9/6
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| word to the wise.... |
Labor Day.
The US alternative to International Workers’s Day, who ironically, started in the US at Haymarket Square. The unofficial end to summer. In New York City, we alway shad tthe parade one week later so the workers could have Labor Day weekend off.
I go to my favorite local coffee place for my regular Monday morning session to plan out my week with coffee and an almond croissant. I have enough “Xs” on my card for a free drink. So I ask for a new card. “No need,” says the barista. I raise an eyebrow above my mask. “No more. We’re closing tomorrow.” I say”what?” “Yeah, we tried.Just couldn’t make it. Life goes on” I feel sad. Caffeine was my closest cafe. I was worried when after trying for a few weeks, they shut down. But then they reopened. They tried “happy hour cocktails” for awhile. They added outdoor tables and a covered space.(The city is now closing Fredrick Douglass on weekends for more street restaurant space.) They tried. But just couldn’t make it. Another covid victim.
We meet in Morningside Park. The smell of grilling burgers, dogs and chicken fills the air. Family picnics every where. Somehow it still doesn’t feel like Labor Day to me without a visit to my mom’s pool on closing day and a cookout on the back deck of our house, my dad at the grill. But it is. She starts teaching again tomorrow. For some approximation of Labor Day, I’m cooking bratwurst and kraut. And baked beans. And watermelon. For myself.
Labor Day. I posted on Twitter:
On this Labor Day 2020 let us honor all those workers we used to cheer every nite for keeping us going thru this pandemic at their own risk- nurses, emts, clerks, kitchen workers, delivery people #coronavirusworld #wewillgetbywewillsurvive
And they are still out there.
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