Porchfest!: A Celebration of Performance and Art in Newark's Forest Hill

Pod and Market

Guests, Don Charles and Derek Walls, join the podcast to share the preparations and work behind Porchfest, a 50-plus artist/performers celebration throughout Forest Hill on September 28, 2019.

Background & Articles:

• Porchfest Site: click here

• Forest Hill Community Associations Main Website: click here

Guests:

Derek Walls—Derek is a graphic designer working at Random House in Manhattan. He has lived in Forest Hill for six years, having moved from Brooklyn, with his husband, Don Charles.

Don Charles—Don is a freelance graphic designer who works from home and enjoys many of the great features Forest Hill has to offer including beautiful Branch Brook Park, the new dog run, and discussing books with his neighbors at the monthly book club meetings. He lives with his husband, Derek Walls, in a 120-year old Victorian with Derek’s niece Ashleigh, three cool cats, and a rambunctious little dog.

Quote:

“. . . the fact that bedmaking clearly held no interest for him, the fact that I used to tell the kids to make their own beds, but it’s easier if I just do it, the fact that I take pride in my baking, at least now and again, but that’s about it, and when I do, I fo it in private, because Mommy taught us never to be proud, the fact that some moms teach their kids the opposite nowadays, bolstering ‘em up nonstop like little gods, telling them how great they are at practically everything, E-G-O, E = mc^2, the fact that maybe Einstein had a right to be proud, the fact that you can be positive, without being overly proud, positive-negative, negatives, electrical circuits, the fact that maybe we should get an electric car, or a hybrid, the fact that electric cars are worse though, Leo says, because they’re coal-fired, originally, instead of using gas, the fact that . . . “ Ducks, Newburyport, Lucy Ellmann