ask me about the strike, part 3

1 week down.

(The following should be sung to the tune of Guns n' Roses' "Don't Cry" (Original version).

We're chanting loudly, you pretend there's something in your
ear
here we stand before you, just as you feared
you're being called to account yeah, that much is clear
now,
we won't lose this fight

we won't lose this fight
we're on stri-i-ike tonight
there's a picket around you, Stimpy.
we're on strike tonight.

The strike continues into its second week. I'm exhausted (and frustrated about the horrible plumbing in my apartment, which is probably way more than you wanted to know) but i also feel like, while we, and especially I, have a lot of work to do, that there have been a lot of things to celebrate about the strike in the last week - fantastic media coverage, great support from undergrads and faculty and from eachers and researchers and other workers at other universities, and some very clear indications of the kind of chaos which is taking place amongst administrators at the highest level who are in a mad dash to attempt to find some cover from the Blackboard fallout. I've heard some scary things about administrative plans today which I hope are not true. I've also seen vibrant and powerful picket lines encircling the Silver center and rocking the library. Nelson Lichtenstein walked our picket line. So did John Wilhelm. So, for that matter, did Emilio Hernandez, Shirley Lawrence, and Pat Carta, to name a few. The GSOC strikers greeted the FHUE folks when they marched in from their Dattco bus with "2,4,6,8, who do we appreciate, GESO," which I didn't engage in, because they all know that i appreciate them at this point, plus, Julie would also have ridiculed me for the rest of my life. When everyody left people started chanting "thank you Yale." I guess Federation of Hospital and University Employees doesn't really make for a good picket line chant. I'm hesitant, however to thank Yale as an institution for much other than, as Bob Proto once said, "doing our organizing for us." I did, however complete a verse of "Oh GESO," to the tune of John Lennon's "Oh Yoko," which i would like to share with you now. I should add as a prefatory note that while i am attempting to comply with Alek's unspoken edict that i not mangle good songs, and am instead currently confining myself to the Cheap Trick/GNR/Bon Jovi/Journey quartet for my most recent compositions, I believe that Lennon's work isn't really manglable, that no matter how badly i rip it off it possesses enough signifying and symbolic power at this point that anything i do will be inconsequential. Thus,

In the middle of a strike
In the middle of a strike for which Yale's to blame
(alternativley, "in the middle of a strike, you call my name.)
oh GESO
oh GESO
let's trample Levin's lawn.

Last line lame, i know. Let me know if you have better ones. Like i hinted in my op-ed, the folks in GESO and they work they have done has been formative in how i think about the academic work that i do, not to mention the organizing. I get a very powerful, visceral sense of how what I'm doing here is connected to what i've been doing for most of the last five years of my life when they show up in the UNITE-HERE! shirts and swell our picket lines. Seeing and talking with folks from the federation on what's thus far been a weekly basis helps me to articulate for myself the stakes and dynamics of this struggle at NYU in ways i find deeply rewarding and important. They're very, very good at this. (Which isn't to say that there aren't folks here who aren't or make a value judgement, which would be ridiculous and unproductive. There are things we can help each other out with -- GESO have 15 years of organizing and research experience they're sharing with us. Maybe we have some resources we can share with them...) Having folks from other schools around helps us see the breadth and depth of this movement and reminds us how important it is that we win here.

A year and a half ago, Wendi told me in no uncertain terms that i had to go to grad school somewhere where i'd have to organize. Check. Three months ago, Jeffrey told me I had to organize. Check. Well, i'm working on it, anyway. The different organizing culture's a little disorienting, and when all's said and done, I'm not half the organizer that Julie is, or Lauren is, or Thomas is, or a one hundredth of the organizer Abbey is. I'm just kind of dogged and very angry, and i don't always feel like i'm being particularly useful here in any role other than that of cheerleader, which i am ok with. Really though, what i guess i need to do is step up.

Lots of folks told me today that they've been reading this blog. This is awesome. (Indeed, Jeffrey's proclamation that I have to organize has become one of frequent updates to this website.) Welcome to folks from NYU, Yale, and elsewhere. post a comment sometime.

The GSOC folks love GESO too. Especially Maris. Everybody loves Maris.

And I'll end with a cliche, and promise more later, which i tend to do rather frequently.

Oh. While i'm blogging about things and people in a city i haven't lived in since June 1, 2004, somebody told me there were 35 undergrads at the board of aldermen hearing last night. Or whenever it was. Not too shabby.

"UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICE=/WEAPON OF MATH DESTRUCTION"
-sign held by Math/Computer Science folks today. Eventually de- got changes to in- because each element of the sentence was on opposite sides of a picket sign. Alright, i'nm losing the ability to think coherently. Good night.