Thursday, January 14, 2010

The plan...................

My thoughts are running wild re the "plan".  Not sure how I'm going to approach all this, but what I am sure of is this "project" is one that can be done!  Whoever is involved, whoever has the same desire as I, and whoever does whatever they do, it's just more validation for the restoration of the Island.  It takes more than just the idea itself - although that's a great start; for instance, you would not pose a problem without suggesting solution(s), or plan(s) to correct the situation, right? Right. And a solution, a plan, does not have to be elaborate and so out there the idea gets lost. The solutions to most problems are staring us right in the face and they're the simplest. We, as the complex people that we are, seem to go for the most difficult, most convoluted, and most ridiculous - and I'm no exception.  Anyway, some of those old-fashioned sayings, are correct; I wonder if age has something to do with that.  We get wiser as we age, or at least some of us do, and we forget the simple, the most logical.  And, so, in this instance, the first question to ask is "what resources are available?"  In closing, I will provide the most"logical" answer:  the Island is under the jurisdiction of New York's Department of Corrections; inmates at Ryker's Island are the Island's pall bearers and grave diggers (both for burials and exhumations); and so what is Ryker's Island's greatest commodity/resource? People.  And what very important resource is required for the "idea"?  People!  End of that "resource" for the day.

1 comment:

  1. Julie,

    Reading your personal story of your brother buried on Hart Island really moved me. I have just finished a collaboration with fellow artist, Mary C. Leto on an artist's book about Hart Island. We were moved by the story of 800,000 people buried there with no one to visit, no one to say good bye. Our book is a remembrance to the babies who have been laid to rest there since the 1800s.

    I encourage you on your quest and wish you success and closure for your family. If I can be of help, or if using the book in someway can promote some attention to the plight of the buried, please let me know.

    Most sincerely,
    Patricia Sahertian

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