Hotel Workers Picket during Fur Rondy (press release)

Posted on Sat, 27 February 2010 by the blogosphere

The Hotel Workers Rising campaign is a national campaign for decent working conditions and wages for hotel workers

The Hotel Workers Rising campaign is a national campaign for decent working conditions and wages for hotel workers.

Press Release

February 27, 2010

Contact: Amarjeet Chhabra, UNITE HERE Local 878

907-272-6036 (wk) or 416-856-9587 (cell)

Hotel Workers Picket during Fur Rondy!

Sheraton and Hilton workers tell crowds downtown to boycott their hotels

What: Informational Picketline

When: Saturday, February 27th at 4:30pm

Where: Outside the Hilton Anchorage hotel (3th & E St)

Who: Sheraton and Hilton workers; other members of UNITE HERE Local 878; the 4 recently terminated Sheraton workers; and members from the local Anchorage community and labor unions.

Why: Fur Rendezvous and good, hotel jobs have been celebrated Alaskan traditions for over 40 years. Just as the Alaskan fur trade was memorialized in 1935 by the first Fur Rondy festival because of its large economic impact to our region, the Hilton and Sheraton workers hope to shed light on a current industry that substantially impacts our local economy – the hospitality industry. These service sector jobs did not start out as good jobs. In fact, the Anchorage hotel industry only became the kind of family-sustaining jobs they are today because brave men and women fought to make them so. This coming Saturday, during the beginning of Fur Rondy, Sheraton and Hilton workers will call upon the greater community to help them keep another Alaskan tradition alive (good hotel jobs) by boycotting their two hotels.

Throughout the years, our region has benefited greatly from tourism. People now flock from around the world to tour our glaciers, mingle with our wildlife, and gaze at our expansive scenery. While they visit our community, they stay in our hotels, motels, and bed and breakfasts. Of all the downtown Anchorage, full-service hotels, all are union except for one. This has meant that over the years, union, hotel workers have been able to bargain for similar wages, benefits, and working conditions. This has given way to today’s area-wide standards that have proven to be good for employees and for business.

The success of our region, however, has attracted other lower 48 visitors – hoteliers. These new to town hoteliers, like Dallas-based Ashford and Remington who respectively own and operate the Sheraton Anchorage, and Kentucky-based Columbia Sussex who owns and operates the Hilton Anchorage, seem to care little about the good jobs and business practices that have made our region so welcoming and our communities prosperous. In fact, these two companies are trying to degrade the local standards by proposing to take away their workers’ affordable healthcare plans, increase workloads to an arguably unsafe level, and take away certain job protections that have made it common place for these hotels to employ workers who’ve devoted 10 to 30 years of loyal service. Last Wednesday, the Sheraton even went so far as to fire four, rank and file leaders (with 44 years of service combined) after they engaged in what the union believes is protected union activity.

The Sheraton and Hilton workers, who are represented by UNITE HERE Local 878, are not going to let these out of state hoteliers threaten the fate of the Alaskan hotel industry. Instead, both memberships have overwhelmingly placed boycotts on their hotels in an effort to save our good jobs. So, for the time being, they are asking people to stay away from their hotels in order to urge their employers to listen to their reasonable demands. This Saturday, they, along with various community supporters, will spread their boycott message to thousands who will celebrate another beloved, Alaskan tradition – Fur Rondy!

Please contact Amarjeet if you have any questions: 907-272-6036 (wk) or 416-856-9587 (cell)

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Partial locavore

Posted on Thu, 25 February 2010 by Mel Green

Contents of my latest produce box

Yesterday I picked up my third box of produce from Glacier Valley Farm CSA.  When I got home & unpacked them, I decided to array them on my stove (best lighting) for a little photoshoot.  Above, you can see displayed:

From Alaska’s Glacier Valley Farm, VanderWeele Farm:

  • 10 carrots
  • 10 red potatoes
  • 5 yellow onions
  • 1 celery root

From Outside (all certified organic):

  • 2 Bosc pears
  • kiwi
  • celery
  • lacinato kale
  • green chard
  • fennel

And also:

  • a really big squash.  I don’t know whether it came from Alaska or from the Lower 48.

