Marking Labor Day

Nothing gratuitous about this photo: the underlying blanket is a
project that was the subject of my previous sole post dealing with
 Labor Day in 2012! It has stood up well to life with George Bailey.

It is amazing to me that I have only written a singular blog post concerning Labor Day in the United States. That seems almost impossible to me, and I expect that my tagging and keyword skills are failing me at the moment. Nevertheless, I aim to rectify this gross oversight.

Labor Day, celebrated the first Monday in September every year in the United States, became an official holiday by an act of Congress in 1884. Its origins come from the late 19th century labor movement in this country. (For more on the history of the holiday, check out more facts here on the U.S. Department of Labor website.) The holiday's main aim is to celebrate the achievements of the American worker. I do note that in many countries internationally, labor is celebrated on May 1st.

This holiday is particularly poignant this year: not only with the recent deaths of Senator John McCain (a former POW whose service to this country underscores the freedoms and past achievements Americans have worked so hard to achieve and maintain) and singing icon Aretha Franklin (a true, clear voice during the U.S. Civil Rights movement of the 60s), America is feeling its grief. It is almost as if we collectively needed this long weekend to take an opportunity to just breathe.

Additionally, this is a time when the American worker is also feeling the pinch and sting of  economic stagnation resulting from current federal domestic legislative policy. For a brief, yet succinct, overview you really should listen to this NPR interview. 

For my part, I continue to attempt to build a solid designing track record as well as writing record marking historical female achievement. It may, perhaps, be a small drop in an underrepresented bucket, but they are drops of which I am nonetheless truly proud. My articles in the past two issues of Knitting Traditions Magazine represent some of my most prized research and writing efforts, and I would urge everyone to pick up copies of both editions and read them together. Back to back, these issues present quite a unique snapshot of what animated a fair amount of women in the second half of the 19th, as well as the turn of the 20th, centuries. Of course, it goes without saying that my self-published title Leather, Lace, Grit & Grace, with its stories of early 20th century female pilots, rounds out an incredibly exciting time in women's history. The marking of female achievement in traditional as well as non-traditional female roles, as well as the current surge in U.S. women's political activity, leaves me in no doubt that this time in 21st century history will be remembered as an exciting and active one for women in all spheres.

Happy Labor Day to everyone who celebrates it today!