WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.000 align:middle line:90% 00:00:02.000 --> 00:00:07.090 align:middle line:84% I'd like to read a poem to you called, "The Strike." 00:00:07.090 --> 00:00:13.240 align:middle line:84% And I figured if I was going to write a book about factory 00:00:13.240 --> 00:00:16.480 align:middle line:84% workers, it had to have in it at least one poem where 00:00:16.480 --> 00:00:18.460 align:middle line:90% there is a strike taking place. 00:00:18.460 --> 00:00:21.070 align:middle line:84% In Spanish, the word for strike-- 00:00:21.070 --> 00:00:23.570 align:middle line:84% does anyone know what the word is in Spanish? 00:00:23.570 --> 00:00:24.070 align:middle line:90% Huelga. 00:00:24.070 --> 00:00:25.600 align:middle line:90% Huelga, right. 00:00:25.600 --> 00:00:28.510 align:middle line:84% And in Spanish, when you say huelga, 00:00:28.510 --> 00:00:30.310 align:middle line:90% it has a lot of meaning to it. 00:00:30.310 --> 00:00:31.660 align:middle line:90% It's just not strike. 00:00:31.660 --> 00:00:33.970 align:middle line:90% Huelga! 00:00:33.970 --> 00:00:36.670 align:middle line:84% Not just give us better pay, but huelga! 00:00:36.670 --> 00:00:39.310 align:middle line:84% Give me a way of providing for my family. 00:00:39.310 --> 00:00:40.150 align:middle line:90% Huelga! 00:00:40.150 --> 00:00:43.420 align:middle line:84% Help me send my children to school. 00:00:43.420 --> 00:00:44.290 align:middle line:90% Huelga! 00:00:44.290 --> 00:00:46.720 align:middle line:90% A good roof over their heads. 00:00:46.720 --> 00:00:49.810 align:middle line:84% And so all those things come out when 00:00:49.810 --> 00:00:53.383 align:middle line:84% you hear the word huelga in Spanish, which means "strike." 00:00:53.383 --> 00:00:55.300 align:middle line:84% So I'm going to do something a bit risky here. 00:00:55.300 --> 00:00:59.780 align:middle line:84% And I'd like to get the audience involved in the poem. 00:00:59.780 --> 00:01:02.440 align:middle line:84% So if I go like this, what does that mean? 00:01:02.440 --> 00:01:03.050 align:middle line:90% Huelga. 00:01:03.050 --> 00:01:03.550 align:middle line:90% Huelga! 00:01:03.550 --> 00:01:06.040 align:middle line:84% But remember, you've got to say it with feeling, all right? 00:01:06.040 --> 00:01:07.700 align:middle line:90% You've got to say with your gut. 00:01:07.700 --> 00:01:08.940 align:middle line:90% So how do you say it? 00:01:08.940 --> 00:01:09.440 align:middle line:90% Huelga! 00:01:09.440 --> 00:01:10.150 align:middle line:90% Huelga! 00:01:10.150 --> 00:01:12.410 align:middle line:90% Exactly. 00:01:12.410 --> 00:01:13.400 align:middle line:90% All right. 00:01:13.400 --> 00:01:16.130 align:middle line:90% So here we go. 00:01:16.130 --> 00:01:17.950 align:middle line:90% "The Strike." 00:01:17.950 --> 00:01:21.220 align:middle line:84% "Under a Japanese maple to eat lunch with the crew, 00:01:21.220 --> 00:01:25.360 align:middle line:84% Guillermo explained how last week, he worked overtime, 00:01:25.360 --> 00:01:28.570 align:middle line:84% how large plates of glass had been replaced and that Mr. 00:01:28.570 --> 00:01:31.720 align:middle line:84% Galdini refused to pay the Concord Glass 00:01:31.720 --> 00:01:36.190 align:middle line:84% Company's disposal fee, how he had to pile the discarded glass 00:01:36.190 --> 00:01:40.030 align:middle line:84% beside the dumpsters, how the 1/2-inch-thick plates, 00:01:40.030 --> 00:01:42.670 align:middle line:84% even with their smooth, green edges, 00:01:42.670 --> 00:01:46.840 align:middle line:84% cut with silent ease into his palms until the heavy glass 00:01:46.840 --> 00:01:49.960 align:middle line:84% reflected the color of blood like the stained windows 00:01:49.960 --> 00:01:51.340 align:middle line:90% in church. 