A Labor of Love

Originally posted as a Facebook Note on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2009.

Many of you know, or by now have noticed, that i have particularly strong feelings when it comes to workers' rights, organized labor, and issues of the sort. Those of you who live in Philadelphia know that the Transit Workers Union Local 234 went on strike this morning at 3am. I feel the need now to elaborate a bit on my own connection to organized labor, as well as on my convictions for the bigger picture that i believe labor represents.

To start, the history of organized labor in the US alone is astounding. From the late 1800's through the mid to late 1900's, workers of all walks of life worked, fought, and even died for better working conditions; For a place at the table in the grand money making machine, not to be squashed by the great leap forward. Here is a brief timeline that outlines some of the major events and accomplishments in the American labor movement. I hope that many of you are familiar with some of the gains earned through workers bargaining: a minimum wage, 8-hour work days, a weekend, child labor laws, etc.

I have heard complaints that SEPTA workers have good jobs, while others struggle. That they make decent money, while so many scrape by on meager minimum wages. They have been called greedy and selfish (as tends to be the prevalent assumption about unions today). And i ask: is this a reason for SEPTA workers to give up and stop fighting for what they feel they deserve? No. Infact, the SEPTA workers ought to be inspiration to other workers that they don't have to settle for poor working conditions and less than adequate pay. The fact is that we live in a land with a rich history of people working to make conditions better-- not only for themselves, but for the other workers around them. And that, my friends, is the key to this argument. There is so much disconnect from those on strike now and those inconvenienced by the strike. The corporate media says the strike hurts "working families", and it without a doubt does. But lets not forget that the 5,100 SEPTA employees on strike are some of those very same working families. We are not on different sides; They call it a "union" for a reason. If you and your co-workers are unhappy with your pay, your benefits, your working conditions, get yourselves together and make requests for change. A lot of negotiating goes on before any labor dispute ever gets to the point of a strike. And make no mistake, a strike is not a publicity stunt. It is not for the faint hearted. It involves forfeiting your pay indefinitely, and possibly losing your job altogether, among other things. If this seems like a lot to ask, just remember all of the workers who came before you, and the things they lost and sacrificed to get us where we are today. Striking is not a recreational activity, and for that reason, i have to believe that the SEPTA workers have something reasonable to stand on. I don't know the whole story, i don't know the details of their previous contract (which expired in March), i don't know who has offered what in the negotiations this far. But i also know that i won't find most of that information by reading the paper. I might just make my way out to Fern Rock or Frankford Transportation to talk to the strikers, and get their side of the story. (For a look at the other side of the story from 2005, check out this article


As with anything, abuses happen. Entities become too big and too powerful, and there need to be checks and balances. Organized labor is no exception. However, I'm not asking you to throw yourself blindly to the Labor side of every dispute. But i am asking for a little respect. Some recognition of the work that needs to be done, and the courage and commitment it takes to organize with your fellow workers, and make your requests known.

And now for my totally non-objective weigh in on how i came to believe the way i do. In 1986 my dad worked for Hammermill Paper, Co, in Lock Haven, PA. He was an active member and leader in the United Paper Workers Local 1787. My dad is also the son of a long line of labor union workers; he often tells stories about the coal miners' union of his grandfather, which was also eventually devastatingly broken. In 1986 International Paper bought out Hammermill Paper, and in moves of swift capitalist greed at it's finest, "The company, which had recently recorded near-record profits, demanded wage give-backs, high monthly payments for health and other insurance, an end to double-time pay for work on Sundays, and the elimination of all holidays (including Christmas). The company then locked out the strikers." The strike lasted for over a year. International Paper hired permanent replacement workers, and thousands of men and women lost their jobs (and their leverage when the replacement workers moved in). My dad was among those formerly employed, greatly betrayed. Incidentally, my dad continued to do organizing work with various unions across the east coast. In 1988 he made a trip to Philadelphia to speak to a room full of Transit Workers from the Local 234.

I hope you will forgive me if my arguments are too impassioned. My beliefs are rooted in personal experience, and have grown to include fair and just working conditions (including wages, prices, benefits and trade policies) locally and globally. It's about sticking together, and working for each other. If you are unhappy with this situation, may i suggest that pointing fingers is no answer at all. We need to connect, and learn, and work together.

American Stories American Solutions

Why Barack Obama?

