THE
GAZER
variety was staggering: Midwesterners in sweatshirts and sensible
shoes, pale young Balkan men,
Indian couples sporting shawls
and turbans, a large contingent of
middle-aged black ladies. Some
were, in fact, UN employees, converts since 2012, when Braco
gazed at them in a church down
the street from their Manhattan headquarters. That time, the
Croatian ambassador and his wife
showed up.
Semi-celebrities were out today too. In the front row sat Tracie
Martyn, a self-described “facialist to the stars,” and something of
a magician-healer herself. Martyn’s website quotes Kate Winslet
and Susan Sarandon, both clients,
swearing by a facial she delivers
with an electric wand. That day,
a band of her clients joined her,
among them, Podell and Christine
Baranski, the Emmy-winning actress from The Good Wife. (“I felt
like a dolphin swimming in beautiful water,” Baranski later enthused.) They sat in reserved seats
at the front of the packed ballroom.
This was day two for most, including Podell. “I had to come
back for more. After all,” he
grinned, “I am an addict.”
Podell is the type of fan Bra-
HUFFINGTON
06.23.13
co tends to befriend: someone
who isn’t a household name, but
knows a few. In