Today in Labor History October 2, 1968: The Tlatelolco Massacre occurred in Mexico City. 15,000 students were demonstrating at the Plaza of Three Cultures against the army’s occupation of the University. The army, with 5,000 soldiers and 200 tanks, ambushed the students, opened fire, and killed nearly 300. They also arrested thousands. This occurred ten days before the opening of the Olympics, the same Olympics where Tommy Smith and John Carlos raised their gloved-fists in a Black Power salute. The U.S. contributed to the massacre by providing the Mexican military with radios, weapons, ammunition and riot control training. Furthermore, the CIA provided the Mexican military with daily reports on student activities in the weeks leading up to the massacre.
Chilean film maker Alejandro Jodorosky portrayed the massacre in his film “The Holy Mountain” (1973). Chilean author Roberto Bolano referenced it in his 1999 novel, “The Savage Detectives.”
Today in Labor History October 2, 1937: Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo ordered the execution of Haitians living in the border region of the Dominican Republic, resulting in the genocidal Parsley massacre of up to 35,000 Haitians. Trujillo was obsessed with race. He’d use pancake make-up to lighten his skin color and hide his Haitian roots. And even so, the wealthy Dominicans still snubbed him for his working-class family origins. One week prior to the massacre, he publicly accepted a gift of Hitler’s Mein Kampf, whose racial theories he clearly embraced. He used racism to distract Dominicans from their poverty, which had been exacerbated by the Great Depression, and by Trujillo’s corrupt rule.
Edwidge Danticat’s historical fiction, “The Farming of Bones,” takes place during the time of the massacre.
Welcome new followers! Due to the nature of my profile, I’ll not list you all.mI can’t wait to see more of you on my timeline. If any followers have something promote (writing, creator, audio, and so on) Please let us all know about it in the comments (and boost any comments that catch your attention!)😈
Today in Labor History September 30, 1912: The Lawrence, Massachusetts “Bread and Roses” textile strike was in full swing. On this date, 12,000 textile workers walked out of mills to protest the arrests of two leaders of the strike. Police clubbed strikers and arrested many, while the bosses fired 1,500. IWW co-founder Big Bill Haywood threatened another general strike to get the workers reinstated. Strike leaders Arturo Giovannitti and Joe Ettor were eventually acquitted 58 days later. During the strike, IWW organizers Bill Haywood and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn came up with the plan of sending hundreds of the strikers' hungry children to live with sympathetic families in New York, New Jersey, and Vermont, a move that drew widespread sympathy for the strikers. Nearly 300 workers were arrested during the strike; three were killed. After the strike was over, IWW co-founder and socialist candidate for president, Eugene Debs, said "The Victory at Lawrence was the most decisive and far-reaching ever won by organized labor."
Several novels have been written against the backdrop of this famous strike: The Cry of the Street (1913), by Mabel Farnum; Fighting for Bread and Roses (2005), by Lynn A. Coleman; Bread and Roses, Too (2006), by Katherine Paterson
I have completed #StoriesOnFire with 26/30 stories. It was quite an experience. I allowed myself to go places that I normally wouldn't go, and there were places I should have gone sooner. There are several stories that are certainly getting polished up and submitted somewhere.
With thanks to @telinartho for getting me onboard.
Today in Labor History September 27, 1962: Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring was published, ushering in the modern environmental movement and the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Start each #haiku with the same first lines below:
MORNING SUN…
or
SEASHELLS….
Post haiku in comments, as ever enjoy mulling over the first line & considering your options at different points during the evening or day depending on your time zone.
Today in Labor History September 26, 1874: Sociologist and photographer Lewis Hine is born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. In 1908, he became the photographer for the National Child Labor Committee and spent the next decade documenting exploited child labor to help the organization’s lobbying efforts to end child labor in American industry. The book cover for my novel, Anywhere But Schuylkill, is based pm a Hine photograph.
Today in Writing History September 25, 1897: William Faulkner, American writer and Nobel Prize laureate was born (d. 1962). He also won two Pulitzer Prizes for his fiction. His books, “The Sound and the Fury” (1929), “As I Lay Dying” (1930), “Light in August” (1932) and “Absalom Absalom!” (1936) are all on the Modern Library’s list of top 100 English-language novels of the 20th century.
Today in Writing History September 25, 1930: Shel Silverstein, American author, poet, illustrator, and songwriter was born (d. 1999). He is perhaps most remembered today for his amusing children’s poetry and fiction, like “The Giving Tree.” However, he also wrote many songs like "One's on the Way" and "Hey Loretta" (which were hits for Loretta Lynn), and "25 Minutes to Go," about a man on Death Row, and "A Boy Named Sue," both made famous by Johnny Cash. He also wrote "The Unicorn," which The Irish Rovers made famous. He also wrote many songs about drugs and sex, like “I Got Stoned and I Missed It,” “Quaaludes Again,” “Masochistic Baby,” and “Freakin’ at the Freaker’s Ball.”
