DC LaborFest Today: Ben Shahn WPA Murals
Thursday, May 15, 2014(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)
The DC LaborFestcontinues today with
a free noontime tour of WPA murals at the VOA headquarters(330 Independence
Avenue, S.W., Enter through the entrance on C Street, 1 block south of
Independence, between 3rd and 4th streets; Federal Center Metro station is a
block south; meet in the C Street lobby).FREE but click
here to RSVP. DC
LaborFest Director Chris Garlock will lead a tour of Ben
Shahn’s The
Meaning of Social Security, Seymour Fogel's The Security of the Peopleand The Wealth of the Nation and Philip Guston's Reconstruction and the Wellbeing of the
Family. "I feel
that the whole Social Security idea is one of the real fruits of democracy,”
said Ben Shahn. “There may be some limitations to my powers of exposition, but
at least it is my aim to make the mural a clear and feeling picture of Social
Security."
DC Labor History Walking Tour
Saturday: On Saturday, join Garlock for astroll through labor history in
downtown Washington DC. “From the A. Philip Randolph bust in Union Station to
Joe Hill’s ashes, worker’s history is around just about every corner in our
nation’s capitol, if you know where to look,” Garlock says. This 2.5-hour
walking tour of downtown DC reveals labor’s often-untold story of protest and
resistance. Benefits DC Jobs with Justice: $15 per person, $25/couple, $10
student/unemployed (no one turned away for lack of funds); click here to sign up. “Come enjoy a beautiful day with
other DC activists, learn fascinating labor history, and support DC Jobs with
Justice in creating new labor victories for the history books!” says JWJ. Meet
at 12 noon in front of the AFL-CIO, 815 16th Street
NW.
LAST CHANCE, CLOSING
SOON!
Exhibit: Diego Rivera's "Man At The Crossroads"exhibit at the Mexican Cultural
Institute (2829 16th St NW, Washington, DC) closes on May
17. The exhibit centers around the mural Rivera painted in New
York City, reconstructing its history with reproductions of previously
unpublished material, including letters, telegrams, contracts, sketches, and
documents, following Rivera's commission, subsequent tension and conflict, and
finally, the mural's destruction. FREE; Open M-F 10-6, Sat
12-4.
Play: Living Out, a comedy by Lisa Loomer about working mothers,
race, class and immigration status closes May 18. A funny
and touching play that explores the shared humanity between a nanny and her
employer and the differences wrought by race, class and immigration
status.
COMING
UP:
Just Added! Film: The Delano Manongs (Monday, May 19 12 noon; 26
minutes;FREE)
Tells the story of farm labor
organizer Larry Itliong (right) and a group of Filipino farm
workers who instigated one of the American farm labor movement's finest hours,
the Delano Grape Strike of 1965 that brought about the creation of the United
Farm Workers Union (UFW).AFSCME, 1625 L Street, NW, Washington,
DC
Film: Dirty Pretty Things (Monday, May 19, 7:30p)
Set
amidst London’s largely invisible community of illegal immigrants, Stephen
Frears’ film is a contemporary and highly original multicultural urban
thriller with a gritty, political edge. Okwe (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is a medically
trained Nigerian forced to juggle two low-paying menial jobs in order to
survive. American Film Institute Silver Theatre, 8633 Colesville
Rd, Silver Spring, Maryland. Presented in cooperation with
SEIU