Tommy and Erin,
I've been following your Facebook group. In fact, I've been following your boycott. Since I've become aware of it, I've spent less than twenty dollars in Holland. Twice, I've drank water at counter of my favorite Holland bar. I've bought a bottle of water at City Flats. I did attend a performance of "The Forbidden Theater", an exquisite production of Hope Summer Repertory Theater. Heading off into space on a starship or going off to camp? It's the same thing. I have a brother-in-law and a brother, and "going off to camp" is one of our favorite inside jokes. I caught a performance at the Red Barn instead of a show at HSRT the weekend before. My street sense tells me that a slim portion of the West Michigan knows of the boycott and an even smaller percentage follow s it. I think that has much to do with the nature of a boycott. On one side, everyone talks about it. On the other side, everyone ignores it. A large number might know about the boycott, but might not see it as serious, effective, necessary or ubiquitous.
I have experience with activism in that I once worked in a joint education effort between the United Auto Workers and Chrysler. I worked for a similar one between the United Auto Workers and General Motors too. I have been on strike for a period of one month and I have never crossed a picket line. I am no longer a union member. I have enjoyed my career as a white collar manager and a small business owner. In a part of my heart, I still get what the old labor union leaders envisioned. Sum it up this way. If I plant a grove of oaks for a cathedral, my grandson would be the one to harvest the beams. I love giving rides to German journeymen whenever I see them along the highway. I am still trying to persuade a German ship carpenter, a journeyman with a genuine union card and union uniform, to build me a houseboat. The craftsmanship will be exquisite. On the other hand, the oaks, so to speak, planted by the Amway families will almost with perfect certainty be harvested by Amway great-grand children. If you want to be a philosopher, try living your life on east and western Michigan simultaneously. I'm pretty schitzophrenic when it comes to economic philosophy lately.
It took a long time before I picked up a Detroit Free Press, long after the "It's Finally Over" signs were posted on city buses. I find myself rehearsing the accomplishments of Mitch Albom whenever I encounter him in literary circles. So I can be respectful. He returned to his position before the newspaper strike was over, and I can almost see his position, carefully worded in a statement, years later. I have chatted with him at readings, and he's signed a book for my mother, who has read all his books. I wish him continued success in sports writing, drama and book publishing. No one quite writes sports like Albom and his career would have been DOA had he persisted in that strike.
I have played chess and traveled with several noted union presidents of large Detroit locals. I have even served as a local union official. I have attended grievance meetings and contract negotiations. In short, I had a nice little education with seventy years of "fighting the man" tradition. I am a grandson of a man who served as his local as union president. When he passed at the untimely age of 39, the plant closed so all could attend his funeral. To sum up all this experience, I have found management and union working in a number of ways to find consensus and agreement, well short of the wild cat or sit down strike. One of the lessons of the Arab Spring is that methods of non-violent resistance works, as in Egypt. I wish I could find the resource, but an American philosopher published, in an easy to transmit form, an entire primer of non-violent methods. It was mentioned in the New York Times. We've come a long way in non-violent resistance. Possibly, the methods described in Abby Hoffman's Steal This Book are fifty years out of date. Abby was suggesting using pay phones, mimeograph machines and street action. In the time of designer everything from pharmaceuticals to college degrees, let's have a designer protest. A boycott is off the shelf, and it shows signs of obsolescence in the post-modern world.
There is a bit of the middle ages in the methodology of boycott. It's the idea of laying siege to a gated city, not permitting vital supplies to arrive, until the city capitulates. Stopping the flow of money to a city by asking consumers to go elsewhere is similar. Supplies must be paid for before they can be delivered. There's a violent element in that weaker or more delicate businesses succumb. This is violence in the sense of Heidi and Alvin Toffler and their book Powershift. Bookstores are essential but highly delicate, especially in the day of Amazon. Hate to scotch one of those rare outposts of the life of the mind during a boycott. Owners lose their livelihoods and somehow, a message is sent to the leaders to think differently. Perhaps your movement is looking for a result that is deeper and more lasting that mere capitulation.
You are about to have a long conversation that might take years to resolve. I understand the sides are receiving help from reinforcements with deep pockets and philosophical rigor. I once saw a play in Holland, at the very delicate Holland Civic Theater. One bad season could put them under, a valuable hall for social dialogue. Titled "Ain't Tina Turner Classical Music", the sales of tickets benefited the Western Theological Seminary. The seminary included a few short paragraphs explaining their position on the play, a drama based upon the lives of homeless people. I was deeply moved by that statement, which I cannot find in my files. But it bespoke an absolute commitment to understanding the human condition. Here labor theologians who attempt to think like God, which, in my conception of God, includes the ability to state back a position word for word, with all nuances respected. In Holland, there is a certainty of a hearing by people who think about the human condition as their calling. And Holland is no stranger to love. Goodness, the retirement home near the smoke shop is called, "The Warm Friend".
To conclude, I would like to spend cash again in Holland, but I would like it to deliver the message that I want every human in Holland to have the protection that a high society affords all its members. I say this in all seriousness. Could you consider a Visa Stored Balanced card with that splendid logo? Then you can plan purchasing flash mobs. How viral could that be? Boycotts remove resources and it's hard to be viral in a vacuum. Load ten million on ten thousand stored value cards? You've made rain. Our money is better than green. It's rainbow? There's another drawback to the boycott method. It keeps sympathetic people from visiting and rubbing elbows at the bar. Familiarity increases understanding, and we need plenty of understanding during this summer of issues. And to have elbows rubbing at the bar, we've got to spend locally. I don't think those barside chats go over well when one party is drinking water.
