Low-Wage Work, Migration and Gender Conference

Last week I went to Chicago (chilly Chicago!) to screen Made in L.A. at the Low-Wage Work, Migration and Gender Conference, organized by the University of Illinois at Chicago's Department of Sociology with the sponsorship of the Ford Foundation.

Made in L.A. was the only film screened as part of the conference, and it was wonderful to meet so many scholars working on these issues (so intricately linked with Made in L.A.!) to be able to -humbly- contribute with Made in L.A. to the important conversation and analysis at the conference.

Many years ago I read Upton Sinclair's The Jungle and I was appalled by the conditions that immigrants workers faced in the meatpacking factories of early 20th century Chicago. Even though things have changed, it saddens me to see that a lot of the pain and suffering still continues for immigrant workers...

Special thanks to Conference co-chairs Nilda Flores-Gonzalez and Anna Guevarra, to Pallavi Banerjee who coordinated the conference, and to Hector R. Cordero-Guzman, program officer at the Ford Foundation, for his support of the conference, the screening, and of all of the causes represented in Made in L.A.