{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/presentation/3/context.json","id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/iiif/5q4rj4bn2x/manifest","type":"Manifest","label":{"en":["Catherine Grau Oral History"]},"logo":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/010/original/Aviary_QPLlogo_192x192.png?1578574261","metadata":[{"label":{"en":["Description"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSummary of Full Interview\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eArtist and Queens resident Catherine Grau speaks with interviewer Sophia Gallagher about how her art practice over the past ten years has explored urban ecologies and post-industrial sites in and around Queens, particularly Flushing Creek. Grau highlights her work during the mid-2010s co-curating the multi-year project Chance Ecologies and participating in the Studio in the Park residency (which was based in a small mobile studio in Flushing Meadows Corona Park). She explains how both initiatives combined research, art, and public events to deeply engage people about the history and ecology Flushing Creek.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eGrau provides an overview of how construction and development of Flushing Meadows Corona Park and surrounding areas in the 20th century resulted in burying parts of Flushing Creek underground and triggering detrimental effects to human health and the environment. Grau describes current efforts, particularly by the not-for-profit organization Waterfront Alliance, to daylight Flushing Creek (to uncover buried portions of the creek so that the creek once again flows above ground) and by doing so also improve climate resilience and restore shoreline habitats where diverse plant and animal species can flourish. Additionally, Grau shares her thoughts about current proposals for commercial development in Willets Point.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003ePhoto: Looking north along Meadow Lake in Flushing Meadow Park with all major park infrastructures in sight, November 29, 2009. By Tommy Gao (talk) / Tommy Gao at English Wikipedia - Own work, Public Domain, \u003ca href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24961706\"\u003ehttps://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24961706\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e"]}},{"label":{"en":["Rights Statement"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eCC BY-NC-SA Contact digitalarchives@queenslibrary.org for research and reproduction requests.\u003c/p\u003e"]}},{"label":{"en":["Date"]},"value":{"en":["2025-11-18 (created)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Type"]},"value":{"en":["Audio"]}},{"label":{"en":["Agent"]},"value":{"en":["Catherine Grau (Interviewee)","Sophia Gallagher (Interviewer)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Source"]},"value":{"en":["Interview recorded as part of the Queens Memory Podcast's 4th Season."]}},{"label":{"en":["Coverage"]},"value":{"en":["2010s-2025 (temporal)","Flushing Creek, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, and Willets Point, Queens, NY (spatial)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Language"]},"value":{"en":["English"]}}],"summary":{"en":["\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSummary of Full Interview\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eArtist and Queens resident Catherine Grau speaks with interviewer Sophia Gallagher about how her art practice over the past ten years has explored urban ecologies and post-industrial sites in and around Queens, particularly Flushing Creek. Grau highlights her work during the mid-2010s co-curating the multi-year project Chance Ecologies and participating in the Studio in the Park residency (which was based in a small mobile studio in Flushing Meadows Corona Park). She explains how both initiatives combined research, art, and public events to deeply engage people about the history and ecology Flushing Creek.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eGrau provides an overview of how construction and development of Flushing Meadows Corona Park and surrounding areas in the 20th century resulted in burying parts of Flushing Creek underground and triggering detrimental effects to human health and the environment. Grau describes current efforts, particularly by the not-for-profit organization Waterfront Alliance, to daylight Flushing Creek (to uncover buried portions of the creek so that the creek once again flows above ground) and by doing so also improve climate resilience and restore shoreline habitats where diverse plant and animal species can flourish. Additionally, Grau shares her thoughts about current proposals for commercial development in Willets Point.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003ePhoto: Looking north along Meadow Lake in Flushing Meadow Park with all major park infrastructures in sight, November 29, 2009. By Tommy Gao (talk) / Tommy Gao at English Wikipedia - Own work, Public Domain, \u003ca href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24961706\"\u003ehttps://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24961706\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e"]},"requiredStatement":{"label":{"en":["Attribution"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eCC BY-NC-SA Contact digitalarchives@queenslibrary.org for research and reproduction requests.\u003c/p\u003e"]}},"provider":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/aboutus","type":"Agent","label":{"en":["Queens Public Library"]},"homepage":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/","type":"Text","label":{"en":["Queens Public Library"]},"format":"text/html"}],"logo":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/010/original/Aviary_QPLlogo_192x192.png?1578574261","type":"Image"}]}],"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/300/372/small/Flushing_Meadow_Park.jpg?1769437786","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 1 of 1 - grau_catherine_20251118_edit.mp3"]},"duration":3433.584,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/300/372/small/Flushing_Meadow_Park.jpg?1769437786","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/content/1/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-queenslibrary.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/300/372/original/grau_catherine_20251118_edit.mp3?1769197184","type":"Audio","format":"audio/mpeg","duration":3433.584,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["Full Transcript [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Sophia Gallagher: Okay, cool. So yeah, I'm Sophia Gallagher. I'm a student at Queens College, and I've been working with the Queen Memory Project for last semester and this semester for a podcast, Memories of Water. And yeah, could you just introduce yourself and tell me who you are?