Word: menials
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...self-made success - or colossal failure, depending on your indulgence for strange movies - Oscar Micheaux was born in Metropolis, Ill., in 1884. After various menial jobs he followed Horace Greeley's advice, went West and became a South Dakota homesteader. He lived among whites and, it is said, took a white woman as his lover. In his late 20s he began writing novels; to finance their printing, he went door-to-door, raising funds from his white neighbors. His first self-published, semi-autobiographical novel, "The Homesteader," appeared in 1913. When black film outfits sprang up after "The Birth...
...suit the likes of Garbo, Stanwyck, Crawford, Lombard, Monroe, Shirley Temple and two ladies named Hepburn - but not anyone of color, no matter how talented or glamorous she might be. That was the way things were. Hollywood relegated blacks, actors and actresses, to the corner of the frame, to menial roles, to dialogue that usually ran the tiniest variations on "Yes, boss" and "Now see here, Miss Scarlett...
...work is menial, dangerous, and illegal. Often it results in the release of highly toxic chemicals into the air, water and soil. Along the waterways of Guiyu, computer monitors are smashed with hammers, exposing workers to toxic phosphor dust. Lead and barium from the crushed components seep into the riverbank. Toner cartridges are cracked open for their carbon-black dust. Used in industrial processing, the material "is a great seller," says one worker, "more than 10 per cartridge." But its effects when inhaled are unknown...
...conditions. RAs have argued that they need the protection a union offers in their work—caring for undergraduates. However, UMass RAs are already well paid, receiving a small weekly stipend and subsidized housing in exchange for their 20 hours of work a week. And by highlighting the menial aspects of their work, RAs overlook the fact that their job is not fundamentally about cleaning up after a party, but about counseling and guiding students—a job that is both a privilege and a responsibility...
...politics are a factor, then the maids are doomed. They have few backers in a society where there is little respect for menial labor. "Folding my shirts is not strenuous work," says Joseph Law, spokesperson and founder of the Hong Kong Employers of Overseas Domestic Helpers Association. "A lot of hours of their day are spent doing things like ironing and shopping. That isn't exactly taxing." A retired civil servant, Law is lobbying for the maids to receive a 15% pay cut on the grounds that their home currencies are devalued and Hong Kong's economy is weak...