Happy May Day Nick!!!!

Happy May Day!  I am fasting for the day in honor of 

 !!! NICOLA SACCO !!!

 

He gave up three times during the Seven Years that He and Vanzetti spent incarcerated.

In November 1922 he stopped eating for 8 days.

That was followed in mid-Feb 1923, when he stopped again.  It went on so long that his lawyers started to clamor with the defense committee (a group of anarchists and socialites that banded together to raise awareness and funds for the two men) to force him to eat. The Defense Committee would not intervene.

On the 30th day of the hunger strike a Hearing was impaneled on his sanity; he was brought to a psychiatric hospital, and to stop from being force fed he agreed to start eating again.

He was also influenced by his son, Dante, who said he would start his own  hunger strike if his father didn't start eating.  A new variation on  fighting fire with fire.

His actual name was Ferdinando, but after his brother died he adopted his brother's name, Nicola.

He loved gardening and working, being productive with his hands. As a child in Torremaggiore he would often sleep out in a hayrick on their farm amidst the family's vegetable and flower garden, about 20 minutes from his home.  Before being incarcerated he would wake up everyday at 5 am to tend to his garden before heading off to the shoe factory.  He worked long days from 7am, and had actually saved up $1400 in a savings account.

Jail became the perfect hell for him, more than for others because of his interests and because of a quirk in the system.  Since he was being held under appeal for most of those seven years, he was not officially a convicted prisoner, so couldn't officially work in any of the prisoner labor systems. Vanzetti who had been "convicted" of a different crime (as well as being held on appeal for the Braintree murder / robbery), was held in a completely different prison.  They could only communicate through letters and messages carried by visitors.

Thus Sacco spent most of those seven years, alone, held in a six foot by 8 foot prison cell, with a bucket for a toilet (emptied daily).  The only natural light to reach inside came through a small, eye- level grates in the doors.   Nick was able to see a sliver of daylight if he squatted on the floor, then looked up through the grate, across the corridor, to the lower portion of a large arched window some twenty-five feet away. 

On restless nights, he paced back and forth in the cramped cell and squinted through the grate for a view of "the stars in the beauty blue sky."

So here is to Sacco.  I take a sip of this water and not a bite of this bread in his honor.

Happy May Day...

Marginalia #1: C.A.Barr and his amazing machine

There are various tangential stories that come out of the woodwork when you research deep into a subject matter.  These marginal stories have always had a strong lure for me, and I have had a constant desire to tell the full story only through the marginalia.  I also become part of that marginalia;  my adventures chasing the story begin to blend into the narrative.

This is the original marginal story that I tried to research further on its own:  C.A. Barr and his amazing machine.

The Pinkerton Detective Agency was hired by the L.Q.White company after a botched robbery of its payroll on Christmas Eve (this robbery attempt was the prequel to the Braintree Robbery).  They began to follow a dapper man who either claimed to know who the bandits were or was one of them.  He later was overheard saying that the would-be bandits were Italian Anarchists.  

The Pinkerton detectives along with Chief Stewart of the Bridgewater Police (the man who eventually set the trap that caught Sacco and Vanzetti) finally caught up with the dapper man.  He stated his name was C.A.Barr (originally Barosso, an Italian) and that he had invented a machine

 "with which he could detect who had committed a crime no matter where it was committed."

 He stated that one Mrs. Vetilia had looked into the machine and saw the [attempted Bridgewater] holdup happening and saw the men plainly but did not know who they were.

The detective declared his statement rambling and no one tried to examine the incredible machine, nor tried to find and interview Mrs. Vetilia.

BUT it is very interesting that someone planted early on into Chief Stewart's head that "it was a group of Italian Anarchists."  No matter how ridiculous the story is, it could have had a material, practical effect of subtly slanting Chief Stewart's investigation.

I refer to the handmade Opaque projector used at the beginning of the show as

 C.A.Barr's Miraculous machine.

Vanzetti's Uncertainty

It is Monday night, and we finished the latest WIP at Culturemart this last weekend.  It went well with full houses and smooth presentations.  We focused on the nuances of the performance rather than the technical experimentation of earlier rehearsal periods.  It was strong and potent.  I will post a version of the video asap.

But that is not what I wish to talk about now.  I just happened on this video from the NYT Opinionator:

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/02/02/the-dangers-of-certainty/?hp&rref=opinion

It is about the need for a scientific embrace of toleration for imperfection.  Against the hubris of certainty.

 And those same thoughts are what draws me towards Vanzetti.  I have lately been unable to find the exact quotes but he often refers to uncertainty- that he has studied, and has embraced the tenets of anarchy with his heart- but if he is wrong- If someone could argue strong enough to disabuse him of these beliefs- he would be willing to move on.  The ability to embrace the concept that, though you hold something dear to your heart, you might still be wrong, is to me the purest form of strength in humanity because it acknowledges your own fallibility. 

And it is contrasted with the grayness of the opposition, which entailed:

The foreman of the original trial replied to the possibility that they were innocent that "Damn them, they ought to hang them anyway."

And 

The Blue Ribbon Committee that reviewed the entire case found Sacco "Guilty." And on Vanzetti they stated:  "On the whole, we are of opinion that Vanzetti also was guilty beyond reasonable doubt."  On the Whole, they find him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt!?!  Does not that sentence contradict itself? If it is only On the Whole, then it HAS a reasonable doubt.

And Vanzetti was executed, On the Whole.  

I suggest you watch the video, if not also read the article, and let me know if you also see these parallels...

Rehearsing for Culturemart

Here are some pics of our rehearsal space at the newly founded secret lair of King Visser.  We are cranking the gears to get this machine rolling...

The YEAR for Send for the Million Men

Very soon we will enter 2014, the year that Send for the Million Men will premier at HERE Arts Center, and I am very excited.  Catherine, Victor and I are getting ready to go into another rehearsal Hole (I WISH it was a Collapsable Hole) for our WIP at Culturemart, Feb 1 and 2.  BUT BEFORE THAT EVEN I will be presenting 7 minutes IN THE ROUND at CATCH, at the Invisible Dog, Jan 11th.  Come see it!  We are focusing on taking the scenes we have assembled and honing them for performance.  SO COME!  SEE! COMMENT BACK!  ENJOY!

A hot picture of Medeiros!!

 Too bad he was a lying cheating murdering drunk who couldn't get the strength to lift his head and push the curtain aside before he shoved his shotgun out the backwindow.  But still he is so hot.

And he was executed WITH Sacco and Vanzetti- Funny irony- the would-be savior executed with a couple of thieves..