Old Man Poetry, Bill Londrigan, James Baldwin and more: A roundup to make you smile
A grab bag of readings: from poet Phil Clore's new TikTok to a chat with Kentucky labor leader Bill Londrigan to, per request, a reading list from my University of Texas at Austin course. Enjoy!
Happy Sunday. We’ve got a roundup of small items today, including a tease to a TikTok account you ought to be following: Old Man Poetry, by @philcore. Phil’s my partner, but that’s no reason to miss out on the fun. He’s also written three books of poetry, including the wonderfully titled Thank You for Not Having Sex with Me. Check out his stream here. It will make you smile. Guaranteed.
Next up, a follow-up from our earlier post about Louisville and its labor history. I caught up with Bill Londrigan, president of the Kentucky AFL-CIO to talk briefly about the status of union in Kentucky. Our interview is below.
And finally, I just wrapped up the spring semester teaching a seminar on opinion writing for journalism majors the University of Texas at Austin. It was a grueling, pandemic-laced semester, but the students were wonderful, despite a heavy load of writing and reading. A reader asked me what our reading list had been, so for any who are curious, the addendum to the syllabus covering our weekly readings is below. Lots of good stuff on it (including a wonderful 1962 essay by James Baldwin, above). I’d love to hear your thoughts on the list or on what isn’t on it but should have been.
Happy Sunday, and happy reading. — Michael.
Interview with Bill Londrigan
1. What's the strength of unions in Kentucky's labor force today as compared to, say, 1970 or 1990? Can you give me a sense of where membership stands?
The strength of unions in Kentucky’s labor force remains significant. From the political, legislative or social activism perspective Kentucky’s labor movement remains active, engaged and vibrant. Activism among today’s unions builds upon a long and rich tradition of trade unionism among Kentucky’s hard-working men and women. While the percent of workers in unions has declined since the 1970s with the increasing number of workers entering the workforce and the obstacles to organizing and unrelenting outsourcing of unionized workplaces to foreign countries, Kentucky’s union density has remained strong reflecting the national average and higher than most other Southern states. A significant aspect of Kentucky’s labor movement is that the majority of our membership is composed of workers in the private sector, whereas union density in many other states and nationally is concentrated in public sector employment. That element of trade unionism in Kentucky means that most of Kentucky’s major industries have union representation including the auto industry, distilling, steel, aluminum, paper, meatpacking, transportation and so on and a strong building trades union sector in our construction industry. While there have been attempts to undermine union strength in Kentucky, union members and employers continue to value the relationships established through collective bargaining and mutual respect for their mutual benefit. While representing only a small fraction of the total labor force the strength of unions has the recognized impact of improving wages and benefits for all workers - not just union members whose wages and benefits are significantly higher, and which provides an even larger relative wage boost to women and minority workers.Â
2. How has the typical profile of a union worker changed from my dad's day -- he died at 91 last fall? More likely to be female? Latino? Different kind of job?
Yes, unions have always been reflective of the composition of the overall labor force. Most folks might be surprised to find out that the unionization rate for women in 2020 was 11.8% vs 12.3% for men, an almost even split. Minority union membership has also increased in virtually every industry with diversity a way to build union solidarity around multiple ethnicities and traditions. In the meatpacking industry for instance dozens of languages are spoken requiring unions to adapt resources and provide training so that those members are well-informed and active.Â
3. Is there a story or personal experience -- or something you've witnessed -- in the last couple of years that could speak to why you think unions are still relevant today? Â
Well, to begin with I have never thought that unions were irrelevant during any time in the history of America. In fact, during some of the earliest days of our nation there were unions and guilds that functioned to protect the interests of laborers and journeymen. My personal experience would encompass not something that I have witnessed or participated in as a singular or isolated instance but rather the accumulation of my experience in what I witness and participate in almost every single day that reinforces and makes real to me not just relevancy but the absolute necessity of a strong and active trade union movement to counterbalance the power or accumulated and concentrated wealth. There are some many examples which I have witnessed from the distillery that wanted to impose a two-tier wage and the result that strong union solidarity and activism prevented that from going forward to the increasing percentage of younger workers who are forming and joining unions and so many more examples of unions standing for the interests and living standards of their members and all workers. Finally, unions are needed because they are one of the only truly democratically organized and functioning long-term institutions in our nation. Union elections, contract votes, leadership votes, representation elections, you name it, when it comes to unions they operate democratically and give their members the opportunity to truly participate in something that is relevant and consequential for their lives and livelihoods as well as for their fellow workers.
Reading list for UT Austin
Week 1: Introductions
Jan. 19 First week of class.