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=5.0,29.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/2","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Catherine Grau: My name is Catherine Grau. I am an artist and a cultural worker. I am originally from Germany, but moved here with my family when I was 16 and have spent the majority of my life in New York City and particularly Queens. Yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=29.0,52.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/3","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Sophia Gallagher: Cool. So, could you tell me a bit more about living in Queens and yeah, growing up in New York?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=52.0,62.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/4","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Catherine Grau: Sure. I have lived in Long Island City and in Ridgewood. Those are the two parts of Queens where I've lived. I currently live in Ridgewood, and when I first moved here with my family, we lived in Manhattan and I finished high school here and then went on to studying art at Pratt Institute. And I've been back and forth between Europe and here a bit in my twenties, but then kind of permanently settled back in the city about 12 years ago. And I feel like especially in the last 10 years of my art practice, I've been really focused on engaging with different landscapes like post-industrial landscapes, different kind of urban ecologies in the city.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=62.0,131.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/5","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Catherine Grau: So, some of the areas that I feel very connected to through research and art practices and just shared engagement with other artists are the waterfront in Long Island City before it was redeveloped at Hunter's Point, and the Newtown Creek, and also Flushing Creek, and Flushing Meadows Corona Park in general. I worked at Queens Museum for six years in their public programs and community engagement work. And so, I feel like I've spent a lot of time in Flushing Meadows Corona Park and feel very connected to just what has happened in that space, what is happening. It's like a very dynamic moment of transformation, I feel like, and has undergone so much transformation. So yeah, I've always been really interested in that space as well.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=131.0,204.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/6","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Sophia Gallagher: Yeah. Could you talk a little bit about that transformation and what you've seen change and what you've seen over the past 10 years that you've been living and working in Queens?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=204.0,219.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/7","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Catherine Grau: Yeah. So, before I started working at Queens Museum, I actually was engaging with Flushing Meadows Corona Park through an artist residency as part of a project I co-curated called Chance Ecologies, which was curated by artists and also invited artists to engage with landscapes that have been really heavily altered and intervened by human hand and then kind of abandoned. And that project really looked at what kind of ecologies and landscapes result from that kind of heavy handed intervention, and then also abandonment and looking at which kind of ecologies thrive in that, what we can learn from the ecologies that reclaim those spaces. And really looking at a shift in who knows what a landscape should be in this kind of human dominance of, especially in the 20th century. This kind of human dominance thinking of like, \"We know how to manage nature, we know how to bend it to our will, and we have this kind of superior knowledge.\" And then a lot of larger design projects failing or nature kind of reclaiming the paths and patterns it wants to do.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=219.0,314.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/8","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Catherine Grau: So yeah, that's a little bit the thought behind the Chance Ecologies project. So with the Flushing Creek project, we had a residency in the park called the Mobile Art Residency that the Queen Museum was hosting by ArtBuilt, and there's a little kind of trailer that we got to utilize in the park. And for six weeks we invited a bunch of artists to explore Flushing Creek in its entirety. So, inside this trailer we had a gigantic map of satellite image of Flushing Meadows Corona Park, all the way to Flushing Bay. And that map showed Willow Creek and what's the name of it? Willow Lake. And what's the name of the other lake?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=314.0,369.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/9","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Sophia Gallagher: Meadow Lake I think.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=369.0,370.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/10","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Catherine Grau: Yes. Okay. So, that map showed Willow Lake and Meadow Lake, the undergrounded parts of the creek, and then where it resurfaces all the way to the bay. And we invited people from the park into conversations around this water body, whether they were familiar with it, whether they knew it at all or not, and then provided a bunch of walking tours and different artist-led opportunities to get access right to that water and experience it. And we recorded that with different notes and documentation in the trailer on this big interactive map. And as part of that, we really climbed into the brush and on the bushes at the very, very end where the water sources at the very end of Flushing Meadows Corona Park and found that small trickle of water coming out of a pipe in the middle of the brush, which then feeds into Willow Lake and those kinds of excursions.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=370.0,443.