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Featuring Jenny Hval, Gil Scott-Heron, and Noname in a special takeover from Anita Carraher, host of Peacetime Product on Other Desert Radio.
Welcome back to Melissa Recommends Music! Today’s newsletter is a takeover from the one and only Anita Carraher — artist, activist, host of the monthly radio show/audio diary Peacetime Product, and my bestie since childhood.
Throughout elementary, middle, and high school, Anita and I were inseparable. We shared many formative experiences together, particularly in the realm of music. The stories we could tell… There was the time we were front row for a free Toro y Moi show at UC Berkeley in 2015 (he was promoting his album What For?), or the time we skipped school in 2017 to wait an absurd amount of hours in line for Chance the Rapper’s show in San Francisco (bizarrely, he performed alongside a cast of muppet-like puppets). Perhaps our crowning moment, though, was attending FYF Fest in 2017 together. It was just the two of us navigating three days of one of the craziest lineups I’ve ever experienced — Mitski, Built to Spill, A Tribe Called Quest, Flying Lotus, Thundercat, Angel Olsen, Iggy Pop, Ty Segall, MGMT, the list goes on… and closing the festival, Frank Ocean. I couldn’t have asked for a better partner in crime for it all.
Going to college on opposite sides of the country sadly put a cap on our live music adventures, but Anita is still one of my best friends in the world — and a consistent touchpoint for not only awesome music, but social activism. Read on for her playlist/writeup, which blends the two in a reflection of her time as a union member and organizer in California!
Track Listing
“Game to Lose” - I’m With Her
“Mephisto in the Water” - Jenny Hval
“Pieces of a Man” - Gil Scott-Heron
“Into the Sea” - Seapony
“Can’t Kill Myself Today” - Little Foot
“Blaxploitation” - Noname
“Problem Child” - Shirley Hurt
“The Rain Comes at the Right Time” - Zhang Yi
“Polly Ann’s Hammer” - Our Native Daughter, Amythyst Kiah
“Confrontation” - Homegrown Syndrome
The Background
In November of 2023, I participated in a strike while working as a policy analyst for the state of California. My union, the California Association of Professional Scientists (CAPS), became the first public sector union to strike in California, since public employees won the right to strike in California in the 1970s. My peers were other scientists, researchers, and academics who did scientific work for the state of California — like me at the California Energy Commission, or my friends at the state water board, the California Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Food and Agriculture and many more. November 2023 marked four years of being in contract negotiations with the state of California. That meant me and my coworkers had gone four years without a raise, four years of waiting to retire with good pension, and four years of watching other coworkers be pushed out of their careers because they could not afford to keep working for the state at a loss. These coworkers were the same people who California entrusted with writing up the state’s climate change resiliency plans, protecting our agricultural economy from pests, and preventing toxic contamination in neighborhoods. All, while working at a loss.
My union covered the entire geography of the third largest state in America. Very few of us shared the same boss or had even ever met each other in person. We were a majority female, majority person-of-color union which meant we were all very, very different from one another. If you know anything about union history, then you know these are not the winning factors in union history – but still, we made union history that November when we fulfilled our legal right to strike, first guaranteed only 50 years ago.
And we keep pushing. Since I’ve moved on from that job, my ex-union has reaffiliated under the United Auto Workers (UAW), an international union that recognizes the importance of scientific workers in the next era of labor politics. Affiliation with the UAW, whose name you might recognize from graduate student unions, has opened CAPS up to a strong network of like-minded, like-treated academic workers in America to learn and organize with. With that backing, CAPS, now CAPS-UAW 1115, won a contract that included more pay raises, retroactive pay, and benefits than the state had ever offered in any past year of contract negotiations. Scientists with political awareness are ensuring their survival, the survival of the families that depend on their income, along with the survival of everyone else living in California.
The Playlist
This playlist is part road trip curation, part classic 9 to 5 upbeat labor bops, and part my own spin on an updated playlist for today's labor movement.
