Roosevelt Island resident and artist Thom Heyer reports:

Greetings!

I’m writing to let you know about a
project I will be working on this Fall with Pete Yearwood from Open Doors.  The project is called Pandemic Island: Creating an Archive. 
COVID-19 affected each of us on Roosevelt Island in unique & highly
personal ways.  With support from Humanities NY and other Roosevelt
Island allies, we are devoted to capturing our local stories &
experiences in a centralized archive.  We feel that the recording of our
personal experiences–including those at Coler Rehabilitation &
Nursing Care Center–are important enough to be saved for posterity’s
sake for future generations’ analysis.  What better place to store this
archive than at our very own branch of the NYPL on Roosevelt Island? 
The Performing Arts
Library has its own specific archives at Lincoln Center.  The Schomburg
Center for Research in Black Culture has its own archives in Harlem’s
branch of the Library.  Roosevelt Island deserves nothing less as part
of its diverse and fascinatingly sordid history. 

Come
join us for snacks at our project launch.   Feel free to bring an
object, story or poem to share that speaks to your COVID-19 experience
during 2020 on RI……..We will answer questions and welcome your
thoughts on what an archive on RI could look like for us all!

Pete & I look forward to seeing you–

All the best:

Thom Heyer

Where:  Tent outside Coler….900 Main St.

When:  next Friday, 8/27 at 2:30pm