Most Notorious! Podcast Explores The Cherry Mine Disaster

Many thanks to the listener of Erik Rivenes's Most Notorious Podcast who suggested he read TRAPPED: THE 1909 CHERRY MINE DISASTER. Taken with my account of the United States's worst coal mine fire, its human drama, the vast changes in labor, child labor, mining and mine safety legislation that followed, Rick invited me to talk about the disaster. I'm pleased to join the list of impressive guests he's featured, and fascinated by Erik's choice of topics to bring to his listening audience.

I love that nearly 20 years since TRAPPED was published, this important story is still generating interest. I've always likened the tragedy to Titanic in a coal mine. It was while sitting in the theater watching that film that I decided I had to write this book. Although the disaster occurred not 100 miles from Chicago, it is surprising how little attention this historic event has received, even within Illinois. Comparable in era and impact to The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, the disaster at Cherry took the lives of immigrant workers trapped in flames they could not escape. Cherry, now home to perhaps 500 residents, lacks the visibility of Manhattan, where students and professors commemorate the dead seamstresses yearly with well attended projects and events. 

Perhaps one day, professors and students in Illinois will join with the descendants of Cherry's victims and survivors at the yearly November anniversary memorial, to help broaden the memory of Cherry's immigrant miners, and the lessons learned in the disaster's aftermath. 

Here is the link to my conversation with Erik: Most Notorious: TRAPPED.

Healing the Scapegoat Complex in Karen Tintori's Unto the Daughters by Louisa Calio

"In her brilliant book Truth or Dare, the poet, philosopher-feminist Starhawk, explores the emerging feminine voice and its language of feeling after two thousand years of authoritarian patriarchy, as well as the terrors that needed to be faced and conquered after generations of silence and isolation.  In the Chapter "Finding a Voice: Breaking the Censor's Silence” Starhawk writes, "The powerful weapon of the Censor is to deny actual events and paralyze us so eventually we forget or repress what happens." [i] The resulting loss is immeasurable, especially when the censor has been internalized as it has been in traditional cultures. If we are never told about an ancestor, who may have broken with convention, or broken the rules or laws of their time, or as in the case of Unto the Daughters been murdered by her brothers, we are denied a greater understanding of ourselves and our true history. 

Families share patterns, but when we are kept from the truth of our family patterns, as a result of repression, shame and authoritarian rule, we subtly internalize a self hate and a tendency to perpetuate the same. "To be silenced is to be kept isolated...Breaking our silence releases us. When others know the worst about us, and accept us, we can believe we are truly valued. "[ii] Truth or Dare

Karen Tintori dared to search for and reveal the truth of her family’s and her own story in Unto the Daughters, a powerfully written memoir of discovery and recreation of her lost ancestor, Francesca Costa, who was erased from her family’s history after being brutally murdered by her brothers and discarded in the waters off Belle Isle in the Detroit River in 1919. The author, Karen, whose very act of uncovering the truth and publicly sharing it, calls forth the power of story telling to heal our past and ourselves also tells us her own story and struggle, as a Sicilian American daughter and writer, who despite being raised in contemporary America, would lose connection with her disapproving relations."

So begins Louisa Calio's thoughtful, well-researched exploration of scapegoating, secrets, silences in relationship to the book of my heart, the story of my great-aunt Francesca, a woman who had been lost to history -- a scapegoat. I invite you to read the entirety of her insightful and important essay at Louisa Calio LinkedIn. She has much to share.

I am deeply honored by Louisa's conclusion to her thoughtful and well-researched essay:

"By Tintori’s courageous act of commitment to recreate Frances’ tale, we witness a movement from power over and its denial to reconciliation and more space for honesty in our Italian American community and an ever expanding body of work upon which we can all stand.

Lucia Chiavola Birnbaum in her book, The Future has an Ancient Heart, writes “in forming this story has been my hope that in trying to tell or write a truthful story in a world manipulated into violence by untruths, I am working toward a more equal and therefore more just world.” 

I believe Unto the Daughters has achieved this."

Louisa and I met fourteen years ago when she introduced herself after my Unto the Daughters reading at the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute in New York City. Of her many award-winning works, my favorite still remains her memoir in poetry, Journey to the Heartwaters. You can purchase this memorable and evocative book by clicking here.

Ovunque Siamo's Stephanie Longo Reviews Unto the Daughters

Many thanks to Stephanie Longo and Ovunque Siamo for the generous praise in her review of Unto The Daughters, which reads, in part:

"This book should be required reading in any Italian-American History class, as well as anyone wishing to study the female’s role in the Italian family. This book, while not an exercise in journalism, could also prove beneficial to students of the craft as Ms. Tintori’s prior training in the field served her well while untangling her great-aunt’s mystery."

"Unto the Daughters proves that all stories of our ancestors deserve to be told, the good, the bad and the ugly…and perhaps that is Francesca Costa’s legacy to us all."

You can read Longo's entire review here.

If you are an educator using Unto the Daughters in your curriculum, I would love to know. I have visited several classrooms both in person and via Skype. Grazie tanto.