Editor-in-Chief of elisabee.com

U.N. Bureau Chief of the U.N. OBSERVER & International Report

Singer, songwriter, former model, and U.N. Correspondent, Elisa Burchett is a passionate, multi-faceted person who lives to learn and learns to live.  Oh! And did we mention she's also a dj and CCE student at Sarah Lawrence College? 

Diplomacy

In the world of diplomacy there are certain ways to speak and certain ways to behave. Within this world one can take many points on how to improve one's life and interpersonal relationships.

Whether on a scale of State to State or person to person the same rules apply but no system is perfect. The road to diplomacy is littered with insecurity, arrogance, ignorance, competitiveness, and covetousness. The trick to getting around these obstacles is recognizing them.

There are many issues out there competing for my attention and when something or someone interesting appears on my radar, I simply must suss it out.  My curiosity, my desire to know things, my sense of adventure requires multiple lives! For now, I'm getting the most out of the one I have. But one interest of mine that never wavers is getting 8 hours of sleep - Wink;)

These women enhanced my life!

Elisa was an exclusive fit model for two great American designers, Jackie Rogers and the late Pauline Trigère.  Fresh out of high-school, she went from the protective home of her mother into the highly competitive world of Seventh Avenue fashion houses. " I was lucky - Pauline Trigere contracted me as her fit model and later I signed on with Jackie Rogers.  I never told Jackie, but I thought she was the coolest woman on the planet! Jackie began her career in fashion as Coco-Chanel's fit model.

Federico Fellini created a role for Jackie in his film 8 1/2.  She appears in the scene where Guido meets the press - she says, "He has lost!  He has nothing to say!"

Jackie with Marcello Mastroianni

Jackie's Fall 2009 Collection:

Jackie with Coco-Chanel

Trigère!

I adored Trigère. She pampered me and even reprimanded me for showing a lack of interest in politics, at the time. 'How could you say you're not interested in politics?! Trigere asked me.  The stern look on her face made me tremble a little inside because we were driving across the Queensboro Bridge...!  Pauline. If you're watching, I miss you so much! Ms. Trigere was one of the first American designers to hire black models for their runway shows.  THANK YOU!

What would Trigere say about the U.N. today?  See an interview

Trigere with students at F.I.T.

This Little Babe Went to Market

U.N. OBSERVER & International Report Elisa reports on a diversity of issues at the United Nations. Follow selections and developments in the Pink Room Highlights section.  You will also find links to U.N. Agencies, activities and most recent projects worth noting.

Getting to Know You

Download: Featured dj playlist for the month of July is Prommer, Kruder and Dorfmeister courtesy of www.play.fm.

Obscure and Vintage

The remix party continues.  There are new mixes for old tunes surfacing all the time...ones I never new existed!  But it's all good.  "It's a new dawn. It's a new day. It's a new life and I'm feeling goooood," as Nina Simone wails.

Ultra Chilled 03

The Great Escape is the first song of mine to be featured on a compilation. It felt great to be part of a line-up that included some of my favorite artists at the time - Nora Jones, Coldplay, Cinamatic Orchestra, Bebel Gilberto, Gotan Project, Jazzanova, and Supreme Beings of Leisure to name a few.

Play me...I won't mind!

First appearance on a motion picture soundtrack - Party Girl ala Parker Posey. Elisa also appears in the film.

Elisa's tales of a bedroom, background vocalist singing for a holdin-it-down, groovalicious diva, Ultra Nate . This gig cut like a hot knife through butter!  It truly is one woman's world and Elisa's life is "Loosely Based On" it. Thanks for a smoothe ride to the top of the Billboard Dance Charts...and not one air-pocket!

Grime, Silk, Thunder

Elisa Tours Italy with CasinoRoyale Summer 04

Elisa also wrote the background vocal arrangement for "Protect Me".  Hear it on youtube.

ContactSheet: Forays into Fashion with the mad-hatter, David Mason, in Women's Wear Daily Japan.

More Mason genius at Maison Mason !

Weeklend Blog Break

7|10|2009

The Whole of Who-ville Screams:
Two degrees warmer way to hot!

Say Goodbye to Small Island States

G8 Summit leaders have put forward a plan that may offer small island states as a first sacrifice to an insatiable beast they created, the god of deluges - one of the sons of the major god, Climate Change. So prepare your goodbyes now because, in only a few decades, islands like the Maldives are likely to go under. Let them sink, you say? We barely make a profit on those little dots "peppering" the oceans, anyway.

Well, there are people living on those little dots, and a person's a person, no matter how small. Does anybody remember "Horton Hears a Who?" The whole of Who-ville screams, "We are here! We are hear! WE ARE HERE!" and nobody hears them. Replace Who-ville with AOSIS (Alliance of Small Island States) and you don't have to change anything else in the script.

So what's all the noise about? It's a matter of degrees - 0.5 degrees Celsius.
read more>>

June 17 Voltaic: Declare Independence

Iceland celebrates 65 years of Independence

Declare Independence on Pitchfork t.v.

Make your own flag!

Going Masai in Berlin! 

Elisa collaborated with German photographer Maren Boettcher while in Berlin only to make an unexpected, imaginative foray into the colorful world of Africa;)

Day 150

U.N. Movers and Shakers

Elisa Burchett: Turning Pain into Power in DRC

Eve Ensler, V-Day Founder, addresses press conference on violence against women. UN Photo by Eskinder Debebe  Feb. 12, 2009

Elisa Burchett: U.N. General Assembly President Weighs in on Gaza Jan. 12, 2009

Revisit one of the most emotionally charged events of the year! Watching the President of the General Assembly duke it out with the Security Council was an indelible experience.

For Anyone interested in learning about the creation of the United Nations, Stephen Schlesinger's book is a must read.

Act of Creation:The Founding of the United Nations by Stephen Schlesinger.

Lose yourself in the archives:

Stephen Schlesinger gave a lecture in the Dag Hammarskjöld Auditorium in 2006 where former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Anan described "Act of Creation" as the most comprensive book ever written about the days (and years) leading to the U.N.'s founding.

Side and Center

Local-ujah!

Joining the Crusade against Consumerism (Changelujah!)with Reverend Billy's Church of Life After Shopping? Rev. Billy is also a Green Party Mayoral Candidate.

Rev. Billy (Bill Talen) and I were neighbors in the mid to late '90s. I knew him when he had no choir and held his first service in his loft - all were invited.

Albums/Singles - Compilations - Soundtracks - Collaborations -  SHOUT!  If you have any comments or questions, contact me directly