Last year I interviewed Ronaldo Brunet at StoryCorps’ Grand Central booth which has since closed. He seemed an easy choice for a first try at the burgeoning oral history organization’s booth which gives the public a convenient way to document individual stories. In talking to Ronaldo I hoped to continue a dialog I had heard many times during late nights in Soho. But when you formalize a conversation, there are certain walls and occasional hesistancy.
At the wake of my friend Greg’s father, Lisa and I talked about recording a conversation with our fathers before they, well…art in heaven and have their names hallowed. It was back in March where we eventually set a date for mid-August. A risky proposition perhaps, to bring our fathers together who had never met and were unclear what this interview idea was all about.
Lisa wanted to cover her father’s days prior to getting married, his time growing up on the lower east side and later joining the police force. Since my father recently retired, I thought I would talk exclusively about his long career at the Staten Island Advance, the daily newspaper. After riding the ferry in together, we took the R train to City Hall, walked to the Foley Square StoryCorps booth and made our interviews. Lisa and her father found their time passed very quickly. My father felt the same and that can only be a good thing when you interview someone. I’m glad I kept it specific to one area of his life. It shaked out to be more of an overview while realizing my job is to dig deeper where the stories emerge, the ones almost forgotten, to pry them from memory. We’ll have to pick it up again.
The five of us had dinner in Little Italy at Il Cortile, then trekked down on foot for the return ferry. Mario, 72, and Joe, 83, welcomed the early evening walk on a humid summer eve.
Mario, Joe, Lisa, and Joel get ready to disembark the Staten Island Ferry in downtown Manhattan.
Mario DiCrocco peers through the O of the StoryCorps window in Foley Square.
(Photo by Lisa Delsante)
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