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/11","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Catherine Grau: Then, all the way to the other side on Flushing, we found different axis points at that U-Haul spot and just kind of over the course of the six weeks explored where we can access the water and invite people to come with us, and then experience also the types of shoreline ecologies that had developed in these spaces, which were often either abandoned or semi-abandoned or not heavily maintained. And that was the first time I really had this deep, deep introduction to Flushing Creek. And also the first time that I got introduced to the idea of daylighting Flushing Creek, and have just been captivated by that since. And it has kind of resurfaced in my work throughout the years, either through cultural organizing I was doing while I was working at Queens Museum. So, I was partnering with Guardians of Flushing Bay to develop a series of cultural daylighting walks as well as panel discussions on daylighting. And yeah, in my own personal practice as an artist have continued also to offer walks and continue to engage with that site.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=443.0,534.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/12","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Catherine Grau: Yeah so, that is now much more of a reality than it was 10 years ago with the Waterfront Alliance report that just came out and the actual design that they developed together with the Parks Department. Now, it's as part of the climate resilience plan of Flushing Meadows Corona Park, it is an actual proposal that might happen if the fundraising is achieved. And I feel like 10 years ago at least, I can obviously only speak from my perspective, but 10 years ago it felt like it was not on the radar of a lot of people, and a lot of people were even not aware of the creek or not aware of the history of how it was undergrounded.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=534.0,585.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/13","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Catherine Grau: So, that has been exciting to follow. And also at the same time, my observation of the last 10 years of Flushing Meadows Corona Park is that the park has just continued to really grow in popularity culturally and is just so incredibly used by all the surrounding communities and neighbors. And especially in the summer, it's an incredibly vibrant and alive park that has so much going on. And I feel like there's still so much potential to bridge the kind of usage of the park, which ranges from soccer and volleyball and just all kinds of sports and barbecuing and spending the whole day with big families and food vendors. And this is really lively outdoor living, almost like space.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=585.0,657.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/14","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Catherine Grau: And then on the other hand, I feel like there's a large contingency or fraction of people who are really interested into stewarding Flushing Meadows, Corona Park, and really looking at the ecology and the kind of climate resilience. And I feel like, yeah, there's still so much potential to bridge all the stakeholders that are in the park and find those common grounds on how this green space can thrive both for humans and for all the other species and the water itself, the body of water itself. So how can all of those things kind of coexist and all be kind of cared for is I think the next question that I'm really interested in.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=657.0,713.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/15","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Sophia Gallagher: Yeah. No, I think that's such a beautiful concept. And just from being at the daylighting walk, it was really, really cool. It was really cool to see. Well also, like you said, how many people use the park and just see how it's so busy and vibrant, but also just the daylighting project, it's really cool to see that have some more support. Could you talk a bit more about cultural daylighting and maybe give us a definition just for the recording?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=713.0,745.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/16","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Catherine Grau: Yeah. So, I was introduced to this idea of cultural daylighting by Rebecca from Guardians of Flushing Bay, Rebecca Pryor. And we partnered on several programs while I was working at Queens Museum that kind of wanted to bring together the stewardship of the park and the bay and the creek with cultural practices, with artistic practices in order to bring more awareness to the urban ecology of Flushing Creek and Bay. And kind of inspire people to step into relationship with that landscape. So, we started working on this cultural daylighting series and invited artists to lead walks. And so the idea of cultural daylighting is that the actual daylighting of a river would be bringing the river to the surface. But before we can do that, the cultural daylighting would be bringing the knowledge of the awareness of this underground of body of water back to the daylight. So making people aware of the history and the fact that the river is underground.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=745.0,837.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/17","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Catherine Grau: Because it's out of sight, it's not in everybody's awareness, right? And especially if you walk through certain parts of Flushing Meadows Corona Park, you see several fountains. But then other parts of the creek that are above ground are kind of tucked away under highways, not in the most prominent areas of the park. So, it's very easy to be introduced to the park and not know that there is a whole body of water running through it, but that is in the kind of most popular areas, running underground. So, the idea was that through cultural programming, people would be introduced to the water and have opportunities to connect to that water on a deeper level. So, not just giving a history lesson or a geology lesson, but actually providing opportunities, through art forms, to connect to that body of water and the history of what that body of water is experiencing by being undergrounded on a much deeper level.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=837.0,912.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/18","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Catherine Grau: So, we had a walk that involved a lot of writing prompts and readings. We had a walk that looked at fashion and kind of painting with a special solution—a bleach solution that kind of invited participants to work with splashes and the movement of water on black fabric. And then, created all these t-shirts that when laid out together, drew out this larger body of water. So kind of thinking about how can we wear it? How does the water move? These kind of more artistic ways of connecting to the topic, just invited people in to relate to the water in a different way and draw connections between what the water is experiencing and what the waters in our bodies are experiencing.