Last Saturday’s Freshkills Park reading

Beth Gorrie, Director of Staten Island OutLOUD, addressed the crowd atop North Mound last Saturday.

We had a great turnout for last Saturday’s reading atop North Mound at the Freshkills Park site, presented by grass-roots dialogue and performance project Staten Island OutLOUD.  Attendees read aloud and listened to a passage from ‘Days Afield on Staten Island’, a lyrical exploration of Staten Island’s landscape by 19th century naturalist William T. Davis.  A PDF of the passage read is available here; the full text is available for purchase at the Staten Island Museum.  Davis’ work was especially fitting considering North Mound’s overlooks of the William T. Davis Wildlife Refuge, adjacent to the park site.  Professor Marguerite Rivas, who teaches literature in the CUNY system, has written widely on William T. Davis and spoke a bit about his place in the canon of New York City naturalism.

We’re grateful that the weather held out long enough for us to enjoy the spectacular afternoon, and we’re looking forward to holding another Freshkills Park/SI OutLOUD reading in September.  We’re also interested in having other individuals and groups out on the site to read, perform, talk, etc.–see our Request for Program Proposals.

We’ve uploaded a flickr set of photos from Saturday’s event.  Thanks to everyone who attended!