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Library

Molly McClarnon

June 29, 2016

|

Hudson, NY

Song

Recorded by

Sammy Sass

This interview is available in-person only. Please get in touch if you would like to listen.
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Summary:

This interview with Molly McClarnon was conducted on June 29, 2016 in the Solaris building, in the second floor office overlooking Warren Street in downtown Hudson, New York. Molly is 31 years old, she was raised in Germantown, New York, and has recently moved back to live with her parents after many years away from the area. Molly spoke about changes in her life - particularly what motivated her to move between Florida and New Hampshire and New York City, and then back home - as well as the changes she's witnessed in the Hudson-area throughout her lifetime. She spoke about her family and her close relationships with friends and community, and how her parents modeled friendship networks becoming family. Molly spoke about significant romantic relationships in her life, including a current boyfriend.

Molly spoke about class and growing up poor.  Molly spoke quite a bit about her life as an actor and she shared her dream of opening a theater in Hudson and a program to support emerging actors as they get their start in the field. She talked about her parents' decision to move upstate and pursue artistic careers, and her own journey as an actor.   Molly spoke with humor and with a lot of self-reflection, for example she analyzed the process of interviewing as it was taking place.  This interview may be of interested to: a) those interested in a life history of a millennial in transition; b) self-reflection from a young artist, particularly regarding what emerging actors may need in order to thrive and stick with their passion in a world that makes it very difficult to be an artist; and c) those interested to hear about growing up in the Hudson-area and returning as a young adult.  

Themes:
Migration
,
New York City
,
Class
,
Art and Artists
,
Theater
,
Interviewer Bio:
Sammy Sass

Sammy Sass is a Boston-based artist, teacher, and activist. She is passionate about the practice of storytelling and connecting through word, both spoken and written. Sammy is the interviewer and curator of Gathering Voices, a community interview project collecting the stories and histories of young adults raised by LGBTQ parents. When not talking, she can be found writing creative non-fiction, poetry, and personal narrative. To this particular interview she brought shared experience as a young artist trying to make it work in a consumerist world, a family connection to acting in New York City, and a passion for listening to watershed moments of a life in transition.  

Additional Info:
Interview language(s):
English
,
Audio quality:
Medium

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Medium - There is background noise, but the narrator is audible.

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Permissions: 

This interview is hereby made available for research purposes only. For additional uses (radio and other media, music, internet), please click here to inquire about permissions.

Part of this interview may be played in a radio broadcast or podcast.

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.”

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