Saw that show yesterday. Brilliant! Excellent choreography by Bill T. Jones, wonderful performance by Joaquina Kalukango singing Heaven Save our Home and Let it Burn, and the exciting dancing of A J Shively. A bit of it is on YouTube but there’s nothing like a live show.
Before the Civil War, in the five points, among the saloons, brothels, and other places of entertainment Irish immigrants and runaway slaves lived, loved, and married. Then in 1863 President Lincoln instituted a draft to build the Union Army. The draft excluded ‘colored folk’ because they weren’t legally considered people and for $300 (a year’s wage for the workers) you could buy your way out of the draft. So who’s left? The New York Irish immigrants and their regiment the 69th. They were the frontline at Gettysburg in 1863. Out of 268 men 143 survived Gettysburg; out of approximately 1000 Irish immigrants serving in the Civil War 56 survived.(Wikipedia?)
With war cotton trade ended. Mills in New York closed. The few jobs available in 1863 became scenes of racist incidents and then the draft call came and the riot.
That’s as far as I got a couple of weeks ago. The Meds. Specifically prednisone, a steroid took over. Hard to describe what it does. It’s a mood changer and agitator. Dozens of things all of a sudden need to get done, a trip to Europe, a new bed, a new couch, broadway shows, movies. Then they, the Doctors, decide I don’t need it and they taper me off. Fatigue sets in. Weakness. Achy weakness as though you’ve over done it at the gym. But you can’t seem to get more than 4 hours of sleep at a time. Then the Doctor calls to tell you you have too much potassium. “Cut back”. And I did cut back and am taking slow.
No comments:
Post a Comment