Queens Memory Launches Its New Podcast Season Documenting Life In Queens During COVID-19
The First Episode of the 10-Week Season, Dedicated Entirely to the Experiences of Queens Residents During the Pandemic, will Premiere on Thursday, August 6
Queens, NY (August 4, 2020)—Queens Memory—a community archiving program supported by Queens Public Library and the Queens College Library—announced today that the new season of its podcast, “The Borough We Became: Queens Residents on Life During COVID-19,” will premiere on Thursday, August 6 at 4 pm.
The stories featured during the 10-episode season two of the Queens Memory Podcast were gathered as part of the COVID-19 Project, which has been collecting first-person accounts from the communities affected in the most acute ways this past spring, when New York City was the center of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States. At the time, Queens had the highest numbers of diagnosed cases and hospitalizations.
“We’ve been working with a talented team of producers who have sifted through hundreds of submissions from the public to assemble this intense and beautiful tribute to the people of Queens during this time of adversity,” said Queens Memory Project Director, Natalie Milbrodt.
Each 30-minute episode will focus on different aspects of life in Queens during the pandemic, including stories from healthcare workers battling the coronavirus, essential workers on the front lines, people who contracted the virus, and teachers facing the new challenges of their job.
Listeners will hear about struggles to adjust to staying indoors and practicing social distance, but also stories of resilience and efforts to uplift one another even in isolation.
Guided by host and Queens Memory Project Community Coordinator, Meral Agish, Queens residents will discuss the fear and loss that have touched everyone since the beginning of COVID-19.
Ann Hepperman of Jackson Heights, who contracted the virus in March, shares her story of strength in the face of uncertainty, while residents of Elmhurst and Astoria talk about what it is like to live near hospitals during a pandemic. Nurse Patricia Tiu recorded her thoughts over the first intense weeks of working with COVID-19 patients, sharing her hope for the future.
“The Queens Memory Project podcast provides communities with the opportunity to share their story on their own terms and in their own words,” says Jordan Gass-Poore’, the podcast’s executive producer. “This is a period of time that will go down in the history books and this podcast will help people in the future to understand the borough’s resilience in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Episodes will be released weekly on Thursdays at 4 p.m. on the Queens Memory Aviary platform, beginning August 6. They will also be available on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, and the other major podcast platforms.
The first season of the Queens Memory podcast, Memories of Migration, was produced last year and told stories of how our Queens neighbors came here from all over the world and from all walks of life to build a home in this diverse borough.
Contact: Queens Public Library—Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska
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