finally
stopped berating me.
And
he then graciously asked the young girl sitting in front with him
about her artwork, technique and subject matter, quite charming, she
offered to bring in her own oils, Eric, despite always complaining
about not having enough supplies for the art groups told her in a
friendly way, "I
hate oil paint."
------
Hard
to remember either the sarcastic remarks or the fun innocent humor
Eric goes back and forth between, but the aftereffect of feeling sick
by witnessing cruelty, "nothing
is as perishable as a wisecrack."
Alan,
usually
very inarticulate, quite a bit of trouble speaking, trying to calmly
confront Eric in cooking class, saying only, calmly, repeatedly "You
just insulted me." Eric's
very upset response, "Alan,
Alan I'm trying to run a cooking class now." and
finally as Alan repeated the calm comment/question Eric said, "Alan,
can we talk about this later." My
bet is that Eric never spoke to Alan about Eric's insults to him and
that Alan's therapist gave him the words to try to discuss with Eric
how he was hurting people. I mentioned this event to Paula several
years ago.
At
one point, Eric seemed to try to stop himself from zinging patients
with insults in cooking class if they did something he considered
stupid and got the impression that one or more clients whether they
were the victims of this or just witnesses had complained to someone
in the chain of command about Eric's inappropriate but very,
very QUICK insults.
Despite
pressure from RCs and though Eric was not insulting me at
the time,
felt sick that he insulted other clients and wondered
how I would be treated if I did go to his personal art class Studio
Insight and
it was
worse than I could possible imagine,
each time he went further in his psychopathic behavior, if he defies
even Dr.
Parveen with
the support of those hooked on his personality like the usually
responsible Paula
Weiss,
who is to stop him from damaging patients, so far no one has managed
to stop him despite taking away all of his job responsiblities except
the 2 art classes.
Like
a Sideways Volcano
A
young girl named Sarah,
standing in the hall outside the kitchen quietly, politely told Mr.
Gordon that the sign up sheet for the cooking class was full but that
she had forgotten to bring lunch, was very hungry and asked if she
could have some food when it was cooked. Mr. Gordon said, "NO!"
At
the end of the class which was a Vietnamese
transparently clear saran-wrap type
wrap around
vegetables which were barely cooked, two for each person who helped
cook, I waited to be the last one to carry my plate into the dining
area and quickly gave Sarah one of my wraps and said "I
won't be able to chew the vegetables anyway."
There
was no show about it and Eric
would never have known if
he were not walking beside me as
we left the
dining area afterwards and Sarah
thanked me for the wrap.
I made the mistake of turning to Eric and being apologetic and said,
"I
couldn't chew the vegetables anyway. "
Eric
Gordon was instantly furious, said, "WHY
DIDN'T YOU TELL ME YOU COULDN'T CHEW THE VEGETABLES?" and
turned in fury and walked away. It
is hard to describe because it was like being hit by a sideways
volcano though it was only a few seconds .
I had seen Mr. Gordon ignite into angry behavior before and berating
me but
I was so stunned and shaken by the intensity and suddeness, I just
stood rooted to the spot shaking inside and thinking "why
does he care or get into a fury over nothing."
Eric
likes instantaneous obedience before the words are even out of his
mouth and is the worst control freak I have ever seen or imagined but
still often thought "Why
is he so enraged?" He
can go in a flash from calm or joking to all-out absolute fury. For
5 years Eric has been sitting on such incredible rage which
often, if briefly, he turns on clients which make his classes
unbelievably nerve-wracking - who
can work in an atmosphere where you are always afraid that Eric will
explode and
he usually does, unless in the car or van where there are no staff
witnesses, it is for only a few seconds but it
is intense.
From
what I understand if you help cook then you have a portion of the
food which is yours which should mean you can give a portion of it
away and since I couldn't even eat the other wrap though I tried
because the vegetables were too hard, it seemed much better than
throwing both away. I did not know when I signed up what a Vietnamese
wrap was,
I thought it would be something like an
eggroll which
I can chew.
Eric
knew I couldn't chew raw or almost raw vegetables because every
cooking session I attended, he would push the salad on me, I would
tell him I could not chew raw vegetables but he would continue on
pushing the salad on me. I should just have taken the salad each
time he pushed it on me and thrown it away.
I
stayed away from Southport LifeSkills
Day
programs for
2 1/2 years because I did not want to be there when Eric
really exploded and apparently he did sometime
in the Summer/Fall of 2013 judging by his extreme anger at our
meeting in November 2013. Afterwards I notice in the LifeSkills
Calendar that
many of Eric's classes were now taught by someone else and the few he
still had rapidly disappeared over the next few months until his name
did not appear at all next to the classes. Then the last two months
for the first time in years, there are NO STAFF NAMES by the classes,
is it because they want to allow Eric back into teaching classes and
are afraid that clients who have complained about Eric's treatment of
them during his classes will complain again?
------
Dry
Ice -- Erics burning unrelenting hatred
------------------------------
Riding
home from Unitarian church with Eric Gordon - immediate meeting when
mental health care funds were cut - Ike Leggett was there
Mr.
Gordon called Gerda about an emergency meeting when the
County Council was
going to unexpectedly cut funds for mental health. Gerda did not
want to go so I called Mr. Gordon and told him I had enough cab
coupons to get to the church but needed a ride home. He gracelessly
agreed.
We
had been given a large folder with information and contact numbers
and postcards to send to our representatives to protest the sudden
cuts. The second the last speaker finished, Eric jumped up and said,
"LET'S
GO!!" when
I stood up suddenly all the contents of the folder spilled on the
floor. Eric saw but kept on going up the aisle. Megan
who
was sitting behind us, graciously and quickly said she would pick it
up and to take her folder.
Mr.
Gordon, after all this rush, unexpectedly told me to wait at the
glass doors while he went to get the car and quickly disappeared.
I
waited for a while, It was hot in the church so I went just outside
the doors.
Screaming
at and berating me half the way home because
I was waiting a few steps away from inside the door he told me to
wait at while he got the car. When I walked with him to the car with
him screaming at me wondered what he had meant by "get
the car" because
we had to walk a ways on concrete sidewalk and then well
into the
parking lot, his car was not running and he did not have any boxes or
packages to carry in his original trip to his car.
Don't
know how he missed seeing me when he came back because I was only a
few steps away from the glass doors, when
I went back just inside the door someone I didn't know said that Eric
had been frantically looking for me. How could he have missed me
standing just outside the door looking towards the traffic light that
I thought he meant for me to go to when he pulled up and which was
the
only reason why I could think he would have told me quickly and with
no explanation to wait and not walk to the car with him in the first
place.
At
first it was almost funny, like a dad yelling at a kid "WHY
DIDN'T YOU STAY WHERE I TOLD YOU!!!!" but
after he
went on and on and on and on like
bees or hornets around your head stinging, I began to be angry, then
afraid for his driving and since I wanted to arrive home in one piece
tried placating him, calming him down, but it took a long time. Was
shaking when I got home and resolved never to get into a car with
Eric Gordon again.
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