Oral Histories of Sleepy Hollow

The Art of Local Listening

As a journalist I often found myself trying to tell in a story in any way BUT the written word. I mean who doesn’t get sick to death of their own medium. Patch.com had us crafting entire exposés from the field on the tiniest of iPhones so it often just became about “quick and dirty” reporting instead — a video clip, an audio quote, a good pic will do.

When I started writing for The Hudson Independent, I found myself assisting with an ongoing oral history project with the Warner Library. Together, the library director, Maureen Petry, and I interviewed and recorded numerous sessions around a table with various groups gathered for a topic, or sometimes I launched off on my own and sat with special individuals, like our Pearl Harbor vet Chick Galella, beside his hospital bed, or my 100-year-old neighbor Helen Manca. I edited the audio and wrote an article to accompany each session, though the actual voices are so much more essential to this.

Both Helen and Chick are no longer with us, but I’m grateful we have this archive of voices that are significant to so many people. Whether or not you live here or know these people, their stories will still resonate.

I’ve gathered together the entire Warner Oral History project—which had loose ends scattered about Podbean, Soundcloud, the Warner Library, the Hudson Independent, and my own old Tumblr blog—into one pretty page here on my website. Enjoy!