Hello friends,

Briefly, i wanted to share this bit of information, that someone shared with me. This organization, in their support of Senator Obama, does a great deal to explain the reasons behind why I am able, in my faith, to support Barack Obama as our next president. Please take a moment to look at the Matthew 25 website.

love,
emily

North Carolina Blue

greetings! you know... Jimmy Buffett is a real wise guy. You may have noticed my blog title... for a while i considered changing it for this new phase of updates.. the whole election campaigning stuff. And, well, the two best options that have come along, are also both Jimmy Buffett songs. The title will not be changed, just because, as it turns out, i won't have time to do that. In fact, this is my first attempt at a clandestine update! Hopefully it goes well. Back to Jimmy.. the first appropriate option, is Incommunicado. It is clear by now that working 100+ hours a week does not lend itself well to keeping in touch. Therefore, if your phone rings and you see its me, go ahead an answer it, i'm probably inline at the Pita Pit and have decided to use my 5 free minutes to talk to you. Incommunicado is a great song, and a great word to describe my state for the next 4 weeks.

The other option, which was increasingly confirmed throughout my first few weeks in this job, is The Good Fight. I've had lots of people tell me to keep up the fight, or way to fight the good fight, etc. That makes me happy. Now, i don't mean to imply that if you are not fighting on my side this time around you are morally bankrupt or unintelligent... but i think The Good Fight has more to do with working hard for a cause you believe in. So, thanks to all my cheerleaders out there.. and keep up your own good fight at home!

As for how the fight is going, i started out in Philadelphia, training on a fundraising campaign for the ACLU, it was a great office with great people, and i learned a lot. But i was really excited to find i was being moved to DC to work on a DNC fundraising campaign about a week and a half into my employment. I was in DC for 3-4 days, its a bustling office with great energy. I was then co-opted to the recruitment-swat-team for North Carolina. If you're paying attention to the polls, NC looks like it may be a swinger this year... and i'm part of the machine thats making it that way. We have registered, in NC alone, tens of thousands of voters in the past few weeks. 37,000 democrats were registered in NC last week, and our campaign did half of if. Its an exciting thing to be a part of. My new favorite mantra is, "We're kicking ass and taking names." :) Voter registration ends in NC friday, and by Saturday i'll be headed to some other strategic state to dig in there. Its a wild ride.

That's most of the news for now. I miss my friends and family a ton, as is to be expected, and i even miss Philadelphia. But i'll be back in November, so don't forget me! And, if you get really curious about the jimmy buffett songs, they're both on Coconut Telegraph.... the titles are great, but the parallels to my life end there, the content of the songs is completely unrelated.

take care!

SWF: PHL > BZN

I took a trip to Montana. It happened to be the week of the fourth of july. I happened to go alone. It was my little Independence vacation. I loved every second of it. There were some major themes in the responses i got and the questions people asked when i told them about my trip (in Pennsylvania and Montana).. things like, wow, you're brave, or you're going by yourself? aren't you afraid? and what's in Montana? Do you know people there?

Now, i run the risk of sounding arrogant here and i'm not trying to toot my own horn. I sincerely believe that the answers to these questions aren't just about me... they are about us as people, and what we chose to believe about other people and other places. I believe that some places are so worth seeing, and some things so worth experiencing, that the chances you take to get there are inherently a little bigger. And the rewards end up being bigger than we could have imagined. So, i give to you my findings from big sky country.... curiously void of serial killers posing as 20-something folk fans waiting in the bushes to rape and pillage me, and feed me to their herd of wild mountain goats...

I spent Sunday afternoon through tuesday morning in and around Bozeman, with my new friend Amanda, who i connected with on CouchSurfing.com She is fantastic. She picked me up from the airport, and took me to a small italian bakery, owned by a family who relocated from New Orleans after Katrina. We got coffee (with chickoree) and fresh blackberry basket pastries, yumm! So messy but so worth it!

Amanda, her boyfriend Brian, their friend Ben (the outdoor journalist and photographer) and I went hiking at the natural bridge on the boulder river, south and east of Bozeman. The bridge structure actually collapsed a number of years ago. But a few weeks out of the year, when the water is high, the river creates a pretty massive waterfall, and it was wild. We hiked and climbed around the waterfall for most of the afternoon.




























