T-Bone Slim, born on this day in 1880, was an IWW member, working class songwriter, and author. Due to his popular, labor themed tunes, Slim was dubbed the "laureate of the logging camps".
Born Matti Valentin Huhta to Finnish immigrant parents in Ashtabula, Ohio, Slim became an itinerant worker after leaving his wife and family in 1912. It isn't known when Slim became a Wobbly, a member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), but he first appeared in the IWW's press in the 1920 edition of the IWW Songbook.
Slim became one of the IWW's most famous writers during the 1920s and 30s, and many people would buy the "Industrial Worker" just to read his articles - one ad from the paper read "there's a lot more in Industrial Solidarity and Industrial Worker than T-Bone Slim's columns".
Slim did not presume his working-class readership to be unintelligent people, making use of complex wordplay and experimental writing techniques, playing with ambiguity, satire and surrealism.
Slim was also well-known for his songs, such as the "Lumberjack's Prayer", a parody of the Lord's Prayer about the poor quality of food available for the working class, and "The Popular Wobbly", which experienced a revival among civil rights activists during the 1960s.
In spite of his renown in radical circles during his lifetime, many details of Slim's life remain unclear. During the mid-1930s, he settled in New York City, where he worked as a barge captain on the docks.
In May 1942, Slim's body was found in the East River. His cause of death remains unknown and has been subject to speculation. Following his death, Slim largely faded into obscurity, especially compared to more famous IWW-associated writers such as Joe Hill.
Slim's songs have been preserved, however, re-published in editions of the Little Red Songbook and covered by musicians such as Pete Seeger, Utah Phillips, and his own great-grandnephew, John Westmoreland.
Until recently, there was thought to be no surviving photographs of Slim, however, in 2019 two photos were discovered and published by Working Class History in a Newberry Library collection.
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not me overthinking finding a date venue after offering to be the one to do so, nope doesn't sound like me at all ha ha (i have literally never done this before i have only met people organically pls help
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I like to pick places where I feel comfortable so I can trap my date into thinking I’m a confident person
In a game of prediction where you want to do a but are thwarted by b, so you do c, but they might go with a, you should go with your A-game because prediction is of little use until you get a sense of their play style.
Choose a place that you personally like and if you need to, adapt in the second date. Otherwise you forfeit the comfort of your plan A in exchange for getting to throw darts at a dart board blindfolded
problem is we live on opposite sides of the city we live in so i have to find a middle ground spot, all my comfy usual places are more local to me
Is there like a park or something I'm that vicinity? I don't know how this shit works either but I feel a walk n talk in some sort of nice environment is good. Then you're mobile and it feels less like a job interview than getting coffee, scenic changes due to walking can help with conversation etc. I'd hate to be stuck in a place where we can only ask or tell each other stuff about ourselves, that's a lot at once to me and feels unnatural, if you're in an environment with stuff to talk about or comment on it's easier to get a feel without asking for a biography.
yeah i feel like walk and talks are a good move, honestly if it weren't winter i would've suggested a park hang but coffee seemed better for the time of year it is
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Winter walks are cute and if you're both down to hang out in some snow that's a good sign