good reads
i'll be posting, hopefully everyday, certainly three to four times a week, interesting posts i come across on the eclectic mix of weblogs in my blogroll. here's the first issue of good reads

the american sentimentalistdiscusses the significance, or rather the current lack of it, of may day.

As it turns out, the answer to both questions is "plenty". Founded on the prairies and factory floors of Illinois back in the 1880s as part and parcel of the struggle for the eight-hour day, May Day was long the primary day devoted to workers until the more institutionalized Labor Day, with its now more important function as the the end-of-summer holiday, took precedence in the mind of most Americans. (For its part, the first day of May has also held centuries-long meaning as a pagan rite of spring and fertility, complete with the requisite dancing around a pole). However, throughout U.S. history, May Day has also long been associated with death as well. From the 1866 race riots in Memphis, in which 46 black veterans of the Civil War were killed, to the stunning success of Admiral Dewey's fleet in wiping out nearly 400 Spanish sailors in Manila Bay in 1898, to the day which started it all, when four demonstrators were killed and over 200 wounded when police attacked a Chicago rally of workers demanding the 8-hour day in 1886, people have died on the first day of May.

al-muhajabah commented on the amina lawal case in december last year. there is an update posted yesterday.

posted by ubaid - Friday, May 02, 2003 at 12:56 PM - 0 comments - post anonymously