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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."

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

Rights & Access

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Credit line

Working in Paterson Project collection, 1993-2002 (AFC 1995/028), American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Jones, Leonard, and Susan Levitas. "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.". -08-19, 1994. Audio. https://www.loc.gov/item/afcwip003646/.

APA citation style:

Jones, L. & Levitas, S. (1994) "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.". -08-19. [Audio] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afcwip003646/.

MLA citation style:

Jones, Leonard, and Susan Levitas. "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.". -08-19, 1994. Audio. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afcwip003646/>.