Today in Writing History September 25, 1894: Playwright John Howard Lawson was born. Lawson wrote several plays about the working class, including “The International” (1928), which depicts a proletarian world revolution and “Marching Song” (1937), about a sit-down strike. In the late 1940s, Lawson was blacklisted as a member of the “Hollywood Ten” for his refusal to tell the House Committee on Un-American Activities about his political allegiances.
I am D. Castleberry, I am a queer writer who is making queer fiction, some of which will be steamy and some of which will be wholesome. I am just getting started but I suspect that the world is my oyster.
With a lot of other social media sites in constant flux, I've decided to grow my audience here on Mastodon! I'll be posting about writing, my writing, and books in general. I will typically always follow back, so drop me a hey!
I feel privileged to be invited back on ABC #Radio National/ #Religion & #Ethics to celebrate 💯 year anniversary of Khalil Gibran’s ‘The Prophet’ — a #book I encountered as a young teenager & which shaped the person/ #writer I am, today.
(My section begins at 18 minute mark).
Big Thanks, to sensitive host Meredith Lake of Soul Search for this gift 🙏🏼✨
Today in Labor History September 19, 1952: The United States barred Charlie Chaplin from re-entering the country after a trip to England. In 1947, his black comedy, Monsieur Verdoux, was released. In the film, he criticized capitalism and its reliance on wars and weapons of mass destruction. The FBI launched a formal investigation of him 1947, after public accusations that he was a communist. Chaplin denied the charges, calling himself a “peace monger.” Nevertheless, he protested the HUAC hearings and the U.S. trials of Communist Party members. Representative John Rankin called Chaplin's presence in Hollywood “detrimental to the moral fabric of America.” Writer George Orwell prepared list of people he believed were communists, which he gave to British intelligence before he died in 1949. The list included Chaplin and Michael Redgrave, as well as Paul Robeson, Katherine Hepburn, John Steinbeck and Orson Welles.
Today in Labor History September 14, 1843: Lola Rodríguez de Tió, Puerto Rican poet, abolitionist, and women's rights activist was born. She and her husband became active in the movement against Spanish colonialism on the island. In 1889, the Spanish authorities banished them for their political activities. In exile in New York, she worked with Cuban revolutionary, Jose Marti, for Cuban independence from Spain. She wrote the lyrics for the anthem, La Boriquena. Many believe that the Puerto Rican flag came from her idea of having the same colors as the Cuban flag, but reversed.
"Empty shelves with absolutely no books". Students, parents question school board's library weeding process.
Books published in 2008 or earlier removed from school library amid confusion around new equity-based process in Toronto. Really? Censorship or ineptness?
#OnThisDay in #history - in 1590, Maria de Zayas y Sotomayor was baptized in Madrid #Spain - not much is known of her early life, but she grew up to be a #writer . Maria wrote what came to be known as the Spanish Decameron, the Novelas amorosas y ejemplares.
She was a #poet and #playwright having written Friendship Betrayed, a comedy which focused on female friendships. She advocated for women's independence (and saw convents as places of women's freedom from men). #OTD#histodons@histodons
When I dream, I often feel like I'm borrowing someone else's life for a little while. My age, race, and gender are often different from my waking life. I occasionally feel like I'm visiting a "what if" version of Earth, an alternate. Sometimes, I even find portals between possibilities.
These stories are all based on dreams I've had.
I'll add more as time goes on.
Sometimes, in my dreams, an endless stream of things will come out of my mouth. Glass, metal, living things, goo. Sometimes, things come out of other places.
Sometimes, when I dream, there are magic spells, and elemental manipulation, and communicating with anything, animals, insects, the earth itself.
Sometimes, I'm in danger.
Sometimes, when I dream, I walk through walls, I peer into directions that I have no names for, I breakthrough to some greater understanding of the universe.
Sometimes, it starts small. It starts with self-preservation, with fear.
But that's not how it ends.
#WhenIDream
I have #NightTerrors or #SleepParalysis occasionally. I've managed to work through it by twisting the feeling into something interesting or positive. It's not always easy to just "let it happen" and see where it goes.
Anyway, this time, I "woke up" and felt something on my face. It went sideways from there into body horror, science fiction, even a bit of comedy.
I asked "why would the spiders be doing this?" and my subconscious definitely came up with something interesting.
I can't move my head.
I see my wife beside me in bed.
Reading.
"Please help me," I say.
She ignores me.
I see the black sticks again.
Legs.
They are legs.
Weaving.
Spider legs.