Joan Didion's Essay On The 1988 Strike

In 1988, Joan Didion wrote an essay on the writers' strike. There's a link to a pdf version at los angeles daze -- it's a must-read.

Agree or disagree with how this strike has been waged, she puts her finger on realities that sound eerily familiar, 20 years later -- and on some key differences as well.

Most importantly, the Union Blues writers that she talks about, who broke the back of the '88 strike -- this time, there was dissent, but we held together. As writers, as a union. And 3 years from now, we'll still be here.

In the wake of the LA Times article talking about the "Dirty 30" and the events leading up to the final agreement, we're going to be running some pieces ourselves concerning those events and, to us more importantly, where we all go now.