Rag Mag 36
What's up punks, hope everyone is enjoying this snowglobe we all seem to be trapped in here in new england. Blasting a lot of rapunk and dbeat lately as the inevitable strategy of let's bomb the shit out of the middle east in Operation Epstein Distraction happens. As Confuse said
But we still have music, we still have each other, and we can still fight back and find joy. Velvet Deluxxx has a new stage dive with labor organizer Lisa Xu, Mr. Mittens is back with part 6 of Creature on the Road - the Elizabeth's run, The Fight Report by Chessy Renee, and an all-new Creature's Double Feature.
Hit us up at ragmagclub@proton.me with flyers, art, feedback, column ideas, or just to say hi. We archived columns and music reviews on the new site (rag-mag.ghost.io), so check it out.
What's up Rag Mag? Hope everyone is surviving out there! Another day , another blizzard , another historical event , but here we are. I’ve been thinking of the stage a lot ( as I always am) but also how the street , your workplace ect can also be a stage. So, this week we’re moving out of the venue and out to the street and maybe your work place . As a labor union member myself I can say joining a union changed my life. Peoples collective power is on my mind a lot along with the working class in general. So , this week we are going to chat with my good friend Lisa Xu! She is an artist , an activist , an actress ( in all my films) and a labor organizer. She is also an all around wonderful human. I’ve been inspired by Lisa for a long time and I think after reading this she’ll inspire you too.
Solidarity forever — Velvet Deluxxx
VD - What was your first experience with a union?
LX -I was a member of the Harvard Graduate Students Union, UAW (United Auto Workers) Local 5118, which changed my life!
We won our union election in 2018, and later that year I joined the staff of the union as an organizer. I helped organize our campaign for our first contract, which culminated in a strike in December 2019, and a contract in the spring of 2020. I stayed on the staff of the union until early 2021. It was the first time in my life that I understood what it meant to organize and build a movement, and to act collectively and strategically to make an employer do something they didn't want to do. I felt a really powerful solidarity in the union, and I met the most amazing people through it.
VD-What made you get involved in the labor movement?
LX -Honestly, grad school can really suck, and part of this is because of the way graduate student workers are treated – as disposable, and subject to the mercy of their advisors, who also happen to be their employers. It's a very hierarchical environment. This also makes it a situation ripe for abuse, which became particularly evident when the MeToo movement broke out and a top Harvard university administrator and professor was exposed as a serial sexual harasser. It was clear that Harvard intended to protect him at the expense of students and other staff, and that we could only rely on independently protected rights, such as those afforded by a union contract. This was one of the key motivations for me and many others to get involved with the union.
Beyond the Harvard grad union more specifically, Trump's first election in 2016 made me question my politics, which were sort of the middle of the road liberal or progressive. Over the next two years, and under the influence of comrades in my union, I became an organized socialist, and joined the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) in 2019. Getting involved with DSA helped sharpen my analysis regarding the kind of organization and politics necessary to combat rising fascism, and made me even more fervently pro-union.
VD-. You've done a bunch of different things, is there any one project / movement / moment you're particularly proud of?
LX -I'm proud of the organizing I did with the grad union, and with Boston DSA, but all of that laid the groundwork for my work with the project that has had the greatest impact so far: Unite All Workers for Democracy (UAWD), and the election of Shawn Fain as president of the United Auto Workers in 2023. UAWD was a movement of UAW members who came together to organize for reform in the UAW, which had been in decline for decades, and had recently suffered an enormous corruption scandal. It was an example of a reform caucus, like Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) in the Teamsters or the Caucus of Rank-and-file Entertainment Workers (CREW) in IATSE.
I got involved with UAWD in late 2020, and became its first staff organizer in the spring of 2021. Later that year, we won a referendum vote to establish direct elections of the UAW President and other top leaders, and in 2022-2023, we got Shawn Fain and a slate of other reformers elected. Union democracy and Shawn's leadership has helped transform the UAW, which has been grabbing headlines (finally for the right reasons!) for militant contract fights and strikes ever since. I know it has inspired workers to fight across the labor movement, even beyond the US, and also encouraged them to get involved in reform efforts in their unions as well. For those interested in learning more, here's an article on UAWD's impact on the UAW.
Now I work for Labor Notes, where I run organizing trainings, write articles, and help advise workers in reform caucuses on organizing for change in their union, among other things. It's been a really great way to share lessons from my experience with reform in the UAW.
