NEW YORK CITY KID WHO'S NOW A NYC ADULT
DIGITAL ARCHIVE PROJECT PROMPT: DEEP MAPS
The city knows you better than any living person
because it has seen you when you are alone.
-Colson Whitehead
because it has seen you when you are alone.
-Colson Whitehead
This prompt is shaped by the practice of a deep map writing strategy.
As a writer, deep map writing allows you to document the environment in which you live and navigate on a daily/weekly basis. Our bodies register so much about the places we call home. This prompt is one that asks you to document place via your words about it. Joy Harjo's "Words as Maps..." is a good read to get a sense of where this prompt could have you do. Your task for this prompt is to look up the address of your childhood neighborhood in New York City on the Maps application of your phone or computer.
Write a page about the neighborhood's buildings, lots, parks, schools, stores, etc. when you were a child. Try to look up an archival picture of the neighborhood using the public library's databases or this website (one of my faves). Recall what movement as a kid in this neighborhood looked like and compare it to today. Pay homage to your childhood neighborhood via this writing. Identify the people who worked in the businesses or any other unique memories you have in this space. Your response to this prompt can take the form of a story, an essay, a list, a poem, etc.
After writing your response to this prompt, feel free to submit to the archive via this form.
Write a page about the neighborhood's buildings, lots, parks, schools, stores, etc. when you were a child. Try to look up an archival picture of the neighborhood using the public library's databases or this website (one of my faves). Recall what movement as a kid in this neighborhood looked like and compare it to today. Pay homage to your childhood neighborhood via this writing. Identify the people who worked in the businesses or any other unique memories you have in this space. Your response to this prompt can take the form of a story, an essay, a list, a poem, etc.
After writing your response to this prompt, feel free to submit to the archive via this form.