Author Archives: helenaworthen

What I am posting below is written by a close friend of ours, Rich Egeland. We first met him when we were teaching labor education in Chicago. As you can see from this, he took advantage of just about every labor ed opportunity that came along. Rich and I were chatting on line about his current adventuresContinue reading “Rich Egeland: A ticket to the fight”

Getting Ready 23 Settled into more or less a schedule. Beautiful weather here in Vermont. Rain every few days, then the river water gets cold. A couple of days of sun heats up the water. Swimming is easy, whether down in the park where the water is warmer or up at Pikes Falls where it’sContinue reading “Getting Ready 23”

Getting Ready 22 This will be about Angie Ngoc Tran’s book, Ties that Bind: Cultural Identity, Class and Law in Vietnams’ Labor Resistance. Cornell Southeast Asia Publications 2013. This is the book I needed to read, although it is too dense for me to have been able to get through before now because I didn’tContinue reading “Getting Ready 22”

Getting Ready 21 I had sent an email to VInh, asking her as clearly as I could about how the assigned textbooks (the ones listed on their week-by-week curriculum) are going to be used.  Would the students each get a copy of the book to read? Or a photocopy? Or a translation? Or should we teachContinue reading “Getting Ready 21”

Getting Ready 20 Sitting in lobby of non-descript hotel in Windsor Locks, Connecticut. Landed at Bradley last night on Southwest after leaving Oakland an hour late, followed by sitting on the tar mac in Chicago for at least one extra hour, so went to bed about 3 am. Going up to Vermont on AMTRAK whichContinue reading “Getting Ready 20”

Getting Ready 19 I was sent a video https://vimeo.com/126371846 August, 2012: Miners at the Lonmins platinum mine in Marakana, South Africa are represented by the NUM, National Union of Miners, which has been MIA from the point of view of the miners. Workers want wage increases and ask to negotiate with employers. There’s a minorityContinue reading “Getting Ready 19”

Getting Ready 18 Actually rented a car, a little white thing. Drove the 400 or so miles down the Central Valley to LA. Haven’t done this for years, not since we came back to California from Illinois in 2010 and went car-free. We usually go by train, taking the San Joaquin 715 from Emeryville orContinue reading “Getting Ready 18”

Getting Ready 17 Went to a meet-up of the Ho Chi Minh-San Francisco Sister City Committee in San Francisco this afternoon. It was held from 5:30 to 8:30 pm in the bar of a boutique hotel, The Rex, at 562 Sutter Street, a couple of blocks up via cable car from Union Square. The hostContinue reading “Getting Ready 17”

Getting Ready 16 Reading about youth employment yesterday was an eye-opener. I know that when I land, I will be overwhelmed with what I see. I am trying to prepare my expectations so that I will be able to make sense of what I’m looking at quickly. Or at least get started in the rightContinue reading “Getting Ready 16”

Getting Ready 15 Today’s the longest day in the year. June 21. Starts out chilly and foggy so you want to wear socks and a sweatshirt. By noon the sun is blazing. It’s also Father’s Day. We went to SF and found the Vietnam consulate, on California half a block above Van Ness, where aContinue reading “Getting Ready 15”