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Chrishayden
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 5162
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, August 31, 2007 - 12:10 pm: | 
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Maybe an artist can help labor get back in touch with working people
By Sylvester Brown Jr.
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
08/30/2007
Sylvester Brown Jr.
[More columns]
[Sylvester's Biography]
Organized labor — the invincible gladiator, once feared by corporate moguls and politicians alike — has lost much of its power today.
"We've lost the hearts and minds of the public," said Roosevelt Stewart, president of the American Postal Workers Union, which represents 2,500 postal workers in the region. "When organizations representing working people are considered a 'special interest group,' we're in trouble."
Stewart's words may be an understatement. Union membership in the private sector has declined steadily since the 1970s along with national public support. Damage from its ties to organized crime and a flurry of dizzying blows from globalization, outsourcing for cheaper labor and anti-union sentiment has left the labor unions vulnerable.
It's a sobering thought that a movement built on the fundamental belief that workers have rights now seemingly stands on the brink of oblivion. What would the pioneers and martyrs of America's labor movement think of the woes of organized labor? After all, it was their struggle and sacrifices that led to child labor laws, eight-hour workdays, livable wages (in some cases) and better working conditions for blacks, women, Native Americans and migrant workers. What would a conversation with long-gone icons sound like? Advertisement
It's a question local playwright and poet Chris Hayden will attempt to answer Friday.
Hayden's two-act play, "Songs of Solidarity; Voices of Social Justice," is the centerpiece of the annual "Bread & Roses" celebration hosted by Jobs with Justice (JWJ), a coalition of area labor unions, and community, student and religious groups.
The actors in Hayden's play will assume the roles of A. Philip Randolph, founder of the first black labor union; Philip Vera Cruz, Filipino-American co-founder of the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee; Russell Means, an activist for American Indians rights; Cesar Chavez, the Mexican-American labor and civil rights leader; and Mother Jones (Mary Harris Jones), the socialist and labor and community organizer. Cruz and Chavez are portrayed as women in the play because women, Hayden writes, are "the majority of the work force and population."
I'm a fan of his work and reviewed Hayden's script for the play. Hayden employs his trademark sing-song, street slang to add spice to the dialect:
"Folks forget who they are, where they came from and who put them there," says the Mother Jones character, as she chides those who have abandoned the labor movement. "They start hanging with the big boys, riding in the limo, drinking they whiskey, playing golf, smoking they cigars … Next thing, they are finking … and showing the bosses how to bust the union."
It's "absolutely necessary" to fight for the survival of unions, says Stewart, the Postal Workers Union's president. "With the consolidation of wealth and mega-mergers on the horizon, the only way workers can fight for their fair share is through organizing."
Lara Granich, JWJ's director, said the Bread & Roses event, now in its fifth year, reminds people of the arts in political action and in workers' lives.
"We're organizing in difficult times. The poetry, theater and paintings that comes out of Bread & Roses infuses us with the energy we need to keep moving forward."
Some of the work of previous "Bread & Roses" participants has been incorporated into "social justice actions," Granich explained. A banner created by Sammie Rives, an area janitor and union member, has been used at justice rallies and displayed when janitors voted on a recent contract. "This is What Democracy Looks Like," a painting by Dennis DeToye, former Edwardsville mayor, art teacher and union member, was turned into get-out-the-vote posters and used countrywide during the 2004 elections.
Labor's future is in the hands of young people, said Stewart. If art and culture remind anyone of organized labor's dignified history and the need for future organizing, "it's a plus," he said.
Hayden hopes his words, shared through labor workers of the past, will spark action in the present. His character, Mother Jones, addresses this in the play:
"Poetry is nice — I'll say it twice. But sometimes the profoundest truths are stated in the plainest words. In the plain language … of the working folk."
For more information about the upcoming "Bread & Roses" event, visit: www.stl-jwj.org.
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Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 9730
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, August 31, 2007 - 12:40 pm: |
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Can we assume that this great American drama in 2 acts doesn't "stink like rotten fish"? |
Chrishayden
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 5167
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, August 31, 2007 - 12:44 pm: |
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It doesn't--because I learned all I know from Troy Johnson--THE MASTER
By the way, Cynique--be nice to me and maybe I'll have a part for you in my next production |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 9731
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, August 31, 2007 - 01:09 pm: |
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I didn't realize that Troy was a playwright. And being in a production of yours is not a great enough incentive for me to be nice to you. yawn. |
Mzuri
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Mzuri
Post Number: 5646
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, August 31, 2007 - 01:18 pm: |
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This is nice Chris. Congratulations and may you break a leg  |
Chrishayden
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 5168
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, August 31, 2007 - 01:40 pm: |
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For that, Mzuri you will get a starring part in my next production. For your part, Cynique, you will get tickets in the nosebleed section. |
Yvettep
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Yvettep
Post Number: 2228
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, August 31, 2007 - 01:58 pm: |
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Congrats, Chris! This sounds like an exciting and original endeavor. (P.S., I assume "Mother Jones" is played by a biological woman and not a heavy set man in drag? LOL ) |
Chrishayden
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 5169
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, August 31, 2007 - 02:00 pm: |
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P.S., I assume "Mother Jones" is played by a biological woman and not a heavy set man in drag? LOL )
(Damn! Why didn't I think of that?) |
Mzuri
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Mzuri
Post Number: 5650
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, August 31, 2007 - 02:27 pm: |
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Thanks Chris. But Cynique is to have a dressing room exactly like mine. The dressing rooms shall be comfortably furnished, adequately lit, with private bathrooms and vanity area. Please ensure there are vases of snow white gardenias on all the table tops. Our meals should be prepared by a world class chef because we only eat gourmet. Our entourages should be accommodated for and you must bring us each $25,000 in cash before our performance. We are, afterall, the DreamGirls. Thank you
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Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 9732
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, August 31, 2007 - 03:08 pm: |
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Isn't it nice that people like Yvette and Mzuri can give chrishayden a lesson in civility? |
Mzuri
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Mzuri
Post Number: 5652
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, August 31, 2007 - 03:59 pm: |
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Chris - Please YouTube your play and post it here for us |
Chrishayden
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 5170
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, September 01, 2007 - 10:42 am: |
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Chris - Please YouTube your play and post it here for us
(I don't know how to do that. So unless Jobs With Justice does it you will have to wait until it comes to a theater near you.
Chris "Che" Hayden |
Mzuri
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Mzuri
Post Number: 5659
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, September 01, 2007 - 02:13 pm: |
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Okay. So how did it go? |
Chrishayden
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 5176
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, September 04, 2007 - 01:06 pm: |
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Better than in my wildest dreams-- |
Troy
Veteran Poster
Username: Troy
Post Number: 801
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, September 06, 2007 - 11:36 pm: |
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Congrats Chris. If I was within 100 miles I would have filmed it myself -- and I just purchased an HD Video Camera too.
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