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New York Shitty Day Ender: Presenting The Brooklyn Diggers & A Very Nifty T-Shirt!
Filed under: 11222, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic
Emily Gallagher (a lady behind this collaborative endeavor) writes:
Hi Heather! …Basically I started a group with Ryan from NAG, our artist friend Gillian, Jason Gaspar (an artist and food justice guy who worked at the Wyckoff Farmhouse with me) and Mary B. from Kill Devil Hill. Our mission is to bring Brooklyn’s working class history– and thus, social justice history and issues– to the attention of residents who live in the neighborhoods presently. We call ourselves the Brooklyn Diggers, in reference to the Diggers in England in the 1600s (and of course also that we are digging up history.) This is our first project, so hopefully it goes well! We won 2nd place at FEAST this past summer so we are filling in the extra money that we need to pull it off. I am planning on reaching out to the Monitor Museum and inviting them to table…
Even though we are using the USS Monitor as our springboard, the event will really be more about imagining life in Greenpoint in the 1860s. We’re also hoping to make it hands-on, engaging and fun for all ages. I’m working with some historians I know from the Tenement Museum and costumed interpreters from another program I worked for, called Live-In Theater. I think it’s pretty wild that the age of the workers in many of the shipbuilding facilities in the neighborhood were essentially the same age as many of the newcomers in the neighborhood today. And life was rough! To think who might have lived in the tenements and houses we sit in presently…! You can check out our rarely updated blog at www.brooklyndiggers.wordpress.com (read the about section for our manifesto) and our proposal is up there. Let me know of any questions you have!
If you want to help make this really neat project happen (and get a really cool souvenir commemorating a great piece of American history), head over to Kill Devil Hill and pick up one these t-shirts!
U.S.S. Monitor Commemorative T-Shirt
$25.00 each
Kill Devil Hill
170 Franklin Street
Brooklyn, New York 11222
Comments
3 Comments on New York Shitty Day Ender: Presenting The Brooklyn Diggers & A Very Nifty T-Shirt!
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SpillConspirator on
Wed, 21st Sep 2011 6:41 pm
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missheather on
Wed, 21st Sep 2011 7:06 pm
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KAA on
Fri, 23rd Sep 2011 4:06 pm
Emily stated, “I am planning on reaching out to the Monitor Museum and inviting them to table…”. This really should’ve been done before it hit the internet. Other than that, it sounds like a nice project.
This dialogue came to pass just over a week ago. I gave Emily some advice/tips on how to reach out to them. Let’s see what happens!
I always guffaw when I hear terms like ‘food justice’ or ‘social justice’. Of course, what the speakers really mean is some kind of ‘special justice’ for a select group of people.
Whatever happened to plain old ‘justice’ ? And how can you give justice to people who’ve been dead for 150 or even 300 years ?
Reminding people of ‘ Brooklyn’s working class history ‘ is fine. Reminding them of Brooklyn’s entire history is even better.
And considering that we live in a post industrial world, do you think anybody can even relate to the term ‘working class’ ? Ask any self employed graphic artist, musician or writer living in a Greenpoint studio if they think of themselves as ‘working class’ and you’ll probably get a blank stare and the answer that they are from ‘the creative class’ – No matter how broke and/or poor they might be ….
And do you think the ‘real working class’ in this neighborhood, whomever that might be, are going to go to some hipster, civil war, renaissance fair even if they were aware of it ?
So, why all the anachronism ? Is it fear of gentrification ? Isn’t that exactly what this neighborhood’s generations of pioneers has always hoped for ? Isn’t that what all the shop owners in this neighborhood, even the one’s contributing to the event, are hoping for ?
LOL – Soon we’ll be having benefit dinners for the Keskachauge.
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and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!
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