15 Jun Manufacturing. Hip?
Manufacturing, hip? You don’t often see those two words next to one another. And you would not see them here except for the Broadway smash, Hamilton, celebrating our most unsung founding father, Alexander Hamilton – the illegitimate immigrant who left a big footprint, by working a lot harder, by being a lot smarter, by being a self-starter. It’s a musical. Rapped.
About the man who invented Wall Street. Heavens to hip hop!
According to critics, the musical is magnificent, of historic significance, showing Hamilton’s intellectual extravagance besieged by belligerence,
with preternatural relevance to present political malevolence.
Plus, he’s the only Founding Father we know of who was shot dead in a duel. Kind of like Tupac.
But, the play fails to mention Hamilton was also our nation’s first big time advocate for American manufacturing. Google it if you doubt it, and get ready to shout it, during the Family-Wage Summit.
The summit is being convened Wednesday, June 29, 4-6 PM, in the Gene J. Colin Education Hall at Building C of the Georgetown Campus of South Seattle College. Use the campus entrance at 6737 Corson Avenue South. Please RSVP to tory@box2063.temp.domains.
The event features an all-star line-up of elected officials and civic leaders who will talk about how we can all work a little harder to support the industrial job base and its still abundant supply of entry-level jobs leading to rewarding careers and a gusher of community wealth flowing from export production. Just like Hamilton said it would back in 1791.
Guest speakers will include the Seattle Port Commissioners Stephanie Bowman and Courtney Gregoire, also representing the NW Seaport Alliance between Seattle and Tacoma. Other guests are State Senator Christine Rolfes; State Representatives Judy Clibborn and Gael Tarleton, and Seattle City Councilmembers Sally Bagshaw and Lorena Gonzalez. Additional speakers include Seattle Times editorial page editor Kate Riley and Maud Daudon, President and CEO of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce.
Lin-Manuel Miranda
The lineup also includes Shani Watkins, president of the Washington Association of Career and Technical Education Administrators, and Danielle Candelaria, a 26-year metal fabricator who found a career – and an identity – through the wonders of shipyard and pipeline welding. Watkins and Candelaria will help us understand how the world will be better place as we ramp-up and modernize high school Career and Technical Education.
Why are so many of our industry champions women? Good question.The summit was called in the wake of the recent vote by the Seattle City Council regarding the SODO proposal for a new NBA and NHL arena. That vote divided the council by gender. That was perhaps a coincidence, but it is not a coincidence that all speakers at the summit are women.
The summit is co-hosted by the Manufacturing Industrial Council of Seattle, the Washington Maritime Federation, and the Puget Sound Council of the ILWU. Questions? Call the MIC at 206-762-2470.
As for Hamilton, the musical was inspired by a book by Ron Chernow. The book is a doorstop, but miraculous – the miracle being that it enabled dramatist/rapper Lin-Manuel Miranda to see provocative parallels between the turmoil of our nation’s founding and our turbulent times today. And, it rhymes.
What goes around comes around.
Peace. Out.