GELATO TRUCK

J'S TATTOOS

Jessica "J" Vosper is my haircutter. She has some great tattoos: a pair of scissors on her neck and a peacock across her back and shoulders.

J works at a hair salon called Dop Dop, which was the name of a popular children's shampoo in France in the fifties and sixties. The space which houses Dop Dop was "originally a tap dance studio where the likes of Cab Calloway and Gregory Hines let loose." I stumbled across the place one day while exploring SoHo with my blogger buddy Petra, and soon after booked an appointment there.

J is the kind of person who I find myself sharing my "crazy" ideas with. This is probably because she has a great imagination and has an open, accepting quality about her. Last time I went to get my hair cut, I said "Next time I come in, we can do something for spring - a bird's nest updo complete with malted speckled eggs and flowers. Wait a sec - maybe we can do something for Passover - like a seder plate perched on the updo. Lamb shank, parsley, everything." I was thinking about the massive wigs they assemble for the long-running San Fran show Beach Blanket Babylon (which, incidentally, Project Runway finalist Chris March used to design for).

Anyhow, back to J. She was raised, in part, in a farm environment. Which means that she is incredibly hard-working and also has the mind of an artist. I told J that a lot of women I know who were raised on farms are artists. We speculated about reasons why. Maybe it's because of the sense of open space and time that lets you connect to your imagination. Maybe it comes from having a relationship with nature, with the land. J and I agreed that this topic would make an interesting research project.

J shared one of her "crazy" (read: amazing) dreams, which is to create a fashion/hair show based on the solar system. She's been hatching this dream with her colleague, Josie. I love this idea. Go for it, J!

GOODNIGHT MOON & THE RED ROOM

Last night, Mike and I went to MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) for a meal and a look around. It's a great night to go because it's free and there's lots of good people-watching. I saw one of my favorite Matisse paintings, The Red Studio. It reminded me of the famous children's picture book, Goodnight Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown. Interestingly, this exerpt from Ellen Hauler Spitz' Inside Picture Books brings The Red Studio and Goodnight Moon together:

"Goodnight Moon absolutely refuses speed. It cannot be hurried through. In this sensee it works as a welcome antidote to the pressures we impose on our childen. Children who have been rushed though the day can relax into it. Confidently, they know what will come next; and yeg, as they trace the antics of the little mouse or encounter a new word or observe a new form, they are learning as well. They can feel, in this imaginary space, the pleasures of satisfied expectations, the meeting of hope with fulfillment. Thus, never static, Goodnight Moon is also a site of exploration. It creates a world which reminds me of an artist's studio, where familiarity become the locus for growth. Think, for example, of Matisse's painting The Red Studio (1911), with its similar electric Chinese Red; its touches of green and flecks of gold; its wine glass, chair and chest; its framed and unframed pictures; and its possible clock and window. How like an artist's studio is the bedroom of a small child? Filled with highly invested possessions, this room is also a dual locus of security and discovery, of work and of rest.

GREENMARKET, FLOWER VENDOR

Greenmarket, Flower Vendor

Acrylic on Canvas, 12"x16" 2008

Price Upon Request

Michael Sorgatz

ISAAC HAYES, ANDY WARHOL, & SESAME STREET

While watching this year's Academy Awards, I caught a fleeting glimpse of footage from when Isaac Hayes performed the theme song from Shaft during the Oscars way back in '71. I could see that he was accompanied by dancers, and right then I decided I wanted to see the entirety of that footage. So yesterday I journeyed to The Paley Center for Media (originally the Museum of Radio and Television) on 52nd Street.

I elevatored up to the 4th floor and hopped onto their database to find the 1971 Oscars. The listing appeared as "Tape 1 of 3" and also said in brackets "Warhol Vintage Television." The running of time was listed as 28 minutes and 55 seconds. That seemed odd, given that the Oscars last for 3 to 4 hours. The guy at the help desk was tied up on the phone so I figured what the heck, I'll just go down to a screening booth and see what this is all about.

So down I went to the screening room and entered the program's code. What it turned out to be was this: Andy Warhol had set up a tripod and filmed the Oscars from his own home. So the program alternated between his shots of the show and shots of his friends lounging around while watching the show. In the backdrop were Andy's continuous and barely-audible comments about everything on the Oscars. When Isaac Hayes came on the Oscars, Andy did catch it on film and made his running commentary. To me, it was an irritating blur of images, music, Isaac's voice, and Andy's voice. So I snapped it off and ran back up to the database room to find something else.

