Bill Petro

HISTORY OF LABOR DAY

Labor Day is the day we celebrate the process our mothers went through in order to deliver us at birth. Sorry, wrong holiday. Labor Day is the day we celebrate the achievements of the American labor movement. While it is still disputed whether the holiday was first proposed by Peter J. McGuire, the leader of the Brotherhood of Carpenters , or Matthew Maguire, a machinist — observances of the holiday go back over a century.

The first Labor Day celebration was September 5, 1882 in New York City and was organized by the Central Labor Union . The legislature of New York first deliberated a bill to establish a regular holiday, but Oregon was the first to pass it on February 21, 1887. It was first proposed as “a street parade to exhibit to the public the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations.”

But it was on June 28, 1894 that Congress made the first Monday in September an official Labor Day holiday. In 1909 the Sunday preceding was designated as Labor Sunday, dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the labor movement.

Bill Petro, your friendly neighborhood historian
www.billpetro.com

Concert Review: James Taylor at Red Rocks in Denver

James Taylor performed at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in the mountains above Denver his show James Taylor and his Band of Legend Tour ahead of the September release of his album of cover songs entitled, ironically, Covers. See my review at my other blog Culture Vulture.

Bill Petro, your friendly neighborhood culturevulture
www.billpetro.com

HISTORY OF  080808

August 8, 2008 or 8 August, 2008 or 2008, August 8

No matter how you spell it, we haven’t had an occurrence like this… in over a year, when we had 070707 . And we won’t have another like it until next year on September 9. Nevertheless, this once-in-a-century date does have some significance.

• The most noticeable is that the 2008 Summer Olympics begin on this date in Beijing. The number 8 — which sounds like ‘fa’ in Chinese or meaning prosper — is considered an “auspicious number.”

• This is also an auspicious date to marry, and the Malaysian website 080808.com.my features a mosaic of announcements.

• Taking a Web 2.0 perspective, users of Twitter can use the hashtag #080808 to discuss the Beijing Olympics, or search for #080808 to see tweets (noun of Twitter) showing up about every half second.

• Finally, it’s today’s date. There’s no time like the present.

Bill Petro, your friendly neighborhood historian
www.billpetro.com