Three strikes- we're out.

I woke up on the late train yesterday morning, as is my habit. I panicked a bit more than normal, however, as I was supposed to be meeting up with the Jeanie Wylie community to hitch a ride to a delegation. But Bill, Lydia, Anna, Hannah, and I made it to the Bob Evans in Livonia in time to order a cup of coffee as we listened to Elena and Julio explain how the delegation would happen.

I felt excited and confident as we left Bob Evans for the TRW headquarters. Two TRW workers, flown up from Mexico, were with us, as were some pretty experienced rabble rousers. 15 people walked into the headquarters holding signs and followed by Channel 7 news. The woman at the front desk was not happy to see us. She called TRW security to escort the “protestors” out. Strike one- we should not have brought our posters with us. Bill took offense to being called a protestor, and repeatedly told the woman that we were with TRW employees and simply asking for a meeting. TRW security couldn’t kick us out, so the woman called the police.

By this point Julio, Elena, and Bill had managed to speak to a few different employees who had accidentally walked into the situation. We discovered that our timing was bad. Strike two- the Executive Director was in Germany at an auto show, and no one seemed to know who the next in charge was. It was becoming disappointing. At breakfast we had agreed that no one would be arrested, so we knew that as soon as the police showed up, that was it.

The Livonia police arrived less than 15 minutes after we had. Elena and Julio pressed the TRW workers’ request letter into the hands of the police officers, trying to convince them that employees have the right to request a meeting and cannot be accused of trespassing. The officers wouldn’t take it. Lydia handed me her car key just in case she decided not to leave, and Bill seemed to be leaning that way as well. In then end, however, we were all escorted out. The third strike- we had not discussed potential outcomes well enough. Though at the restaurant it had seemed as though arrest wouldn't happen no one seemed to know what to do should anyone change their mind. We stood on the street outside the headquarters for a while holding our signs, and being interviewed by Channel 7, Oakland Press, and a community newspaper.

Eventually we left. I ended up back at the Jeanie Wylie community with Anna, Hannah, Lydia, and Bill. To maintain some semblence of a work day, he and I met on his upstairs balcony with reheated coffee. We talked a bit about the possibility of going back to the TRW headquarters. After all, the workers had come all the way from Mexico! They really couldn’t leave without actually sitting down with someone to negotiate. The same sequence of events, when tried with a different corporation had turned out favorably. Perhaps we could try again?

I think this will be perhaps one of the more difficult parts of this kind of work: feeling as though our request is entirely reasonable, but being ignored completely. I would like to think that if we had presented ourselves in a slightly more professional and less agenda-heavy stereotypical manner things may have gone differently. But I'm not sure that's true. And it's impossible not to have hope heading into a situation like that- it seems so clear that better wages and safe conditions are, in the long run, in the best interest of everyone involved. Yet such a suggestion is ridiculous enough to ignore, and threatening enough to call the police.

Bill and I sat on his balcony for an hour or so overlooking the beautiful garden, the apple tree, and Hannah’s clothes drying on the clothesline. We discussed a few retreats that I may help organize and hopefully attend, as well as what will happen in the beginning of October when Bill is recuperating from shoulder surgery. Bill made us quesadillas for lunch, and then left for a 2:00 meeting.

I’ve spent the rest of my afternoon “working” out of the Jeanie Wylie community. I’ve also eaten a lot of ice cream and Hannah made me ginger tea. This part of work I certainly won't struggle with!

A whole week's worth.

Last weekend I spent a good part of Saturday at Eastern Market. My favorite booths thus far are those that offer samples. Especially when the samples are of delicious honey-almond goat cheese made just outside Detroit. Hannah and I ‘liberated’ mushrooms and broccoli from boxes near dumpsters at Eastern Market. I bought more purple basil to make pesto with. The result of our Saturday shopping was the “localEST” feast we could muster to celebrate Hannah’s birthday. Michigan wine, homemade bread, bruschetta made with tomatoes from the backyard, corn, spaezli that Bill made, there was broccoli involved somehow, and Michigan-made mozzarella too. Joanna did bring some champagne, not from Michigan, to have with our dessert of apple crisp… apples from the backyard. It was a feast, and a great ending to a week that whirled by…

Monday I marched in the parade with the AFL-CIO, handed out fliers for the Social Forum to everyone still marching in the parade, and spent the afternoon at Pastor Pitts’ church cook-out.

Tuesday I made reminder phone calls to all the people on the Faith and Spirituality committee for the USSF, about the meeting Thursday morning. Then I made reminder phone calls to all the people on IWJ’s Board about the meeting Thursday afternoon. I spoke with the president of IWJ in Detroit, who would be chairing the meeting- Pastor Pitts- and put together an agenda with him.

The D-LOC meeting was at 5:30 and we got into an interesting discussion about what purpose, if any, the Forum could serve in the present. A few people are very interested in using the Forum to pull in support for current issues, maybe calling on the Forum to endorse a certain stance on healthcare or get involved with a union. To some, the Forum needs to start acting as well as discussing. To others, this could be going against the focus of the Forum; it is a space for conversation and action, but is not a support in and of itself. There was no real conclusion to these thoughts, but rather the vague idea that perhaps the Forum could learn about a few current issues.

Wednesday I was nervous about Thursday. And worried about all the unreturned voicemails I had left people on Tuesday.

Thursday finally came and went- leaving me with a drink on my balcony by 6pm.

The morning meeting with the Faith and Spirituality committee of the USSF went well. I took the minutes, and interestingly enough one of the first things that was discussed was the same question of the Forum’s purpose. Though at this meeting, that purpose was questioned not as how it can be useful in the present, but rather, what will happen after the Forum itself? What is left after so much effort goes into producing it? In all honesty, I feel that question is much more valid. The Forum is going to require an enormous amount of energy, creativity, time, hope, and more. What will be left? Will Detroit be better off in July because the Forum happened in June?

I don’t know what July will be like, but it isn’t the Forum itself that is so important, rather the connections and ideas that build the Forum. And those will remain once the Forum has come and gone.

The Board meeting in the afternoon got off to a tumultuous start. Pastor Pitts called me as I was on my way to the meeting to let me know he would be unable to make it. So- I got to chair the meeting. I probably don’t need to tell any of you how terrible I am at interrupting people, and the meeting took some interesting turns- union drama caused a rather heated debate about an hour in. It was a long meeting, we got off track a few different times. As it turns out, the disagreement stemmed primarily from some misinformation, and our meeting in October should go smoothly. I’m crossing my fingers.

Friday I was so happy the Board meeting had happened, everything seemed to go perfectly. I somehow ended up at AFSCME for a press conference at which AFSCME announced it was revoking its endorsement of current Mayor Bing, and instead supporting candidate Tom Barrow (Joe Louis Barrow’s grandson!) I had gone on the assumption that it was a press conference about the AFSCME Childcare Workers campaign. Oh well. I have now seen both Bing and Barrow speak- without meaning to. (Bing was at the Labor Day Luncheon I wrote about earlier.)

Friday night was a religious experience to say the least… I went to an Iftar dinner at the Muslim Center. One of the Board members, Imam El-Amin, runs the center and invited me after the meeting Thursday. A few different people spoke about Ramadan, the different parts of fasting; not only does one fast from food, but also from judgments, from gossiping, from holding grudges etc. Imam El-Amin then read a part of the Qu’ran, a message about God being a God of all people- that neither Muslims nor people of any other faith should feel superior to another. Of course the Qu’ran is more eloquent.

After dinner I left, got lost on the maze of Detroit highways for 30 minutes or so, and arrived home to a house full of 15 Jesuit novices and lots of beer. It was a great evening.