00:01:51.340 --> 00:01:53.770 align:middle line:84% The crew sat down in the damp shade. 00:01:53.770 --> 00:01:57.490 align:middle line:84% And Miguel, as if he found honor in the silence of death, 00:01:57.490 --> 00:02:01.000 align:middle line:84% slept on the lawn with a flower over his heart. 00:02:01.000 --> 00:02:02.530 align:middle line:90% Levántese viejo! 00:02:02.530 --> 00:02:05.680 align:middle line:84% You're not dead yet, yelled Guillermo. 00:02:05.680 --> 00:02:06.850 align:middle line:90% Do you know what we need? 00:02:06.850 --> 00:02:07.620 align:middle line:90% He asked. 00:02:07.620 --> 00:02:09.100 align:middle line:90% Una huelga. 00:02:09.100 --> 00:02:11.800 align:middle line:84% The workers looked up and inched away, 00:02:11.800 --> 00:02:14.620 align:middle line:84% and their eyes zigzagged across the factory 00:02:14.620 --> 00:02:17.620 align:middle line:84% like the crazed flies above the dumpsters. 00:02:17.620 --> 00:02:20.860 align:middle line:84% Guillermo, from the pit of his muscled throat, 00:02:20.860 --> 00:02:25.030 align:middle line:84% in a tone soft and deliberate, said one word, huelga, 00:02:25.030 --> 00:02:29.290 align:middle line:84% and again, huelga, and again, huelga, 00:02:29.290 --> 00:02:32.200 align:middle line:84% until the word raised the crew off the grass, 00:02:32.200 --> 00:02:34.870 align:middle line:84% and they bent their knees and found a rhythm lost 00:02:34.870 --> 00:02:36.490 align:middle line:90% in the work of blood and meat. 00:02:36.490 --> 00:02:39.040 align:middle line:84% And the word took hold of their collars. 00:02:39.040 --> 00:02:41.380 align:middle line:84% And the word dripped in the beads of sweat 00:02:41.380 --> 00:02:42.790 align:middle line:90% across their brow. 00:02:42.790 --> 00:02:46.510 align:middle line:84% And the word began to beat and pump like a fist. 00:02:46.510 --> 00:02:47.596 align:middle line:90% Huelga! 00:02:47.596 --> 00:02:48.510 align:middle line:90% Huelga! 00:02:48.510 --> 00:02:49.680 align:middle line:90% Huelga! 00:02:49.680 --> 00:02:50.180 align:middle line:90% Ándele. 00:02:50.180 --> 00:02:52.880 align:middle line:90% 00:02:52.880 --> 00:02:56.270 align:middle line:84% Mr. Galdini finished eating lunch in his office 00:02:56.270 --> 00:02:59.540 align:middle line:84% and leaned out the window, listened, 00:02:59.540 --> 00:03:03.230 align:middle line:84% sliced his leftover sausage, stuck toothpicks 00:03:03.230 --> 00:03:07.940 align:middle line:84% in the penny-sized bits, and walked outside with a pink tray 00:03:07.940 --> 00:03:11.960 align:middle line:84% to offer his leftover links as their lunch. 00:03:11.960 --> 00:03:14.810 align:middle line:84% Mr. Galdini squeezed Miguel's shoulder. 00:03:14.810 --> 00:03:17.750 align:middle line:84% The crew became silent, a hymn lost 00:03:17.750 --> 00:03:19.820 align:middle line:90% in the pews of an empty church. 00:03:19.820 --> 00:03:22.370 align:middle line:84% And as Guillermo watched without words, 00:03:22.370 --> 00:03:25.460 align:middle line:84% the men took the toothpicks, raised their hands 00:03:25.460 --> 00:03:30.010 align:middle line:84% to salute Mr. Galdini, and swallowed the sausage." 00:03:30.010 --> 00:03:31.000 align:middle line:90%