GreenEarthAl
09-06-2005, 07:20 PM
Listening to "Fellow Workers" by ani difranco and Utah Phillips. As fine a piece of art activism as I've ever heard, and coincidentally it was the first time I'd heard it. I just bought it coincidentally last Saturday and didn't get to play it until Monday. Great oral tradition storytelling about labor history there.
And, also coincidentally, I was writing my next book (another fine piece of Art-Activism). It'll be called Relations book 2 of 2: "Smash Your Television!" and I wrote a segment that a lot of posts in the current threads reminds me of.
Read it if you want:
Charles Kindriff [02]
[age 13]
Charles Kindriff loved president Robert J. Minton, but his speeches were so boring. He
tended to talk for too long. But Charles tried his best to be patient and even listened
to it again when it was repeated on the SpeakerPhone news a half hour later. But then
when he switched over to channel 5 to watch the Manpower Hour and the speech was on
AGAIN he became angry. Enough is enough.
He switched back and forth between GBC and the president until the President's speech
was finally over. Then he watched the Manpower Hour and was so very relieved that they
still aired the show in its entirety. Charles watched the Manpower Hour every day that
it was on. He was one of the lucky ones. His job at Waste Management had fixed hours
and he was never called on to work overtime or in the evening. So he could always watch
the Manpower Hour. And he always did.
The ManpowerHour theme music was about half way through so he quickly registered his
thumb print for his chance to win. The music finished and the first wave of commercials
began. There were a LOT of Hotcha commercials on and a few Starla commercials too.
Commercials were becomming more entertaining than ever. Except the fake Hotcha
commercials; that stupid lady with the short black hair that said all of that craziness.
He knew she was a fake from the minute she first showed up. Now that the real Hotcha
was back life was better. The real Hotcha had a brand new commercial for Victoria's
Secret, and even though Christian decency forbid them to show her below the shoulders,
and even though he did not like to think of sexuality and sinfulness, he became happy and
excited whenever this videomercial was on in spite of himself.
When the Manpower on the Street segment came on Charles paid close attention. He was
responsible for helping to make sure that stupid people and ugly people never won the
Manpower on the Street segment. Charles was eligible to vote because he was a Viacom
shareholder. Laborers had no access to the stock market unless they could find a sponsor
in the Relations Class. The big boss at Waste Management was Relations class and Charles
had made an appointment to see him about sponsoring him. Since the Reorganization, the
stock market had become an almost exclusive privelige for the Relations class. But some
laborers were enterprising enough to save money and locate a sponsor. Charles' mother
was also a laborer so they had two incomes. Charles had been able to save the cash in
his paypile for six months and save up enough to purchase the 10 share minimum. Of the
few laborers that ever aquired stocks, most had to work their whole lives for it and
almost none had managed it by age 13. Charles figured there was a very good chance that
he could work his way into the Relations class someday even without winning the Manpower
Hour.
The big boss at Waste Management was very impressed with Chares. He had been very
willing to sponsor Charles. The minescule number of stocks that the man had sponsored
on behalf of his employees was negligable compared to his own stock holdings. Still,
it was nice to add a little more riskless investing to one's portfolio. Laborers had
to purchase the stocks themselves and if the stock tanked they would lose their entire
investment. If the stock went up however, it was the sponsor's decision about when to
sell and how to split the gains and the sponsor was not actually required to disburse
any of the gains to you at all. Generally stock sponsors would keep 90 to 95 percent
of any gains and the laborers who held the stock would be very grateful for the
bragging rights that came with having made money in the stock market.
With Viacom stock, however, there was an added bonus to holding shares. Holding
shares of Viacom entitled you to vote for the Manpower on the Street segment. Almost
all laborers who did find a sponsor and buy shares wanted shares of Viacom. And Viacom
was very popular among Relations class people who watched the Manpower hour out of
curiosity. It all made Viacom a very attractive stock and had propelled Viacom into
the top 20 largest corporations in recent years.
