Labor Day 2021

I just returned from placing a bouquet of red, white, and blue flowers at the base of the statue of Peter J. Maguire which is in a handsome memorial with a collonade behind the life size statue on a pedestal in Arlington Cemetery, adjacent to Bethel Cemetery off Cove Road in Pennsauken. I go there every year on Labor Day and place a small bouquet as a token of my respect for Maguire's sacrifice, his dedication and his disillusionment.

If it weren't so far away, I would also place a bouquet at the grave of Mother Jones the Miner's activist and Child Labor protester but she is burried in Illinois in Mount Olive cemetery, the miner's cemetery. These are my two most familiar Labor leaders except for Joe Hill and I sing his song regularly "I Dreamed I saw Joe Hill Last Night, Alive as You and Me. But Joe, you're ten years dead said I - I NEVER DIED SAID HE!" And he lives in all of us who know and honor the sacrifices of the men and women who fought in the Labor Struggle.

However, that said, what about MOVIES! The only few that I have seen and can recommend are: Matewan Ione of my all time favorite films, of any topic! It has magnificent acting and filming by John Sayles and it is based on a real Mine workers battle in West Virginia, the final home place of my mother and father and where my brother now lives. I can also recommend North Country, with Charlize Theron about a woman struggling to support her daughter and herself in the men's trade in the far north of Minnesota. She battles the hatred of the men she works with as well as the owners and managers. It is a tough watch but gripping. There is always SILKWOOD, a whistle blower movie worth its weight in gold, and Norma Rae. So these are the ones I know. I am going to google around and see if I can find one I haven't seen but that I might like to watch.

Happy Labor Day! Jo Ann