One hundred years ago this week on March 25, 2011 New York City saw a terrible fire near Washington Square in downtown Manhattan. It took place in a sweatshop on the 8th, 9th, and 10th floor of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company. Most of the 146 people who died were immigrant Jewish and Italian women. About half of them were under 20 years old, including 30 under the age of 18. There were 2 who were 14, 3 who were 15,12 who were 16, and 13 who were 17. Some of them belonged to the same family.

It was just quitting time on a Saturday when the fire started on the 7th floor. The light cotton shirtwaists that were being manufactured caught fire easily. The 27 buckets of water they had on the scene couldn’t begin to keep up with the fire as it quickly devoured cotton scraps and oil kept for the sewing machines.

There were two stairways down to the street, but one of them was locked. The owners of the company declared they had no knowledge of this (though later they were slapped on the wrist for the same set of fire violations somewhere else). The girls were expected to go down one at a time so their bags could be checked to be sure they weren’t stealing anything.

There were two passenger elevators, but they had to be handled manually and couldn’t accommodate many people at one time. The freight elevators were closed with heavy iron doors with the one on the 9th floor also having a heavy iron bar to protect it from unauthorized use.

There was simply no way for several hundred people to make it out safely in such a fast moving fire.

A secretary on the 7th floor was able to contact the owners of the factory on the 10th floor and they were able to make it out over the roof of the building. The open stairway was already starting to act like a fireplace chimney. There was a great deal of struggling with the doors on this stairway because they opened in instead of out. But most of the people on the 7th floor made it out. The 9th floor wasn’t so lucky. The secretary on the 7th floor was unable to get through to them.

The people on the 9th floor found out about the fire mostly as it started spreading to their floor. The open stairway wasn’t usuable by then. And the firemen later found 25 bodies pressed against the locked door of the other stairway. Some women tried using the old fire escape at the back of the building, but it buckled and sent them crashing to their deaths below. The elevator operators valiantly saved as many as they could making repeated trips to the fire floors. But finally, the fire made the operation difficult and many of the girls desperately started to jump into the elevator shafts.

The police and fire departments were fast on the scene, called in by those who saw the fire developing out on the street. But the fire ladders could only reach to the 6th floor. And their hoses couldn’t do the job. Some women by this time had started jumping from the upper windows, some aiming for the fire ladders 30 feet below, some choosing the quick death of falling over being burned alive. Their hair and clothing were often burning as they fell. The police had to hold people on the ground back so they wouldn’t be injured by the jumpers. A pair of lovers who kissed before jumping were especially noticed. The water from the fire hoses combined with the blood of the jumpers and rivers of red literally ran in the street. In about 20 minutes it was all over.

The building itself did not burn, just everything inside.  Only the iron parts of the sewing machine and the safe on the 10th floor belonging to the owners survived the blaze. Fire Chief Croker who went in to survey things afterwards said he’d seen bodies burned to the bone. A sad burglar alarm rang through the night as they slowly removed the bodies from the three fire floors and set them out on the street. Among the rings they found were 14 engagement rings, a testament to happy times and families that would never be. Later one young man could only recognize his fiance’s body by the engagement ring on her charred finger.

The bodies were brought to the East 26rd Street Pier to be viewed by possible relatives and claimed, including a headless woman. In the end, 6 of them were left unidentified until recently. The owners of the sweatshop were brought to trial but found not guilty because it could not be proved that they knew about the locked doors on the stairwell. As I said earlier, they got in trouble in later years for similar infractions. They were made eventually to pay $75 to the families of each of the people who died in the fire. Eventually they went out of business.

The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire wasn’t the first of its kind, nor the last. But the tragedy was felt so keenly by the public that it  helped move forward some of the fire and safety regulations we have in place today. It also gave unions a real push as workers realized they had to join together in order to get things like safety regulations. And it’s a reminder that we need to remain vigilant in this time when corporations are once again demanding less and less regulations.

Tonight HBO has a documentary on the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. It’s on at 9PM. You can read more about it at HBO here. It’s also on Wednesday March 23 at 8PM. And on March 25 at 6:30. And March 26 at 12:30PM.

There’s a recent New York Times article on it here.

Cornell University has some write-ups here.

There’s a rundown on the names of the victims here.

A bit of info at the cable newstation NY1 here.

And a blog written by one of the people involved in the commemoration happening in NYC this coming Saturday, March 26th here.

Everyone have a happy and safe week!

A Happy Belated Valentines to Everyone!