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=912.0,981.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/19","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Catherine Grau: There's so many parallels when we start thinking about the repression of the water of it being forced into a canal. And a lot of the conversations that would come up throughout many of these different programs was about the memory of the water. And we also, of course, looked at all the traces of flooding and where that infrastructure that has been built is failing and where the water is resurfacing anyways despite it being forced underground. And so that just led to a lot of really interesting conversation of the realities of the spirit and power of water not being able to be contained in the way people maybe thought it could be. Yeah, long-winded answers, sorry.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=981.0,1058.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/20","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Sophia Gallagher: No, that's great. I mean, that's what we want really. Yeah, I have two kind of questions that came up while you were talking. And one of them was about, and you said this a bit earlier, about something about humans' relationship with nature and the 20th century, how there's this been this trend of these big infrastructure projects that just totally ignore the natural environment. And I just wanted if you could talk a bit more about how you see that manifest in Flushing Meadows Corona Park? I have another question, but I think two questions at the time is too much.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=1058.0,1097.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/21","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Catherine Grau: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I think Flushing Meadows Corona Park is a really excellent example. So when Robert Moses designed the park as part of his design of the World's Fair grounds, he wanted to build and did build—I think some of the design aspects are really emblematic of this idea of controlling a large geological force into a kind of human design vision where he had the two big lakes built and had the creek undergrounded through culverts and canals. But then also had initially intended to feed a whole series of fountains with the creek water before it's then kind of rerouted back to the bay where it would funnel out to Flushing Bay. And I feel like that's just kind of a very good example of thinking how a natural river could be diverted to funnel and source a series of fountains that—and stretches between those fountains being undergrounded. But yeah, that didn't work out.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=1097.0,1189.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/22","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Catherine Grau: The fountains were constructed, but the whole hydrology of that didn't work out. And then also the one pool, the Fountain of the Planets, that did get fed ended up being fed by Flushing Creek and still is Flushing Creek. All their kind of sprinkler systems had to be turned off because of the fact that the waters are polluted and the fountains were basically spraying bacteria into the air and it became a huge health hazard. I think that also kind of sheds light on another layer of the human impact from the infrastructure. It's not just the kind of shape of the water that you're trying to force it into. It also is the health of the whole water body. And the series of highways that were also designed and built by Robert Moses result in a lot of stormwater runoff into Flushing Creek that is polluted. The groundwater is polluted through the history of the ash dumping.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=1189.0,1266.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/23","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Catherine Grau: There's several CSOs, Combined Sewer Overflows, that feed into Flushing Creek. Again, due to outdated infrastructure where basically our sewage and storm water runoff get combined and our water treatment plants can't handle it, the volume during large storms. So then, the runoff just flows into the creek. And so those are all factors of why there's just very intense water pollution. There's also industry around Flushing Creek more towards the bay. So, those are all reasons why the water is being polluted. And that, again, is very 20th—1920 century disregard for the health of our environment and not understanding how it impacts our own health, or not wanting to understand how it impacts our own health because of a vision of seeing nature more as a resource to be extracted and profited from. And that of course continues still, but there's been so much work and so much environmental movement towards curbing that kind of—curbing that extent of pollution and also really understanding and seeing the value of our environment and the natural resources in terms of our health as a reflection of our health.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=1266.0,1369.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/24","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Catherine Grau: And what I'm also interested in, going even a step further towards a more indigenous or pre-colonial way of relating to nature, where really nature is an extension of us. And there's a much more—a sense that nature is our relatives and nature is deeply spiritual as well. And I think that, I think we're still not really there in western society. I think we're coming more to a place where infrastructure projects are looking much more closely at ecology, at these larger patterns of weather and climate change and the kind of importance of these ecologies. But I think there still is often a sense that with enough knowledge we can get to a place of controlling it, or that there still is a sense that there's, I don't know how to say this properly, but there's kind of a limit to—we only can see to the boundary of our knowledge, and then that's the boundary we place, rather than accepting that there's so much more than we know.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=1369.0,1466.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/25","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Catherine Grau: And that what I'm often inspired by is this thought that nature operates on such deep time and actually has so much more knowledge and so much more answers than we know. And so how can we look to nature as our teacher? How can we look to the water as our teacher? How can we look to the plants that grow on the shorelines as our teachers? And really place ourselves more in a position of being on the learning end of things rather than on the end of the ones kind of seeking to provide the answers. And I know that's very difficult and in conflict with wanting to provide for a large population, but as an artist, that's this area that I really love to explore further and kind of push the boundaries a little bit.