Today is Labor Day, the first Monday in September, the day President Grover Cleveland declared a national holiday in 1894. The Knights of Labor and the Central Labor Union organized the first labor parade in New York City in 1887 prior to the national holiday. There had been efforts before to commemorate May 1st as a national holiday to celebrate American workers, but the tragic outcome of the Haymarket Massacre in 1886 made that date too volatile and controversial. On Tuesday, May 4, 1886 a peaceful rally by workers striking in support of an eight-hour workday was disrupted by a dynamite bomb thrown at police officers as they attempted to disperse the demonstrators. Seven police officers, four civilians and dozens of protesters and bystanders were injured. Again in 1894, following the Pullman Strike in Chicago with the death of workers by the U.S. Military and U.S. Marshals, Congress rushed legislation to make Labor Day in September a national holiday, a tribute to American workers.
Mixed Metaphors
Mixed Metaphors, Oh My! – A place where words, this writer, and readers play together.
Author Archives: Linda Lenzke
Conversations w/My Next Girlfriend: Episode 2
This is the second in a series of imaginary conversations with my next girlfriend.
Sweet woman,
I know you’re having a hard time understanding why I asked my ex-girlfriend to accompany me and be my support person the day of my carpal tunnel release surgery. As you remember, I originally asked my sister who said she’d be with me that day. When her family was trying to find a time to take their annual vacation before school started, it turned out that the week of my outpatient surgery worked best with everyone’s schedule. She talked to me about it and I told her to have a great time and that I’d find someone else. Continue reading
Everything New Is Old Again
The following is the script from a stand-up comedy routine I wrote and performed at QueerSpeak open mic at Project Lodge on 8/24/11. The set is a look at aging and the increased interactions we have with healthcare providers and the surprising observations made by the young people in our lives. Today, in a couple of hours, I’m going to have carpal tunnel release surgery. When I am able to write again, I’m sure there will be more humorous stories to tell. Continue reading
Road Trip
A road trip is a must do activity every season of the year and it’s especially wonderful in Wisconsin in the summertime and fall. A road trip with a coterie of friends makes it even more of an adventure, there’s never a lack of stories, lively debates, or insightful observations about our lives as we travel. I’m fortunate to work for an auto dealership featuring luxury European brands, so I volunteered to drive my Mercedes-Benz C-300 on a perfect, blue sky, sunny, summer day. Continue reading
Conversations with My Next Girlfriend
Preface
Since the breakup of my fifteen-year relationship, five-and-a-half years ago, I remain living in the past to some degree. I’m aware that as long as my past inhabits my present, I’m essentially still in a relationship, even if it’s predominately virtual and one-sided. I have conversations in my head — the closure and amends we never had a chance to process together; I work out the “hers, mine and ours” unfinished business of the breakup in scenarios in my dreams, I continue to share stories with friends that begin, “When I was with my ex…” and I make promises to myself to never repeat the same mistakes, or expect people to be anything but who they are, not what I wished they’d be, and yes, I include myself in that awareness. This is the legacy of being the person who was left. It takes time. The good news is we are working on redefining our relationship as friends and chosen family. Continue reading
Third Act
“There’s a moment when people know — whatever their skills are at denial — that they have passed from what they can delude themselves into thinking is middle age to something that you could call the third act.” Nora Ephron
First, let me say denial is powerful. It can both serve us and hurt us, but in the end it must be faced and addressed. Though I am living the sixth decade of my life, a thirty-something still resides inside, a youthful, progressive-thinking woman trying to figure what she wants to be when she grows up. I am always surprised when I look in the mirror and see my sixty-something self. Continue reading
Summer So Green
The past few days have been a reminder of how grateful I am for the bountiful beauty and power of nature. Living in Wisconsin, our lives ebb and flow with the changing seasons, sometimes winter is unrelenting and it’s a struggle just to get out the door for our day-to-day lives. We are restored in the spring when the changing weather brings us hope and quells the itchiness of spring fever. Summer is our reward, a time for leisure and vacations. In the autumn we reap the harvest of the land and prepare for the long, cold nights again, the cycles of change repeated. Continue reading
Last Stop, Fruitvale Station
Like countless others this week all over America, I’ve been struggling with how to respond to the acquittal of George Zimmerman for the senseless, certainly preventable, and heartbreaking murder of Trayvon Martin, an innocent young man, who because of his death was unable to defend himself in front of the jury who found the man who was armed with a gun and pulled the trigger that killed him, innocent of any murder charges. George Zimmerman got his day in court, yet in the opinion of this writer, Trayvon Martin had his civil rights, his reputation, and his life stolen from him simply because of his race. Continue reading
The Lone Ranger, Annie Oakley and the Bride Doll
Today, I saw the premiere of “The Lone Ranger.” Critics have been ravaging the film for many reasons, but for this writer it was a nostalgic journey back to a time of childhood heroes and themes of good versus evil, white hats and black hats. Continue reading
The Skinny on Medicalized Obesity
On Tuesday, June 18, 2013, I learned I have another disease —obesity. The American Medical Association (A.M.A.) at their annual meeting in Chicago recognized obesity as a disease in hopes that the medical community could treat this issue that affects one in three adult Americans, nearly 75 million, and about 12 million (16.9%) U.S. children ages 2 to 19 with education, prevention and intervention. Advocates hope this declaration will help improve reimbursement for obesity drugs, counseling, and surgery. Continue reading