The squash, of course, goes to my friend Sylvia, because she still likes squash & still don’t.  Some of this other stuff — hmmmm…. what am I gonna do with celery root or a full fennel plant, having never cooked either before?  Lucky for me that this week’s issue of the newsletter that Glacier Valley Farm CSA sends out with its boxes, Glacier Grist #59, has some suggestions: I’ll use the celery root & some of the chard, kale, carrots, onions , & potato to make the seasonal soup (probably adding some bison or grassfed beef); & the quinoa salad with apples, pears, fennel, and walnuts suggests a great use for some of the fennel as well as the pear.  But tonight I’ll make my own adaptation of an oven potatoes with fennel recipe I found online.

I didn’t order a box for two weeks from now because first I need to play catch-up & use all the stuff I’ve got now.  In particular, I’m finding it hard to use the potatoes very quickly.  I love potatoes, but I have to be cautious about eating too much of them because they’re a starchy vegetable &, being insulin resistant, I need to moderate my carb intake.  But aren’t these potatoes beautiful?

Potatoes

Living in Alaska, it’s hard to be a complete locavore — that is, someone who eats only food that is grown or produced locally. Even this produce box is only partially local. But I’m glad to be able to be at least a partial locavore. I’m reducing my carbon footprint because trucking stuff in from the Valley costs a lot less fuel than shipping it up from the Lower 48; I’m supporting Alaska famers; & wow — such great food! Just $35 for the box.

Time to go cook.

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The Daily Tweets, 2010-02-23: Baking

Posted on Tue, 23 February 2010 by Mel Green
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Conservatives for Palin: A rich field of study for anyone interested in the practical application of intellectual dishonesty & logical fallacy

Posted on Tue, 23 February 2010 by Mel Green

I want honesty in government

I see that Rich Crowther at Conservatives for Palin has written a second “Skinny White Sunday” post which misrepresents me in the guise of congratulating me for my “courage”.

Big whoop. Being complimented on my “courage” means little coming from someone so intellectually dishonest.

‘Nuff said.  I have better things to do with my time than to pay his b.s.  any further mind.

But it occurs to me that Mr. Crowther’s writings, as well as much else at the C4P website, provide excellent examples for anyone who might be studying the use of logic (or rather, its lack) and reason (or rather, its lack) in public discourse. There are lots of good sources on the Internet or elsewhere on logical fallacies — see, for example,

I invite you to consult any of these resources and see how many logical fallacies you can detect in Mr. Crowther’s article:

To locate all his fallacies accurately, you’ll need to refer to his prior “Skinny White Sunday” post & my reponse to it:

  1. 2/14/2010.  “Skinny White Sunday: Alaska Palm Pilot Rocks!” by Rich Crowther (Conservatives for Palin).
  2. 2/16/2010. “Conservatives for Palin & civility: Fairly unbalanced” by Melissa S. Green (Henkimaa).

(Additional background posts are listed below.)

For extra credit, do the same for any other of Rich Crowther’s posts.

Have fun!

Background posts: The full conversation in the Alaska progressive blogosphere on civility

Posted in Alaska politics | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Sheraton Anchorage update: Governor's Safety and Health Conference cancels agreement

Posted on Mon, 22 February 2010 by Mel Green

The march began at the Sheraton, whose workers are currently in contract negotiations.