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=1466.0,1527.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/26","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Sophia Gallagher: No, I really love that idea, and I think about it a lot just with how things have been constructed in New York and what are the natural limits of the environment that we've built all this stuff into. And I wanted to talk it's really interesting that you said that there's been an increased interest in stewardship of the park. What would you say has changed in the past years that has prompted that?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=1527.0,1558.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/27","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Catherine Grau: I think that's a tricky question. I mean I don't know to what extent, it's just a reflection of my own interest and my continued investment in it, and thus feeling more exposed to the work that's happening. But overall, I think nationally there's been such a rollback of environmental protections, and I do think that can create a kind of counter movement. At least that's what I've experienced. I feel like when you see on a national and state level things being rolled back, environmental protections being rolled back, then I feel like on a grassroots level, there's kind of this pushback of demanding better protections, but then also wanting to kind of embody and make a change. It feels so, sorry, I'm blanking on this word, but it's like, what is this word?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=1558.0,1653.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/28","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Catherine Grau: It's like our agency is being taken, right? So on a federal level, all these things are happening that feel outside of our control. And then it becomes even more important to just reclaim that agency through direct action, being able to get our hands on the ground, and engage in projects where we feel like we can have an impact. So that's something I feel like is hopefully a trend that more and more people want to be engaged in the kind of work that's hands on the ground, boots on the ground. And honestly, that's rewarding also. It's so rewarding.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=1653.0,1713.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/29","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Sophia Gallagher: I guess this kind of ties to this. Do you see communities starting to respond to climate events in a more organized way?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=1713.0,1726.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/30","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Catherine Grau: I think in the last 10 years, New York has been really impacted by large climate events, especially Queens with Hurricane Sandy and Hurricane Ida. I think Hurricane Ida especially was really felt around Flushing Meadows Corona Park and the immediate surrounding neighborhoods really suffered with severe flooding and impact on life and livelihoods. And so that I think was a big wake up call for both communities, but I think also legislators and policy makers, and I think on a city and state level, there's been a huge shift towards looking at how to provide more infrastructure that can support with these kind of large storm events and flooding specifically in Corona, and Flushing I believe as well.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=1726.0,1802.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/31","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Catherine Grau: So I think that resonated both across the kind of community level and the kind of governance level. Yeah, and then also the fact that Flushing—that Waterfront Alliance put together the climate resilience plan with all that community input. The continual flooding in the park is an issue that the community and the park administration are hyper aware of. And the park has historically not been funded well enough. It's one of the most under-resourced parks in the city, and I do feel like there's just an increased awareness of that as well. So people are ready to ask and demand more, right? And demand for what is kind of just. So I think that all kind of contributes to hopefully more investment and also more community care. Just more people wanting to also support that on an individual basis, support that work through stewardship, through volunteer events or different ways of supporting climate resilience projects in the park.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=1802.0,1904.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/32","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Catherine Grau: And now that there's kind of more of an example and a vision and visuals of what those projects could look like, I feel like it will become even more enticing for people to get engaged. Cause sometimes it's just so hard to imagine, \"What can I do? What can we do? What can get us out of this situation or what can make this better?\" And if there's an actual plan with incredible visuals of what that could look like and how it could become this community resource as well, I think then it becomes much easier to advocate for it and for more and more people to be involved and inspired by that and want to get involved.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=1904.0,1948.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/33","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Sophia Gallagher: Yeah, absolutely. And you mentioned that Flushing Meadows Corona Park has been pretty underfunded, and I wanted to ask a bit more about that, about Flushing Meadows Corona Park in relation to other parks, and what do you think about the city's maintenance of the park?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=1948.0,1966.