May Day Mayday Mash-up . . .

by Amy Laura Hall on May 1, 2014

I’m working on a little effort to encourage people in North Carolina to say the words “Labor Union” (without epithet) in a prayer, sermon, or song at a service of faith the weekend before Labor Day. We are calling it “Labor Sabbath,” and we will have a nifty website up soon. In correspondence with another activist about this, she asked if I meant May 1 or September 1. I snorted my morning tea out my nose. As IF! It will be a long game to encourage conversations about Labor Unions on Labor Day Weekend. May Day is a gift to many people, but not a gift I can take to congregations right now. Working on labor justice in North Carolina requires patience and whimsy. It also requires collaboration across meaningful divides on the left, because the anti-justice people collaborate quite well, thank you. Inter-racial, pro-labor populism in North Carolina has been squished by the neo-liberal, pro-business dudes and the old, conservative dudes for too long. (See here, especially “Two Men and a Bargain”: , here, and here.) The good news is that inter-racial, worker populism must be pretty darned powerful, or else liberals and conservatives would not have been so willing to collaborate with one another to keep labor unions at bay. So . . . with cheers for both May 1 and September 1, here is my own May Day Mayday Mash-up. I will be dancing intermittently during the day, as I grade lots and lots of (mostly wonderful) student papers . . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xmckWVPRaI&feature=kp (Bonus quiz: Why is Twisted Sister more fun than The Who? Answer: WHIMSY! Plus, note that kiddies are reassured repeatedly that dad is ok, just stunned.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8_RY0x3GI0 (Don’t Frack with us! Love it! And more here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQSNVQStnZ4 and here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kd_sWRsphE.)

And, while we are in Wisconsin, LOVE the bagpipes!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6hZA0c4cDE love the kilts too ; )

This one doesn’t have a beat, but it has serious SOUL!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so1PYBCn_5o

Ah beloveds, let’s get down to business!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PaoLy7PHwk

And, yes, just because I need this periodically. Love Belinda! Jump Back! (I ain’t apologizing for nothing.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRwR33FLmrI