Sunday, July 17th – 1:00 pm

LaborFest Writers’ Group

Each year, LaborFest hosts writers in a reading and workshop at Bird & Beckett.  Come to listen and, if you like, to participate.

LaborFest is in its 18th year, and this year, in addition to commemorating the 1934 San Francisco general strike, it will commemorate and have events around the 150th anniversary of the US civil war and the role of slavery in California, the 125th anniversary of May Day and the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Fire In New York where 146 mostly immigrant Jewish and Italian garment workers perished in a fire.  Go to this link to get the full schedule of events.

Sunday July 17th – 3:00 pm

Laurie Barkin – The Comfort Garden

Tales from the Trauma Unit

As a psychiatric nurse consultant working in SF General Hospital’s Trauma Unit, Barkin routinely evaluated and treated patients with stab wounds, gun shot wounds, and injuries from motor vehicle accidents, fires, and falls.  Her book tells her own stories and those of fellow workers in the unit, a workforce under constant and intense pressure, exploring what happens to professional caregivers when exposure to tragedy becomes routine.  These are the stories of skilled and dedicated individuals for whom vicarious trauma is a real and harrowing fact of their jobs.