As crazy as Miami is, one thing it truly is is generous. A massive relief effort has been undertaken by the main corporate entities and religious organizations like the American Jewish Federation, the Catholic Church, and many others. I got a heart-warming email from Commissioner Michael Gongora pleading for help thought the ingenious Red Cross texting effort. But, on a whim, I pulled up The City of Miami Beach website only to find the usual claptrap about Art Deco Weekend and other nonsense. I sent a scathing email to the Mayor's office about how they might be organizing a relief effort from such a rich town and this is what I got:
Alexis,

As you know, the disaster in Haiti is of epic proportions and the appropriate response has to be measured in order to be most effective. The city has been coordinating a response from several faith-based groups operating in Miami Beach. Information about that initiative will be released as soon as it is available.

Best regards,

MIAMIBEACH
Rebecca Wakefield
OFFICE OF THE MAYOR , Chief of Staff

My response: Sorry, Rebecca, Publix had an major donation campaign at every register yesterday; with all the overly-paid lackeys at your disposal you can be doing something other than deciding what the weekend will be like on Ocean Drive.

On a lighter note, I have been given a treasure trove of Henrietta photos dating back to the Fifties to include in my second edition of Henrietta, The Queen of South Beach. Here are a few fun examples, with the hunky blond body builder from this 1969 muscle mag sitting on her lap.
Boy, are we going to have fun going through these.

This 1958 photo is probably the last ever taken of Henrietta as a boy. Of course, she is with a Italian stud, a situation that would be repeated over and over through the years.

One year later, a new creature was born and to this day has the same blond swoop and lovely smile. Here she is with her uncle, Mario, who didn't care what she was as long as she was home by eleven. Mario was "an associate" of Meyer Lansky. What I would give for a photo of Lansky with Henrietta!