The Manpower on the Street segment for the day was pretty good. The unemployed on
there sang a really humiliating and desperate song and sang it very badly --which was
the goal. And she was fairly attractive... but her front teeth were too big. Charles
emphatically voted NO and hoped she would not win. The girl ended up with 48% yes and
52% no, and it was the closest call Charles had seen in a while. The girl began sobbing
uncontrollably and dropped to the ground and wailed with unconsolable grief. Charles
was proud of himself for helping to prevent this big teeth girl from becoming Relations
Class. Tomorrow at work he would make sure everyone knew how he voted and he would
throw it in the faces of the people who liked this girl but couldn't vote because they
didn't own any Viacom shares.
Next another big round of commercials came on and Charles continued thinking about
work. He had developed a skill for paying close attention to what commercials had
aired in what order and which of their products he needed to buy in what quantity even
when he was half distracted. He was thinking about the collection of people that worked
in his department. Charles worked maintenance on sewage tubes. Most of his job involved
getting behind something called a bullet and sliding down the tubes to clean them out.
At the other end of the tube he would find himself suspended over the river tethered by
a cord. The job was too intense for most people since most were afraid of heights,
but Charles had ben doing it fearlessly since he was 11.
Occasionally one of the tubes would get seriously clogged and then he would have to
climb into the tube from the outside and shovel the sewage sludge into the river by
hand which was very back breaking work. He new he would not have to do it much longer.
He was already almost too tall to do it comfortably anymore. He felt sorry for the
very short grown men who were going to have to shovel their whole lives. Or the other
children that were never going to grow tall enough to need to be moved into another
job. Even with a respirator, the sewage tubes seemed to be damaging his health and
making it harder and harder to breathe and many of the short older men who worked
there coughed the whole day long.
The new Starla Coca Cola commercial came on right before the big Manpower Hour finale.
Starla was so beautiful. Even though he hated women and the idea of sex, he could
still appreciate raw beauty. When he got old, and would need to have a wife just
because he was old, he would want his wife to look like Starla. He would insist
upon it. That was going to be non-negotiable he decided.
Julie Jungles came back on and hinted that buying Coca Cola would give you a better
chance at winning tomorrow if you didn't win today and Charles made up his mind to
buy two cases of Coca Cola on his way to work tomorrow and drink them all in front
of his coworkers. The name was announced and was some laborer with a chinese name.
He hated when people with unconventional names won. It was bad enough that they were
allowed to be here in North America, and be laborers, they shouldn't be allowed to
win the Mapower Hour too. What a rip off!
And, also coincidentally, I was writing my next book (another fine piece of Art-Activism). It'll be called Relations book 2 of 2: "Smash Your Television!" and I wrote a segment that a lot of posts in the current threads reminds me of.
Read it if you want:
Charles Kindriff [02]
[age 13]
Charles Kindriff loved president Robert J. Minton, but his speeches were so boring. He
tended to talk for too long. But Charles tried his best to be patient and even listened
to it again when it was repeated on the SpeakerPhone news a half hour later. But then
when he switched over to channel 5 to watch the Manpower Hour and the speech was on
AGAIN he became angry. Enough is enough.
He switched back and forth between GBC and the president until the President's speech
was finally over. Then he watched the Manpower Hour and was so very relieved that they
still aired the show in its entirety. Charles watched the Manpower Hour every day that
it was on. He was one of the lucky ones. His job at Waste Management had fixed hours
and he was never called on to work overtime or in the evening. So he could always watch
the Manpower Hour. And he always did.
The ManpowerHour theme music was about half way through so he quickly registered his
thumb print for his chance to win. The music finished and the first wave of commercials
began. There were a LOT of Hotcha commercials on and a few Starla commercials too.
Commercials were becomming more entertaining than ever. Except the fake Hotcha
commercials; that stupid lady with the short black hair that said all of that craziness.
He knew she was a fake from the minute she first showed up. Now that the real Hotcha
was back life was better. The real Hotcha had a brand new commercial for Victoria's
Secret, and even though Christian decency forbid them to show her below the shoulders,
and even though he did not like to think of sexuality and sinfulness, he became happy and
excited whenever this videomercial was on in spite of himself.