Last November, 84% of union workers at the Sheraton Anchorage voted to put the Sheraton under boycott due to the hotel’s continued unfair treatment of workers & refusal to bargain in good faith. [Ref #1, 2] Last Wednesday, February 17, the hotel illegally fired four workers for engaging in protected union activity outside the hotel entrances. [Ref #2] Friday, UNITE HERE Local 878 held a press conference [Ref #3] to discuss the union’s filing of a claim with the National Labor Relations Board because of the hotel’s illegal retaliation against the workers.  (See the Anchorage Daily News & KTVA Channel 11 reports from the press conference. [Ref #4, 5])

But here’s more news from Friday: citing the continuing labor dispute, and the hotel’s failure to address concerns about it, the Alaska Department of Labor & Workforce Development wrote a letter dated February 19 to cancel its agreement with the Sheraton to hold the annual Governor’s Safety and Health Conference there.

I’ve obtained a PDF copy of the letter, which you can view here. [Ref #6] Here’s what it says:

February 19, 2010

In November 2009, the Alaska Department of Labor & Workforce Development (DOLWD) reserved meeting rooms, catering services and banquet space for the Governor’s Safety Conference in Anchorage, scheduled for March 23rd through the 25th, 2010. The purpose of this correspondence is to cancel the agreement between the Anchorage Sheraton and DOLWD.

The Alaska DOLWD has recently become aware of significant negative impacts on the Governor’s Safety Conference associated with the Anchorage Sheraton venue. In December, the Alaska Safety Advisory Council learned labor disputes at the Anchorage Sheraton could lead to a picket line during the conference and sent a letter to General Manager Denis Artiles to express concern about the potential negative impact on the Governor’s Safety Conference. To date, the Anchorage Sheraton has not provided any assurances to mitigate concerns and recent telephone messages to Mr. Artiles have not been returned. On February 11, 2010, the Commissioner of Labor received an e-mail from Ms. Amarjeet Chhabra of UNITE HERE LOcal 878, which explained that the Anchorage Sheraton hotel workers in their organization voted to boycott the hotel and that meant “vigorous picket lines that attendees will have to cross when entering and exiting the premises.”

The success of the Governor’s Safety Conference depends primarily on participant attendance, but is also affected by sponsorship contributions. Labor organizations, which have contributed significant sponsorship donations in the past have indicated they will not contribute to the conference this year. Attendee registrations are currently down by more than 40 percent in comparison to this time last year. If there is a picket line, several individuals including members of the Safety Advisory Council, have indicated they will not cross the picket line. Low attendance will negatively affect the vendors at the conference. The labor situation at the Anchorage Sheraton has resulted in an unacceptable risk to the success of the Governor’s Safety and Health Conference.

For all the reasons stated herein, DOLWD is canceling its reservations to host the Safety Conference at the Sheraton in Anchorage. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact me at [phone #]. [Ref #6; emphases added]

The letter was signed by DOLWD’s procurement officer.

The letter doesn’t say outright, but seems to indicate that labor organizations declined to contribute sponsorship donations this year because of the boycott called for by the hotel’s own workers.  One hopes that DOLWD has been able to find another venue for the Governor’s Safety Conference that labor organizations can feel good about supporting with sponsorship donations.

But what’s really incredible: not only has Sheraton management failed to address DOLWD’s concerns, but its General Manager, Denis Artiles, wouldn’t even return the State’s phone calls about the situation.

Wow, that’s pretty incredible! Who put this guy in charge?

But actually fits pretty well with other stuff I learned over the weekend about the bad decisionmaking & poor management that’s become standard at the Sheraton since Denis Artiles becames General Manager last July.

Artiles

Sheraton Anchorage's Facebook page announced Denis Artiles' arrival as General Manager last July.

Artiles works at the behest of Dallas-based Remington Hotels, which manages a number of properties owned by another Dallas-based company, Ashford  Hospitality.  Ashford Hospitality and Remington Hotels share the same CEO, Monty Bennett, & the same chairman of the board, Archie Bennett (Monty’s father).

But one must wonder: Do those way-up-there boss-of-bosses share Denis Artiles’ disdain for fair labor practices & adherence to the law?  And whether or not they do, do they approve of his incompetence in not returning phone calls from an important client, thus contributing to the hotel losing a major conference worth thousands of dollars?

