Bronx Memoir Project: Vol. 1
# Bronx Memoir Project: Vol. 1

The Bronx Memoir Project: Vol. 1 is a published anthology by The Bronx Council on the Arts and brought forth through a series of workshops meant to empower Bronx residents and shed the stigma on the Bronx's burning past.

## History

The Bronx Memoir Project was created as an ongoing collaboration between The Bronx Council on the Arts and other cultural institutions including: The Bronx Documentary Center, The Bronx Library Center, Edgar Allan Poe Park Visitor Center, Mindbuilders as well as other institutions and funded through a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, secured by Bronx Writing Center Director Ms. Mario Romano in August 2013. The goal was to develop and refine memoir fragments written by people of all walks of life that share a common bond residing within the Bronx.

In March 2014, The Bronx Council on the Arts held writing workshops throughout the borough with the goal of capturing the great diversity of the Bronx. The workshops brought Bronx residents together from all walk of life but was focused on: youth, seniors and families; and had them participate in a series of workshops. The workshops facilitated by the Bronx Council of the Art director, Charlie Vazquez cultivated one's craft in memoir writing, and allowed them to use it as a tool to capture the Bronx through their prospective and away from the Bronx's burning past.

The participants in the workshops had some of their memoir pieces published in an anthology "Bronx Memoir Project Vol-1".

## Bronx Memoir Project Volume 1

Published in November 2014 by BCA Media and edited by Bronx Writer Center Director, Charlie Vazquez. This is published anthology of memoir pieces written by participants in the workshop. A first of its kind anthology that bring readers into the Bronx through the eyes of its residents.

### Participating Writers

| Arthurs Name | Memoir Title | Award |
| - | - | - |
| Nahshon Dion Anderson | Ratcliff | Bronx Recognizes Its own |
| Barbara Nahmias | Mediitation | |
| George Colon | On a Bronx Rooftop Long Ago | |
| Ed Friedman | Chevrolet | |
| Ersilia Crawford | Polio, Mothers and World War Two | |
| Hayley Camacho | Just a Quiet Saturday Night | |
| Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa | The Shooting | |
| Miguel Mateo | The Next and Last Stop | |
| Siri Edna Nelson | Italian, Irish, French Canadian and German | |
| Andrea Purchas | Back In the Day | |
| Gerault Rotondo | Bronx Redux | |
| Phyllis Bowdwin | New Miracles on 34th Street | |
| Jean Harripersaud | A Library as Beautiful as the Bronx | |
| Cynthia Timms | Happiness in the House on 161st Street | |
| Jose Cenac | Education Journey | |
| Deborah William-Camps | I remember When I Lost You! | |
| Christina Marie Castro | The Day I Play Hookie from Kindergarten | |
| Ann Sealy | A Conversation with My Son | |
| Kenny Williams | How I Got Started in Show Business | |
| Awilda Aponte | Adventures in Motherhood-1977 | |
| Alice Myerson | As It Was | |
| Judio Edyson | Hunts Point Behind a Glass | |
| Jhon Sanchez | Writing 'Major Ascension Luna' | |
| Laurie Humpel | Morning and Evening | |
| Maria Meli | Swamp Guineas | |
| Olga Kitt | The Products of a Social Experiment | |
| Joseph Carrion | July 1977 | |
| David Duenias | Untitled | |
| Steven L. Leslie | Cowpath Lane | |
| Bernice Cox | Best Friend Lost | |
| Orlando Ferrand | 2000 | Bronx Recognizes Its own |
| Mandy Lopez | After Thirteen Years! | |
| Erykah Solano | Untitled | |
| Brian Rodriquez | Untitled | |
| Dolores Scarpato | Bronx Story | |
| Mindy Matijasevic | Are You Lonesome Tonight? | |
| B. Lawrence | Untitled | |
| Judy Bratnick | Mathland | |
| Paul Torres | The Accident | |
| Edgar E. Cabrera | The Fall Classic and the South Bronx | |
| Sarah Smith | Feel the Beat | |
| Hayley Camacho | First Christmas | |
| Colleen Boris | My Dad was a Teamster Man, Not a Social Worker ... and Yet | |
| Sidra Lackey | I am a Tattooed Woman | |
| Ranjit K. Sahu | Little Things | |
| Jose Quiles | Webster Avenue and Nearby | |
| Peggy Robles-Alvarado | Undocumented | |
| Dale Benjamin Drakeford | Uncle Brondus | |
| Susan Rotgard | Bronx Memories | |
| Michael Cruz | Theresa | |
| Lucy Aponte | When the Bronx Was Burning | |
| Louie Santiago | I saw Fordham Road | |
| Yadhira Gonzalez-Taylor, Esq | Eighties Bronx as Seen Through the Eyes of an Eight-Year-Old | |
| Marte-Bautista | El Misinformed | |
| Sonia Fuentes Resto | The Kelly Street I Knew | |
| Toby Z Liederman | Bill's in Calvary | |
| Shavonne Bell | Wake me Up at 6:30 | |
| Olga Kitt | Joe and Jose | |
| B. Lynn Carter | Snow and Fog | |
| Barbara Gurkin Fasciani | School Days | |
| Lydia Clark | Irene Gertrude Felix, 1921 | |
| Jose Cenac | Trayectoria Academica | |
| Jhon Sanchez | El Casi-casi esta vez en mayo | |

## Bronx Memoir Project Volume 2

After great success in using memoir allowing readers experience the Bronx through the eyes of the people who call it home instead of the media depiction a second volume was created. The memoir was published in the Fall of 2017 and has returning voices but feature a lot of new writers who seek to showcase the Bronx as their home, instead of the media depiction of: The Bronx is Burning.

