This interview with Doug Diaz was recorded in Hudson, New York on June 16th, 2014. Doug grew up as a “Brooklyn kid” and worked as an assistant in an engineering department for Maxwell House, a record store clerk, the head buyer for a music department, and as a professional musician. About ten years ago, he left New York City and moved into a “fixer-upper” in Stockport with his wife. He currently works with his hands as a repair man in Hudson for both private clients and rental property owners. Some of the subjects discussed in this interview include: a happy Childhood in Brooklyn; the value of boredom as relating to work; the definition of friendship; making new friendships; how personal change happens; how professional change happens; the current state of various residential properties in Hudson; rental properties in Hudson; the lack of parking in Hudson; gentrification; and the value of music.
Nell Baldwin is a first year medical student at Brown Medical School. She has worked as a political organizer, farmhand, and as a drug counselor. She is interested in listening, reading and writing.
Oral history is an iterative process. In keeping with oral history values of anti-fixity, interviewees will have an opportunity to add, annotate and reflect upon their lives and interviews in perpetuity. Talking back to the archive is a form of “shared authority.”