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Lovin’ Labor Party Percolates Political Party Animals
To view additional photos, scroll over the image above.By Stephen Kent Jusick and James Trimarco
On February 11, just before Valentine's Day, GC students and adjuncts of all stripes gathered together for Lovin' Labor, a stiff dose of political partying and hobnobbing. The Adjunct Project and the Professional Staff Congress put together a great and sometimes experimental show—multimedia meets the usual keg/dance/passing out in the hallway mix-up. Party-goers were treated to a fascinating collage of 16mm film and video of images, designed by downtown film guru Stephen Kent Jusick. Working in concert with the images was DJ Econ, who spun an eclectic mix that included techno and 80s new wave, as well as current favorites Outkast and Le Tigre. But Econ's mixing really shined when he brought in Asa Phillip Randolph's speech from the 1963 March on
Washington—coordinated to play just as the1932 National Hunger March to Washington appear on the screen. Also shown was footage of the 1926 Passaic Textile Strike and a Students for a Democratic Society organizing movie from 1966.
This, as well as the other films shown, were made in the 1930s by the Film and Photo League and originally used as an organizing tool in union halls and strike headquarters. Econ acknowledged the Valentine's holiday by dropping tracks from the Happy Hooker Xavier Hollander giving advice on how to administer a proper blowjob, while the more gentile Helen Gurley Brown gave instructions on “How to Love A Man.” In a nod to current events, Jusick projected a video that included 1980s footage of John Kerry reminiscing about protests against the war in Vietnam.
This engaged multimedia approach offered a stirring break from the relatively apathetic tone of so much contemporary party culture.
By about nine o’clock things heated up on the dance floor, where numerous strange and beautiful performance art pieces spontaneously erupted. In the picture BELOW, Brian McPhee and Peter Cramer of the troupe Dancetube, perform an interpretive dance dressed in seductive togas. The labor focus of the event reflected the involvement of the Adjunct Project, which is currently agitating for improved wages and conditions for CUNY adjuncts.
