<p>mhc - quick chuckle - while you were demonstrating in 1968 - I wasn’t even in kindergarten!</p>
<p>I guess that also means I had my first college “trip” before you too.</p>
<p>Kids today would be astounded, but, in 1969, my HS had a demonstration because boys were not allowed to wear jeans or girls culottes</p>
<p>Boys werent allowed to wear girls’ culottes? We’ve come a long way since 1969! :)</p>
<p>Back then, a girl wearing jeans would have viewed by my HS about the same as a boy wearing culottes.</p>
<p>My laugh for the afternoon. Thanks.</p>
<p>Ironically, the sort of boys who then yelled insults and often threw things at boys with long hair 15 years later were the boys most likely to have long hair–and their kids are now those most likely to have not only long hair, but earrings–which would have gotten you not just insulted, but assaulted back then</p>
<p>Finished the book as we drove to Elon Friday. The first few chapters were a little slow - too much NYC political background for my taste. But once it got into the heart of the matter - the events leading up to the fire and the fire itself - riveting. I don’t want to give anything away for those who have not read it yet - but I will say that while I knew the general story - the attention to detail in this account is really amazing - and sad. There were many opportunities for the outcome to be different if just one detail had been handled differently.</p>
<p>If you have not started the book yet - plenty of time. No need to feel rushed.</p>
<p>Just got the book from the library today. It will probably take me a week to read it. I’ll chime in next weekend!</p>
<p>Anyone else reading the book?</p>
<p>I thought it was excellent</p>
<p>Slowly.</p>
<p>I’m getting bogged down though in the various, tragic ways that the workers…made wrong choices. Or by chance went the right direction. Perhaps that’s the horrible point, but I haven’t gotten there yet.</p>
<p>I’m also reading it s l o w l y. It is really interesting but it is just a busy time. I was surprised to see that as in Breadgivers the woman’s role was to support the family to allow the men to study torah. I had never heard of that before reading Breadgivers and now it sounds as if this was common.</p>
<p>I am a little ways into Bread Givers. A couple of thoughts. </p>
<p>Re the father, here’s an oxymoron: self-proclaimed lamed vavnik. The fact he seems to be wanting everyone to believe he is one pretty much invalidates the possibility that he could be.</p>
<p>Much though I don’t care for the father character, I’m not so fond of Berel either. Perhaps better the shm… you know than the one you don’t? </p>
<p>That’s it for now. :-)</p>
<p>I LOVED the Triangle book!
I will have more time to comment after Pesach.
But one thing that came out in the Triangle book that relates the first book was that it was very common for Jewish women to work - to support husbands who were studying Torah all the time, or to help their husbands with a business!</p>
<p>levirm - so glad you enjoyed the book - I did too. It really did tie in well with the Bread Givers also. I previously watched the HBO special on the fire - tonight I finally had a chance to watch the PBS special - American Experience - which was also very good. The author of the Triangle book spoke in this special and they also did a really good job of re-creating what the factory looked like inside.</p>
<p>One of the things I was thinking about today is the importance of fire drills and knowing where to go and what to do in a fire. The Triangle story is a good example of this - I do think the outcome would have been different if they had had some fire drills. I also read the book about the fire at Seton Hall University a few years ago. Very apropos as we all have kids at college. The striking thing about that story is that the 2 boys who were profiled in the book were very badly burned because by reflex - they turned right out of their room and made their way to that stairway - which basically took them directly through the fire. If they had turned left instead - there was another stairway and they probably would have escaped completely unharmed. They were only on the 3rd floor - jumping out the window would most likely also have been a better option. They were actually ok in their room when they made the decision to open the door and try to make it to the familiar staircase. Waiting in the room for help would have been another good option for them. They seem to have made the worst possible decision - and I wonder if they had ever had any fire drills or fire safety training.</p>
<p><a href=“http://search.barnesandnoble.com/After-the-Fire/Robin-Gaby-Fisher/e/9781433244360[/url]”>http://search.barnesandnoble.com/After-the-Fire/Robin-Gaby-Fisher/e/9781433244360</a></p>
<p>Sorry for the tangent but the topic of what to do in an emergency - the decisions one makes when you only have a few minutes - really fascinates me.</p>
<p>Anyone else finishing the Triangle Fire book? Any more thoughts or comments? I found it interesting that while this fire appeared to be accidental - carelessly tossed cigarette butt - it seemed that the owners were not adverse to deliberately starting fires and collecting the insurance proceeds when it suited them. </p>
<p>I was also fascinated by the sad fate of those on the 9th floor. The HBO television special implied that the 8th floor telephone operator failed to notify them of the fire on the 8th floor when 2-3 minutes notice would have made a world of difference. The book clarified this point - explaining that the 8th floor could not call the 9th floor directly - they had to go through the switchboard on the 10th floor. Upon being notified of the fire, the 10th floor phone operator ran from her desk to alert people on the 10th floor to evacuate - but in doing so - she neglected to alert the 9th floor. It’s the small details such as this that I find compelling. So many what-ifs?</p>
<p>That is a heartbreaking component of all accounts of disasters–the people who felt staying on the Titanic was safer than a wobbly ride on the first lifeboat; the people on 9/11 who heard an announcement that the second tower was safe and did not evacuate before the second plane hit; etc</p>
<p>Finished today. I admit that my interest flagged a bit during the ceaseless recounting of deaths, even though it was probably necessary to do it to recapture the horror people felt at the time. Unfortunately today we are innured to deaths of larger numbers of people than would have shocked people of that time. How often do we hear about and then ignore stories of ferries in the Far East capsizing with deaths of hundreds. </p>
<p>It was mentioned in passing in the book, but if you haven’t heard about it before, you might want to at least Google the fire and sinking of the General Slocum in the Hudson River in June of 1904. There 1021 people died but few today know about it. The Triangle Waist Fire led to reforms and affected men who became famous later. The Slocum didn’t have that effect and memory of it faded away.</p>
<p>Actually I found this book interesting in the background it gave to an era which I know little about in general, even though men like Al Smith, Robert Wagner, Charles Whitman etc are well known to me as a New Yorker. I didn’ know much about their early careers. As law student one of the first non textbooks I recall reading was about Max Steur and it was interesting to read of his trial exploits and techniques again…</p>
<p>For all of the moms on this thread for Mother’s Day:
[url=<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube]YouTube</a> - My Yiddishe Mama Yiddish Song<a href=“The%20quality%20of%20sound%20on%20this%20does%20not%20do%20this%20group%20justice,%20though%20-%20if%20you%20want%20a%20contemporary%20take%20on%20Klezmer%20and%20Yiddish%20music,%20check%20them%20out!”>/url</a></p>