The 100 Years Project: Eric Demby
Name:
Eric Demby
Age:
38 years old
Where are you from:
I was born on a farm in Central Main, I grew up in Boston, went to high school in Connecticut and I have lived in New York for the last twenty years
Where do you live:
Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
Occupation:
I run a flea market called The Brooklyn Flea
100 Years from now what do want to be remembered for?
As of today, I would most like to be remembered for helping Brooklyn, in a general sense, become a place that more people travel to, and a place that is easier to be successful in, for the people who live here, as they try to pursue their passions.
I want to help lead the charge that puts Brooklyn on the National and International map, so that it can thrive as an entity onto itself within New York City, rather than being the “step child of Manhattan”. That just kinds of threads together a lot of the different things that I am working on.
THE 100 YEARS PROJECT
For the last few years I have been fortunate enough to have interviewed some very interesting and incredible people who I have regularly showcased in the Inspiring People section of Dana Delivered. One of my favorite moments of each interview is the last question that I ask each and every Inspiring Person:
100 years from now what do you want to be remembered for?
Often the initial reaction to the question is as fascinating as the answer. To observe each person grapple with issues related to mortality, productivity, the meaning (or meaninglessness) of life as they endeavor to arrive at an answer that somehow reflects something of who they are and what they stand for, has piqued my curiosity to discover what anyone, anywhere might have to say when asked that very question:
100 years from now what do you want to be remembered for?
Join me everyday for the next 365 days as I ask the question, get an answer and capture the images of all kinds of people doing all kinds of things. Visit Dana's Dailies on DanaRoc.com everyday, "friend request" me on Facebook or follow me, @Danaroc on Twitter.
How will you be remembered someday? What is it that you will have said or done or built or mastered that people will still be talking about decades and decades from now, long after you are gone and what if anything are you doing about that right now?
The 100 Years Project is ultimately an attempt in 3 phases to leave a record behind of this particular and unique period of time at the beginning of the 21st century.
Welcome to Phase 1...
Is there one thing for you that represents this particular time that we are living in?
The explosion in Connectivity - the way people feel connected, to me, is the defining trend of this moment we are living in.
The idea of being connected is what has evolved. Now we actually think about being connected whereas before we just knew the people we knew and we did the things we did. We are so aware now that what we are doing will have an impact on others or that we can learn what someone else near or far away from us is doing. The concept of this new connectivity has changed the way our minds work.
Do you think that allows for you to be more creative or more ambitious in your thinking?
I think it has more to do with speed than scope for me.
Creativity is something that you can’t have more or less of. It is just sort of the way that creativity has manifested that has changed because of connectivity. Creativity is a light or an abstract thing that you can’t necessarily have more of.
Fill in the blank. In 100 Years I hope that...
I hope that the connectivity that is defining our era brings people closer together. I just hope that it can be used for good and that people can feel close to each other even if they are different.
What I really hope is that people will understand that everyone is different and people that are close to us are also different than us and the people that we think we have the most in common with are also different than we are and that difference is something that we don’t even have to embrace. We just don’t have to use it to divide.
I don’t like the way difference is used for bad. I don’t need it to be used for good. I am not one of those people who thinks we have to always be celebrating diversity. I am just hopeful that people will one day overcome the presumptions that just because someone is different that they are against you.
What do you think will still be here in 100 Years?
I think that people will still be thriving for closeness with each. I think that if we can live through ten years of the Internet explosion and have already seen a backlash where people want to spend personal time with each other instead of online time with each other – that pendulum has already swung after ten years. The idea that people want to be close with other people will always remain. That is the power of good as it fights against the power of bad. I don’t like to call it evil because I don’t think of people as evil. I do think that there are good and bad things in the world.
100 years from now, God knows where we will be...I think the things that will remain are the human compulsions and the most basic one is the desire to maintain closeness with other
people.
*All The 100 Years Project photos are taken by Dana Roc.
