After the walk in the park that Sunday morning the day after the wedding, I bid farewell to the family and took off in the Dodge Charger to find the location of the Mail Carriers union headquarters for the meeting to introduce Mark Bray's Antifa; The Anti-Fascist Handbook to Pittsburgh. On a drizzly day, I found a spot on the street, missing seeing the parking lot, and entered the lobby to see a half dozen progressive groups tabling including the familiar table of the Pittsburgh IWW GMB.
Noticing Bray's book on the table, I laid my cash down and began chatting with the two fellow workers. I must have seemed strange to them chatting about my days as point person for the lit committee tabling for the New York City Branch. I asked for a copy of the Industrial Worker paper which I learned had begun publishing less frequently. I laughed when he said they didn't have any; it seemed par for the course. I asked if Marc Mancini was around and they said he was busy getting the event started being its organizer. I did see him later rushing around and introduced myself. He recognized me from the Facebook texting I had with but excused himself to do further preparation.
I went in the audi-torium to be seated. I stood to go out to the lobby again when I saw it wasn't going to be starting at the 12:00 noon time advertised. I approached the table again anxious to make it known with whom the fellow workers were meeting. I showed them, on my smart phone, the taIWWan blog from the directory of the IWW website and told them that was mine written from Taiwan. They weren't too impressed but I'd made my point. I perused the other tables and then went back into the auditorium and sat alone to hear Mark Bray speak. While I was at the Postal Carriers Union building hearing Mark Bray talk about Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook I had briefly met Marc Mancini but Kenneth Miller wasn't there. It is good for someone to write about direct action.
Mark spoke for less than an hour. I contributed a comment when a Afrocentric American man scolded the left for not being sensitive to their grievances. I recalled to him that it didn't matter what color the tool was to capitalists; when it was broken it was thrown out just the same. I asked Mark if he knew David Graeber who also claimed to be "...one of the organizers of Occupy Wall Street" as it said in the book's 'About the Author.' He didn't know David. He got out of it by saying there were hundreds of organizers; I was glad he clarified his biography for me.
That was Sunday. I would keep in touch with Marc during the week. I drove from there to Ambridge to meet the family again at Simone and Ted's home well before the three o'clock agreed upon time. It was then I learned of how Alice had taken her foot of the brake at a light to get something from the back seat and rolled into Simone's car. We all went to dinner meeting Harry and MC at their favorite local diner and said goodbye to Ariel and Alice who had to be back in New York for work on Monday even though it was Columbus Day. On Tuesday, Simone had to work and Renna was on her honeymoon with Alex in Amish Ohio. We took advantage of the time and drove three hours to Cleveland's Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame opting to go there since it was drizzling and we would be indoors.
at Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame
Our trip to the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame was fun but expensive; gas was
$40, parking $9, admission $47 for two, $25 for lunch and drinks, $200 for
t-shirts (mine was $44, Leona's $54) and CD's, total of $325. We spent a good
five hours walking around seeing the exhibits and got home, after a 2 1/2 hr.
drive, at 10 pm. The CD's and DVD's we bought were:
1.
Chuck - Chuck Berry ($14.99)
2.
The Very Best of Prince ($14.99)
3.
The Very Best of Roy Brown ($17.99)
4.
Professor Longhair Singles 1949-1957 ($19.99)
5.
Lavern Baker Complete Sides As & Bs 1949-62 ($19.99)
6.
The Very Best of Charlie Patton ($17.99)
7.
Ma Rainey Essential Recordings ($12.99)
8.
The Notebook ($5.99)DVD
9.
Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil ($9.99) DVD
10. 4 Movie Classics: The Fountainhead, Love in the Afternoon, Friendly Persuasion, Sergeant York ($19.99)DVD
We got back late from our trip to Cleveland and went straight to the airbnb. We couldn't get out of the car when we parked though because, just as we entered the Pittsburgh area, there was a torrential rain.
During the week, Marc Mancini had kept in touch and he suggested that we meet each other for lunch while I was in town. I suggested that Kenneth Miller be contacted and so he was.
Imagine my surprise when, the next Sunday morning at Tassa D'Oro, who shows up but Kenneth! The last time I had seen him was a few years after Simone moved to Pittsburgh and I went to visit one snowy winter day. While I was there I took Kenneth's invitation to attend a community meeting he had helped organize. Marc Mancini reminded me that he had been there and met me then, too.
I
sat and chatted with
Ken Miller and Marc Mancini in the cafe near our airbnb
for almost three hours that morning. We were talking about a bunch of IWW
related stuff when Ken mentioned two people from the NYC Branch who he said claimed to have started
the Wobbly City newsletter! They are both dead now, the man of
a heart attack and his female companion soon after, Ken actually writing
the obituary. They were lawyers and led both Ken Miller and Jon Bekken
into defeats in court.
Ken was incredulous when I said he was bamboozled into a false history.
Marc thought it was bizarre, too, but I told them I have all the minutes form
meetings between 1999 and 2006 that can prove those two characters weren't in
the branch then and that I was the creator and editor of Wobbly City starting
2004 for more than two years. Ken said I should investigate and rebuke their
claims, but I told him I didn't give a shit and only cared he and Marc knew the
truth.
I'm glad I kept the souvenirs from my IWW NYC days. Marc asked why I
didn't return them to the branch and I told him because they never asked me. Leona is a witness to my going on Word Perfect to
cut and paste the four-page newsletter every month.
I would see Kenneth once more on the trip. He showed up at the tavern where I was to sing "To Have and Not to Have" with Alex at the open mic (see lyric sheet in my hand in the photos below). We sat together and listened as a random open mic chick sang a song about the Wobblies.
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