When the Manpower on the Street segment came on Charles paid close attention. He was
responsible for helping to make sure that stupid people and ugly people never won the
Manpower on the Street segment. Charles was eligible to vote because he was a Viacom
shareholder. Laborers had no access to the stock market unless they could find a sponsor
in the Relations Class. The big boss at Waste Management was Relations class and Charles
had made an appointment to see him about sponsoring him. Since the Reorganization, the
stock market had become an almost exclusive privelige for the Relations class. But some
laborers were enterprising enough to save money and locate a sponsor. Charles' mother
was also a laborer so they had two incomes. Charles had been able to save the cash in
his paypile for six months and save up enough to purchase the 10 share minimum. Of the
few laborers that ever aquired stocks, most had to work their whole lives for it and
almost none had managed it by age 13. Charles figured there was a very good chance that
he could work his way into the Relations class someday even without winning the Manpower
Hour.
The big boss at Waste Management was very impressed with Chares. He had been very
willing to sponsor Charles. The minescule number of stocks that the man had sponsored
on behalf of his employees was negligable compared to his own stock holdings. Still,
it was nice to add a little more riskless investing to one's portfolio. Laborers had
to purchase the stocks themselves and if the stock tanked they would lose their entire
investment. If the stock went up however, it was the sponsor's decision about when to
sell and how to split the gains and the sponsor was not actually required to disburse
any of the gains to you at all. Generally stock sponsors would keep 90 to 95 percent
of any gains and the laborers who held the stock would be very grateful for the
bragging rights that came with having made money in the stock market.
With Viacom stock, however, there was an added bonus to holding shares. Holding
shares of Viacom entitled you to vote for the Manpower on the Street segment. Almost
all laborers who did find a sponsor and buy shares wanted shares of Viacom. And Viacom
was very popular among Relations class people who watched the Manpower hour out of
curiosity. It all made Viacom a very attractive stock and had propelled Viacom into
the top 20 largest corporations in recent years.
The Manpower on the Street segment for the day was pretty good. The unemployed on
there sang a really humiliating and desperate song and sang it very badly --which was
the goal. And she was fairly attractive... but her front teeth were too big. Charles
emphatically voted NO and hoped she would not win. The girl ended up with 48% yes and
52% no, and it was the closest call Charles had seen in a while. The girl began sobbing
uncontrollably and dropped to the ground and wailed with unconsolable grief. Charles
was proud of himself for helping to prevent this big teeth girl from becoming Relations
Class. Tomorrow at work he would make sure everyone knew how he voted and he would
throw it in the faces of the people who liked this girl but couldn't vote because they
didn't own any Viacom shares.
Next another big round of commercials came on and Charles continued thinking about
work. He had developed a skill for paying close attention to what commercials had
aired in what order and which of their products he needed to buy in what quantity even
when he was half distracted. He was thinking about the collection of people that worked
in his department. Charles worked maintenance on sewage tubes. Most of his job involved
getting behind something called a bullet and sliding down the tubes to clean them out.
At the other end of the tube he would find himself suspended over the river tethered by
a cord. The job was too intense for most people since most were afraid of heights,
but Charles had ben doing it fearlessly since he was 11.
Occasionally one of the tubes would get seriously clogged and then he would have to
climb into the tube from the outside and shovel the sewage sludge into the river by
hand which was very back breaking work. He new he would not have to do it much longer.
He was already almost too tall to do it comfortably anymore. He felt sorry for the
very short grown men who were going to have to shovel their whole lives. Or the other
children that were never going to grow tall enough to need to be moved into another
job. Even with a respirator, the sewage tubes seemed to be damaging his health and
making it harder and harder to breathe and many of the short older men who worked
there coughed the whole day long.
The new Starla Coca Cola commercial came on right before the big Manpower Hour finale.
Starla was so beautiful. Even though he hated women and the idea of sex, he could
still appreciate raw beauty. When he got old, and would need to have a wife just
because he was old, he would want his wife to look like Starla. He would insist
upon it. That was going to be non-negotiable he decided.
Julie Jungles came back on and hinted that buying Coca Cola would give you a better
chance at winning tomorrow if you didn't win today and Charles made up his mind to
buy two cases of Coca Cola on his way to work tomorrow and drink them all in front
of his coworkers. The name was announced and was some laborer with a chinese name.
He hated when people with unconventional names won. It was bad enough that they were
allowed to be here in North America, and be laborers, they shouldn't be allowed to
win the Mapower Hour too. What a rip off!