The following day Amanda and I decided it would be a wise use of our time to pack it up and hike to Fairy Lake in the Bridger Mountains. Sacajawea is the highest peak in the Bridger Mountains, and also happens to be situated above Fairy Lake.


Amanda and i trekked up to the lake, with every intention of setting up camp, and continuing up Sacajawea. Unfortunately, there is still a good bit of snow on the mountains, and about half-way up we lost the trail. So, being on a mostly snow-covered, unfamiliar mountain, with no map and limited resources, we did what Chris McCandless would not have, we turned around and went back to our camp on the lake.


Amanda had picked up a book on wildflowers at the library before we left town, so we spent a large part of the afternoon hunting, photographing, and sometimes tasting flowers and plants. Later i explained the mechanics of a good campfire, and we were blazing in no time. With a hot dinner of fire roasted potatoes, some cheese, carrots, and fresh beef jerky from the meat shop in town.





Tuesday morning, after folding up the tent, and hiking off the mountain, i said my thank yous and good byes to Amanda, and met up with Lisa. Lisa was my ride to Storyhill Fest (the initial prompting for this trip!) Lisa and i connected through the Storyhill message board, and she graciously offered me a ride in her rental car, from Bozeman to Hyalite Youth camp. I had a fantastic time at the Festival-- two days of fabulous music, great weather, delicious food, and camping! Really, does life get any better? I discovered some new artists to enjoy, and met all kinds of fun people. It is a rather intimate gathering, someone described it as having stumbled upon a large family reunion in the woods, except everyone forgot you are not actually family, and they let you stay anyway!

Among the fun people were J & J, skiiers who'd moved to MT about 4 years ago, and are now on the get-rich-quick scheme, pyramid marketing wonder-juice of some sort to support their skiing habit.

Then there was A & D, newlyweds, who had been given a timeshare in Mexico for their wedding (and will be going on that trip later in the fall) but considered this their real honeymoon. They were really sweet, had a great sense of humor, and tried to hook me up with the sound guy (who we actually ran into in Bozeman a few days later, and turns out to be a pretty alright guy).

There there was S & her mom. As it turns out, S went to college with my sister in Chicago. Go figure, what a small world.

There was a whole crew of 20+ folks i'll bet, from Kerrville, TX; they were a trip.

H. H is the reason behind my free night in a king-sized bed and fancy french toast at the Hilton. :) She's an in-flight coordinator for private jets or something, and ended up with a room for an extra night, which she gave to Emma and I (more to come on Emma in a bit) because she had to catch a flight out of Salt Lake City at 6am.

Emma is a total gypsy, and a great new friend. She's originally from Canada, but has been traveling/living out of her car for about 3 years now. She's a total free-spirit, with a huge heart and an unabashed sense of adventure. I spent the rest of my days after the festival hanging with Emma, as well as Liz & Annie.

Liz & Annie are a really funny story too... Liz is the sister of the girlfriend of a former co-worker of mine, here in Philly. :) We met once, a few months ago, over dinner. Freakishly Storyhill Fest came up then, and i discovered she was going. So, when the serendipitous news came that i, too, would be going, i made a mental note to keep an eye out for her. Liz & Annie pitched their tent next to mine, and we proceeded to enjoy the festival together.

Liz, Annie, Emma & I explored Bozeman and the surrounding area together for the few days following the festival. We went white water rafting on the Gallatin river; We had dinner at some fun restaurants; We visited some "hot springs" which ended up being really just a spa with some heated pools... oh well, it was relaxing. We also checked out the next town up the road, Livingston. We perused the local 4th of July Arts show, typical arts fest goodies.

And then we hit up the Livingston Roundup... the annual rodeo! wahoo! Now, you know how much i love rodeo, and this is no exception. I had a good time. The barrel racing was a little too short, and of all the go-rounds, there were only two full rides during the bull-riding; a little disappointing. (Elaine, thank you for being the only one who cares about that.) The other disappointing, but totally classic thing was that, of all the lovely micro-brews and regional beers there are to enjoy, the rodeo is still apparently only sponsored by Bud & Coors. So, when in Rome...

Annie & Liz hit the road the next day to head back to Portland via Seattle. We were sad to say goodbye, but it was a total blast getting to know them. Super great girls. Here we are looking like the female version of The Outsiders... we rocked Bozeman.

