The Life in My Years

“Mayday” is an internationally recognized distress call used by pilots and maritime crews over radio communications in cases of extreme emergency where life or the aircraft or vessel is in immediate danger. When repeated three times in succession it is a call for urgent assistance.

May Day (also known as International Workers Day), the annual holiday recognizing the international working class, is celebrated around the world on May 1. It commemorates the struggle for workers’ rights and honors the lives’ lost during the fight to ensure the 8-hour workday we are now accustomed to.
Source: The American Postal Workers Union. Link: here.

The small city of Martinez sprang from the 17,000-acre land grant deeded to Don Ygnacio Martinez by the Mexican government in 1824. Located on the southern shoreline on the east end of the Carquinez Strait, which leads to San Pablo Bay to the west and then to the greater San Francisco Bay, Martinez became the site of a ferry, set up by Dr. Robert Semple in 1847. With the advent of the Gold Rush, Semple’s ferry carried miners across the strait to the north shore. From there, the gold seekers journeyed overland to the gold fields.

By 1849, Martinez was on its way to becoming a major shipping hub. In 1850, Martinez was established as the County Seat of Contra Costa County and remains so today.

Martinez has a small, quaint downtown that for many years was locally famous for its Main Street that was home to a number of antique shops. Twice yearly there was an antiquer’s street fair, known as the Peddler’s Fair. Today the number of antique shops has declined, and the face of Main Street has changed. The decline has been attributed to retirement, changing tastes, high rents, online shopping and COVID.

Martinez is the birthplace of Joe DiMaggio, the famed New York Yankee slugger, temporary husband of Marilyn Monroe and later the pitchman for Mister Coffee coffee makers.

The town also claims to be the birthplace of the Martinez cocktail, now better known as the Martini (stirred not shaken, please and thank you). If the latter is true, Martinez should by all rights be designated a UNESCO site.

I have my own personal history with Martinez. For a short time, I owned the Subway Sandwich franchise on Main Street. That short period was the most miserable stretch of my working life. I’ve described it as working tirelessly for teenagers, and adults who couldn’t find other work, who basically called in sick or disinterested whenever it suited them, leaving me to cover shifts.

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May 1, 2025
Cora and I have gathered with hundreds of protesters in front of the Contra Costa County Courthouse. It’s not a normal May Day protest. Because these are not normal times in America. It’s a mayday, mayday, mayday rally as America is a nation in distress. This rally is characterized by a sense of urgency as a lawless Trump Administration lays waste to the economy, justice, civil rights, norms, the Constitution, compassion, democracy, and general decency.

The rally begins with a series of speakers who talk about the history of International Workers Day, of the continuing struggle for workers’ rights and civil rights, and of the clear and present danger the Trump regime presents. The speakers are followed by chants in front of the courthouse. Passing drivers honk their horns in support. One woman wearing a bitter scowl gives the crowd the thumbs down. She’s ignored.

The rally winds down, but before dispersing one of the organizers invites protesters to “to go rogue,” and march down Main Street and back. There’s nothing illegal about the march as long as the marchers remain orderly; which we do. As we march, drivers honk horns in support, and passers by, shoppers and shop owners give us the thumbs up. It was only the one woman who showed any disapproval.

For a Thursday afternoon it’s a large crowd but as I’ve often stated on this site, the crowd isn’t big enough. It will never be big enough and the crowds need to grow exponentially and with alacrity. This is not a time to be complacent and think that the midterm elections will bring traditional relief. We’re 102 days in, the Trump Administration is waging a blitzkrieg and it seems that the nation could be on the brink.

This is what democracy looks like

Below: The sign the woman is holding says all one needs to know about life in Trump’s America.