I've been following your Facebook group. In fact, I've been following your boycott. Since I've become aware of it, I've spent less than twenty dollars in Holland. Twice, I've drank water at counter of my favorite Holland bar. I've bought a bottle of water at City Flats. I did attend a performance of "The Forbidden Theater", an exquisite production of Hope Summer Repertory Theater. Heading off into space on a starship or going off to camp? It's the same thing. I have a brother-in-law and a brother, and "going off to camp" is one of our favorite inside jokes. I caught a performance at the Red Barn instead of a show at HSRT the weekend before. My street sense tells me that a slim portion of the West Michigan knows of the boycott and an even smaller percentage follow s it. I think that has much to do with the nature of a boycott. On one side, everyone talks about it. On the other side, everyone ignores it. A large number might know about the boycott, but might not see it as serious, effective, necessary or ubiquitous.
I have experience with activism in that I once worked in a joint education effort between the United Auto Workers and Chrysler. I worked for a similar one between the United Auto Workers and General Motors too. I have been on strike for a period of one month and I have never crossed a picket line. I am no longer a union member. I have enjoyed my career as a white collar manager and a small business owner. In a part of my heart, I still get what the old labor union leaders envisioned. Sum it up this way. If I plant a grove of oaks for a cathedral, my grandson would be the one to harvest the beams. I love giving rides to German journeymen whenever I see them along the highway. I am still trying to persuade a German ship carpenter, a journeyman with a genuine union card and union uniform, to build me a houseboat. The craftsmanship will be exquisite. On the other hand, the oaks, so to speak, planted by the Amway families will almost with perfect certainty be harvested by Amway great-grand children. If you want to be a philosopher, try living your life on east and western Michigan simultaneously. I'm pretty schitzophrenic when it comes to economic philosophy lately.
It took a long time before I picked up a Detroit Free Press, long after the "It's Finally Over" signs were posted on city buses. I find myself rehearsing the accomplishments of Mitch Albom whenever I encounter him in literary circles. So I can be respectful. He returned to his position before the newspaper strike was over, and I can almost see his position, carefully worded in a statement, years later. I have chatted with him at readings, and he's signed a book for my mother, who has read all his books. I wish him continued success in sports writing, drama and book publishing. No one quite writes sports like Albom and his career would have been DOA had he persisted in that strike.
I have played chess and traveled with several noted union presidents of large Detroit locals. I have even served as a local union official. I have attended grievance meetings and contract negotiations. In short, I had a nice little education with seventy years of "fighting the man" tradition. I am a grandson of a man who served as his local as union president. When he passed at the untimely age of 39, the plant closed so all could attend his funeral. To sum up all this experience, I have found management and union working in a number of ways to find consensus and agreement, well short of the wild cat or sit down strike. One of the lessons of the Arab Spring is that methods of non-violent resistance works, as in Egypt. I wish I could find the resource, but an American philosopher published, in an easy to transmit form, an entire primer of non-violent methods. It was mentioned in the New York Times. We've come a long way in non-violent resistance. Possibly, the methods described in Abby Hoffman's Steal This Book are fifty years out of date. Abby was suggesting using pay phones, mimeograph machines and street action. In the time of designer everything from pharmaceuticals to college degrees, let's have a designer protest. A boycott is off the shelf, and it shows signs of obsolescence in the post-modern world.
There is a bit of the middle ages in the methodology of boycott. It's the idea of laying siege to a gated city, not permitting vital supplies to arrive, until the city capitulates. Stopping the flow of money to a city by asking consumers to go elsewhere is similar. Supplies must be paid for before they can be delivered. There's a violent element in that weaker or more delicate businesses succumb. This is violence in the sense of Heidi and Alvin Toffler and their book Powershift. Bookstores are essential but highly delicate, especially in the day of Amazon. Hate to scotch one of those rare outposts of the life of the mind during a boycott. Owners lose their livelihoods and somehow, a message is sent to the leaders to think differently. Perhaps your movement is looking for a result that is deeper and more lasting that mere capitulation.
You are about to have a long conversation that might take years to resolve. I understand the sides are receiving help from reinforcements with deep pockets and philosophical rigor. I once saw a play in Holland, at the very delicate Holland Civic Theater. One bad season could put them under, a valuable hall for social dialogue. Titled "Ain't Tina Turner Classical Music", the sales of tickets benefited the Western Theological Seminary. The seminary included a few short paragraphs explaining their position on the play, a drama based upon the lives of homeless people. I was deeply moved by that statement, which I cannot find in my files. But it bespoke an absolute commitment to understanding the human condition. Here labor theologians who attempt to think like God, which, in my conception of God, includes the ability to state back a position word for word, with all nuances respected. In Holland, there is a certainty of a hearing by people who think about the human condition as their calling. And Holland is no stranger to love. Goodness, the retirement home near the smoke shop is called, "The Warm Friend".
To conclude, I would like to spend cash again in Holland, but I would like it to deliver the message that I want every human in Holland to have the protection that a high society affords all its members. I say this in all seriousness. Could you consider a Visa Stored Balanced card with that splendid logo? Then you can plan purchasing flash mobs. How viral could that be? Boycotts remove resources and it's hard to be viral in a vacuum. Load ten million on ten thousand stored value cards? You've made rain. Our money is better than green. It's rainbow? There's another drawback to the boycott method. It keeps sympathetic people from visiting and rubbing elbows at the bar. Familiarity increases understanding, and we need plenty of understanding during this summer of issues. And to have elbows rubbing at the bar, we've got to spend locally. I don't think those barside chats go over well when one party is drinking water.
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