Though one certainly understand why he might not want to return DOLWD’s calls. Unless he was a master B.S.er, I reckon he’d’ve had a pretty rough time reassuring the DOLWD that labor issues wouldn’t disrupt the conference.  After all, he had just worsened the labor situation considerably by authorizing the illegal suspension (on February 3) and then the firing (on February 10, though the workers were not actually told they were fired until February 17) of four workers for exercising their legally protected rights under U.S. labor law.

More on Ashford Hospitality, Remington Hotels, the Sheraton Anchorage, & the fired UNITE HERE members in the next couple of days.

References

  1. 11/16/2009. “Sheraton, Hilton workers unite to promote boycotts — WORKLOAD: Union says hotels want more rooms cleaned per shift” by Elizabeth Bluemink (Anchorage Daily News).
  2. 2/18/2010. “Press conference Friday on illegal firing of four Sheraton Anchorage workers (press release)” by UNITED HERE Local 878 (posted on Henkimaa.com).
  3. 2/20/2010. “Fired Sheraton employees challenge action — BOYCOTT BACKLASH? 4 dispute being let go after protesting work conditions” (Anchorage Daily News).
  4. 2/19/2010. “Unions protest Sheraton workers firings: A major workers union has filed a National Labor Relations Board claim, saying four former Sheraton Anchorage union workers were fired for participating in union activity” by Matthew Simon (KTVA Channel 11).
  5. 2/19/2010. Letter “Re: Sheraton Agreement #710-LSS-1189 Governor’s Safety Conference” from Amy Deininger, Procurement Officer, Alaska Department of Labor & Workforce Development to Sheraton Anchorage
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From termination dust to fake breakup: A winter slideshow

Posted on Thu, 18 February 2010 by Mel Green

Performing Arts Center in downtown Anhorage

breakup [noun]  1. The letting go of the thick winter ice from lakes and, especially, rivers in the Arctic and Subarctic….

breakup [noun]  2. The period at the end of winter when the snow melts, the ground thaws, and the ice in rivers and lakes lets go.

— Dictionary of Alaskan English by Russell Tabbert

In Anchorage right now we’re in that part of the winter that I call fake breakup — the above-freezing sloppy snowmelt time that oft leads the less experienced to hope that real breakup is in progress.  But hey, folks, really: it’s only February! — the real deal’s not going to come until April at the earliest.  This is just a warming trend to remind us that breakup will one day come, with a redoubling of the sloppiness not to mention huge roostertails of water flying up from passing traffic to soak people like me waiting innocently at bus stops.

But until then, this brief midwinter thaw of fake breakup: slushed up snow & ice melting off roofs and onto the pavement in front of the steps at my apartment, that more often than not freezes overnight to make the footing treacherous.  Yak trax or some other ice grippers are useful.  So is ice melt. Nonetheless, I like this time of year for its relative warmth, along with the brightening days in which the sun can still be found above the horizon when I get off work — as I already said, my annual birthday present.

But all the slop makes winter in these days not quite so pretty as winter in other parts of the winter.  So tonight I thought I’d upload & post some of my pics from the earlier parts of this winter, when it was still a bit prettier.

Oh… another definition:

termination dust — An Anchorage area term for the end-of-summer snows which fall on the surrounding mountains and hills, signalling that the traditional construction season is about over and that workers will be terminated soon.

— Dictionary of Alaskan English by Russell Tabbert

This slideshow of Winter 2009-2010 in Anchorage, Alaska begins with late September’s termination dust in the Chugach Mountains east of town to early February, just before the midwinter temporary thaw of “fake breakup.” You can also enlarge this slideshow to see it in fullscreen. Enjoy.

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Press conference Friday on illegal firing of four Sheraton Anchorage workers (press release)

Posted on Thu, 18 February 2010 by the blogosphere
The Hotel Workers Rising campaign is a national campaign for decent working conditions and wages for hotel workers

The Hotel Workers Rising campaign is a national campaign for decent working conditions and wages for hotel workers.

