Worker Voice & Visibility

We have worked closely with the UMass frontline workforce for over three decades now.  It's has been an extraordinary experience.  The worker education approach has allowed us to connect deeply with participants who have shared their dreams, their challenges, their talents, their stories.  We aim to grow this section of our web site week by week.  There is much to draw upon: a dozen compilations of worker writing, seven exhibitions of worker art, 455 radio shows on social justice.  Click the menu at left to access worker writing, worker art, and worker voice.  Get a sense of our participants.  We have an awful lot to learn from each other, about each other.

Samples of Worker Art & Writing

  • Mini Elephant
    By Malini Sinha

    Here is a photograph of a decorated elephant, in miniature.
  • B42
    By Allen Martel

    Here is a photograph of a a piece of jewelry, blue strands of beads with a glittering green stone centerpiece.
  • Wetland
    By Sally Davis

    I ride often through this wooded reserve, exploring old roadways, hiking up hills, scouting the shoreline. Animals and animal tracks are watched and followed. The smells and temperatures change with the seasons. I am always in search of, but not always looking to find.

    The swamp was simply a quiet, pretty place, as I first remember it. The water to my left was still as onyx,...


    Read more from Wetland
  • Geese
    By Lee Christian

    The sound poured through the partly open window and nudged me from sleep.

    “They’re back,” I thought.  I was immediately awake. I jumped from bed, threw on some clothes and raced down the stairs, the dog behind me.

    Out through the kitchen, Mom calling, “No breakfast!”

    “Later,” I said, rushing into the shed and grabbing a coat.  Out the back door and up the path...


    Read more from Geese
  • Whale
    By Paul Ribeiro

    Here is a painting of an orca whale jumping out of the water.