Audio Recording "When I go out there, I say, 'I made it grow,' you know? And I enjoy it, to see it go from small to large."
"When I go out there, I say, 'I made it grow,' you know? And I enjoy it, to see it go from small to large."
Share
About this Item
Title
- "When I go out there, I say, 'I made it grow,' you know? And I enjoy it, to see it go from small to large."
Names
- Jones, Leonard (Narrator)
- Levitas, Susan, 1961- (Interviewer)
Created / Published
- 1994-08-19
Headings
- - African Americans
- - Interviews
- - Gardening
- - Oral history
- - Sound recordings
- - Ethnography
- - United States -- New Jersey -- Paterson
Genre
- Ethnography
- Interviews
Notes
- - Interview with Leonard Jones, urban gardener, hardware store worker, motorcycle club member.
- - Summary of audio segment: Boss likes the garden, he says "How's our garden doing?" The only one thing wrong is there's no water, I have to run a hose from here across the street. I've lost two hoses already because cars run over them so I have to keep replacing the hose every year. The wallboard court is still there, that's where I do my mixing. The garden is on a site where as a kid I played on a playground. I thought it was gone after all these years, had to be fifty-five years, just covered with good topsoil. (What do you like about the garden?) "It's like a mechanic that works on a car; when he finishes with it, he says 'I've accomplished something, I've done something, I've made it run.' When I go out there, I say, 'I made it grow,' you know? And I enjoy it; to see it go from small to large." (Having garden so close to work?) It's convenient to have it outside of where I work. You can't just put a garden anywhere unless it's halfway protected. There are a lot of lots in this city that could be used for gardens if city used money this way. There is a separation between work, garden and motorcycle club even though they're in the same area; at the club its club business and that's it. At the garden it's garden business and that's it. And when I leave the job, I know the job's secure, but I don't think about it. I put it in the back of my mind to remember it and I do what I gotta do.
Medium
- Digital Audio Tape
Call Number/Physical Location
- AFC 1995/028: WIP-SL-A017
Source Collection
- Working in Paterson Project Collection (AFC 1995/028)
Repository
- American Folklife Center
Digital Id
Online Format
- audio