I hope you’ve all been doing better than I have. My illness from Christmas turned into bonchitis somewhere along the way and I’m still battling it. The doc is starting me on a new round of antibiotics today.

Still, I have a couple of good pieces of news to tell. First, the theatre group that I’ve worked with in the past has finally returned to its home base after wandering about the deserts of New York City. The construction work at St. Jean’s High School have finally been completed! They’re doing a cabaret this weekend called, ”The Envelope, Please.”  It’s a collection of 40 songs from Tony Award Winning shows. I wasn’t able to be a part of it this time round, but I’m definitely planning on going to see it, bronchitis be damned! I’ve heard it’s got a super cast and that they’ll be singing lots of Broadway favorites. The director, Sharon Lowe, directed the group’s very successful version of “Annie” some years back. So, I know it’s going to be a great show! 

If you’re in NYC this weekend, give it a look.  There are three performances at 167 East 75th Street (between Lexington and Third), this February 18 & 19 at 8PM. And Sunday February 20 at 3PM. $20 for Adults, $10 for Seniors 65+, and children to 18 years of age. You can check out the group’s website here.

Next up, my friend Susan Tepper has been published again, this time by Cervena Barva Press. It was a joint literary effort by Susan and Gary Percesepe called “What May Have Been: Letters of Jackson Pollock and Dori G.” It’s a fictional collection of love letters between the artist Jackson Pollock and a fictional lady named Dori G during the late 1940′s. I haven’t had a chance to read it yet, but the pieces I’ve heard read are great!

Meanwhile, I’m still plugging along with my own WIP, trying to get the world building staight. I’m also trying to shake off this bronchitis.

I hope the Ground Hog is right about Spring coming early this year! I am seriously tired of snow!

I was pretty naive when I entered the adult work world right out of High School in the mid-1970′s. My parents had brought me up to respect everyone. And I had never seen prejudice in action in my predominantly white neighborhood or predominantly white Catholic school in Brooklyn. I knew it existed. But I didn’t have any African American friends to set me straight. The few black students in my class were on a higher rung of the social ladder than I was. They were mostly serious students near the top of our class, while I was one of  the theatrical ones near the bottom, more likely to have my face in a script than a text book.

At that time Martin Luther King, Jr. had been dead for about ten years and it would be another ten before Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was signed into law.

My first job was with a company that no longer exists. There were two of us white girls working in the department, both the same age, just out of high school in NYC. So we became friends. Our immediate boss was old enough to be our father and we barely ever talked to him, except about work.

When our work load picked up, the company decided they needed a third girl in our department. As a matter of policy, they liked to hire friends of their employees. Probably thinking they would be good and have a reason to stay. So they asked us two girls if we knew of anyone who might be looking for a job. 

I didn’t. But the other girl did. She had a friend who had just graduated from secretarial school. I’d heard about her on several occasions and had seen pictures of the two of them out sightseeing. She sounded smart and I thought she would be fun to work with, so I was gung-ho for her as well. The human resource people smiled widely and said she should come in for an interview right away. They didn’t actually promise she’d get the job, but since they had a long record of hiring friends, it was understood. It just never occurred to them that a white girl would have a black friend. And we were both too naive to think it was an issue.

Anyway, the friend of my co-worker came as promised to the office where they interviewed and tested all the potential employees for things like typing speed. When they saw her dark face, they immediately told her there were no openings. She told them she’d been asked to apply, but they reaffirmed there were no openings. She wasn’t allowed to take any test or even fill out an application, which I realized later was to keep there from being a paper trail.

My co-worker and I were both horrified. My co-worker because she’d gotten her friend into a nasty situation. And I because we’d lost a good person for no good reason.

This young secretarial graduate was just looking for a job. She had no intention of taking any legal action. So she just quietly went away. The company immediately hired a white girl, probably the first one who came in through the door, so they could say they wanted to hire her all along. Unfortunately, they obviously didn’t check her abilities.

This new girl was very sweet, but totally clueless. She always wore this ”deer in the headlights” look because she was totally unable to do the job. She literally couldn’t add 1 plus 2 and there wasn’t much we could do to fix that.

My original co-worker and I had to work twice as hard to supervise her and correct all her mistakes. Finally they had to stop giving her work altogether because it just caused more work. And the company fired her. This time they found someone who was qualified, who also had what they considered to be the right skin color.

The moral of the story for me was that not only is prejudice wrong, it’s bad for business.

