We Ride Bikes

A rant

For site coordinators that have done this before, there is the discussion of the dreaded 3rd week. Evidently, after three weeks on a site, constantly living and working together, the interns begin to get a little irritable. Well, luckily, that hasn't quite happened to our group...yet, but I think I may be gettin frustrated. I don't know if I am frustrated with their lack of motivation or frustrated with my own failure to motivate them. I feel like there is a certain amount of motivation needed to drive a person to be here, over all of the other internships or summer activities. And maybe, I was hoping on that motivation getting them through the 5 week internship. That was a mistake. I am realizing that inspiration does not equal motivation. Whether or not I inspire them to believe in the movement and the cause, is different than my motivating them to succeed or even excel.

I have given them a certain amount of autonomy this week, and am hoping that they rise to the occasion. I am not worried that they will fail; I know that won't happen. My worry is that they won't learn as much as I want them to or as much as they need to. This is ultimately a learning experience, and I want them to walk away with a true sense of what the labor movement is about. That it is tedious, and mind-numbing sometimes. That a lot of this job is about paperwork and building and cultivating relationships with people that aren't workers, but in the end it is always about the workers.

I love being here. I hate St. Louis, but I love being here. I love the notion that we are fighting the good fight. My dad likes to tell the story of talking to workers that walked out over a nickel raise. The part about that story that still gets me, is that ultimately they didn't strike over that nickel, they didn't care about the nickel. They only wanted their dignity.

When people ask why I am involved in the labor movement, or why I support unions...I ask them how they can NOT support unions? Why is it so hard to understand that people deserve a living wage, they deserve to be able to work a full-time job and be able to provide for themselves or a family if they so choose? I understand the system, and I understand that if you want to be rich there are opportunities (for some) out there. But there is no reason why, in the largest economy in the world, that people should not have a decent wage, medical coverage, and time to spend with their families. There are certain things that everyone is entitled to, just by being alive and a decent wage is the least we, as a society, can provide.

If you were wondering...

Just in case you were wondering where I might be on Saturday night, about 10, now you know. More soon.

My degree must've upped my value

I am worth $2,043,650 on HumanForSale.com

Genius. Pure Genius.

Is a tuber a vegetable?

There is an inverse relationship between the amount of posts in a single day, and the amount of activities I have outside of this apartment. Similar to supply and demand, as activities outside of this apartment (work, errands, tasks) increase, blog posts decrease, and vice versa.

Anyway, I was reading someone's blog earlier today and she had a post entirely dedicated to the ARTICHOKE. Now, don't get me wrong, I love artichokes. They are funny looking and delicious. But I have in my oven right now, cooking to perfection what some of you would call a yam, but the rest of us affectionately know as, the sweet potato.

For years before and sometimes after I became a vegetarian I was somewhat of a picky eater. I was unlikely to venture beyond my accepted boundaries of previously enjoyed foods. It was probably out of fear. But often, I actually can determine if I will or will not like something based solely on sight. But sometimes, I surprise myself. Sometimes I do experiment. Sometimes I win, sometimes I lose, and sometimes it rains. Two years ago, I won. A very good friend of mine, introduced me to the Baked Sweet Potato, and me and the BSP, have not looked back.

And it's one of those things that you have to sit, and wait for to truly enjoy. The tempting aromas of butter and brown sugar come wafting from the kitchen as you futilely try to occupy your time to not think about the tastebud celebration awaiting you in the oven...

I better go, it's time to check the doneness...

Let's see how modest they truly are...

Don't get me wrong, I am not a music elitist. I am not an anti-Top 40 music guru who waxes intellectual about Radiohead or reminisces about any band "before they sold out...."

But Associate Justice for the Supreme Court David Souter has immortalized Modest Mouse in his opinion for MGM Inc. et al v. Grokster, LTD. et al.