I entered "Jim Henson" and "Muppett Show" and scrolled down 'till I found a vintage episode of Sesame Street which featured Lena Horne, The Globetrotters, and Stevie Wonder. Yay! Back downstairs, I got to see a full commercial-free hour of Sesame Street Episode 536 when Maria and Luis were young adults, when Snuffy was still on the show, and when the pace of the slow was much, much slower.

After watching Sesame Street, I went back down to the lobby of the Paley Center to see a wall and video exhibit about women who have helped to shape the history of media. She Made It: Women Creating Television and Radio "celebrates the achievements and preserves the legacy of great women writers, directors, producers, journalists, sportscasters, and executives."

My adventure led me from the 80th Annual Academy Awards to Isaac Hayes to Andy Warhol to Sesame Street to Women Creating Television and Radio. I love how living in New York makes these kinds of adventures possible.

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD SQUIRRELS

Poster re-make by Michael Sorgatz

UNO

poster re-make by Michael Sorgatzhttp://www.michaelsorgatz.com/
(Uno was the beagle who won the Westminster Dog Show this year - first beagle in 100 years!)

HELP OUR LOVELY NEIGHBOR FIND A NEW HOME

For the past 2.5 years, Mike and I have been blessed to have a wonderful neighbor, Virginia.

Virginia is friendly, fun, stylish (she makes some of her jewelry and clothing), artistic, and she is a kick-a** baker who shares her cupcakes 'n' such with us. Simply put, we could not ask for a more pleasant person to live next door to.

Now, the house where Virginia rents an apartment is being put up for sale. Our neighboor needs a new home. Here's what she's looking for:

One bedroom, large studio or open loft space

Second floor or higher

Safe

Close to the subway

In Brooklyn

Sunlight and quiet

If you know of any housing that fits this description, please give me a holler at 917-499-7395 or etraubman@aol.com and I will pass on the info to Virginia.

Your Reward: a bouquet of flowers, a dozen cupcakes, and the good feeling of helping a good person find a good home.

BROOKLYN BLOGGERS MAKE PLANS FOR THE FUTURE

Every month, Brooklyn bloggers get together in a different neighborhood of our beloved borough. We are film-makers, teachers, writers, artists, and community activists. We care about the communities we live in and we're willing to go behind the scenes with cameras and notepads to get the scoop.

We call ourselves the Brooklyn Blogade and we grow bigger by the day.

This past weekend, I hosted a blogade at Faan, an Asian restaurant on Smith Street. There were eleven of us there and we all sat banquet style 'round a long string of tables.

Before folks came through the door, I decorated the table with generous gift boxes creatively assembled by Pete Solomita of Little Buddy Biscuit Company and Ann Lopatin of Blue Ribbon General Store.

(For more coverage, including photos, of this event, please go to Flatbush Gardner and The Brooklyn Optimist.)

Pete's pink 'n' blue boxes were filled with a sampling of his delicious cookies. Ann's were filled with an assortment of the whimsical gift items she sells at her store.

After mingling, each blogger introduced him/herself and and his/her blog. We chowed down and then I asked the participants to brainstorm ideas of what they wanted to do as a group. People came up with some great stuff. Examples:

* Put together a book called The Best of Brooklyn Bloggers

* Use video equipment to interview people, get exposure for people

* Video activism: use video equipment to show social problems, then organize events to address those problems - e.g. neighborhood cleanups

* Have a wire service - e.g. Reuters - so there's a repository of stories that people could draw from

* Host debates between local politicians

* Monetize our assets - figure out how to get paid for our work

* Host an annual bloggers conference where we meet and transfer knowledge

* Have a blog carnival hosted by a particular blog where everyone blogs about a specific topic each month

* Share best practices

* Reach out to other parts of the country and world

* Talk more about fair use and creative rights

* Put together a Wiki for Brooklyn Bloggers

So what happens next? Chris of Flatbush Gardner, an amazing organizer I might add, is going to host a blog carnival. Morgan of Brooklyn Optimist plans on holding a neighborhood cleanup.

