Podcast: Play in new window | Download

This special show was inspired by the Queens Name Explorer, an interactive digital map developed by Queens Memory that illuminates the historical significance behind the people’s names that grace public spaces across the borough.

Story partners Francisco Delgado and Ari Figueroa. Photo credit: Sachyn Mital.

Give a listen as our second set of storytellers step into the map to explore “My Place” in Queens.

Special thanks to the Greater Astoria Historical Society for their assistance in creating the generative “My Place in Queens” workshop, where these stories first began.

Stories

  • Take a Walk With Me, by Ari Figueroa, performed by Francisco Delgado, and directed by KJ Fitzsimmons
  • Ashes and Stars, by Francisco Delgado, performed by Ari Figueroa, and directed by KJ Fitzsimmons

Bios

Francisco Delgado is a CHamoru writer of fiction, poetry, and literary scholarship on contemporary Native American and Indigenous literatures. His novella, On Remembering My Friends, My First Job, and My Second-Favorite Weezer CD, won the 2024 Clay Reynold’s Novella Prize and is published with Texas Review Press. Other recent work is featured in Mānoa and Poets of Queens, vol. 2. He teaches at BMCC (CUNY) and lives in Forest Hills with his wife and their son.

Carnie, librarian, drag queen, and teacher—these are just some of the faces Ari Figueroa has worn. But throughout their life, whether growing up in Massachusetts or evolving in New York, they have always been a writer. Everything they make, including poetry, short stories, & plays, is with the intent of connection. Ari is currently working on their first fantasy-humor novel and is always looking for more opportunities to create. They’d like to thank their fiancée Aria and their bestie Jesse, who have both been incredibly supportive but also invaluable sounding boards for Ari’s work. Thank you to Kelly Jean and No, YOU Tell It!  for this new chance to share their stories.

***

This project is supported by funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, Statewide Community Regrants Program (formerly the Decentralization program) with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and administered by Flushing Town Hall.

This organization is funded in part by the Howard Gilman Foundation administered by Flushing Town Hall.