VD -Burn out can sometimes be a big factor, do you have any tips or advice?
LX -Completely! I was pretty burned out after a very hectic few years organizing in UAWD. You definitely have to take a step back to take care of yourself when that happens. I think it's also important to recognize when you're doing too much, and do everything possible to redistribute the workload, for the sake of your own health and the sustainability of your organizing project. You can be in the middle of burnout before you even realize it. It can sometimes seem easier to do everything yourself, but it pays off to make sure multiple people are pitching in from the beginning.
On a movement or campaign level, we should also take an organizer's approach to burnout, and think organizationally and collectively, rather than treating it as an individual problem. If any one person has to step back, is there someone else who can step up to take their place, at least for a while? We need to always be thinking about building a bench of organizers so that our movements don't hinge on the efforts of a few individuals (which is a recipe for burnout!).
VD-What advice would you give to someone wanting to form a union at their work?
LX -Great question! There are many resources out there. First, I would recommend reaching out to the Emergency Worker Organizing Committee (EWOC). Any worker can call them, and they will talk you through the steps of organizing a union. I would also suggest getting their book on how to unionize, Unite and Win.
Forming a union involves patient, careful building of relationships and trust with your coworkers. You need to build a team (an organizing committee) to engage in systematic, one-on-one conversations with everyone who might vote on unionization, and inoculate your coworkers against anti-union attacks from the boss. It will be hard, but it can be done – more and more people are doing it!! And public opinion of unions is as high as it's been in half a century.
VD -Are there any books you'd recommend to people that want to know the history of the labor movement or just want to be inspired to organize?
LX -I really recommend Raising Hell (and Raising Expectations), by the late Jane McAlevey. Her book No Shortcuts is more famous and should also be read, but Raising Hell was the one that got me fired up about the power of workplace organizing. Secrets of a Successful Organizer, the classic Labor Notes book, is also a great introduction to the principles of organizing.
I would also just recommend flipping through the pages of Labor Notes (sign up for our email newsletter!) to read about what workers are doing *right now* around us, as well as checking out Jacobin's labor reporting. There are very few publications with dedicated labor journalists these days, but Jacobin has the great Alex Press, in addition to other regular contributors.
VD -When you're not organizing what do you do to feel creative?
LX -I'm trying to write songs and poems these days, and play the guitar. I also sometimes do random art or crafts projects. I used to do a lot of ceramic sculpture, but I got tired of moving them everywhere...
VD -Do you have any final words for our Rag Mag readers?
LX -Working people (creative people!) deserve political power! We owe it to ourselves to be organized, and strategic.
The Fight Report by Chessy Renee
If you can do it, do it
It’s the fight report, punks.
I’ve got a story for ya: this week I got into a fight with one of my best pals. Unfortunately it’s gotta happen sometimes for me… We were planning on submitting to a grant for an art project; the trick was we only had 48 hours to whip up the application and submit it. Some people would call this dumb, or would say we were exercising poor planning: I can’t argue with those assessments. It was dumb and we planned poorly, but I was dead set on getting the application in - because why not?! There wasn’t an application fee - so what’s the harm in throwing our name in the ring?
My friend saw it differently. They thought that we didn’t have our shit together enough to properly submit, “so,” they said, “there’s no use in applying. Odds are we won’t get it, so what’s the use of putting in the effort? It’s not worth coming up empty handed.” So - we didn’t apply for the grant.
But my thing is - we will never get a grant we don’t apply to. SO WHAT IF WE ARE UNPREPARED?! No application fee - write anything!! Just submit it! This is the shit of divorces isn’t it? It sure feels like it. We are looking to have conversations to remind ourselves of why we are great friends, but this rift is serious.
My argument around this hits on a core value of mine - to be alive is to LIVE and to live is to try shit. If my life hinged on me doing things perfectly - I would have bowed out a long time ago. I can’t think in an all or nothing way. I tell myself: you have to stop trying to do shit perfectly - get over yourself and just DO the thing. Make yourself look like a fool and then try again and again; humble yourself in the process of iteration.
If you don’t do a thing, it’s never going to happen. Nothing will come of not doing anything. This is the opposite of that Rick Ruben book. Like, sure take a nap, YES NAPS ARE GREAT AND IMPORTANT AND GOOD FOR YOU, but then wake the fuck up get shit done!
