132: Ca’ canny – Stories of Labor, Resistance, and Slowing Down cover art

132: Ca’ canny – Stories of Labor, Resistance, and Slowing Down

132: Ca’ canny – Stories of Labor, Resistance, and Slowing Down

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The Cru returns for Season 5 of Radio FreeWrite! In this episode, we set fresh writing goals, reflect on unions and collective action, and laugh about Monty Python as we take on the Scots phrase ca’ canny: a call to ease up, work slow, and resist.

Stories this week begin at the 16:30 mark and explore resistance in many forms: a poetic plea for freedom from work and a greening earth, a Joycean sketch of paralysis on the farm, a futuristic Uber ride tinged with climate anxiety, a fantasy where unchecked power threatens destruction, and a Labor Day reflection on the risks and strength of workers.

Prompt: Ca’ canny — Scots expression meaning go easy, don’t exert yourself, go slow; also in trade union parlance: work to rule or restrict output so as to exert pressure on employers.

Like this weeks episode and wish you could read as well as listen? Subscribe to our Substack for a summary of our opening discussion, a story from the episode, and a writing prompt!


Be sure to follow us on Instagram (if that's your sort of thing). Please do send us an email with your story if you write along, which we hope you will do.

Episodes of Radio FreeWrite are protected by a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-ND 4.0) license. All Stories remain the property of their respective authors.

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