Literaure Link 9/4/22 — Belonging; Maurice West
• 12 Books Every Worker in America Should Read for Labor Day This is a book list interesting to read about. “Since the Industrial Revolution, impoverished working class people have struggled for fair wages, hours, and treatment — with immigrants and Black people often facing the worst conditions. We celebrate Labor Day weekend this year amidst a deadly global pandemic; a growing unapologetic movement against policing and incarceration; and a new frontier in the struggle for workers’ rights, as teachers and postal workers organize against the ongoing efforts to dismantle these vital public services. Now more than ever, it is time to reflect on what can be achieved when workers realize their collective power and unite, and how we can get there again today. We’re pleased to present this guide to learn more about the history of labor in the United States and the challenges and inequalities, heroes and solutions of the workers’ movement.”
https://thenewpress.com/blog/reading-lists/12-books-every-worker-america-should-read-for-labor-day
• “Small Kindnesses” by Danusha Lameris. [poem] “ I’ve been thinking about the way, when you walk/ down a crowded aisle, people pull in their legs / to let you by. Or how strangers still say “bless you” / when someone sneezes” -”Sometimes a poem just strikes a precise moment. “Small Kindnesses” feels utterly necessary for our time — a poem celebrating minor, automatic graciousness within a community. It almost feels like another hope we remember having.” https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/19/magazine/poem-small-kindnesses.html
• “Everyday Grace” BY STELLA NESANOVICH [poem] “I share my sister’s death
from breast cancer, her / youngest only seven. / A woman rises, gives
her name, Mrs. Henry, / then takes my hand. / Suddenly an ordinary day
becomes holy ground.” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/144781/everyday-grace
• Authors in the Tent: Adam Schiff on How Fiction Can Be More Revealing About Our Reality… [video] https://lithub.com/a-literature-of-belonging-stories-of-real-america/#brid_cp_Brid_59753678
• “The Black-Eye-of-the-Month Club” by Sherman Alexie [short story] “The narrator was born with water on the brain. He explains what this means, and outlines the wide variety of other physical difficulties and peculiarities he suffered from. He definitely stood out as different, and was treated as such.” https://mrsjkay.weebly.com/uploads/1/0/9/9/109985009/b-e-o-t-m-c.pdf
In faith,
Dale Dunnigan