People’s Stories and The Italian Hall Memorial

There’s a discussion underway in Calumet right now about the design of a new Italian Hall Memorial. We contributed the following thoughts to that discussion today. To the Italian Hall Memorial Group and The Village of Calumet, As producers of 1913 Massacre, the feature-length, 2012 documentary film about the Italian…

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From Bowling Green to 1913

In an interview with Chris Matthews on MSNBC last night, inveterate liar Kellyanne Conway defended Trump’s travel ban by claiming, falsely, that Trump is only doing what Obama did; then, in a weird twist, she went on to say that Obama “had a six month ban on the Iraqi refugee program after two…

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A Long Postscript

Ever since Ken and I finished 1913 Massacre, I’ve been watching and learning about the resurgence of mining around Lake Superior. I’ve done some research, talked to some good people, and made a few informal scouting trips to the Lake Superior region, to see if I might perhaps produce a…

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A Letter to the Students at Lincoln Elementary School In Madison, Wisconsin

Hi! We are thrilled that you watched our film and so happy that you took the time to write letters to us and to Arlo and Nora Guthrie. A couple of weeks ago, Ken and I attended an event honoring Pete Seeger at Symphony Space, here in New York City.…

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Documentary As A Layer of Memory

Geoff Gimse saw our film last Thursday evening, at Michigan Tech. Here, Ken and I agree, he nails it, and we especially dig his last comment about the film as “another layer of…memory.” Since the actual facts of the tragedy are impossible to discern, the film instead focuses on how…

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First TV Broadcast of 1913 Massacre – Labor Day, 2013

We’re very happy to announce that 1913 Massacre will air on Twin Cities Public Television (tpt) over the 2013 Labor Day holiday.  This is the first television broadcast of the film. Showtimes: On tpt Channel 2.1: Monday, September 2nd, at 11:00PM and Tuesday, September 3rd at 5:00AM. On the Minnesota Channel (locally tptMN Channel 2.2): Monday at 12:00am, 6:00AM, 12:00PM, and 6:00PM The online…

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People’s History is Alive

I love this tweet: People’s history alive and well: 1913 Massacre, doc film by Ken Ross & @lvgaldieri inspired by Woody Guthrie’s song ow.ly/jkO4k — Voices (@vph) March 22, 2013 This is from the Twitter account of Voices of a People’s History. I suspect it was posted partly in response…

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Talking 1913 Massacre at the New School for Social Research Doc Studies

Here’s the video of a Q & A we did back in September at the New School for Social Research about the making of 1913 Massacre. We both loved being back in the classroom and hope to do lots more of this in 2013. Ken Ross and Louis V. Galdieri…

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It’s 1913 Again In Michigan

I’ve run across a few people drawing connections between the Italian Hall disaster and the school shooting yesterday in Newtown, Connecticut (e.g., here). Maybe listening to Woody’s song helps people register Newtown’s loss, or the horror of Newtown helps us understand a little better what it must have been like…

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A Standing Ovation in Calumet

After last night’s screening of 1913 Massacre at the Calumet Theatre, Davey Holmbo, the Theatre’s artistic director, told me that he thought the audience appreciated that we didn’t “do the whole Yooper thing” in our film. If you’ve never been to the UP or never heard of a Yooper, you…

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