Happy May Day!

It's May 1st, traditionally Beltane, also known as International Worker's Day.  We are living in interesting times.  The Occupy Movement has lasted the winter, and the general strike activities of yesterday and today have culminated in arrests, vandalism, beatings, and tear gas.

I'd like to acknowledge and honor those who've fought this fight and thought about these concepts far longer than I have in the best way I know how: by giving you some resources to learn more about them yourself!

May Day Commemoration Calls Attention to Workers 

Occupy Theatre's Blog

This original poster from the National Theatre Project Archives is chilling to me, even 80 years later.  

Here is an article from bay area actor and activist Michael Gene Sullivan about International Worker's Day in 2010.  I find it fascinating to read articles about these themes from before the Occupy Movement became a household name.  There are far fewer trollish comments about how people need to "occupy a shower" and there are far better attempts to articulate ideas without falling back on the "99%" shorthand we've been using for six months.

One of my favorite professors from SFSU, Joel Schechter, is a huge proponent of the WPA, and I share his love of puppetry, clowns, and the National Theatre Project.  His article, WPA for Artists Program's Time has Come Again, ran in 2010 and is just as relevant now.

One of the more famous pro-union plays sponsored by the Federal Theatre Project.
 The movie about the show and surrounding events is very good, though takes liberties with time and space.