On Friday, I participated in a Reacting to the Past workshop that used the Greenwich Village, 1913: Suffrage, Labor, and the New Woman scenario. This series involves taking on roles of historical figures and integrates writing, public speaking, and multimodal composition while doing a deep dive into a specific period of history. Normally, this would take place over a series of weeks in the classroom, but we zipped through it in a single day. 😆

I was assigned the role of Hutchins Hapgood, a Bohemian writer, and “Mabel Dodge” tapped me to read a poem about the debate between Labor and Suffrage at her evening salon. I ended up writing a poem (I am not a poet) in like ten minutes (still not a poet).

But I did it, and in the spirit of early 19th century Bohemia, I will transcribe my work for the sake of posterity and your amusement.

Freedom — land of the free
But we still bend
Under the chains of tyranny.

Labor and Suffrage
Two sides of the same coin.
Throw away all currency!

Now is the time!
Now is our chance!
Now we must rise!

The Anarchists of Bohemia!

Join us — woman, man, laborer
Sabotage the machines
So we may start anew and rebuild

A true land of the free

Built by the brave
New Men and New Women together.

Anarchists of Bohemia — arise!

…I’m totally counting this as writing for NaNo.