During this week when we remember Martin Luther King, Jr., I remember that secretarial graduate, even though I can’t recall her name. I hope wherever she is, she found a better job. And that her grandchildren never have to suffer that humiliation.

Happy 2011, Everyone!!!

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and that the New Year is going well for you!

I was sick for much of the holidays. Then just when I thought I was getting better, I found myself coming down with something again this week. Somehow I prevailed and I’m on the mend at long last. I know it’s because I ran myself into the ground trying to do too much. I hope you were all smarter.

I’m incredibly behind on everything, so this will be short…for me. I just wanted to mention for anyone interested in self-publishing that they might want to read J. A. Konrath’s blog called A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing. He’s one of the recent gurus on self-publishing. He has a background in traditional publishing, but decided to branch off on his own.

Also check out the blog of Young Adult fantasy writer Amanda Hocking at My Blood Approves. She’s being hailed as the new wonderkind of self-published writers lately because she did some incredible sales last year in ebooks.

Of course, not everyone is going to be Amanda Hocking any more than everyone is going to be Stephen King. I think it’s still a long shot. But while the Big Six publishers with their big back offices can’t afford to take chances on anything, small sales can still be OK for self-published writers in ebooks.

It’s pretty much the same for crafters who want to run their own business on places like Etsy. If you want to know how the business is run, you look at the people who are doing well with it and try to find your niche.

As a plug for Etsy and Artfire, I found a lot of nice things to give as Christmas gifts there this past season. Unfortunately, a lot of them are still waiting to be wrapped and gifted because I was sick. Hopefully that will happen before the month is out.

Keep well, Everyone! And have a Wonderful 2011!!!

Happy Thanksgiving from our home to yours!

It’s a perfect time to thank you all for being my blog friends! May you all have a warm and wonderful holiday season! Full of good times, good friends, family, and fun!

Love, Mary Anne

Fall always tends to be the time of the year when my husband and I make big moves. We started dating in the fall. And whenever we’ve moved it always seems to be in the fall. So, it’s not surprising that I’ve made yet another big move in the that very same season.

In order to self-publish in the complete sense of the word, you need to register with your state, get a business bank account, and a credit card. Well, I’ve officially begun on my road by opening Starlight Rose, Inc. I chose the name because it continues the starlight theme and it fits for selling jewelry too, if I ever go that route. My plan is to go through Amazon’s CreateSpace and Kindle to start. Then through B&N’s Pub-It, which finally opened this fall.

I intend to look into Ingram’s Lightning Source at a later date when I’m a little more technically able. CreateSpace requires a higher discount, which I will have to give to Lightning as well eventually. But I’m not against that as a short discount might discourage B&N stores from even allowing customers to specifically order the book. I will probably also need a certificate to collect sales tax and a resale license. That won’t all happen tomorrow, which is just as well because I also need to purchase ISBN’s and finish my WIP.

My WIP is a fantasy saga series that I’m planning to finish over four books. I’m about halfway through with a major rewrite taking place at the moment on the first book. I realized this summer that I needed to do a bit of research and dig into several back-stories that will be coming out over the run of the series. I’m also trying to gain some software knowledge along the way. I would have gone the sub-pub route, but my books tend to be so long the final price of the book from a sub-pub would have been ridiculous. As it it, it will be almost ridiculous.

Fiction is generally more price sensitive than non-fiction. So, it was thought for many years that self-publishing couldn’t work well for fiction with publishing-on-demand technology. Going the self-publishing route with offset printing is cheaper per book for the consumer, but it requires a large initial outlay of cash for the publisher. You’re also unlikely to get into the dwindling brick and mortar stores. 

The burgeoning e-book world, however, has fixed a lot of that. A self-publisher can now offer their books at a competititve price in venues where readers are looking for a lot of sensibly priced product. People who use e-readers tend to increase their book buying. And eventually buy most of their books through e-book vendors. I know this very well through personal experience. LOL

So, I’m mostly thinking in terms of e-books. And I’m including p-books mostly because I think I should. Most people still read on paper, after all. They’re just not likely to buy an unknown author’s thick expensive story in tight economic times. Luckily, sensibly priced e-books can help sell p-books to some extent.

I know a lot of writers still prefer the traditional publishing route and they should do what they think is best. But I tried to break in there for a very long time. I know well that I’m not a good bet for a traditional publisher. The first reason is that my writing style is not ”in” right now. 

