Summertime Visions

Summer crept up on me, and I can't believe it's almost July, already.  Here's some fodder for the onset of hot sunny days.

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Synopsis on My Last 50 Days

At the end of the 2010 I took a much needed break from the icey east coast, and ventured out west for a little r&r in California.  Thanks to the blizzard we got stranded in the Bay Area for an additional 5 days, so we ended up spending New Year's out west, as well.  This gave me a little more time to catch up with friends, and a chance to spend a day at the beach in Point Reyes.  (pics to come)

After my return to NY, I had a week of work and a scramble to get my Film Reel together, then I was back on a plane to SLC, to hit the Sundance Film Festival with our short 'The Hunter and the Swan Discuss Their Meeting':

It was a saucy 10 days of elbow-rubbing, hot-tubbing, boozing, and movie viewing, all-in-all a pleasurable experience; and our film was very well received at our screenings, which was a nice ego booster.

After my return from Park City, I launched into fashion week.  I spent 3 days working on the GQ Best New Menswear Award Presentation, which was hosted at the Ace Hotel... It's tough to scoff at a room full of 47 hot and sweaty men, standing around for our amusement.

Images courtesy of Labdailyblog

Then it was on to the Halston Presentation, where I spent 4 days working in studio with Marios Schwab and the team at Halston, putting together a beautiful presentation hosted last night at Cedar Lake.

Images courtesy of Fashionologie & Catwalk Queen

Well, that's the 'Reader's Digest' of my last 50 days, and an attempt at justification for my long absence.  Looking forward to getting back into the grind.

Diary of a Forager

Foraging.  What was once a sustenance model born of necessity and lack of agriculture is now one of the many important ways for urban hipsters to assert their “eco-consciousness”, and to get their photo printed in the New York Times Magazine.   The idea is simple:  Troll your neighborhood parks and sidewalks for spontaneously growing produce, claim them as your own, and take them home to create a delicious seasonal dish, probably involving Quinoa and Heirloom Pinto Beans. 

I had just moved to Silver Lake, which is the Los Angeles epicenter of hipsterdom, so I was anxious to prove my worthiness of admittance into this upper echelon.  Certain measures had already been taken: I got bangs, purchased three ironic sweaters, and started working a second job to pay for my $56 a week coffee budget. But it wasn’t enough.  I still needed that extra something… I figured I could start my own band and name it after an obscure 19^th century serial killer, open up a taxidermy/hat shop, or learn to forage. I chose the latter, because, by comparison, it seemed a bit more accessible … Below is an abridged record...

Day one:  Productive. I fashioned a fruit picker out of a broom handle and a broken wine bottle.  I am proud of this tool because it not only allows me to access fruit that is too high to reach, but it simultaneously lacerates it – saving me the time of having to do any dicing or chopping later.  I test it out on a small family of tomatoes that’s been growing on the hill behind my house, and it works so well, I wonder why no one has thought of it before. Turns out the tomatoes are infested with flies and mostly inedible, but at least I can get to them… Exhausted from my efforts, I turn on the DVR to catch up on episodes of “Charlie Rose”.  Fall asleep on the couch. 

Day Two: Mushroom day.  I’m thinking this will be an easy one, because my neighborhood is so vegetated, and so full of dogs. But just to be safe, I decide to do some research online to avoid inadvertently poisoning myself.  Turns out there are actually many different types of mushrooms, and learning which ones are edible is a fairly involved process requiring a lot of reading and looking at pictures.  I decide I should sink my teeth into this later when I have more time, so I bookmark a few mushroom websites, and spend the rest of the day watching “The Wire” and noodling around with my guitar.  Fall asleep on the couch.

Day Three:  I awake energized.  I remember that I’ve seen some blueberry bushes in my neighborhood… but I can’t remember where exactly?  After thinking it over for a few hours, I have a pretty clear picture in my mind of them being somewhere on the walking trail around the Silver Lake Reservoir, so I grab a canvas bag and my ipod, and head out on my fruit walk.   

