chalk 2026: triangle factory fire commemoration

it's march 25th and several weeks ago i had signed up to chalk the name of caterina bona giannattasio who died in the triangle shirtwaist factory fire in 1911. today chanda went with me and we carefully wrote in the information on bedford street where caterina lived. artist ruth sergel who began this chalk project has handed over the distribution of names to the tenement museum. (an interesting coincidence is that my childhood pediatrician was a giannattasio, and his grandson still practices in his old office space. i don't think they are related to caterina, however.)

caterina's older sister, rose, also perished in the fire. there is a photo of their gravestone in calvary cemetery here, along with a small article about them (click here for the article about rose). there were nine pairs of siblings who died in the fire. it's so very sad and tragic.

i have several past posts about chalking and the triangle fire which you can read if you like by scrolling down on the left to the labels list and clicking on the triangle fire label tab. but here's a link to one of our first experiences (in 2011) with commemorating the tragedy here in the city. korrina had read a lot about it and we went on a walk around the neighborhood, reading the names of the young women and seeing where they lived. (well, i see now we had an earlier encounter with seeing the names of the workers . . chanda and i walked by caterina's home in 2009 . . and here in 2015 is a post of chanda chalking for daisy lopez fitze on charlton street). this link goes to the tenement museum's youtube page that has a video of the discussion with historians from last year's commemoration, and this link goes to a list of the workers' names and where they lived. rose bona bassino actually lived just a few blocks from her sister at 97 west houston street.

afterwards, chanda and i treated ourselves to coffee, an omelet and a scone at buvette's . . 

and i had my class today at noon, and we finally integrated the cats . . below is zuzu with pluto . . 

i had been keeping zuzu separate from the other two as when she came home from the animal medical center she had a strong odor of soap and surgery antiseptic. cricket didn't even recognize her and would hiss (once he looked at her and then turned to me and hissed, as if it was my fault!). then when he finally stopped hissing at her, she began hissing at him! everything seems to be back to normal now, however, and zuzu is only doing her occasional hissing at pluto.

the triangle fire memorial

korrina and i made it to the unveiling of the triangle factory fire memorial today at 11:30. we came in by the backstage area on washington place and then walked around the block to greene street. many labor unions were present and the ceremony included the workers' chorus, several soloists, a poetry reading, speeches (even governor hochal was present, though we left before she spoke as korrina had to be at work) and the fireman's bagpipe musicians.

when i find where i put the program, i can add more specifics.

at abraço cafe with korrina on 7th street between 1st and second avenues before she went into work. they make a delicious espresso frappe: just ice, espresso and unsweetened whipped cream.

i walked home past the event again. people had lined up to view the names more closely.

and the cellist was playing.

triangle fire exhibit

i met greg at 6 pm at casa italiana zerilli-marimo, as they were hosting a discussion with several creators of the memorial for victims of the triangle shirtwaist factory fire.

the memorial coalition hosted several workshops (joining with the garment workers union) where people gathered to create a cloth banner that was ultimately transformed into steel using a special process. this banner will be attached to the building at which the fire occurred in downtown nyc. people from all over the world sent in fabric pieces to be added to the ribbon, along with their personal stories or a family member's story of working in the garment industry.

the speakers were richard joon yoo, a co-designer of the memorial, mary anne trasciatti, president of the organization remember the fire coalition, and eric moed of pratt institute who helped with the creation and installation of the project. 

one of the steel etchings, pointed out to me by another attendee, catherine, who lost her great-aunt in the fire, catherine uzzo.

they had an ongoing slide show of photos from the workshops . . 

a close-up photo of the cloth ribbon . . 

the exhibit is on view until december 15th, monday - friday, 10 am to 6 pm.

sunday morning poem and a sunday walk

 

 

  paris in spring

 

the city's all a-shining

beneath a fickle sun, 

a gay young wind's a-blowing, 

the little shower is done. 

but the rain-drops still are clinging 

and falling one by one — 

oh it's paris, it's paris, 

and spring-time has begun.
 

i know the bois is twinkling 

in a sort of hazy sheen, 

and down the champs the gray old arch 

stands cold and still between. 

but the walk is flecked with sunlight 

where the great acacias lean, 

oh it's paris, it's paris, 

and the leaves are growing green.
 

the sun's gone in, the sparkle's dead, 

there falls a dash of rain, 

but who would care when such an air 

comes blowing up the seine? 

and still ninette sits sewing 

beside her window-pane, 

when it's paris, it's paris, 

and spring-time's come again.

 

by sara teasdale (1884-1933) 

 

 

 

 ----

 

greg and i took a walk to veselka for brunch today where i had vegetarian borscht and a beet horseradish salad (half of which came home to have with leftover cold beef).

 

 on the way home we walked by the asch building, also known as the brown building. it's been 112 years since the triangle shirtwaist factory fire on march 25, 1911 (the factory occupied the top three floors of the building).

here's my blog post from the 100th anniversary of the fire in 2011.

the organization remember the triangle fire coalition is working on creating a memorial to the lost workers that should be unveiled later this year in the fall, helped by donations from people across the nation and with funds from the state. a stainless steel mourning ribbon will descend from the top of the building to the first floor where it will split into two and drape along the sides of the bottom windows. you can see a rendering of it here. the victim's names will appear in a reflective panel along with testimonies of survivors and witnesses to the fire. it sounds achingly beautiful and i can't wait for the unveiling.

we also passed a demonstration in the park about the situation in israel.

 

i also made sure to walk by 3 washington square north where edward hopper lived with his wife jo from 1913 until his death in 1967. (i just learned that from the exhibit at the whitney which morgan and i visited on march 3rd.)

spring is slowly on its way . .

the magnolia outside our window is also blooming.

i wore my finished knitted sweater today.

 

at home i worked on two new knitting projects while listening to a podcast from an online knitting friend while cricket tried to steal my skeins.