In the comments below, Sayd of Manhattan's Peak (a very excellent blog and a superstar in her own right) asked us to clarify what we mean when we ask "What do you own?" That is a purposefully open-ended question. Yes, ownership means property, title, investment, but it also means responsibility, caretaking, belonging. One of our collaborators, who grew up here, says that when she gets off of the train, she's home. Not just her apartment, not just her block, not even just her street counts as home, but the whole neighborhood.
At the meeting on the 10th, the responses ranged from my apartment to Fort Tryon Park to the Piper's Kilt. One of the questions that we want to explore is what does it mean to own something, particular something you don't "legally" "own". Does someone who has rented an apartment for 45 years have less ties to a neighborhood than someone who bought the apartment next door two years ago? So, basically, whatever resonates for you, however you take it, whatever it means to you, we're asking: "What do you own?"
Also in the comments, Joellyn and ccnyc, bring up another important part of this conversation: the Dominican/Latino community and others east of Broadway. It is absolutely vital that this project connects with that community and that the final piece reflects that community. Over at Manhattan's Peak (just go over there), a very interesting conversation has been going on about the lack of Latinos present at the First Thursday event, something that we as organizers are well aware of and are eager to address. We just need your help. Who should we talk to? We should we go to hold an event that would attract that community? Please, contact us!
I'm still a pretty novice blogger, and I've had some life things to take care of lately, but I'll be much more on the ball here. And once I can figure out how to import PDFs, I can post the responses we gathered at the First Thursday event.
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