I have a very simple storybook style in the all knowing author category. But I’ve learned to play that style to best effect by spinning long stories that go down easily and have several layers. Unfortunately, this also means a traditional publisher would worry about print costs for any book of mine. Not to mention the fact that fantasy sagas are supposed to be “out” right now.

Still, I did well enough as a fanfiction author on this same type of story that I feel it’s worth a try. The costs of a publishing start-up are probably better than they’ve ever been.  So, now’s the time.

When I was a would-be actress very long ago and far away, I found that a lot of people tried to force you into the trend of the moment, even if you didn’t fit. I was an alto belter, but just about every voice teacher I had tried to force me to be a soprano. It was really silly! I was never going to get a job as a weak soprano. Even I wouldn’t have hired me!

Looking back on it, I realize my only way to gain entrance to the theatre world would have been to go on my own, perhaps as a cabaret singer. Trouble is, cabaret bores me. I like stories! And cabarets have hardly any stories.

So, now I write. And once again I know my style won’t appeal to the gatekeepers. The only sensible thing to do is to try going out on my own where I get to decide what story I want to tell. And this way my failure to sell won’t be a loss to anyone else.

I tell a multitude of stories in one book. I try hard to put in foreshadowing and plot points that won’t be noticed much by first readers, but could be enjoyed by those who read the story again. This approach worked well with my best fanfiction, so I continue doing it when possible even though it means a lot more planning.

I think if anyone did fanfiction on my books, they would have a lot of interesting stories to explore that I just won’t have time to do. One of the nicest parts of doing fanfiction for “The 10th Kingdom” was that there were a couple of fic writers who did fanfiction on my fanfiction. That was quite an honor.

Here’s to another change of season! And to further life changes! I hope all of yours are good changes. I’ll keep you up on mine, although I’m probably going to have to do an every other week schedule on posting. There just don’t seem to be enough hours in the day!

Happy Halloween, Everyone!

The play “Voices in the Stacks” is going pretty well! The director gave me an easy job of lighting. Unfortunately sometimes the sound machine seems haunted by ghosts. LOL

Still, I’m looking forward to a little quiet this weekend … And a couple of spooky movies!

Have a Great Weekend!

This week I have two shows to report on!

My friend Pamela Robbins is once again directing a one act that she wrote for Manhattan Rep’s Fall Playfest 2010. It’s called “Voices in the Stacks” and is about a mischievious ghost who needs to learn how to play well with others. It’s running October 27, 28, and 29 at 7PM at Manhattan Rep, 303 W. 42nd, 3rd Floor. The tickets are $20.

I’m going to be running lights for it, but we’ll also be rehearsing on Monday and Tuesday. So, if I miss doing a blog next week, you’ll know why. I’ve already started studying my lighting and sound cues. Since I missed working the last show, I want to get it right. Many thanks to Pam for getting me closer to Broadway than I ever thought I’d be!

Speaking of Broadway … We also saw a Broadway Show last week. It was the Shaw play “Mrs. Warren’s Profession,” reviewed here by the New York Times. Suffice it to say, the Times liked the show mostly because they liked Cherry Jones, who played Mrs. Warren. They weren’t as pleased with Sally Hawkins who played her daughter.

I had never seen this play by Shaw. I tend more toward escapist musicals. But I found it to be very interesting considering the subject matter and that it was written in 1893. The play was originally banned in England, but finally found its way to the stage there in 1902.

When it opened in New York City in 1905, the performance was interrupted by the police who arrested the cast and crew. By today’s standards it’s more than tame. Nobody undresses and there is are no graphic words or gestures. Mrs. Warren’s profession may be that of a madam, but the tale is mostly about how the devaluing of women can lead them into prostitution or other equally demeaning labor for little pay and shortened lives. It ends on a bit of hope that the New Woman of the coming century may close the door on some of that through her own determination.

Mrs. Warren has raised her daughter to be a respectable woman who is more than a bit horrified over her mother’s profession. But Mrs. Warren softens her by describing how she and an older sister chose this particular profession rather than die young of lead poisoning slaving away in a factory as one of their other sisters had. What drives the daughter away from her mother for good is learning that she is still plying her trade by pressing other women into it in a string of high priced brothels. As one of the actors said during the Q&A session afterwards, “Mrs. Warren wasn’t offering any profit sharing to the young women who worked for her.” She was making money off their bodies and keeping them in their place in much the same way as the factory owners had done with her dead sister.

In the end, the daughter breaks all ties with her mother and begins working in business for herself, a vision of Shaw’s New Woman at the turn of the century.

