You want it! You need it! Bid on it!
Once in a while you meet an extraordinary person. Every so often you meet two of them. And when the moon is full and slightly blue — or when there are Thirteen Moons — sometimes they show just how gracious and giving they are, as artist George Widener and author Charles Frazier have done.
I support the American Red Cross. Have for years, since my time on their National Diversity Council when I lived in D.C. Now I serve on my local Red Cross Board of Directors. After the Tsunami, I started a fund, "From Asheville to Asia," to raise money for the Red Cross relief efforts there. 
Having lived in Sri Lanka, I felt compelled to do something, anything, to help. We brought together some of the finest storytellers in the nation to do a benefit concert. It was a magical evening.
And now, another magical evening is upon us–a local auction fundraiser for the Red Cross. As a Board member, I felt compelled to go out and seek donations. People were very generous–beautiful briefcases, wonderful dinners at fine restaurants, handthreaded linens from the Dutch Antilles, sweet chenille rocking chairs for children.
In the meantime, my husband John had met a man named George Widener who came into his shop one day—he had seen a Roman calendar in the shop window and wanted to ask about it. An outsider artist, George has been recently featured on a CNN show about unlocking the secrets of genius because of his extraordinarily pronounced arithmetical, calculating, and memorization abilities.
As reported in the Wisconsin Medical Society: “George Widener sat outside the library in the drizzly afternoon, where a documentary film crew has just finished a calendar calculation contest between him and a former NASA engineer. While the engineer has access to complex algorithms and a laptop, George has only the information found in his head. As dates spanning thousands of years were read aloud, the engineer scribbled fiercely, tapping his computer with increasing frustration. ‘Looks like a Thursday,’ George answered within seconds, sometimes almost before the host finished speaking. And, every single time, he was right.”
George is a man living on the Autistic spectrum; he has been called a multiply gifted savant in part because of his lightning fast recall of thousands of historical details, census statistics, and other figures. George is represented by a gallery in London; his paintings usually sell for $8-$10,000.
When he came into the shop, he and John just hit it off–they liked each other. As a result of that friendship, George created this amazingly complex and beautiful artwork, "Blue Monday" for the local Red Cross auction. Covered in tiny numbers representing Mondays in history, it is a complex and fantastical piece of art. And quite a gift to the Red Cross who will auction it off on October 20th to support their efforts in providing relief to people and families in need.
Another recent visitor to John’s shop is Charles Frazier and his wife Katherine. Charles is author of the recently released Thirteen Moons, a long awaited book by the author of the international best-seller and feature movie Cold Mountain. Perhaps you’ve heard of it?
It’s a long shot, but perhaps there is a 37days reader who collects Outsider Art or someone who adores Charles Frazier’s work and would pay almost anything to sit down for lunch with him. If that’s true, the Red Cross is accepting sealed bids for each of those auction items through October 19th. You can send your sealed bid to: Lynda Bock, Sealed Auction Bid, 100 Edgewood Rd. Asheville, NC 28804. Or email me for more information.
And that’s the end of my commercial. But not the end of my thank you to Mr Widener and Mr Frazier. And, of course, to my husband, John.
