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Please arrive 15 minutes early to register for the event and browse books. Buying a book before or after the event is a great way to support the Making Worlds project!
Join us for a community discussion facilitated by Alex Wilson exploring the realities of city life, from labor strikes to the collective struggle for urban survival. Through music and dialogue, we will connect connect Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five’s The Message and other songs to the lived experiences of Philadelphians on the front lines of struggle. Join as we unpack the pressures of the present and step into the future.
“Get a bum education, double-digit inflation, can’t take the train to the job, there’s a strike at the station. Don’t Push. Me. Cus I’m close to the edge–I’m trying not to lose my head.”
Grandmaster Flash penned these lines over forty years ago in 1982, but their echo is loud in Philadelphia today.
“You load sixteen tons, and what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt. Saint Peter, don’t you call me, ‘cuz I can’t go, I owe my soul to the company store.”
Tennessee Ernie Ford penned this union anthem in 1946, yet in 2025, these words still rings hauntingly true in Philly and beyond. Music will be our guide as we discuss struggle, agitation, and how, all too often the more things change, the more they stay the same.