Walt Whitman - the classic voice of the American poetry - envisioned in his poem I hear America singing a country of people working for the greater good of mankind - he described workers coming together as part of the whole society developing industry and production.
When Katie, Amy, Stefanie and I looked into the showcase in front of the Rivers of Steel Heritage museum in Homestead a completely different facet of the day-to-day work of the Homestead Steel Workers was revealed there: "Days since last injury" panels were showing the days without a working accident, safety helmits and safety lamps illustrated that working in a steel mill was exposing men to danger.
We got inside the museum - a former hotel, the meeting point of the strikers during the Homestead Strike (a serious labor disput between the Assoziation of Iron and Steel Workers and the Carnegie Steel Company) - expecting to see some instructional films about how to avoid accidents at work. We did see them! But Ron Baraff also took us around the museum explaining about the former Industrial Area in the Mon Valley and about his great vision: the redevelopment of the Steel Industry Historic Site. The cost to implement this vision would require the collaborate support and investment of the private, public and philanthropic sectors, he told us. I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear, those of planning teams...
The Mon Valley is a mirror image of the Ruhrvalley (coal mining, steel production) - Duisburg is a city in the Ruhrvalley - the Duisburg-Nord Landscape Park is "a public park which was designed in 1991 with the intention, that it works to heal and understand the industrial past. The park closely associates itself with the past use of the site: a coal and steel production plant" (Wikipedia) . The park is - a model for Rons vision of a revitalized industrial area in the Monongahela Valley.
On my way back home to Oberhausen I had a dream that Ron´s vision had become a reality: Wearing hard hats and goggles, surrounded by the sounds, smells and heat of the mill, a virtual reality attraction guides Katie, Amy, Stephanie, Ron and me through a steel mills interior and working blast furnace, where we are faced with the dangers the steelworkers were faced in the past. After a meal at the mill´s cafeteria and a stroll through the Steel Industry Artifacts Park*, we enjoy the fascinating lightshow at night, are amazed of the prismatic colors of the blast furnace looking like another kind of beacon and listen to that certain sound of memory:
"At night the party of young fellows, robust, friendly, singing with open mouths their strong melodious sounds."
* an idea based on the "Carrie Furnace Site Conceptual Plan"
Our web site is now also translated into English*!!!
