I got a surprise visit yesterday at my university office. Jean Scarpati, a 70-year-old homeless woman, arrived with her little shopping cart stuffed with small plastic bags, and a large black sack slung over her shoulder ala Santa Claus. After smoothing out a crumpled piece of a page from the recent article on homelessness I had contributed to for the Jewish Journal, she explained that she had travelled by bus and on foot, searching for David Blumenkrantz to discuss her artwork with him. We ended up chatting for around an hour, during which time I found out that she sleeps on a bus stop bench in Encino (Ventura and Woodley); has been homeless for 7 years, since the death of her beloved man; survives on her Social Security income; and that in spite of her bag lady appearance, was sharp-minded, spoke with a classic Queens, NY accent and possessed a subversive sense of humor (just my type).  She dug through her things for a good while until she finally was able to locate a series of printed postcards that featured her artworks, under which she had written philosophical phrases. They were all signed and dated, early 2000s, apparently just before she became homeless and lost her momentum as an artist. Could I, she wondered, help her get these printed on t-shirts, coffee cups, or however might best work to market them? She explained that the originals (acrylic paintings) were in her storage unit somewhere, and could retrieve them if necessary. If anyone is interested in helping Jean and I have products made that can be sold to raise money for her (and she added, for any charity group that participates), please contact me.