There's plenty of room for folks to collaborate, and the ideas presented at the blogade are a great place to start.

Here's to our bright future!

PS - The next Blogade will be hosted by Joyce Hansen of Bad Girl Blog on Sunday, March 9, at 12 p.m., in Kensington at the Old Brick Cafe, a little Italian/Balkan/Mediterranean restaurant on Church Avenue. For more details and to RSVP, please go to her blog.

GAPSTOW BRIDGE, BY MICHAEL SORGATZ

Gapstow Bridge

36"x48"

$2000

www.michaelsorgatz.com

I AM PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THAT.......

(1) Today, my blog got its 10,000th visit. Hip hip hooray!

(2) I was asked to be the first guest blogger on Dr. Susan Corso's blog Seeds for Sanctuary. Dr. Corso, an ordained minister, is also a columnist, lyricist, peaceworker, spiritual counselor, and the author of God's Dictionary. She's got a gift for exploring the impact of words on our daily lives.

(3) I scored 62 points by playing the word JOEYS (plural of joey, a baby kangaroo) in a Scrabble game last night.

VAL DAY: A TIME TO SPREAD THE LOVE

When I was a young one and Valentine's Day was approaching, here's what my mom would do:she would spread an awesome array of arts 'n' crafts supplies across the kitchen table so we could all sit down and make cards for anyone we loved.Glue, beads, sequins, doilies, stickers, scissors, and construction paper were all at our disposal to fashion greetings for friends and relatives. Heaven. Pure Heaven!

From my mom's tradition I developed an understanding of Valentine's Day as a fun opportunity to show people love and caring in a creative way. In grade school and high school, I continued to make cards and get little gifts for friends and family. I also noticed that people sometimes got depressed around this time if they didn't have a "special someone." While it's great to have a special someone, it seems just as important to have lots of special people in our lives and to figure out different ways of showing our appreciation and affection for those folks. We can do that at any time, and Valentines Day is one of those times.

Here's an idea: Instead of buying a hugely expensive gift for one person, why not make or buy cards or little gifts for some of the many people who have made a difference to you -- friends, family, bosses, mentors, colleagues, customers, clients, and, yes, that special someone? I just spent the day writing out cards and savored the chance to remember all the great people in my life.

I invite you to think of five people who have inspired you and send each of them a Val Day greeting.

CREATIVE TIMES HOSTS BROOKLYN BLOGADE ON FEB.10

CREATIVE TIMES' Eleanor Traubman and Mike Sorgatz are hosting a get-together of Brooklyn Bloggers.


When: Sunday, February 10th at 11:30 am

RSVP: By Friday, Feb.1st by quittin' time: ETraubman@aol.com

Where: Faan Restaurant
209 Smith Street @Baltic

Directions: Take the F or G (check to see what's running) to Bergen or Carroll

Cost: $15 at door - covers entree, non-alcoholic beverage, tax & gratuity

THE PERFECT VALENTINES TREAT

This Valentines Day,

Treat Yourself to the Gift of:

* A Clear Desk

* A Streamlined Closet

* An Easy-to-Use Filing System

* A Work or Living Space That Inspires You!

* Goal Setting & Time Management Tools for a Smoother,

More Focused Day


Call now to chat about your organizing needs .

Eleanor Traubman, professional organizer to busy women, is featured in Time Out New York, Esquire, Family Circle, Fitness, Sun Times Chronicle, and The Brooklyn Paper.

917-499-7395 * etraubman@aol.com

COME SEE MIKE'S ARTWORK @ THE HUDSON GUILD GALLERY ON JAN.18!

I am proud to say that my partner Mike's paintings were among those chosen to be displayed as part of a group show at The Hudson Guild Gallery called "The Four Seasons."

The opening reception is Friday, January the 18th, from 6:00 - 8:00 pm. We hope to see you there if you live in or around Manhattan.

You can see more of Mike's paintings at

www.michaelsorgatz.com

The Four Seasons: A Group Show

Hudson Guild Gallery

441 W.26th Street

January 18 - March 5 2009

Viewing Hours:

Tues - Fri 10:00 am - 7:00 pm; Saturday 1:00 - 5:00 pm

TEN WOMEN ARTISTS WHO INSPIRE ME

1. Fatima Robinson is an awesome choreographer and music video director. I love the dance moves she created for Missy Elliott's Lose Control video.

