A Great Genealogical Resource in New York

I recently visited the archives of the Episcopal Diocese of New York, and I just wanted to make some of their records more widely known. They have burial (and baptismal) records for people who were living and dying on Blackwell’s Island (and other places, but I was only looking into Blackwell’s Island).

As researchers already know, if you are trying to find information about the wealthy of NYC there’s a lot of information out there. But it can be very difficult sometimes to find the unfortunates who fell between the cracks.

I believe the Metropolitan Hospital was the new name for the Lunatic Asylum. If people were buried on Hart Island, New York’s Potter’s Field, that was noted as well. I thought this was important to make known because there are some gaps in the records for who was buried on Hart Island.

So if you are looking for someone who was destitute and you think might have ended up on Blackwell’s this is one place you might look.

Burial Records, Episcopal Diocese of New York

Episcopal Diocese of New York

Time Warner is Totally Down

Time Warner went down in my neighborhood, the West Village, yesterday afternoon. Not just the internet, but all their services, internet, tv, phone, everything. Their wifi is up this morning, which is how I’m here, but everything else is still down. I only just recently learned they even offered wifi, and it wasn’t up last night, but it is now, thank god. I felt so cut off! I don’t know how wide-spread the outage is.

So I started watching the current season of Homeland. I don’t think I can continue with it, though. Nothing good is going to happen to that poor young Pakistani man, and I can’t bear watching unhappy things anymore. I need shows like Bunheads, and only shows like Bunheads. And of course Bunheads got cancelled.

Scrawled on the wall somewhere between my apartment and my dentist at NYU.

Scrawled on the Wall, New York City

I entered a contest!

I just entered the Open Call contest sponsored by The Space. I only heard about it recently, and so I didn’t have time to make a video or other things to jazz up my presentation, but it was fun to enter in any case.

I’ve been taking a class in transmedia (storytelling over multiple platforms, ie, a story could begin in a book but continue in twitter, or a game, or on Facebook, etc.). The teacher, the playwright J. Dakota Powell, suggested I enter a project I submitted for the class. So I did! The finalists will be announced next month, so we don’t have long to wait.

I’ve been basing my projects on the book I hope to write (more news about that in a few weeks, hopefully). If I get to write the book, I will implement these projects when the book comes out.

Actually, I want to also come up with a singing idea, something that might complement Imperfect Harmony and might also spur some holiday sales, so I have to come up with something fast and relatively simple to launch!

A doggie daycare in Tribeca. I would think working here would be heaven, but maybe the reality is a little different? I don’t know anyone who has ever worked in one of these places.

Doggie Daycare, Tribeca, New York City, 2014

Gramercy Park

A beautiful building near Gramercy Park. About the building to the left, why would someone put up such an ordinary building next to something to lovely??

There are two buildings on the east end of the park that I’ve always wanted to explore. There’s something so magical and romantic about them, I wonder about their history. I could probably just google them and learn everything I want to know. GOD I LOVE THE INTERNET!

Near Gramercy Park, New York City