Now before any of you flood my inbox or comments with pro-Modest Mouse propaganda let's think about this....seriously. Are they THAT good? So good that legal scholars, attorneys and law students for the remainder of the republic will remember them whenever they study this particular intellectual property case. In five years this opinion will have to be footnoted with an explanation of who this band was. Without this opinion, the sheer statistical (im)possibility of Modest Mouse becoming a name that is remembered in 5, 10, or 15 years is staggering, and yet now they will forever be recognized as the emo-band that was cited in a Supreme Court opinion. And now somewhere "on the road"  I bet these guys are sittin' around probably trying to figure out if they can parlay this into bringing "smart chicks" backstage.

 

A Case of the Mondays?

Lots going on today:

The Supreme Court rules that the Ten Commandments as religious icon on state grounds unconstitutional, but upholds them as historic memorial. At least that is how I understood them in my perusal of the news sites and listening to NPR. I will have to try and read more about them, if not track down the opinion themselves.

The interns are planning an event to support the janitors here in St. Louis. It will be good for them to hit the streets to raise awareness, agitate, and mobilize some activity in support for them. It took a little bit to get them thinking about it, but I think they are starting to see the lack of guidance as freedom. Whereas before it was almost too much freedom, they were afraid to assert any true action. Now, I think they are beginning to see the play in the joints...

Also I just re-installed a site meter, and my traffic is increased a bit  since I had it in a few weeks ago. I think this is mostly due to the other Lewis and Clark bloggers that are showing some link love. Thanks for spreading the word, though now, I feel pressure to actually have a point or produce something worthwhile, or at least spell check. But either way I appreciate the links and am trying to return the traffic. So everyone, please take the time to check them out, they are posted on the left, and if I find more, I will post those as well. And of course word is out on the familia so a quick shout out to them.

And a shout out to my future roommate who is the best home finder ever. She rocks.

One more thing

I forgot to add that I posted some pics from today in the Union Summer 2005 album so check those out if you can.

Mother Jones (pt. II)

In early 1898, agreements had been made in four states between the United Mineworkers of America and several mining companies. They were to implement an eight hour work day and have a standard pay scale for the miners, and the company stores were to be closed ending their monopoly on where the miners and their families shopped.

However, in the fall of that year the Chicago-Virden Coal Company and other firms  felt that those limitations were too stringent to adhere to and locked the miners out. They then proceeded to import strikebreakers from Alabama. This like Ludlow set the stage for violence.

On October 12, 1898, as the replacement workers and their families arrived in trains violence erupted. There were gunshots exchanged between the union and the men hired to protect the train and the strikebreakers. Before the day ended five company men were killed, and six union men had been killed - E.D. Welsh, Frank Bilyeu, Albert Smith, Joe Kitterly, Ernest Keutner, and A.H. Breneman.

In the aftermath, the strikebreakers were not allowed off the train by the train's conductor. They were later taken to and left in St. Louis without money or a way back to Alabama. The Governor ordered the National Guard to step in and prevent strikebreakers on a second train from offloading. This was the first time in U.S. History that a state's governor came to the aid of labor.

The dead union members were denied burial in established cemeteries, so the miners bought an acre of land in Mt. Olive, Illinois, where four of the men had come from. This became the Union Miners' Cemetery.

The lock out lasted six months, and labor won all of its demands. The union members were hired back under the terms of the agreement, and some supervisors were fired.

Now some of you may be asking, "Where are you going with this, Jake?"

Well, let me tell you.

A woman by the name of Mary Harris Jones or Mother Jones asked that she be buried with those workers, in the only cemetery owned solely by a labor union.

"When the last call comes for me to take my final rest, will the miners see that I get a resting place in the same clay that shelters the miners who gave up their lives of the hills of Virden, Illinois on the morning of October 12, 1898, for their heroic sacrifice of their fellow men. They are responsible for Illinois being the best organized labor state in America. I hope it will be my consolation when I pass away to feel I sleep under the clay with those brave boys."

Well faithful readers, today I stood at her grave and paid respects to one of the most famous, and revered labor organizers of all time. She was just over five feet tall, and never weighed more than a hundred pounds, and lived to be 100 years old. She lost her husband and four children to yellow fever, and came to embody one of her most famous quotes:

"Pray for the dead, but fight like hell for the living!"

Mother Jones

Today was, in my humble opinion, a good day. We took a road trip that was very educational. I will post pics and tell the story later. Now, I am probably going to take a nap.