The Union exercise was scary. I was honestly hesitant. I had strong motivation for the strike but once I was in the scene I realized I had SO much to lose. I mean, yea our lives suck now - but at least we have income, a place to live, food on the table. With a strike....you lose all of that. I felt like some of the men in the exercise were taking it so lightly - but they weren't only risking their own lives, they were risking their family's lives as well. What are their wives and children going to do if they get killed - where will they go? I also found myself grow cold when the boys tried to bully me - I understood the hardships just as well as they did, but just because it sucks now that does not mean that a strike or a union will give us change for the better. Because the decision was so deep and hard, when we made it there was no sense of joy, just fear and grim determination - the exact same attitude I came into the meeting with.
The feelings I experienced were not as I suspected. And I am really fascinated in how so much fear led to so much determination for the strike - and I am curious about the times that were full of hesitancy. Who convinced these men and how? How did their wives feel? How much sheer will power does it take to make that kind of decision? Its easy to look back and say "they had to strike." But I am interested in showing the 3-dimensionality of making such a strong decision.
I liked how everyone entered at different times and went off of what the other people were doing. It was good to have a few who were not "gung-ho" for the Union. It was good to hear what they were worried about. Having 2 strong "miners" in support of the Union was good, it was good to see how they interacted with the others. I thought the interaction between everyone was good, having the preassigned roles-Union leader and company spy was good. The sense of distrust was evident as well as the sense of fear-fear of the company, what would happen, benefits of joining and not joining. It was great having a female perspective (grieving, isolation, unity).
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