Do the thing you’ve been dreaming about - make it a reality. Take little steps and move toward something - something that's good for not only you but OTHERS AROUND YOU AS WELL!
A rad dance instructor I was learning from once told her class - 50% right is better than 100% wrong. And hell yeah dude, words to live by. The way I see it - do the thing at 50%, hell do it 100% wrong, and then try again and inch up to being better or more what you are aiming for. Embarrass yourself! It’s worth it! You’ll learn something in the process, and you could have some fun in the process too.
Fight perfectionism and fight your ego!
As I retold my side of this argument to another friend of mine - she told me “The thing is that sometimes people say they want to do something - and they even know themselves that they can and should do that thing- but they just won’t do it. And I know that Cheesy, that pisses you off!” And she was fucking right. That does piss me off.
And honestly, if you find a pace for your art or your activism (or your whatever it is that you do) that works for you and makes you feel alive, just fucking do that. You don’t need to rush yourself - tell people like me to piss right off for rushing you. But! Not everyone feels amazing or capable or smart enough or whatever - fuck it, you don’t have to be enough of anything - but you do have to try. YEAH I’M TALKING TO YOU. Do the god damn thing. However small the step forward you take is, just take it. You don’t have to do it all at once, and you don’t have to do it right, but you do have to try. No excuses.
With that said here are some things you should do:
Join an anti-war protest, there is one happening March 2 (today, depending on when you are reading this) on Boston Common/Park Street station at 6PM and if you aren’t in Boston, look for one closer to you. There is another action downtown in Boston starting at the Zionist Consulate on Thursday March 5th at 12Noon. They will be rallying and marching to the Sheba ARC which is an Israeli health tech start-up opening new offices in Boston. Follow labor on the line, they tell stories of labor organizing going on around the US -
https://www.instagram.com/laborontheline?igsh=ZnBsN2tteWZ5Znlt
Make your calls - 5calls.org And as always, bring food to your local community fridge: https://boston.eater.com/maps/community-fridges-boston
Do some shit that matters to you dude, and remember: never give up the fight.
Creature on the Road - The Elizabeth's Run Part 6 by Mr. Mittens
It lasted less than a year, though there were signs before that I’m sure. Mrs. Fleming would “forget” to change the other girl’s diapers, or she’d be slow to soothe them when they cried. She’d proudly show off baby Elizabeth to the neighbors, while leaving the other two girls alone in their crib. I suppose that Mrs. Fleming’s main problem was that she simply had a finite amount of love to give and her only recipient seemed to be baby Elizabeth. Their brother would say years later that once Mrs. Fleming chose her babydoll, it was as if no one else existed. In the end, Mr. Fleming split the girls apart, sending one of them to a family friend and the other to his mother. He felt that living under the shadow of the babydoll was far too lonely for the girls, a feeling I’m sure he grew to know well. The Flemings moved forward with only one grudgingly accepted boy and one very spoiled little girl. Her sisters received letters and occasional visits, but as time went on, the frequency waned. It’s fucking weird, but I suppose it was easier to deal with, and everybody loves easy, even when it makes no sense. When Elizabeth disappeared, the news was forbidden to mention the other girls. Mrs. Fleming threatened to stop all of her tearful pleading on camera if the other girls were included in their broadcasts. Mr. Fleming felt it was best to leave them out of it, and so he helped encourage the media to leave it be. As for the cops, well cops have never been fond of caring about damn near anything.
After Elizabeth was gone, Mr. Fleming brought the other girls home for a visit, but Mrs. Fleming screamed and wailed at the sight of them. They were sent away again, and the family as it was rapidly deteriorated. Once both parents had died, Mr. Fleming’s mother tried to take all three remaining siblings in, but it was too much for her to handle. She kept the boy, and the girls were sent to a children’s home, before bouncing around from facility to facility as the zones were made and remade. Zipper, our mechanic, spent some time in a similar home, and if their stories are to be believed, I can only imagine the boundless horror those girls endured. I’ve seen their face in between engine parts and rotating tires, a kind of far away blankness that washes over their eyes, their jaw so tight it looks as though it’s clamped with an invisible vise. You can NEVER touch Zipper on the shoulders unless you want to see a grown mechanic shrivel into a rabbit eyeing the exits to their den. I see it on the faces of the Elizabeths too, a sad mix of hypervigilance and emptiness. No wonder they’re fucking crazy now, I mean wouldn’t you be?