I'm kicking off the playlist with the song "Game to Lose" by I'm With Her. A trio of female songwriters, the band's talent for lyricism captures the "it" factor of successful movements: Underestimated Dedication. Having something to lose is something unique to employees, because a company can't have feelings!
This element of surprise continues into the following track, "Mephisto in the Water" by Jenny Hval. Knowing the time to strike - as a union - is like knowing the seasons as an animal: having a sensibility for knowing when resources are ripe.
The playlist slows down with the third song, "Pieces of a Man" by Gil Scott-Heron. Heron is best known for the sound clip "The revolution will not be televised." So, progressive politics is a reoccurring theme in his work. "Pieces of a Man" paints the scene of a family man receiving the news that he has lost his job. But, as the title pays homage to, the song's lyrics muse on all he has already gone through in trying to stay employed. Unfortunately, as he learns, the decision is ultimately in his employer's hands, and not his own.
With our fourth song we hit our road trip stride. "Into the Sea" by Seapony accurately brings California beach rock into the playlist to mirror my cross-state road trips during my union organizing.
"Can't Kill Myself Today" by Little Foot is another road trip anthem. Little Foot's Pacific Northwest folk music and lyrics aptly describe contemporary Americana, and it makes them one of my favorite current artists. The American life Little Foot sings about means relying on others, day in and day out. An apt reminder when working in a union.
The sixth song in the playlist, "Blaxploitation" is my favorite Noname song. It's a playful and empowering rap inquiry into the Blaxploitation genre. Wikipedia describes ‘Blaxploitation’ as a term for movies that pandered to and exploit the popularity of the Black power movement during the 1970s. A sire for discussion on Black stereotypes, Noname dissects the genre further and puts a magnifying glass on the limited roles (and limited complexity) it has to offer Black women to exist in. I included this song because unions have similarly boxed women, and women of color, into positions of support instead of leadership. Refocusing the discomfort of women of color in the workplace as a primary issue in labor rights helps all of us fight for our own comfort and rights.
Next is "Problem Child" by Shirley Hurt. The song represents the mantra "as strong as the weakest link," which is something I've found true for unions. From being in and reading about unions, I've learned that it says a lot about how a union reaches out to its least engaged members, and if it builds capacity or opportunities for members to better their life, through the union.
The following song is "The Rain Comes at the Right Time" by Zhang Yi. This song, and the following "Polly Ann's Hammer" are my picks for today's labor movement. Particularly, the labor movement has lots to thank women of color for. These two songs are also just certified bops, reminiscent of Dolly Parton's “9-5.” The artists of "Polly Ann's Hammer," Our Native Daughters, is a supergroup of Black female folk and roots musicians who base the project’s theme on slavery.
The final song on my playlist is also the final step in any good organizing strategy: Confrontation! A constant piece of advice my union colleagues and I received was to get ready for confrontation, because you can't always avoid it. And that's what my coworkers and I did — on November 15th, 2023, a Wednesday, we went on strike!
So, get out there all you baristas, REI sales associates, librarians, paralegals, and substitute teachers. Throw a party. Say hi at work. Talk to other people like it’s a job. Notice the people who respond to an open hand. And maybe you’ll have some friends to fall back on when your boss inevitably disappoints you. I know you want that raise!
Melissa here again — THANK YOU to Anita for guest-writing this week’s newsletter! Learning about unions and listening to awesome music — who knew the two could go hand in hand so seamlessly? If you liked what you heard and/or read, I highly recommend checking out Anita’s Patreon (you can subscribe for just $1!) or catching her radio show Peacetime Product on Other Desert Radio.
And as a special bonus for all of you that made it this far, here’s a photo of me and Anita front row at that 2015 Toro y Moi show I mentioned earlier:
Not sure why I was smiling like that but ok. As always, if you care to share your thoughts, reactions, suggestions, etc. we’d love to hear from you in the comments. The next newsletter will be the second and final installment of my LR2024 feature. See you then!