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/34","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Catherine Grau: Yeah. I'm not at all an expert on this, so I don't have any figures of how the funding of Flushing Meadows Corona Park compares to other parks. But I know that the larger parks like Prospect Park and Central Park, of course, they benefit from really vast amounts of private funding in addition to the city funding. So there's just a conservancy and all these Friends of Groups, and there's a lot of investment in those spaces also from real estate. And Flushing Meadows Corona Park is historically surrounded by immigrant communities and that are also suffering from gentrification, but aren't as gentrified, right? Or aren't as wealthy as the neighborhoods surrounding Prospect Park or Central Park. And I know at least from the last 10 years, parks has always been struggling with budget cuts, city budget cuts, and there's constant kind of—feels like there's these constant crises of the budget is being cut, the budget is being cut, and then kind of rallying together to get a little bit more budget.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=1966.0,2067.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/35","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Catherine Grau: And then these programs have to get cut, and then these programs have to get cut. And then I feel like there's this cycle of just constant scarcity and anxiety around funding for parks, and especially in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. I feel like that has been an ongoing pattern. And even when funding is allocated, it's—like what happened now with the Tidal Gate Bridge is a good example. The tidal gate is broken. It's causing environmental harm. It's causing a really bad smell, so it's creating also a negative impact for the people using the park. But there's this funding allocated for rebuilding the bridge that's not accessible for the next couple of years, so nothing can be done to fix it now, right. These are kind of these really complicated ways that these budgets and funding restrictions work. So yeah, it's just tricky.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=2067.0,2143.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/36","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Catherine Grau: And yeah, I feel like there's just also been a lot of land grab happening in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, so there's often this sense that there won't be city funding, and the only way to bring other resources into the park is through these compromises with developments that include some form of parkland alienation. And yeah, that is I think really problematic. And we need other models of understanding that these parks are incredible resources for all of the population of New York City and the health of the people. And it needs to be a public investment and not just a private investment, especially when we're talking about daylighting and climate resilience that impacts so many neighborhoods in Queens. So yeah, I think it should be more of a conversation. It should be—there's always room for more advocacy work. And let's see, hopefully with incoming administration, things can shift a little bit more towards investing our public resources, our tax money, into projects that really benefit the communities.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=2143.0,2258.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/37","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Sophia Gallagher: Yeah, absolutely. And yeah, speaking of the development plans, you probably are aware of the Willets Point development plans that have been in the works for the past few years. If you could talk about that, or anything that you know of them.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=2258.0,2280.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/38","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Catherine Grau: Are you talking about the Willets Point, the–","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=2280.0,2282.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/39","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Sophia Gallagher: Willets Point redevelopment.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=2282.0,2284.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/40","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Catherine Grau: Sorry, that involve the casino?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=2284.0,2286.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/41","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Sophia Gallagher: Yes, for the casino and the whole shopping center.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=2286.0,2293.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/42","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Catherine Grau: Yeah. I am sure you can find someone who can talk [doorbell rings]. Oh, excuse me—to better than me. Can you excuse me for one second?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=2293.0,2304.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/43","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Sophia Gallagher: Oh yeah, of course.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=2304.0,2305.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/44","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Catherine Grau: I'll be right back.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=2305.0,2310.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/45","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Catherine Grau: Sorry.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=2310.0,2312.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/46","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Sophia Gallagher: Oh, no worries.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=2312.0,2314.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/47","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Catherine Grau: Sorry, that was the delivery. I am sure you can find someone else to talk more about the development, the Steve Cohen development, Willets Point, that will include the kind of big casino plans. But I mean, I know that we're talking about Parkland being alienated, and I know that Steve Cohen is heavily investing into the cultural and kind of environmental nonprofit sector that's in and around Flushing Meadows Corona Park, and is positioning himself as this benefactor that can support all these organizations, institutions, the park itself in return for building his mega-development. And often the way these developers position themselves is just presenting their vision as the only solution. It's their solution or nothing, kind of, which I think can be misleading for a lot of people who want to buy into the idea of jobs for the community or want to buy into the idea of green infrastructure, which I think Steve Cohen is trying to sell this idea that there would be green infrastructure as part of the project.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=2314.0,2433.