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Christopher Butters HISTORY LESSON their first Brooklyn apartment, furiously rip up the green shag rug because it is old and tacky and clashes with their furniture; the linoleum they were amazed to find underneath that rug, nailed by a family of Italian workers before the steel mill folded and the block tipped toward the Puerto Ricans; and the red paint they discovered beneath the linoleum splashed by some Irish workers as they must have made their way a century ago like a sliding moon between the English and the German workers— heart, bone and bloodwork, layer after layer of Brooklyn working-class history, before coming upon the grain they were searching for. (Originally posted October 24, 2015) To contact Christopher Butters send an email to: chrisbutters2@gmail.com
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