Spotlight: Vanessa Yurkevich

There are times when I feel like I'm doing my part in this world, or at least trying to. And then there are times when someone my age comes along and really shows the rest of us how much more action we could be taking. My dear friend Vanessa Yurkevich is one such person. Vanessa just got back from Haiti, where she was covering the earthquake for Y1 News/ NY1. Take a minute to check out her beautiful video-journals of the trip. When I see young people making work as meaningful as this, I can't help but be inspired to want to do more.

Clip 1.

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Death by Cheese? Yes Please!

I'm totally into Michael Pollan's whole "eat food, not too much, mostly plants" thing. It works for me on most levels, and I have always found that eating this way makes me feel the most energized and healthy. However, I'm not entirely sure this basic principle leaves enough room for my favorite animal by-product, CHEESE!( Which I've been consuming in copious quantities recently). From my new favorite St. Andre, to my go-to Port Salut, to the foul smelling but oh-so-perfect Tête de Moine, I have a place in my heart (and stomach) for practically every cheese. You can imagine my delight when I found out about the Milk Truck, a new food stand specializing in gourmet GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICHES that's popped up at the Brooklyn Flea. Did you catch that? Oh the joy that fills me! The Brooklyn Flea is already my favorite BK shopping/ people-watching hub (YES, I was there when Reese, Jake, Maggie, and Peter had their Sunday celeb outing in DUMBO this summer) but the new addition is calling me to return as soon as possible, to nurture and tend to my love of cheese in the very best form imaginable... grilled and sandwiched.

Happy Monday!

It's pissing windy rain in NYC today, but that shouldn't stop us from starting the week off right!

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Tess Smag sent me a link to this JUST as I was posting about upcycled art... I couldn't resist!
Work by Yuken Teruya as seen in Idsoo.

One Man's Trash is Another's Upcycled Art

I was browsing the very cool and creative blog of creative director/graphic designer Catherine Mangosing, MYTURTLENECK, when I found these two phenomenal examples of how upcycling can result in truly awe-inspiring art. The first artist, Stuart Haygarth collects used prescription glasses to create stunning light fixtures, while the second, Paul Villinsky, creates another kind of spectacle with his butterflies made from old beer cans. I really liked Catherine's observation about the "metaphor of transformation" in Villinsky's work. Both of these artists found uses for other people's supposed trash, and I feel like that element adds life and nostalgia to their creations. Like vintage clothing, these re-purposed pieces have a character and depth that you just can't find in the brand new.

Urban Nature

Oooh! Check out NY artist Naoko Ito's neat Urban Nature exhibit here. Yes, I said neat.

Weekend Flu Package

I try to take care of myself, I really do. In fact, I feel like I spend most of my time when I'm not working or dancing, doing just that. I eat well, I always wear a scarf outside in the winter, always wear slippers or socks inside, wash my hands, take my vitamins, stay active. So WHY am I sick for the third time this winter?!?!? Rex Arrow thinks it's stress and my body asking me to slow down. So this weekend, that's exactly what I did. I bundled up on the couch and read and read until I finished The History of Love, a beautiful and endearing novel that my brother (writer Nick Bakshi) gave me for Christmas. I watched Mad Men. I drank Theraflu(a last resort), lots of tea with honey, and ate grapefruits like an Olympic champion. I took a bath. Ahhh. And, best of all, when I regained my appetite, Rex took me to a dinner at my favorite restaurant, the cozy Vinegar Hill House, where I had Pulled Pork Cannelloni and Guinness Chocolate Cake w/cream cheese frosting for dessert. I certainly feel well rested, but I'm already antsy about when I can get back into dance class and move my body around. I finally feel that flu-y ache leaving my body, but I know I should take it real slow, I want to get better for good!

I got the magic stick...

PERVS! (Gasp).

Whether you are a dancer like me, or you get your workout elsewhere (pounding pavement, at the gym, bowling), you have probably experienced the ache of sore or tight muscles. New years resolution #1 was for me to take more dance classes, and I've really been super committed! That's being said, today I woke up super sore from an acrobatic audition I went to yesterday, and I realized I'd had enough of not being able to take this type of situation into my own hands (literally). So I bit the bullet and finally invested in the famous STICK. I've borrowed it from dancer friends before, and all I can say is, it really does hit the spot. I can't wait to have my very own! Check out The Stick.

I just want four walls and adobe slats for my girls

...and also this house that I saw on The Selby a couple weeks ago, where adorable model/photographer couple Shannan and Dan Martensen live, so I could build a dance studio! If I only had a barn.
Sidenote: I actually randomly worked on a day shoot for Todd a couple of years ago when Alex was interning for him (before The Selby blew up!). I had to stop random old people on the street and ask them to be photographed, it was pretty cute.

COP15, By Sarah DH

My best friend Sarah DH has many things to say, and I thought this would be a great forum for some of her ideas/ thoughts. Welcome to The Green Room Sarah DH!!!

-Jules

COP15 and Coconut Carrying Octopus

During the last weeks of December, I couldn’t stop watching the dispatches coming out of the COP15 conference in Copenhagen. It was equal parts excitement and confusion that kept me googling phrases like “parts per million CO2.” All the googling of scientific phrases made me realize that my everyday interactions with the environment don’t even begin to scratch the surface of the problem. Thanks to Jules I’ve been schooled on which deodorants will keep me smelly but cancer free, but I know very little about the nuts and bolts of the movement for climate change on a global level. This made me anxious & overwhelmed until this absolute gem popped up online right in the middle of it all.

