Night Shift Leaving, by Valerie Ganz
I don't know... I know these things are hard, but almost 40 years after this country harnessed its energy to put a man on the moon:
- The city of New Orleans was lost and is still far from being reconstructed. Could it withstand another category 4 or 5 hurricane, like the one that is about to hit Mexico? Meanwhile, every 40 minutes an area the size of a football field is lost to coastal erosion in the Mississippi Delta.
- Two NYC firefighters were lost in Building 7, an abandoned skyscraper filled with plywood at Ground Zero, almost six years after 9/11.
- The Crandall Canyon Mine Company in Utah, and the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration sound like they are ready to abandon the search for six trapped miners.
Mining is still a perilous profession. Let's remember them every time we flick on the light switch.
Cowboy Junkies – Mining for GoldWe are miners, hard rock miners
To the shaft house we must go
Pour your bottles on our shoulders
We are marching to the slow
On the line boys, on the line boys
Drill your holes and stand in line
'til the shift boss comes to tell you
You must drill her out on top
Can't you feel the rock dust in your lungs?
It'll cut down a miner when he is still young
Two years and the silicosis takes hold
And I feel like I'm dying from mining for gold
Yes, I feel like I'm dying from mining for gold
4 comments:
This reminds me of an old song my grandfather used to like, about coal miners - Sixteen Tons. I read a series of books about tin mining in England back in the 18th century - mining seems almost as damgerous now as then.
Sixteen Tons. Did you go to that link to hear Dennis Kucinich sing it? I kind of like Dennis.
Can you hear Rhapsody playlists on your Mac now? According to their website, it should be possible.
I read a little bit about silicosis. Now I know why miners in the old days had those long bushy mustaches, to keep the dust out of their lungs.
It still is dangerous. They're still right up there with loggers, commercial fishermen, and roofers
I don't know if Rhapsody works with my computer - it has a monthly cost? I'm still hunting down free songs, theough they're becoming scarce.
Crystal,
If you click on that Rhapsody link, it should prompt you to download a player and sign up with a userid and password, but you should get around 25 free plays or so.
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