Emma and i spent the next day hanging around, doing some (unfruitful) dumpster diving and chatting it up with some traveler kids on the street. I learned that pan-handling and busking are different. Apparently, just hanging out asking for money is pan-handling. Busking is when you do something for money, like play your guitar, harmonica, or banjo... or make your dog/monkey/parakeet dance on a box or something. They were cool kids, total vagabonds, and very young. We hung out with them for the rest of the evening. Emma took me to the airport at o-dark-thirty sunday morning, and we said our goodbyes. Emma was sticking around in Bozeman for a while; she scored some work on Chris's (of storyhill) studio doing insulation and drywall, i believe.

I had a fantastic time in Montana. The geography (both physical and cultural) were the refreshment i needed. The people i met along the way made the stories great. I could move to Montana. I might actually subscribe to Montana Quarterly. I got a copy from the hotel, great little read.

Anyway... thanks for reading. Its been difficult putting this into some kind of coherent post... i probably should have just done a couple smaller ones. But here it is. I am posting the videos i took at the festival for your musical enjoyment.

peace, love, & folk.

Storyhill Fest Videos!

Sacramento - Storyhill


Somewhere In Between - Storyhill


Full Circle - Storyhill


Fatima's Waltz (partial) - Justin Roth

There are some other videos from the festival posted on YouTube that i didn't do... but are amazing.
Danny Schmidt - Company of Friends
Justin Roth - Tremblin' Like a Train
Carrie Elkin - Did She Do Her Best
Justin Roth (Patty Griffin cover) - Rain
Storyhill (John Denver cover) - For the Children

A few notes:
- Carrie Elkin & Danny Schmidt will be doing a barn concert on July 22, in New Hope, PA (outside Philly.) You should come.

- Carrie Elkin opened the festival, and she was fantastic, despite some foreboding skies... being the sassy gal she is, she decided to tempt fate and continue with her cover of Bob Dylan's A Hard Rain's A'gonna Fall... and fall it did. In the middle of her song the skies opened up and poured! It was pretty classic, and everyone handled the change well. It only took about 20 minutes to get everyone herded inside, and for the show to go on.

PS - These videos look a lot better on my computer than they do on YouTube. If anyone can let me know if there is something i should do to them prior to uploading them, so they aren't as pixelated, i would appreciate it.

a DTR with Philly

it will be a few days until a real Montana entry shows itself here. So in the meantime, the rare pleasure of a blog-for-blog's sake. This will appear on the Circle of Hope blog sometime this week. Comments welcome.

I have been feeling, recently, a certain uncertainty with life, my job, with Philadelphia.

My relationship with Philly has changed significantly since we met in the summer of 2006. I initially came to go to grad school. It was a means to an end, before i was to live hapily-ever-after, traipsing around the world. I finished grad school, but my vision of happily-ever-after changed. I wasn't sure where to go, or what to do, or even what my purpose was anymore. Philly was there then, saying, i'm here, i'll love and support you, stay with me. So i did, and Philly came through, with friends, community, love, coffee, a new bike, and a job that spoke to my gifts.

During this time my friendship with Philly grew. I came to know and appreciate more of its quirks, nuances, and idiosyncrasies. We developed an honest kind of friendship, that reveals each other's strengths and weaknesses; I told Philly it was stinky and dirty; Philly told me i was self-centered and had a lot to learn about loving people who i viewed as "flawed". I have greatly appreciated the growth i have experienced through my relationship with Philly.

Now that Philly and i have become much better friends, it has become apparent that we need to make our intentions clear. It is time for a DTR (define the relationship) with Philly.

It occurs to me that previously, i may have fallen into the category of "casual dater" with the other cities and towns i've lived in. I must be growing up, because i think it's time to be intentional about being in this relationship with Philly.

I no longer need to be here for grad school.

I no longer need the supportive crutch to rebuild my direction (tho it certainly can't hurt).

So it is time for me to decide why i am staying here. Where is this relationship going? Like any DTR, i don't need all the answers right away i suppose, but it is time to redefine our relationship, in some way. The answers to these questions don't need to mean it is time for me to move on, or that i should dig in for the long haul tomorrow. But either way, intentionality is high on my priority list. Passive decisions lead to discontentment in my life. And so, over the next few days, weeks, and months, i hope that all of you, who are represented in my personification of Philly, will continue to help me work through that.