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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This interview was conducted with Todd Smith in the Chamber of Commerce building in Hudson, NY on Monday July 3, 2017. Todd has lived in Hudson his whole life. He describes his Childhood growing up in a large single parent family. He talks about how important his role as a caregiver for children has been his entire life, starting from an early age. He talks about his feelings of gratitude toward and responsibility to his community and family. He describes the support provided him when he was an addict, his incarceration, his graduation from college, and also future plans to have more of a presence in the community. The kids he mentors and their interests shape many of his choices. He discusses his work with youth at the Boys and Girls Club and at the boxing gym where now he trains people of all ages. He speaks about his views regarding the politics of Hudson and his influence.
This interview would be of interest to people looking for information about growing up in Hudson in the sixties and seventies, family dynamics, the organized activities for kids in Hudson, advocates for youth in communities, the story of someone who feels they are an important figure in a community and the responsibilities that come with it.
Hannah Beal lives in Red Hook, NY where she is a farmer.
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.”