2. Sally Potter is an English director and screenwriter. Favorite movies she's done include Orlando and The Tango Lesson.

3. Faith Ringgold is a painter, quilter, and children's book author and illustrator.

4. Maira Kalman is a designer, painter, children's book author and illustrator. I will always stand by her classic Max Makes a Million.

5. Twyla Tharp, a major influence in the world of modern dance, has choreographed 135 dances. Check out her book The Creative Habit.

6. Kasi Lemmons directed one of my favorite movies from this year, Talk to Me.

7. Nancy Savoca is a film director who won me over with Dogfight in 1991, starring River Phoenix and Lilli Taylor.

8. Allison Ander's solo directorial debute came in 1992 wth Gas Food Lodging starring Ione Skye and Fairuza Balk.

9. Terry Minsky , writer and producer, created the Lizzy McGuire character which was featured in a television series and a movie (yes, The Lizzy McGuire Movie is in my list of top ten favorite flicks.)

10. Rokafella is a Spanish Harlem-born hip hop dancer and choreographer who is also the co-founder of Full Circle Productions, a hip hop artist collective celebrating its tenth year. At the end of 2007, I was blown away by Innaviews, a performing arts piece she put together and performed with her husband and dance partner Kwikstep.

FIVE WORDS A DAY

Over the holidays, my parents and I sat down for some instense rounds of Scrabble. In the game of Scrabble, if you lay down a word and another player dounts that the word does not exist, they can challenge you. The challenger looks the word in the dictionary to see if it's there. If it is there, the challenger loses his or her next turn.

Influenced by the Italian neighborhood I live in, I laid down the word trattoria. It is, in fact, in the dictionary, where it is described as "a small, inexpensive Italian restaurant." Just for fun, I started browsing the dictionary. I'd find words I didn't know the meaning of and ask my folks to guess what those words meant.

The game ended, and I kept looking through the dictionary, having a ball finding words I wasn't familiar with. "What's 5 times 365?" I asked my dad. "One thousand, eight hundred twenty-five" came the answer. "Well, I want to learn five new words a day in 2008," I declared.


I decided to start my big project even though the New Year has not yet begin. The same night I returned from California, I walked over to the book store to purchase Webster's New World College Dictionary. Today, I found my five new words:

grilse- a young salmon on its first return from sea to fresh water
lobelia - an annual or prennial plants of the bellflower family, having white, red, or blue flowers of very irregular shape
molder -to crumble into dust; waste; decay
numen -an indwelling, guiding force or spirit
pied - covered with patches or spots

I'm excited to be 1,825 words richer by this time next year!

PETRA SYMISTER: LOCAL BLOGGING HEROINE

By the looks of her blog, you’d think that Petra Symister has lived in Bedford Stuyvesant (a Brooklyn neighborhood) for her whole life. The Bed-Stuy Blog is chalk full of goings-on in the worlds of real estate, culture, community events, community organizing, wellness, dining, and entrepreneurism. There’s an ongoing calendar of events so that any Bed-Stuyer has a bevy of activities to choose from. There’s no excuse to be a couch potato with Petra around.

Truth is, Petra moved to Bed-Stuy a mere 2.5 years ago. Originally from North Carolina, Petra came to Long Island in 1993 to earn a PhD in social health/psychology. In 1996, she moved to Chelsea and lived there for nine years. When it came time to buy a place, Petra chose Bedford Stuyvesant. She didn’t know a soul when she moved to Bed-Stuy, but starting her blog changed all that. Through writing her blog, Petra has accomplished something noteworthy: she’s created community and built friendships. Doing footwork for her blog forces Petra to go out and see what’s going on, to be more social, to go up to strangers and ask what they are doing. “I’m far more gregarious than I would be on my own,” shares Petra. Evidently, it’s easier to approach people when she’s on one of her many missions to provide a service to the community by answering their questions about goings-on.

