The Minnov8 Gang will be off this weekend celebrating labor, though as I write those words to announce we’re not doing a podcast this Labor Day weekend I’m struck by how the nature of labor has changed over the last 100+ years.
The man in front in the photo above is my maternal great grandfather, a man I never knew but heard stories about while growing up. He was apparently an incredibly strong and tough guy who ran a blacksmith shop in Tioga, North Dakota, raised eight kids with my great grandma, and was known widely for being able to toss anvils great distances (probably loads of fun in Tioga back then).
This photo, by the way, was taken by an early technology adopter guy out of Minot, ND in the early 1890’s who’d embraced this new thing called “photography”.
When I think about the sort of labor people of this generation had to go through to eke out a living, keep food on the table, stave off illness, keep a house up with clothes washed and food canned for an upcoming North Dakota winter in a barren, flat land…THAT is the sort of labor worth celebrating and is what I sometimes think about when I’m doing my “knowledge work” every day and getting ready for the evening Eden Prairie anvil tossing competition. 😉
Have a great weekend.