A half an hour of listening to the “Age of Adz” later, I realize I’ve forgotten that I’m supposed to be looking for blueberries.  I remind myself to start keeping an eye out for them…  A half an hour later I realize I’ve forgotten again.  Luckily the Silver Lake Reservoir walking trail is a loop, so I just keep walking.  I take out my ear buds and repeat “blueberries blueberries blueberries” in my mind like a mantra so I don’t forget.  I do the entire loop like this but find no blueberries…. maybe they were somewhere else after all…  But where? This is the only place I walk… 

I decide to come back to the blueberries on another day when I can remember where they are (I’m sure it will just pop into my head when I’m least expecting it). Determined to not return home empty handed, I swing by my neighbor’s front yard to check out her grapefruit tree.  The grapefruit that’s fallen to the ground is solid like a rock, and the grapefruit that’s in the tree is too high up to reach. I should have brought my fruit picker. 

Day Four: Enough pussyfooting, it’s time to really get serious here and organize my thoughts. I decide to take my bike out because I can cover more ground.  The game plan is to ride around and scout, stopping to record the spots where I discover edibles, then come back for them later with my fruit picker.  Also I can keep my eyes peeled for the blueberries. This actually goes fairly well. There’s an Avocado tree, plus a few Lumquat trees and Rosemary bushes, so I return home to fetch my fruit picker, and head right back out the door. Now I’m really rockin and rollin.  I make it about three blocks, before I hear the bloop bloop of a siren, and I turn to see a police car crawling along beside me. Then a cop with a loud speaker instructs me to “put down the weapon”.  This seems unnecessary - he’s fully armed, and it’s broad daylight.  I mean what am I gonna do, come at him?  But I don’t want things to get weird, so I acquiesce and set it down.  He asks me what I’m doing with a broken wine bottle on a stick, and I explain to him that I am going to pick some of my neighbour’s fruit with it.  He absorbs this information, and then informs me that he could arrest me for “attempted robbery”, but instead he’s just going to confiscate my tool and issue me a stern warning to “stay out of other people’s yards.”…  Asshole.  I head home, dejected. Maybe I’m just not cut out for this type of high risk work… Just then, I see them: Blueberry bushes!  They were on the sidewalk outside my house all along!  I didn’t think to look for them there.  I pick the bushes clean, which yields about 5 cups of usable berries, enough for a tasty pie… Which I’ll make tomorrow maybe, I’m too tired right now, and I’ve already made a lot of progress today, I should rest.

Day Fifteen: I never got around to that pie, I’ve been too busy.  I kept thinking, “I should put those berries in the freezer so they don’t go bad”… Anyway. The bushes are still bear, so I’ve decided to take some time off from foraging until the berries grow back.  That will give me some time to really organize my thoughts.  In the meantime, I’m going to start work on my next project: A book of poetry I’m calling: “Give me Your Socks! (And other slogans)”. 

Holistic Health & Beauty

For those of us seeking products as awesomely functional as our salon and beauty store favorites, but without all the creepy chemicals, check out these products from a variety of companies making an impact towards sustainable living:

Beekman 1802

As pictured in Vanity Fair

From Garden Hods, to pillows, to amazingly fragrant soaps, including a bug repellent soap to stave off nasty mosquitoes in the summer time.

Lulu Organics

 
For those in-between hair washing days, Lulu Organics Hair Powder is a must.

Good Fight Herb Co.

 
Another great resource and innovative company is the Good Fight Herb Co.  Based out of a farm in Hudson, NY, this company takes a 'harm reductionist approach' to western medicine, and offers a wide variety of 'wild-crafted' herbs and herbal products, as well as health consultation.

Locavore

With the communal movement of low-impact, collaborative living becoming a fast growing trend; this months theme is LOCAVORE. This hot topic hits close to home, in my ever-growing, foil-hat-wearing need to feel more self-sustaining and connected to my environment. Though, this months theme is not just a source for eco-local living, it also focuses on small business and movements, making big waves on the local scene. I hope you find it to be an inspiration and resource for you, as well. Viva la LOCAVORE!