This crafty octopus is the first ever to be recorded using tools. And what are his or her tools you might ask? Coconut shells! This octopus is not only smart enough to use tools – but to recycle in the process. It’s a welcome reminder that no matter how complex and confusing the problems of global warming and the debate around what to about it are, the basic necessity of it all is really very simple. It’s about the fact that even octopuses at the bottom of the ocean are building for the future. In that process, we all deserve an equal shot.

Even though the crafty octopus sums up the “why,” of fighting climate change, it’s the “how” that is still really hard to understand. For that, I point you towards the blog, “It's getting hot in here.” There you’ll find “dispatches from the youth climate movement” including this (http://itsgettinghotinhere.org/2009/12/30/copenhagen-triumph-or-failure/

) really stellar recap of where we’ve been, what exactly happened at Copenhagen, and where we’re headed next.

-SARAH DH

Breakfast

My sweet and healthy Sunday breakfast= McCann's Steel Cut Oatmeal with applesauce and honey, hot chocoffee, and bananas. Yummieyummie.

Music, Movement, and My Neighbors at Night

I had a very strange moment this evening, when I realized that I wasn't going crazy, but that my upstairs neighbors were listening to the same song as me at the same time. It took me a while to figure out what was going on, because my upstairs neighbors have a habit of re-arranging their furniture on a nightly basis, so I wasn't sure if they were hearing my music and folding and unfolding the sofa-bed to the rhythm of my song, or if they actually had the same thing playing loudly on their speakers during their re-arranging ritual. I will admit I've been listening to this particular song a lot lately, for inspiration for a dance idea I've been working on, but still I think the chances of people starting the same song at the same time on two separate floors are extrememly low. I wondered if they were dancing around their rooms like I was. Yes. I dance around my room. My neighbors compulsively move furniture (or bodies?) around and I dance, okay? I wondered if they were simultaneously watching the video on youtube. I also wondered, had they thought that the video was lovely like I did but that it would have been better if the girl had danced up the hill in the snow instead of just walked up it? And did they also think that it would have been best if I had been able to choreograph it because I really understood what they were trying to do with the video? Probably not. (Even if they do have magical powers to make tables and chairs slide across the parquet, they probably have no way of knowing my thoughts regarding music videos and the use of movement therein, right?) All that to say: I wanted to share this video with you because it's still snowing here in Brooklyn, and the song is great, and the video is interesting despite the lack of dancing and choreography. Enjoy!

(eco)Friendly Fire

There's really nothing like a crackling fire in the hearth at this time of year. You can imagine how tickled I was when Carly invited me over to see her fireplace. "It's not a real, fireplace," she said to my dismay. Upon arrival, though, I realized that the sound and sight of her Blu-ray- high -def- fireplace -dvd playing on her flat screen TV was enough to warm the cockles of my heart. That's right folks, the very cockles. Cockles.

Anyway.

The hilarious budget version of the digital fireplace can be seen here:


And if the digital version just doesn't cut it for you, the sleek portable fireplace by travelmate makes for a hot upscale eco-chic option. Its' smoke-free fire runs on bio ethanol fuel, and you can take it with you wherever you need a bit of cozy comfort...without the old-fashioned soot and fumes!

Creative Conneksh

I found this on A Cup of Jo and I think it's pretty irresistible. So creative: Artist Sophie Blackall finds inspiration for her adorable illustrations in missed connections postings. Missed someone lately? Check out her website to find them!

Be Good

Better your community and get a chance to better your life with an island vacay. Now that's good Karma. Check out this phenomenal contest at GOOD. But here's the thing. If you win you have to bring me. Those are the rules!

Keep Traveling

Resolution #10.

New Year, New Girl, Same Dress

Who cares that I wore the same dress this new years eve that I wore last year? Last n.y.e., I threw big bash at my parents house, and people from all circles of my life were there to celebrate. At that point, everything felt certain, I was about to graduate, and I was still in the comfort of my parents' home surrounded by familiar faces. This year, I am living on my own, starting my own dance company, working from home, running to and from rehearsals with other companies. Life is crazy, and I like it that way (for the most part). It seems fitting that I started my new years eve at a dinner with new friends in a beautiful Brooklyn apartment, and then went to a party where I hardly knew anybody, but reunited with an old friend from France who I haven't seen in 6 years. The nights couldn't have been more different, but somehow, they both felt right for where I am/was in my life. Here are some resolutions to help me be "where I am", better, and some to help me get to where I want to be.

1. Wake up earlier.
2. Dance/Yoga at least 4 times a week (excluding rehearsals).
3. Start saving/ stop cabbing.
4. Suck it up and join the Park Slope Food Coop.
5. Start riding my bike again as soon as it unfreezes outside.
6. Make alone time for me: making dances, tree sculptures, taking pictures, cooking, reading, writing.
7. Wear my clothes (moving from home to rehearsals and back sometimes makes it hard to remember to dress like a human).
8. Buy less/ buy re-used and re-purposed!
9. Practice my French.
10. Keep traveling.


What are yours?


PS. My dress is the one with the draped shoulder in the upper right corner!