Press Release
February 18, 2010
Contact: Amarjeet Chhabra, UNITE HERE Local 878
907-272-6036 (wk) or 416-856-9587 (cell)

Sheraton Workers Fired!

Four rank and file leaders were terminated Wednesday for participating in union activity

What: Fired workers press conference

When: Friday, February 19th at 12:15pm

Where: Outside the National Labor Relations Board office (4th & F St)

Who:

Speakers: Gina Tubman (Server), Lucy Dudek (Server), Troy Prichacharn (Bellmen), Vince Belltrami (Head of the Alaska AFL-CIO)

Attendees: Sheraton and Hilton workers; other members of UNITE HERE Local 878; and members from the local Anchorage community and labor unions.

Why: This past Wednesday, February 17th, four Sheraton Anchorage, rank and file union leaders were brought into the General Manager’s office and were fired.  Management cited a union action the workers participated in two weeks prior as the reason for their terminations.

On February 2nd, these workers passed out flyers to customers that asked people not to enter the hotel because it is under boycott.  This is because in mid-November, 84% of the membership at the Sheraton Anchorage voted to place their hotel under boycott in order to ramp up their campaign for a fair contract.  The four leaders were only outside for a short while before management came out, told them to leave, took their pictures, surrounded them with managers, threatened to call the police, and told them that if they didn’t “go, go now!” that security would remove them.  The workers held their ground for a little over 40 minutes, continuously stating that they had the right to be there and showed management two National Labor Relations Board cases that support their position (see below).  The following day, the four were suspended until further notice.

The Union believes management is out of control and is knowingly breaking federal law in order to see if they can scare the rest of the Sheraton workers into accepting an inferior contract.  Most likely the hotel weighed the cost and benefit of breaking the law.  While the hotel may have to pay for their alleged illegal action, they will have, up until that point, shown the rest of the membership that even if someone engages in legal, union activity, management is still going to retaliate.

The majority of the Sheraton workers, however, are having the opposite reaction.  Those that were fired are well loved, so those working inside the hotel are more galvanized than ever to fight for their co-workers and a fair contract.  Today, an overwhelming majority of them proved this when they wore union buttons in support of their co-workers.

The Sheraton workers will not be swayed.  Job security, affordable family healthcare, and safe workloads are on the line.  These issues are too important not to fight to keep them.  We are in a critical struggle to keep good standards for hotel workers in Anchorage and Alaska at large, and these fired workers efforts are a big part in making this happen.  Tomorrow, the fired workers (who have over 40 years of service combined) will congregate with community and labor supporters outside the NLRB office where there is a current unfair labor practice charge pending on their terminations.
___________________________________________________

Employees have the right to be in non-work areas of their workplace to communicate with the employer’s customers about a labor dispute, using leaflets or picketing.  Scott Hudgens, 230 NLRB 414 (1977).

Non-work areas include the doors leading into the employer’s business.  Santa Fe Hotel & Casino, 331 NLRB 723 (2000).

Hotel workers demands

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Sheraton Anchorage illegally fires four workers

Posted on Wed, 17 February 2010 by Mel Green

The march began at the Sheraton, whose workers are currently in contract negotiations.

I got word this morning that the Sheraton Anchorage, which has been under boycott by its workers since last November, today fired four of its workers for engaging in protected union activity.

On February 2, the four workers had been leafleting hotel guests and coworkers about the boycott, activities which are protected per at least two prior National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decisions:

  • Employees have the right to be in nonwork areas of their workplace to communicate with the employer’s customers about a labor dispute, using leaflets or picketing. Scott Hudgens, 230 NLRB 414 (1977).
  • Nonwork areas include the doors leading into the employer’s business. Santa Fe Hotel & Casino, 331 NLRB 723 (2000).