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/48","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Catherine Grau: But really there's nothing kind of concretely planned in that regard. But yeah, it's really complicated and I think there's lots of incredible grassroots organizing happening on the ground with Guardians of Flushing Bay and other local advocacy groups that are really well-informed and see through a lot of these strategies and diversions and truly understand the harm that this development would cause to the communities that live around Flushing Meadows Corona Park, both in terms of gentrification, but also in terms of impacts of gambling on the community and parkland alienation, and moving again away from having any kind of positive examples of publicly funded infrastructure projects that serve people.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=2433.0,2511.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/49","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Sophia Gallagher: Yeah, no, I thought that was great. I really liked what you're saying about like that they think that they're kind of trying to portray this as if it's the only solution or the only option.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=2511.0,2527.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/50","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Catherine Grau: Yeah, I didn't attend any, but they had these kind of community input processes where they, in the end want to claim that their project proposals and designs are developed with community input. But I saw kind of the outline of some of their community input process where it was like, \"Would you like jobs?\" \"Would you like these resources?\" \"Would you like these kind of park spaces that we would be providing, or would you like nothing?\" \"Or would you like a barren parking lot?\" You know, basically, the option, the alternatives to their vision was a barren parking lot. There was no space provided for the community to actually vision what would serve them. I thought that was just so funny.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=2527.0,2587.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/51","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Sophia Gallagher: Yeah, it's very illustrative of a lot of the stuff that I think a lot of the ongoing trends we've been talking about with the approach to nature. And yeah, I wanted to ask, what do you see as possibilities for climate resilience and more engagement with nature instead of this idea?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=2587.0,2621.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/52","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Catherine Grau: I'm really excited about the possibility of daylighting the creek, and I think it is just such a powerful metaphor of bringing the water back to the surface and then we're confronted with it, and then it's there, right? Then, we have to deal with it, which brings so much opportunity to receive the gifts it has to offer, but also brings the responsibility of listening to the water, seeing it like, what problems, manmade problems are emerging with that water as well. So in a way, I think it forces us to look in the mirror rather than pretend things are ways that they're not.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=2621.0,2679.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/53","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Catherine Grau: And so with that, I think it presents all these incredible stewardship opportunities to think about the water pollution and how to fight the water pollution, how to work towards cleaner waters, and as well as rehabilitating shoreline habitat. I think that is super exciting. I get so excited in Flushing Meadows Corona Park where like, just that area before the creek goes underground, which it looks like a little lagoon. And I get so excited every time I see this white egret there. And I feel like seeing more of those instances where we see wildlife utilizing the space and really see a kind of more than human thriving ecology, I know that inspires me, and I feel like that will inspire other folks as well. And then feel inspired to kind of care for that ecology on a deeper level, whether it's through cleanups or just trying to understand how to better service those ecologies and provide the kind of conditions for thriving that those ecosystems need.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=2679.0,2763.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/54","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Catherine Grau: And then also providing real kind of landscapes for human use. Right now, the stretches of the creek that are above ground are just not very inviting. So thinking about stretches of the creek where there are park benches or—there is a kind of landscaped nature trail or ways of providing access to the water that also kind of feeds the human soul and spirit. I think that is where you get to a place of really transforming from a place of feeling maybe overwhelmed with the state of affairs of the creek to wanting to care for it because it's providing so much beauty. It's providing inspiration. It's providing calm or all the things that water has the power to do, right? And I think that would really shift the way we want to care for the water and feel called to do so.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=2763.0,2849.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/55","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Sophia Gallagher: Yeah. No, that's really cool. And I did see, I was honestly very surprised by the amount of wildlife I saw in the creek.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=2849.0,2861.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/56","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Catherine Grau: In the Fountain of the Planets, there's all these geese and seagulls and stuff, but every time I go there, I always find one turtle that's just like—there's no habitat at all, and it's clinging onto one floating piece of wood or something. And I'm like, \"Where else are you surviving? All the edges of this pool are just like pure cement. There's no habitat for you here, and yet you're still living in here. It's very impressive.\" But yeah, every time I see that turtle, I'm like, \"I want you to have a nicer home. I want you to have a whole bunch of rocks and trees and branches and a family of turtles around.\"","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=2861.0,2910.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/57","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Sophia Gallagher: Yeah, I was kind of reminded of something you said earlier about being interested in landscapes that have been really altered and then kind of abandoned by people. Do you see that in Flushing Meadows Corona Park?