The Land Remembers

Appear to Me (aka A Pier to Me) mashes together the past and present itinerant denizens of the Delaware River’s piers. Filled with a dreamy troubadour spirit, rough songs and honest conversation swirl through these untold tales of the waterfront, narrated by feral cats channeling the hobo poet W. H. Davies, radical dock workers, Lenape boaters, cruisers, fishing teens, even talking litter, each simply seeking a moment of respite.

Thank you for making time to connect with the Delaware River today. This is an audio timeline designed to be experienced on the water with paddle boats from the Independence Seaport Museum. You can reflect on the questions on your own or discuss with a partner. The river is alive, the port is active, and the tides shift regularly. Please be mindful of your surroundings as you listen and paddle. Before you begin, consider the place where you stand and where you will float. These are the ancestral waters and lands of the Lenni-Lenape, who continue to live in New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania as well as in other parts of our country where their families were forced to move. Take a moment to remember the original stewards of this place, and the history of theft and violence that made this place what it is today. To learn more, please check out the 2019 news series that inspired this project, "Reviving the River" by WHYY reporters Dana Bate and Susan Phillips: https://whyy.org/series/reviving-the-river/ This project was produced by Fereshteh Toosi (http://fereshteh.net/) for the Ecotopian Toolkit initiative of the Penn Project for Environmental Humanities. Music: Live Forever (Long) by Moby, courtesy of https://mobygratis.com

This map displays the sonic experience of my commute via train from Center City Philadelphia, PA to Newark, DE and back. I specifically focus on my start and stop stations. If I can make images, sounds, and/or descriptions more accessible to you, please let me know! [image: Close up of two silver train cars. The SEPTA logo is on the left side of the train door. The logo is half blue and half red with arrows pointing in each direction.] Photo Credit: Gary Todd

The flow of human history, like the water rushing to the sea, cannot be easily contained. Like truth, it defies our efforts to bury, divert, or ignore it. It overflows its banks, sometimes leaking in tiny trickles; sometimes erupting violently to the surface. Deeply Routed travels to places near and far, connected by these waterways, branching off like so many tributaries that flow to the Delaware River.

music for home yes

Diving into themes of ancestry, colonialism and race, Conversations imagines discussions that arise with the indigenous Nanticoke' Lenni-Lenape people of past, present and future. The water of the Delaware River brings age-old questions to the surface: beckoning listeners to question, be aware of, and learn about the land they move through.