Jan. 21. Ungraded introduction posts due. (0 points)
Jan. 24. First graded discussion post due, Sunday at noon. (2 points)
Readings:
Editorial: Mr. McNamara’s War, by The New York Times.
Opinion: He was a Crook, by Hunter S. Thompson in Rolling Stone
Op-ed: The Medals of His Defeats, by Christopher Hitchens, The Atlantic.
Week 2: Opinion journalists are reporters first, part 1.
Jan. 31. Second graded discussion post due, Sunday at noon. (2 points)
Readings: 1. The letter to the administrators of the Pulitzer Prize, nominating
Lisa Falkenberg, then the metro columnist for the Houston Chronicle, for the prize in commentary. 2. Her columns from May 14, July 17 and July 18.
Week 3: Opinion journalists are reporters first, part 2.
Feb. 1. First writing assignment (op-ed) distributed.
Feb. 7. Due, noon Sunday:
Draft / outline due of op-ed (5 points)
Post No. 3. (2 points)
Readings: Lisa Falkenberg column, July 24-25, 2014 Sept. 5, 2014.
Week 4. Finding a focus … how to choose what you’ll say about what you’ve learned … know who your audience is, and how to write to those readers.
Feb. 14, Post No. 4 due noon, Sunday. (2 points)
Readings:
Jimmy Breslin, November 1963: Digging JFK’s Grave Was Their Honor, New York Herald-Tribune.
John McPhee: Frame of Reference: To Illuminate or to Irritate.
Week 5. Structure is your friend
Feb. 21 due noon Sunday:
           Final version, Op-Ed writing assignment (10 points)
           Post No. 5. (2 points)
Reading: John McPhee: Structure, The New Yorker, Jan. 2, 2013.
Week 6. Craft of Writing, I
Feb. 22. Second writing assignment distributed (editorial).
Feb. 28: Due noon, Sunday:
Draft/outline of editorial (5 points)
           Post 6. (2 points)
Readings:
Ames, Iowa editorial (Michael Gartner): Ames Needs a New Sports Complex. Oct. 18, 1996
Week 7. Craft of Writing, II: using sound and shape of sentences to reinforce their meaning
March 4-5. Midterm available for taking. 30- minute exam. (4.5 points)
March 7. Sunday Noon, Post No. 7 due. (2 points)
Readings:
Bullet in the Brain, by Tobias Wolff.
Excerpt from All The King’s Men, Robert Penn Warren. (Note: there will be a hand out.)
Week 8: Craft of Writing, III … writing with your senses, vivid images
March 12 due 5 p.m. (This is the Friday before Spring Break).
Final draft of editorial due, 5 p.m. (10 points)
Post 8 due Friday 5 p.m. (2 points)
Readings: Readings: Mike Royko recalls the day Jackie Robinson’s Wrigley Debut an Unusual Day (1972, on the day Robinson died.
SPRING BREAK
Week 9: Writing the column: How personal? A story, or an argument? Or Both?
March 23: Monday 9 a.m. writing assignment 3 distributed (personal column).
March 28. Due noon, Sunday:
           Post No. 9. (2 points)Â
           Personal Column, draft / outline due Sunday noon. (5 points)
Readings: A Few Words About Breasts, by Nora Ephron
Week 10.
April 4. Post 10 due Sunday noon. (2 points)
Readings: A selection of three columns from 2016 Pulitzer Prize winner Farah Stockman of the Boston Globe.
Week 11. The art of the essay I
April 11:
Post 11 due Sunday noon.
Writing assignment 3 (personal column) final version due Sunday noon. Â
Readings:
The Biggest Week in Bourbontown by Michael Lindenberger, 2013.
Letter from a Region in My Mind, James Baldwin, 1962.
Week 12. The art of the essay II
April 12, Monday: Writing assignment 4, personal essay, distributed.
April 18: Sunday, noon:
Outline / draft due of personal essay. (10 points)
Post 12, due Sunday. (2 points)
Readings:
This Old Man, by Roger Angell, the New Yorker 2014.
Week 13: Art of the Essay, III
April 25: Post 13 due Sunday, noon. (2 points)
Reading: Slouching Towards Bethlehem, by Joan Didion. Available on kindle and through amazon.
Week 14: A word about ethics.
Note: No readings / no post this week. (Work on your essay.)
Sunday May 2
final draft of essay due. (10 points.)
Week 15: How to get published, strategies for young writers
Sunday, May 9. Post 15 due, noon on Sunday.
Reading: Ta-Nehisi Coates: My President Was Black, The Atlantic
Final exam:
May 12-13. Thirty minute exam.