According to Petra, Bed-Stuy Blog was born out of a real need. As someone who got the scoop on events via Time Out New York or online, Petra observed a hole in terms of information available online and just in general about Bed-Stuy activities. “The world is online,” observes Petra, “and if you’re not online, you don’t exist.” Inspired by other neighborhood-based blogs such as Clinton Hill Blog and Brownstoner, she decided to start one for her own place of residence. The outcome has been amazing: for starters, Petra has a huge following of readers. There are even folks who have said that they moved to Bed-Stuy because of what they saw on her blog. In addition, some of New York’s major magazines regularly link to Petra’s blog on the internet.

One of the aspects of Petra’s blog that keeps people coming back for more is the way that she makes it genuinely interactive: she asks probing questions and people state their opinions right underneath her posts. She asked, for example, why Fresh Direct doesn't service the Bed-Stuy population. Lots of readers responded to that piece. More recently, she inquired about the lack of holiday decorations in her neighborhood and plenty of people had plenty to say about that one.

And there’s more: Petra wrote about her neighborhood’s YMCA, featuring photos of people working out there. She posted a piece about an upcoming march against domestic violence. The bottom line is, Petra makes it easy for Bed-Stuyers to be up on current events and to get involved in their community in mind, body, and spirit.

Keep up the good work, Petra!

MAIRA KALMAN AND DISCO BALLS

Today, my friend Petra and I ventured to SoHo to check out two design stores that had been featured in a New York Times article. (FYI, Petra is the creator of Bed-Stuy Blog and I'll soon be doing a post about her amazing work.) At Muji, I thought I had died and entered a heaven where everything was white, tan, or black. Although I liked the relaxing music, I missed having other colors of the rainbow around. The first few seconds next door at CB2 were filled with a lightening bolt of bright colors and shiny metallics. One item, a silver hollow globe meant for hanging and filling with a tealight, reminded me of the classic 70s decor of the inside of Woodstock's birdhouse. Petra knew exactly what I was talking about. Neither of us could remember, though, which Charlie Brown tv special showed Woodstock's home interior. I guessed that it was from the Easter special.

Anyway, the one thing I really wanted from CB2 I found -- small disco ball ornaments. My plan was to hang them on the Fairy Tree that I created. The tree features branches that I cut from a dead tree laying on the sidewalk. I put the branches in a lead crystal vase and adorned them with origami ornaments, gauzy pastel colored butterflies, and my fairy barbie. Unlike a Christmas tree, there is no need to throw it out when the season is over. I can just change the ornaments depending on the holiday or the season. (I can't wait till Valentines Day!)

Leaving CB2, the cover of the catalogue caught my eye, and no wonder: it was designed by one of my favorite illustrators Maira Kalman.

Next stop: Pearl River Mart. Bright colors, Asian imports, lots of inspiration.

And then: Housing Works Book Cafe. Petra had never been there before, so it was fun introducing her to one of my favorite places in the city. I found a great book called Your Home as Sanctuary filled with tons of photos and good tips.

For me, the point of going shopping isn't always to buy tons of stuff. It's more about having an aesthetically interesting experience where I can gather ideas for creating visual inspiration in all parts of my life.

WHAT I FOUND WHEN I CLEANED OUT MY OFFICE

As the end of the year approaches, I've been putting aside time to re-organize and clean out my home office. For me, it's a way of creating a clean slate before launching 2008. I take an hour or two a day over a couple of weeks to move furniture around, weed through and consolidate stuff, toss stuff, re-domy bulletin board, get rid of obsolete papers from my files, and donate office supplies or books that are gathering moss. What's been fun is coming across mementos, including these items:

* Scrapbooks I started keeping when I was five

* A glitter-embellished program from when I went to Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1975 (see pic above from inside the program)

* A program from the musical Annie, which I first went to see in 1980

* A program from when Richard Burton was in the musical Camelot

* A whole book about Espirit

* Autograph books from summer camp and middle school

* Blessings from my mom, dad, and brother (for about 30 years, each of us would write a note to every other person in the family to share what we appreciated about each other and what we hoped for each other in the coming year)

* A 7th grade essay predicting what I would be doing now (I said that I would be choreographing dances for cruise ship performers, writing a best-selling children's book, and running a boarding school for young people with a focus on performing musicals.)

It feels great to have a freshly-organized space to work, think, and create and, as I move forward to set goals for 2008, I love being able to connect to my past and all the threads that have run through my life. I highly recommend this activity as you step into the new year!