Ordinary People, Extraordinary Lives—floated as an alternative title for this “Making Work Visible” contest—captures the spirit of most of the work done by the young authors and artists who won prizes in the sixth year of this CUNY/LaborArts contest. The poems, fiction, non-fiction and visual art display imagination, thoughtfulness, and an ability to make links between individual lived experience and larger social issues.
Open to all CUNY undergraduates, contest entries are judged according to originality, content and style. Student writers and artists both draw upon history, upon close observation of the world around them, and upon a wealth of first hand experiences to link their work to the spirit of labor arts. Every year professors judging the contest reflect on the value of providing opportunities for the students to seriously interrogate their life experiences and that of those around them.
From Brian Alarcon’s poem “Work Pants”:
Ah! What a dreary thing it is to sit on the train while everyone else
Stands and towers above you. Crotchlevel, all I can think about are those
Work pants with their dry grays and navys and how perpetual this repetition is.
Laying my head on the shoulder of some jeanhead halfdead Edward Lopez,
The nylon legs look like cities with their belt roofs and button down skies!
Oh how I don't want to work a full time job then die!