Haymarket Riots

Today is May Day 2016.
It is a holiday that is often overlooked in modern American lives and little celebrated by most.

It is a holiday that those in power can only hope to extinguish.

 There are already great articles out there for you to read so I am not going to write a novel about it. If you don't know about the Haymarket Riots or May Day, it is worth your time to learn, appreciate, be angry, and think about our current state.

 The video above is from a band called The Wages of Sin.  I fell in love with their pirate music, however many of their songs such as this one, are rooted in American history.  

I've had trouble finding the full lyrics but here are some great lines that kind of sum it up and take a listen for yourself! It's a great song and history lesson rolled into one, what could be better?!

Papers called us traders,

Papers called us Reds,

Just because we want a decent wage,

To keep our families fed.

The jury was a travesty

The trial was a joke

Parsons, Spies, and Engel and Fischer got the rope

Here's a good quick article to read a fuller history of events.

http://www.iww.org/history/library/misc/origins_of_mayday

http://www.executedtoday.com/2008/11/11/1887-parsons-spies-fischer-engel-haymarket-martyrs/

Far Far Away

I've been absent here at 4LadiesandaBeaker for a little while and hopefully that will be the longest stretch.  There are various reasons for that and I will get into those a little further.  For now I will say I finally made it to vacation!!!! Much of my absense being due to no reception because I was in the sticks! Nothing joys me more than tuning out from the world in the amazing outdoors.  I'd saved all year and this will probably be the only vacation I take and boy was it worth every second.  I'll be posting about that more and sharing some photos.

Another reason for my absence is that March is always a crazy month for me.  I have many friends and relations sharing birthdays and of course March is also St. Patricks Day!  My boyfriend is in an Irish band and the shows never end near Paddy's Day.

Besides these reasons, work has kept me away!

2nd Quarter is our busiest of the year.  This is mostly due to nice weather beginning again in the spring as well as regulations for sampling.  We sometimes have mandatory overtime and work on the weekends.  As you already know our beloved organics boss resigned and has since picked up and moved away.  Even more recently my SPE partner and friend has put in her notice, sold her house, and is also close to the end of her laboratory career with us.

And that is the catch up on what's going on with me, but don't worry and don't leave because I have a lot of great articles coming your way!