remembering the triangle fire

today was the 100 year commemoration of the triangle shirtwaist factory fire. the fire was a horrible tragedy that ignited the labor movement and helped create the laws for safer work places. this is a cause that still must be fought in many countries. a writer for southern california public radio, leslie berestein rojas, writes in multi-american how much of the garment industry has been outsourced to factories abroad, where accidents eerily similar to the triangle accident still happen.

living in greenwich village, this is an event that still resonates with us. thanks to filmmaker and artist ruth sergel who began chalk in 1994, volunteers fan out over the five boroughs chalking victim's names on the sidewalks where they lived. when we walk around on any march 25, we can't help but walk over a young girl's name on thompson street, or bedford street or west houston street.

this year korrina and i went out at 10:30 this morning to check out the ceremonies at the asch building where the fire occurred on washington place and greene street. it's now part of nyu and flowers are usually left every year by the international ladies' garment workers' union. since it's 100 years, there was an extra large gathering . . so large that we couldn't get near the site at all. neither of us likes crowds, so we decided to continue on and visit a few addresses instead. (however, blogger and writer stacy horn did attend the ceremonies and gives an account of it on her website.)

i found an informative article written for the new york times by writer joseph berger. you can link to it here. (warning, it does include a graphic photo of the tragedy).

korrina had written down a few addresses to visit. we walked by 97 west houston street. the woman was in the middle of chalking and we stopped to watch.

she wrote with such quiet care.

rosie bassino. on a website called in search of the elusive immigrants, history detective amy herskovits writes about rose and her life and family. actually that link doesn't work anymore, but here is a link to a bowery boys article that includes a map showing where the workers lived throughout the city.

korrina and i imagined rose walking up and down the stairs to her building, or maybe looking out one of these windows . .

korrina went to the east side to visit a few more addresses. i went home to see how chanda was doing and to let morgana leave for a dance class she wanted to attend.

on my way home i walked by 6 bedford street, which was the home of catherine giannattasio. there was a school group there from ps 339. they were on a field trip visiting some of the workers' addresses.

at home chanda was sitting up in bed reading her american girl historical mystery book. i made her a bagel with cream cheese and she ate it on the plate nana brought back from her visit to germany. the napkin has a bluebird i embroidered for korrina when she was three and attending a waldorf playgroup in brooklyn.

life at home . . taking pretty pictures . .

cute little bluebird . . hmm . . it actually didn't come out too bad. it was the first thing i ever embroidered.

at four o'clock i decided to walk with chanda to our lady of pompeii on camine at bleecker street to hear the tolling of the bells at 4:45 pm, echoing the time the fire broke out in 1911.

there were a few other onlookers. many bells rang throughout the city at 4:45 pm.

our lady held a memorial service at 3 pm.

chanda and i went in and lit a candle. well, it wasn't a real candle, just as the tolling bells weren't real bells. they were recorded bells. such is life in nyc in the 21st century.

micheline marciano cordiano, age 25. 272 bleecker street. just next door to john's pizzeria, which opened in 1929. michelina would have been 43 if she had survived.

----

korrina and greg ended up going to a play at 7 pm. it was with looking glass theatre and was held at a theatre on 57th street, and was called lincoln on hester street, about a young woman who survives the factory fire and becomes an advocate for protective labor laws. it was written by lu hauser, and directed by ruth ginsberg. korrina thought it was really good.

----

morgana was the final one home after attending one of the last concerts given by the merce cunningham dance company presently at the joyce theatre (until sunday). it was a wonderful surprise to go and she really enjoyed it. (merce cunningham passed away last year and requested that his company disband one year after his death). and now i better get some sleep. it always takes me too long to blog.