Good bye to Harvard

Graduation Day!

Some of my fabulous classmates in the graduating class of 2012.

Rebecca Muir

Unbelievably, it is already the last week of classes at Harvard. The academic pace stayed unrelenting but I got classmates out to hear live music a few times, the most glorious being last Sunday night at the Beehive Jazz bar on Tremont. It was our classmate Simon's birthday and he wanted to hear some blues. Bruce Bears Blues sounded promising - and he was fantastic. But we were bowled over by one of Canada's sweetest and most soulful vocalists, Rebecca Muir, as the surprise guest. Wow. She has that complex, full, yet nuanced sound that sears her way into your heart. She is thrilling to hear live. Watch out for this young star on the rise - she's been Boston-based because of her studies at Berklee College of Music, but she's in NYC now. And (full disclosure) she's a Nova Scotian artist with great musical cred.

Eleanor Roosevelt

“Although born to a life of privilege and married to the President of the United States, Eleanor Roosevelt was a staunch and lifelong advocate for workers and a proud member of the AFL-CIO's Newspaper Guild for more than twenty-five years." She Was One of Us" tells the story of her deep and lasting ties to the American labor movement. Today, union membership has declined to levels not seen since the Great Depression, and the silencing of American workers has contributed to rising inequality. In "She Was One of Us", Eleanor Roosevelt's voice can once again be heard by those working for social justice and human rights.”- www.bofarrell.net

Today’s sessions closed with a lecture by Brigid O’Farrell, whose new book “She Was One of Us” charts the here-to-date unrecognized contribution of Eleanor Roosevelt to the union movement in the U.S. Eleanor wrote a syndicated newspaper column called “My Day” six days a week every week from 1935 to 1962. She was the first, probably the only First Lady to be a card-carrying union member who proudly carried her card in her purse until the day she died. But the best part of this truly inspiring story charted Eleanor’s work in the years after her husband’s death. Among her many achievements perhaps the most impressive is the fact that she spearheaded the drive for the ratification of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and inclusion in that seminal document of (Article 23, clause 4) of the following statement, “Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions …” In this time of unremitting attacks on unions, it is heartening to be reminded that in the wake of World War II, the nations of the world came together to affirm that the right to organize in a union is a universal human right. It’s not given to us by a government. It can’t be taken away by a government. And any government that tries to do that is in contempt of us all. My hope is that the young activists of the world will be inspired by Eleanor Roosevelt’s story and heartened by her work.

A Crazy Week

Flying to LA for the weekend - after an incredibly intense week of classes and case studies and homework - was crazy. But I wouldn't have missed it for the world. It was the SAG Awards 2012 and SAG President Ken Howard proudly announced the SAG-AFTRA merger from the stage. I was seated at the union leaders' table with AFTRA President Roberta Reardon, and a got a few excitable emails from Canada when we were glimpsed as the camera swung to her. I have stories! I also predict this merger will be a case study at the Harvard Trade Union Progam in years to come. It's a whale of a tale...

Apple

Just heard the Off-Broadway play, "The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs" has returned to the Public Theatre in NYC. Monologuist Mike Daisey must be having a field day since the Apple expose in the Sunday Times. The phrase used in that story about workers willing to work for "a cup of tea and a biscuit" in China glares in stark contrast to Apple's extraordinary wealth. It's still the talk of the campus - because it is so glaringly wrong (and we are all addicted to Apple products).

What we're talking about at HTUP is the many ways we can creatively and collectively optimize our strategic leverage. I want to see this play.

Professor Chomsky

These pictures are slighty less blurry. Well, a lot less blurry actually! (Thank you, Dr. Bernard)

Paul and I were quite chuffed to meet Noam Chomsky.