Sheraton management continuously interrupted the (off duty) workers as they leafleted prospective guests asking them to honor the worker’s call for a boycott of the hotel. Management took pictures, threatened to have security remove them, and eventually called the police — even though the worker’s activity was legal and protected. The following morning, the hotel’s general manager and human resources director suspended the four and escorted off them the property.  Now, two weeks later, the workers have been fired.

Sheraton workers, members of UNITE HERE Local 878, voted in November to place the hotel under boycott after management, without negotiation, raised their monthly premium for family health insurance to $800 per month, an amount many workers cannot afford.  Management also imposed a bigger workload, increasing the number of rooms housekeeping staff were expected to clean from 15 to 17 rooms per day.  The changes at the Sheraton, which is owned by the Dallas, Texas based company Remington Hotels, are much like that imposed previously on workers at the Hilton Anchorage, which is owned by a Kentucky-based company, Columbia Sussex and was placed under boycott by its workers last May.  Both boycotts ask people not to  eat, sleep or meet at the hotels until each boycott is ended . [Ref #1-2] Just one day after the four Sheraton workers were suspended, on February 4, a “town hall” meeting hosted by conservative talk radio host Dan Fagan was short at least one of its schedules participants: Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ethan Berkowitz pulled out because to participate would require him to defy the boycott. [Ref #3]

It’s pretty clear to me that management at both the Hilton and the Sheraton — or at least the owners, Remington Hotels and Columbia Sussex — don’t give a damn about the health or welfare of their employees.  Wow, here we go, corporations again.  Wasn’t I saying something just the other day about corporate psychopathology? [Ref #4] Besides putting adequate family health care out of many workers reach, the demand that housekeepers clean 17 rather than 15 rooms per day is another risk to health. As I observed last fall [Ref #5], in a study based on OSHA records for 87 hotels from 1999 to 2007, UNITE HERE found,

On average, hotel workers experienced an injury rate of 6.4 per 100 workers, meaning that, in each year, more than six percent of the hotel workforce in these hotels suffered a documented workplace injury. Hotel housekeepers, however, faced a significantly greater injury rate of 10.4%, which is 86% greater than the injury rate experienced by non-housekeepers (5.6%). [Ref #6, p. 8]

And the faster they are required to work — in order to meet higher housekeeping quotas imposed by employers — the higher the risk of injury:

In recent years, the workload that hotel companies demand housekeepers perform has increased significantly. Chronic understaffing, coupled with the addition of time-consuming amenities—luxury items like heavy mattresses, fragile coffeepots and in-room exercise equipment—have placed housekeepers at greater risk of injury. In order to complete their room quotas, housekeepers are increasingly forced to skip meals and other breaks—rests necessary to prevent injury. Today, housekeepers’ bodies are at the breaking point. [Ref #6, p. 4]

But what the hell do the owners of either the Sheraton or the Hilton care, so long as they can rake in more profits for their own top management.

See references for more background on the Sheraton boycott.  Stay tuned for more news of the four illegally fired workers. And, most importantly,

Don’t give the Sheraton, or the Hilton, any of your business
until they have negotiated & settled fair contracts with  their workers.

Hotel Workers Rising March, Anchorage

References

  1. 11/16/2009. “Sheraton, Hilton workers unite to promote boycotts — WORKLOAD: Union says hotels want more rooms cleaned per shift” by Elizabeth Bluemink (Anchorage Daily News).
  2. 11/18/2009. “Vacancy (please)” by Brendan Joel Kelley (Anchorage Press).
  3. 2/3/2010. “In Brief” by Brendan Joel Kelley (Anchorage Press).
  4. 1/22/2010. “Government by psychopathy” by Melissa S. Green (Henkimaa).
  5. 10/1/2009. “In solidarity with Hilton workers” by Melissa S. Green (Henkimaa).
  6. April 2006. Creating Luxury, Enduring Pain: How Hotel Work is Hurting Housekeepers (UNITE HERE). (Available through the Take Action page on the Hotel Workers Rising website.)
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Writing life

Posted on Tue, 16 February 2010 by Mel Green

Write hard, die free

Cold and Long Dark

I’ve still got a couple of politically oriented posts to write, including some self-examination on the whole civility thing from the past week, & another for a little self-assigned project to learn a bit more about the Tea Party movement as Tea Partiers themselves see it (rather than through the received wisdom I have from my usual sources in media & blogs) — as best I can.  But having stayed up late last night with a political post, I’m tired & too mindfried to even respond to comments; plus I’m in need out of political stuff for a few.

