This oral history interview is an intimate conversation between two people, both of whom have generously agreed to share this recording with Oral History Summer School, and with you. Please listen in the spirit with which this was shared.
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Jonathan Simons is the proprietor of Jonathan's Computers at 315 Warren Street. Born in Salem, MA, he moved to Hudson in 1997. His wife, Andrea, had a family home and they visited often; eventually deciding to move here. He worked as a chef for 10 years. At the beginning of the computer era, Jonathan and Andrea sold and repaired used computers in outdoor fairs. In 2002 he bought the building at 315 Warren Street, originally as a retail location. This gradually focused on computer repairs.
Simons does repairs in the shop and house calls up and down the Hudson Valley. He has two sons, Justin and Ryan. His hobby is photography. Currently he specializes in HDR photography which replicates photographs in the way the human eye sees.
During the interview, Simons discusses the changes in Hudson, especially along Warren Street, that he has seen since 1997. An important issue that he discusses is the community effort to halt the reopening of a cement plant at the top of the Warren Street hill.
I was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania and currently live in New York City. My interest in oral history has been growing for a few years but until Oral History Summer School, I never acted on it. I am happy to work on building an Archive of voices of Hudson Residents in the 21st Century; providing living evidence and wisdom of those who are here to those who will honor them in the future.
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.”