Traveling Like a Vagabond

It's easy to get swept up in all the guidebook-glamour of what to see and where to be when traveling, that we often forget to allow ourselves to get lost, and explore. Now don't get me wrong, I still carry a map with me while I'm "getting lost" in a country, but if you're like me, and seeking opportunities to get off the beaten path, here are some great resources:

For alternative travel ideas, and tips on how to have a "real travel" experience check out Afar Magazine.

Photo by Chiara Goia

If you'd like to connect with locals, try staying with one. Check out local accommodations before you go, at sites like: Global Freeloaders, Couch Surfing, and Hospitality Club. I traveled this way all through Europe, and met some wonderful people along the way. I traveled this way all through Europe, and met some wonderful people along the way.

For a local experience that really gives back to the community look into Volunteer Vacations, through organizations like Rustic Travel. Also check out, the Daily Green's list of great Eco-Vacations.

The Asgarda

I recently stumbled across an article in the Telegraph about a group of women in the Ukraine called the "Asgarda". The name derives from Asgard, the city of the gods, in Norse mythology. The Asgarda is a tribe of women and girls of varying ages, living in autonomy from men in the Carpathian Mountains. Here they study History, Science, traditional life skills, and the Cossak Martial art known as Bojovyj Hopak. With unemployment, domestic violence, sexual trafficking, and gender oppression remaining ever-present issues, the Asgarda is a sanctuary and training ground for empowered young women of the Ukraine, with Prime Minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, as there icon of strength. In 2004 French photographer, Guillaume Herbaut, met and photographed the Asgarda.

Global Vagabond

It's a new month, and although it has, regrettably, been two weeks since my last post, I'd like to start off this month with a new theme. I currently find myself surrounded by friends at an age of juxtaposition. All are truly beginning to make headway in their careers, but all are equally seeking opportunities for adventure and exploration before they are too tied down to obligations or financial commitments. So it is to you, my fellow explorers that I post this month's theme: GLOBAL VAGABOND

Fast Moving

In thinking about this month's theme I was torn between two different ideas, motorcycles and trains. Although both have seen a grand evolution in the twentieth century I feel that more people can relate to trains than can relate to motorcycles. If one has ever journeyed to New York City one can easily see how the evolution of the subway system has flourished in the past century, making subterranean rapid transit readily accessible to the masses. But before you think I am about to sing the praises of the MTA I would like you all to see one of the first steps in the evolution of the subway system that we have all come to depend on.
One of the first subway car designs was a pneumatic driven system... that's right, driven by air! However this system didn't last very long and didn't have a very extensive network.
For further interest in the history and the evolution of mass transit in NYC visit nycsubway.org. there one can find what many don't realize is right beneath their feet.

Telegraphy

In tribute to the blogs logo inspiration, I'd like to kick-off this months theme with a shout out to the Telegram. The very first Telegraph was not invented by Samuel Morse, as we oft think, but rather by Carl Gauss and Wilhelm Weber in 1830, and was perfected by Mr. Morse in 1836, at which point it became a veritable sensation, spreading across the US like wildfire, and replacing the Pony Express. Sadly our virtual world of email, texting, and tweeting have sent the gloriously simple and archaic telegram to the "dustbin of history," but the memory lives on. Though the spirit of the telegram is prevalent in our ever abbreviated forms of virtual communication. Nothing can really replace the hands on paper experience of the telegram, and the chance it gave everyday citizens with an urgent message to deliver to become "tabloid headline writers" for a moment. Here are a few of my favorites STOP

Old Things New

As the over-consumption era has reached it's peak, and the economic down turn has taken it's place, the nostalgia for the early American way of life, the glorification of all things of the industrial revolution, and the resurgence of a desire towards communal living and back-to-basics organic farming; have brought about the ever present steam-punk revolution in fashion, food, and way of life. So, it is too you, fellow embracer of the basic ways of life, with your ironic facial hair and your love of rooftop apiary honey, that I post this months theme... "Old Things New: Early 20th C American Struggle"