Welcome to an end-of-summer rerun of the “Labor Day 1620” article I ran a few years ago. As you read this, I’m in New England preparing to finally meet up with a group of Brewster descendants for my first attendance at their triennial Elder William Brewster family reunion. I hope to come home with many new Brewster relatives in my contacts list and more stories to share with you about the history beyond this fascinating […]
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Labor Day Today
“Each morning sees some task begin, Each evening sees it close; Something attempted, some done, Has earned a night’s repose.” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Labor Day Today As we head into the beloved Labor Day weekend and transition from summer to fall and another academic year, let’s pause and consider the ancient tensions between those who do the manual work that keeps society going and those who finance that work. Labor Day today is more about […]
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Unemployment Day 2020
Perhaps we should rename Labor Day 2020 as Unemployment Day 2020. The day came and went in a COVID-19 world that has destroyed dreams, plans, and any hope of economic stability for far too many people. Efforts to contain the highly contagious, and too often deadly, virus has meant closing businesses. This has left, depending on various sources, between an estimated 18 to 30 million people contenting with unemployment and bills they cannot pay. COVID […]
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Labor Day and Child Labor
The pendulum of the mind alternates between sense and nonsense, not between right and wrong. Carl Jung When I was a camp director I took a call one day from a mother who wanted to interview me to determine whether or not she would send her eight-year-old son to our camp for a week. I described a typical camp day and asked her if she had any questions. She did. “Do you apply sunscreen to […]
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