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=2910.0,2925.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/58","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Catherine Grau: Yeah, I think so. Yeah. There's several spaces, especially kind of on the Flushing side of the creek that are still pockets that have been are—I don't know that are between phases of development. I dunno what's going on specifically with the sites, but that have for 10, 15 years just been kind of abandoned. And it's of course much more densely and lush in terms of the ecosystem than what parkland often provides. You're not going to see a mowed grass. It's just very thick in terms of trees and bushes and grasses, and obviously wildlife as well, from insects to invertebrae and other species, bird species, migratory birds. But what I've found interesting in looking at those sites is that you often see get a glimpse of a deeper time. So you see in a way a park land, few old big trees, and just the mowed grass or the short kind of grass is not really a natural landscape.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=2925.0,3017.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/59","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Catherine Grau: And if you stop managing it, more and more species will come and more and more diversity will come. And often those species that come in the beginning are kind of weedy species, pioneer species, that we like to combat because we think as soon as we stop maintaining a landscape, it'll just be overrun by weeds. But when you look at these spaces that have been kind of abandoned for a longer time, what you often see is that those weedy species are actually just a phase of transitioning into more complex ecologies of non-weedy species that can take longer to establish themselves, but then create a much more diverse and—ecosystem that is whatever is appropriate for the climate, for the soil, for where we are geographically located. That's where I'm like that's what nature knows what to do, right? It knows what to grow in this place. And generally nature doesn't like bare soil.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=3017.0,3091.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/60","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Catherine Grau: So yeah, I do see that happening in some pockets around Flushing Meadows Corona Park, and the creek specifically. I like that the design for daylighting Flushing Creek by Waterfront Alliance also includes an increase in trees and other plants in the kind of areas surrounding the creek. And so looking at climate resilience, not only in relation to the water, but also in terms of creating a richer kind of plant landscape around the creek and creating more large shade trees and just planting more towards a more densely packed kind of landscape. And I do think that is another really good step towards climate resilience. We need more trees. We need more shade. We need more biomass basically to take the carbon out of the air. So yeah, I like that they also consider that in their climate resilience plan.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=3091.0,3179.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/61","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Sophia Gallagher: This has been really great. We're almost to an hour, so I wanted to ask kind of as the last question of—how do you feel about the future of climate resilience in New York City and in Queens?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=3179.0,3195.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/62","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Catherine Grau: Yeah, it's a really difficult subject because New York City is located on the Atlantic. We know that we're dealing with sea level rise. We know that we're dealing with increased rain and storm surges and cloud burst events. When we look at the kind of flooding projections for the next 50 to 80 years, we can see that a huge percentage of areas that are densely populated will be subjected to constant flooding. And I personally veer more towards a kind of managed retreat kind of scenario than to the kind of storm gates kind of barricade around the city and protect the urban infrastructure at all costs kind of perspective.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=3195.0,3269.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/63","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Catherine Grau: I understand that it's super complicated and it's really hard to make decisions for people, and generally whenever possible, I think as the solutions that are driven by the communities are the best ones, but it just will require such immense amount of resources to deal with it no matter what. That in my opinion I would like humanity to get more towards a place of being able to be more in flow with natural patterns. And I think it's so fascinating when we learn about the fact that forests are migrating because of climate change. They're going where they can find the climate that still suits them and abandoning areas where the climate has changed to a point where they no longer can thrive. And inevitably humanity will see that migration, climate induced migration as well.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=3269.0,3355.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/64","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Catherine Grau: So I don't know. I want to fight, obviously, primarily I would love for humanity to fight climate change with everything we can, but also at the same time return to a way of living with nature that is a little bit more in flow and less—giving up on those 20th century ideas of our infrastructure needs to hold up to whatever nature throws at us. And we are so rigid and kind of locked in place that we'll just build walls and dams and whatnot to kind of protect our investments that aren't benefiting communities anyways. So how do we get away from that and more towards a place of just living in a state of learning and adaptation and care, mutual care with the environment. That would be my hope, but it's so complicated.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=3355.0,3427.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372/transcript/88993/annotation/65","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Sophia Gallagher: Cool. Thank you so much. This was really great. I'm going to stop the recording right now, yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2074/collection_resources/165072/file/300372#t=3427.0,3433.584"}]}]}]}