Hair? Who cares? Apparently a lot of people.
Filed under: Race and gender, Society and Economy
Chicago Tribune columnist Heidi Stevens gets a lot of hate mail. Not about the words she dutifully turns out, but about her hair. Yes, her hair.
“How could anyone take seriously anything written by an author whose accompanying picture makes her look like a tramp, with greasy, matted, uncombed hair?” said David.
Really David?
“My neighbors and I give you permission to shoot your hairdresser, ” from Karen.
Uh, Karen, shooting hairdressers is illegal. I hope you know that.
For some very unsettling reasons, people, mostly women according to the author, are offended by her hair. To the point of actually writing to her. She prefers to ignore her hair and focus on other things. I know that hair (or the lack of it) is less of a social issue for men. We do live in a deeply sexist society after all.
Personally I just tuck what’s left of mine under a baseball cap and ignore it. Problem solved. But thanks to our repressive cultural norms, not everyone can adopt such simple solutions as hers or mine without a paying a price.
Paying a price? Yep, sometimes a very steep one, like the charge at the salon or the loss of a job. Really America…haven’t you something better to do than hating somebody’s hair?
Read the her article entire article: “Hate mail lesson: Uncombed hair threatens the natural order”
Heidi Stevens
Marching on Chicago’s far West Side for $15 an hour and a union
Filed under: Uncategorized
Yesterday March 22, several hundred people shut down a McDonalds at Laramie and North Ave on Chicago’s Far West Side and then marched on and through a Food 4 Less store located further east. It was a major Fight for $15 action. Fight for $15 is the national movement of low wage workers whom are working for a minimum wage of $15 an hour and union recognition. Chicago’s far West Side is a predominantly African American and Latino working class area and the numerous horn honks demonstrated the popularity of the action as far as local residents were concerned.
Rally at the McDonalds. We shut down the store.
Fight for $15 joins striking BP oil workers on the picketline
Filed under: Society and Economy, Unions
(Note: As of this writing there are reports that Shell, the industry leader, has reached a settlement with the United Steel Workers union which is on strike. Picketlines at BP are still up as of Friday afternoon March 13).
“It appeared as if the whole world was one elaborate system, opposed to justice and kindness, and set to making cruelty and pain.” ― Upton Sinclair from his novel OIL!
When 20th century writer Upton Sinclair’s novel Oil!, (about the birth of the petroleum industry) was turned into a film, it was titled “There Will Be Blood”. The film makers weren’t kidding. Humans go to war for oil. Workers die drilling and refining it. People die from pollution when oil is processed or burned. Oil may eventually contribute to the extinction of humanity though runaway climate change.
The small city of Whiting, Indiana is the site of the largest oil refinery in the Midwest. Workers at this sprawling BP facility have been on strike since February 8, 2015, part of a nation-wide strike by the United Steel Workers (USW).
The strike issues revolve mostly around health and safety; not only for the workers inside the plant, but for the Whiting residents whose modest homes extend nearly to the plant gates. Residents are concerned about toxic substances released into the air and water as well as the possibility of catastrophic explosions.
Last week, members of the Workers Organizing Committee of Chicago (WOCC), rented a bus and rode down to Whiting and joined the striking oil workers picketline for a few hours. WOCC is best known for its Fight for $15 campaign to organize fast food workers for $15 an hour and a union.
WOCC member Teresa Cervantes explained why in this translation from her native Spanish,” I am here to support my fellow workers from Fight for $15 and the BP workers who are on strike today fighting for justice and fair wages.”
Her solidarity sentiments were echoed by her friend Rufina Aranda, a McDonalds worker in Cicero IL and a Fight for $15 veteran.
Chicago: It’s about more than just an election
Filed under: Society and Economy, US politics
For the past 6 months I worked on the electoral campaign of Zerlina Smith, a progressive candidate for Chicago City Council. She was part of a city-wide electoral revolt against austerity politics led by reform Democrats and political independents. She did not win outright or make the run-off, but some of the candidates did, including Chuy Garcia who is challenging Mayor Rahm Emanuel in the runoff election. I’ve had a little time to think about what I experienced.
I left a socialist meeting last night where we spent a couple of hours talking about the recent Chicago election. I think the word “money” came up more than the word “votes”.It was an acknowledgment that in our so-called democracy, “Money doesn’t talk, it swears.”
It reminded me of the training session I attended for candidates and election volunteers sponsored by a progressive political alliance. We were told in complete seriousness that one of the the most important jobs of the candidate was to get on the phone and call everyone that he or she knew—-and ask them for money.
And it was the campaign manager’s job to make sure that the candidate put in their required number of hours on the phone—whether they liked it or not.