I checked the time on my dash board, it was almost 5:30. I was cutting it close, but I could see the little boardwalk peeking up over the road ahead of me. If both of them didn’t fuck with me, I could drop off this box and have it signed in 15, but I know that’s probably a wish that will go unfulfilled. The sisters are a difficult pair to extract yourself from, it’s like talking to 4 Bugs all at once, and both are twice as needy. I can handle their neediness on most runs, hell it’s justifiable. I can’t expect anyone completely devoid of a mother’s love to be a solid individual all of the time. The way I see it, both women are due some cajoling, but sweet lord do they take any and all attention to another level. The sisters live in a shared delusion that one of them is the true Elizabeth, the golden girl, and if you spend more than a few seconds with them they will make you decide which one of them that is. The criteria changes from visit to visit, and in the end neither one of them is ever truly satisfied. This delusion is no different than the story they told when first found on the boardwalk, it’s tinged with some truths and built on a lifetime of suffering. If they weren’t so egregiously cheap on credits and cash, I might feel a bit more obliged to indulge them. It’s like my mom said “bad things make good people difficult and difficult people unbearable”. She never met the Elizabeth’s, but damn if she didn’t hit the nail on the head.
Hey from yr ol' pal creature. Been stuck inside (same as everyone else in the northeast), so in addition to listening/playing music, been filling my head with low-budget genre films and comic books. Before diving into it, wanted to shout out a new comedy special on HBO by Chris Fleming called Live at the Palace. I try not to promote this kinda stuff here, but Chris is the goddamn best person and just insanely funny. Check it out.
Mittens and I re-watched the all-timer Maniac Cop from William Lustig and I still love this dumb violent movie about a cop that died but isnt dead and is killing innocent people and cops. Makes no sense but it's Cop on Cop violence so you who cares if they get hurt and its an entertaining ride. Fucking Robert Z'dar and Bruce Campell chin versus chin. That goddamn jackhammer scene. Not too mention Z'dar in a proto Eastern Promises bathhouse scene and then we get to Tom Atkins. Character actors galore. Low low budget but Lustig keeps the shots nice and dark, but the stunt work (cars in particular) is great. The sequels have diminishing returns, but all are worth a watch in my book.
Chin to Chin
Found a copy of Sacred Heart on Fantagraphics by Liz Suburbia (looks like its from 2015) at a local thrift store and tore through this in a weekend. Never heard of this before, but I saw fantagraphics on the spine and the linework inside of teenage punks gave me a Hernandez bros feeling so into the cart it went. Really glad I grabbed it. Follows a teen girl named Ben as she navigates life in her small town where there are seemingly no adults. Filled with tales any diy teen punk can relate to and her smooth linework is great. I really loved the pages I included here as it really captures the feeling of some band you've never heard of blowing your mind with the best rock ' n roll you've ever heard in some ones basement or garage. Gonna have to check out her other work, cuz this was a fun read. Punk is the best
Records of the Week
First up for records of the week is the highly anticipated Steps LP by Boston faves Cigarette Camp. Classic power trio with speedy, catchy punk tunes with no time to waste for these lifers. Most of the songs are less than a minute but stay stuck in your head all day. (Ed. note - Still deciding on the best song, Jeff, what does that neighbor kid think since Chalk isnt on this one?). Cool cameos all over this one in the samples and artwork in in Jeff Poot's unmistakable punk style. As Fox says, "rock and roll"
nekro6669
Next up, my continued diving into the La Musica reissues on Black Editions, this time with a longtime fave (on soulseekd mp3s I'm sure) Solid Static by Musica Transonic + Mainliner. Recorded in 1997 by the lineup of Musica Transonic - Asahito Nanjoy (high rise), Makoto Kawabata (Acid Mothers Temple) and Tatsuya Yoshida (Ruins/YBO2), who also happen to be the same exact lineup of several Mainliner configurations. Two sides of the heavy psychedelic coin, this album has the meditative drone of Musica Transonic's work with Mainliner's guitar fuzz freakouts in full effect. Heavy zoner from this power trio for sure.
mynamemow2
Soul Song of the Day
Soul song of the day is by Garnet Mimms, who had a few hits in the northern soul scene, with the underrated dance floor filler, Prove it to Me. Killer song and makes you wanna dance, what more can you ask for?
That's it for this week Rag Mag. Here's some flyers and keep sending stuff in (ragmagclub@proton.me)
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