Time to get my geek on to the stuff I really want to do: write.  Too mindfried for that too, unfortunately.  So instead: just a relaxed little post about where writing has been this past week, if only to remind myself that I’m getting somewhere with it these days.

I’m in the midst of reading two books at once, both having to do with consensus & collective decisonmaking.  This is as background research for Cold & Long Dark — for the Consensus government I talked about in my Building Consensus post the other day.  One of the books I’ve been reading on my iPod while riding the bus with the Kindle for iPhone app — well, how I’m reading it is less important than what I’m reading: How to Make Collaboration Work: Powerful Ways to Build Consensus, Solve Problems, and Make Decisions by David Straus.  The other book, which arrived at my door maybe a week & a half later, is We the People: Consenting to a Deeper Democracy — A Guide to Sociocratic Principles and Methods by John Buck and Sharon Villines.  I’d never heard of sociocracy before encountering this book.

Between the two of them, I’m learning one heckuva lot — & more often than not while reading, storymind is fully engaged, figuring out how to take this stuff & weave it in with what I already know about how the Consensus government of my story universe works.  But I’m glad I’ve already done as much thinking about Consensus before reading these books — because it’s already mine.  This reading is just to refine & expand my understanding, so it works better. I’ve got some other books on my “consensus” reading list too, but I’m not gonna list ’em all now.

So, Friday night went out with my friend Marcia, & exercised her ears by blabbing all over the place in my story — from Oikos, the planet my characters are terraforming in Cold, & back 300 or so year to Mars, where the very important figure of Esti Gusev is born & spend the early years of her life.  And how she came to learn of Consensus by way of an earlier figure whose philosophy influenced its formation — who turns out to be none other (to my surprise) than the main character from my older novel-in-progress, Mistress of Woodland.  And then I took Marcia here & there, & found myself surprised at how well I know this story universe… even though there’s still lots more I need to know.  But wow, it was fun talking about it.

Then Saturday I went to Side Street & wrote.  Was working on a story called “Trading Shirts” from Cold that features Bai & Boleyn — same characters as in the story “Cold” that’s been published — & got a fair headway.  This was for a story contest that had a entry deadline Monday.  But I ended up deciding to hold that story for another online publication, & decided to dust off & revise a different story from even yet again a different project called Finer, which is a fairly basic (but I hope interesting) non-SF lesbian love story set in 1980 in a small town in northwest Montana — not much different from where I grew up.  Even to the aluminum reduction plant that the main character works in.

So got that finished. I think I may do more writing in the Finer world while I continue doing some of the research reading I’m doing.  Will see.  I still need to finish “Trading Shirts” too.

So that’s where that is.

About the pin

The “Write Hard Die Free” pin in the photo at the top of this post was designed by William Spear of Douglas, Alaska. That and other great pins are available at wmspear.com.

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The Daily Tweets, 2010-02-16: Lucille Clifton, RIP

Posted on Tue, 16 February 2010 by Mel Green

Lucille Clifton reading two poems at the 2008 Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival. Poet, rest in peace.

  • Joshua Wade admits to murder of Mindy Schloss, but also Della Brown. RIP to them. He will spend life in prison. http://bit.ly/aeCdf2 #
  • Just learned of the death of Lucille Clifton on Saturday. A poet of “profundity, earthiness and humor”. RIP. http://bit.ly/aWw8wm #fb #
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