It’s an interesting play, especially for its time. Although I agreed with the Times that I would have liked to see the daughter played by a stronger actress. It was clear in the dialogue that she was supposed to be more than a match for her mother. The actress they cast as the daughter seemed more nervous and unsure of herself and often had to compensate by shouting. She was also shorter than the woman who played her mother and they emphasized the size difference by having the mother wear very high heels while keeping the daughter in flats, so that she towered over the daughter. It was a curious choice. Still, I enjoyed it very much.

The Whole Bead Show is coming to New York City this weekend from Friday through Sunday for its second visit of the season! If you happen to be in town, drop on by. The info for the show is here.

They’re open to retail and wholesale buyers. Wholesale buyers will need to have copies of their resale license so they don’t get charged tax. The entry price for everyone for the whole weekend is $10, but you can get a $2 coupon here to bring the price down to $8. I tend to put the entrance sticker on whatever bag I’m going to be wearing that weekend. It’s usually an older leather bag so I don’t freak out at the little circle of adhesive that sticks around for a while after the show is past. I often attend with friends who are also beading enthusiasts. That’s a big part of the fun!

They have all kinds of gemstone and glass beads, as well as some metals. But I tend to buy my metals online at places like Bella Findings House in bulk because it tends to be cheaper. And I tend to buy my Swarovski at Fire Mountain, also in bulk. Fire Mountain is good on bulk buys. If you’re into beading, do a group buy with some friends once a year or so to bring the prices down. For me, The Whole Bead Show is best for gemstone and pearl buying. With those, I prefer seeing before buying.

Of course, I don’t need to buy anything. But I’m sure I’ll find something. I always do. I have plenty of beads for my own needs. I still dream of opening an Etsy and Artfire shop, but the reality is that the artisan jewelry market is pretty bad because of the economy and it probably isn’t going to pick up any time soon. So I’ll just have to keep my beads for myself, give some to friends, or donate them somewhere. It’s fun handling all the sparklies! And it’s a lot easier to finish a 30 inch double strand necklace than an 800 page book. LOL

Have a Great Weekend Everyone!

As usual I’m behind. We had a very busy vacation followed by a rush to catch up on work when we got back. And then some system problems with my host. Finally, I have time to pass on these awards!

Ann of My Reading Corner and More gave me this first award. It’s The Great Blog Neighbor Award. Receiving this from her is a great honor considering what a great blog neighbor she is. She recently blended her 7 blogs into one, so she writes about books and a whole lot more. She’s a great lady and a great blog neighbor!

And now for my choices for The Great Blog Neighbor Award! As always if you guys don’t have time to do the whole award thingy don’t worry about it. Just know that I think you’re all really wonderful!

Catherine of Winged Writer
Loree of Stories and Scribbles
Jennifer of Crazy for Books
Tiana Smith
Writings…by C. JoyBell C.

Cheryl at CMash Loves to Read gifted me with the Versatile Blogger Award. She knows all about versatility as she blogs about books, reading, blogging, and life in general. I envy her energy. Somehow she manages to post almost every day. She’s definitely my idol! 

Of course this award comes with a set of rules. Cheryl changed the rules a bit and as usual I will try to follow her example. Here’s the way she put it:

1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you this award.
2. Share seven 5 things about yourself.
3. Pass this along to 15 5 bloggers you have recently discovered and think are fantastic.
4. Contact those 155 bloggers and let them know you gave them an award.

Since I’ve covered the first item on the list, I’ll get to the second one. Here are five things about me:

1.  I am always running behind… which is no surprise to anyone who’s visited my blog and noted the posting dates.
2.  I have this superwoman complex which makes me think I can do anything and everything… which usually leaves me exhausted and helps cause #1.
3.  I love garage sales… which is lucky because two of the biggest come this month.
4.  I am addicted to the Kindle. I hardly ever read paper books anymore.
5.  I am the worlds worst laundry folder… which luckily doesn’t bother my husband. There’s a reason I keep an ironing board up all the time.  

And now for five of my favorite newly discovered blogs! Ladies, don’t worry about passing on this award if you don’t have time or have already received it. Like I said above, I’m always running behind so I know how it is.

Drum roll please!

Doris of Hold My Hand
Lola of Sharp Pen/Dull Sword
Lydia of The Word is My Oyster
Nichole of Nichole Murray: WIP
Shelli of Chapter Writer

Many thanks again to Ann and Cheryl! And many congratulations and thanks to all the new nominees!