Professor Gabrielle Berlinger is a folklorist who studies creative expression in everyday life. She considers the ways we speak, dress, dance, make music, design homes, cook, perform rituals, and observe religious faiths, all to be artful acts of communication. Her first book focused on the nature and significance of urban folklife, Jewish material creativity, and ritual practice. Currently, she is researching the poetics of everyday object collection, preservation, and use in alternative house museums.