OUR WORK
Fire Through Dry Grass
"An intimate and raw film… a powerful reminder of how defining and devastating the pandemic was, and gives space to those whose voices were long ignored."
Concepción de León, The New York Times
Co-directed by one of our own, Andres “Jay” Molina, with Alexis Neophytides, the PBS documentary Fire Through Dry Grass uncovers in real-time the devastation and abuse the Reality Poets experienced living in a New York City nursing home during the coronavirus pandemic. The film captures the battle we fought for our survival and a seat at the decision-making table where the policies that impact our lives are made. This powerful, transformative film won the Jury Award for Best Documentary at the BlackStar Film Festival, as well as other accolades. It is now available to screen at universities, conferences, and community groups! Fire Through Dry Grass and its complementary resources will bolster the work of disability justice advocates and support equitable practices in healthcare and filmmaking.
Food Stories
The Food Stories Campaign brings Coler residents together to share memories of the meals and people that shaped them, over coffee, fresh fruit and pastries donated by local partners. More than 360 residents have taken part, turning these gatherings into moments of connection, healing, and joy. Each individual’s food story is transformed into a digital drawing that feeds a growing archive for resident-led advocacy. With sustainability built into every step, the campaign is working to restore dignity, cultural relevance, and community to the food system at Coler.
FADE
WHEELING & HEALING 2
Wheeling & Healing 2: Holding the Mic in the Middle of the Storm is a poetry anthology edited by the Reality Poets. OPEN DOORS invited nursing home residents, neighbors, mentors, and friends, including those incarcerated at Folsom State Prison, to contribute their voices in honor of all those we lost during the pandemic. Jim LeBrecht, co-director of Crip Camp and disability rights activist, offers his praise, “Powerful words that opened my mind to a world that I knew existed but didn’t know at all.”
Covid Dayz and Covid Nightz by Alhassan “EL” Abdulfattah
It’s hitting close to home They want you to stay all alone Just social media, Netflix, and phone It’s taken so many lives who could’ve known I pray God bless the people who’ve gone I pray God bless the loved ones who mourn Hug and kiss your loved ones And survive the storm
Wheeling & Healing
ALONE together
This visual art installation, at Roosevelt Island’s Motorgate, was one of several across New York State, titled Alone Together, initiated by the Memory Maker Project—an art, culture and advocacy program for aging adults, people living with memory loss, and individuals living in care communities. Alone Together brought forward the voices of community members who suffered the brunt of isolation due to Covid-19. This Roosevelt Island iteration of the project was a collaboration between OPEN DOORS, RIOC, Friends of Coler, The Memory Maker Project, Nursing Home Lives Matter, iDig2Learn and island kids.
FADE is an original play written by the Reality Poets and Joel François. It premiered in June 2019 at the Main Street Theater & Dance Alliance on Roosevelt Island. The production brought audiences into “the barbershop,” where humor and courage transform violence and injustice into a redemptive force. Based on the real-life stories of men who use wheelchairs because of gun violence, FADE delivers a message of realness, resilience and healing with a hip-hop beat.
Reality poets TV
an OPEN DOORS Podcast
The Collection is a virtual arts showcase that uplifts the voices of gun violence survivors, people with disabilities and their allies. It emerged during Covid as a place for people to share their feelings of isolation and the art they created from it.
I can breathe
Pandemic Island
Oral Histories
an OPEN DOORS Podcast
Arts ethnographer Alexa Smithwrick and Cornell Tech student Kennith Chan collaborated with the Reality Poets to share their oral histories as a part of the NYC Health + Hospitals/Coler Annual Art Show. Through an interactive listening station and photography, guests had the opportunity to engage with the life stories of 7 men of color living with various degrees of paralysis. Each recording explores isolation, stigma, and connection through sensory evoked memory while challenging our definitions of ‘disability’ and ‘agency’.
Creating an archive
I CAN BREATHE is a multimedia map of Roosevelt Island that features the Reality Poets’ portraits and oral histories. The artwork was the culmination of a critical race theory workshop led by independent scholar Khadijah Abdurahman. The goal of the training was to challenge the poets to situate their lived experience within larger social/historical contexts, stimulating conversations about not just what each poet believes to be true but the process through which individuals come to hold those beliefs and why. The map was created with local artist Thom Heyer and other community members at Cornell Tech’s MakerLAB.
Pandemic Island: Creating an Archive brings together Coler Rehabilitation & Nursing Care Center residents and their neighbors in the making, gathering, curating, and preserving of individual stories and other forms of creative expression in the time of Covid-19.
OPEN DOORS Reality Poets, Vol. 1 was produced by Reality Poet Vincent Pierce in the OPEN DOORS music studio at Coler. Vince learned how to mix and edit music from Pavel Bez, a music industry and film sound engineer who has worked on several well-known TV shows like “Love & Hip-Hop,” and music albums like Biggie Smalls’ “Duets.” About his creative process, Vince said, It’s real amazing when you create a beat from scratch. It feels like you did something out of nowhere. You feel like a proud father.” The album showcases spoken word from all of the Reality Poets and vocals from Vince, King Tito Love, and Melanie Greenberg.
Reality Poets TV is a podcast from OPEN DOORS, hosted by Vince Pierce and Var Viggz. They invite artists, entrepreneurs and disability advocates to speak about their journeys, their work and the state of the world. Past guests include Felice Bell, Live Mula, Edward Funches and Alex Elegudin.
Available in audio format on all podcast platforms and in video format on YouTube.
New episodes drop on the last Friday of every month!
On March 11th, 2019, the Reality Poets launched their first collection of poetry at the iconic Bowery Poetry Club, rousing the packed house to their feet. After the event one member said, "I woke up feeling like a rock star." So to all who helped make this magical night possible, we want to say Thank You—for showing up, for lending your hearts, for sharing your voices, and most of all, for believing in us.
