The following letter from a Detroit Symphony Orchestra musician was sent to WSWS reporter Shannon Jones, who covered the recently ended DSO strike.

As you know, it’s been busy here with going back to work! Sorry to have not been in touch sooner. I have two concerts today (one at DIA [Detroit Institute of Arts] and then the DSO in the evening) and tomorrow we play as well. It would have been very nice to come to your conference and I was looking forward to it. Maybe next year!

Thank you for all you did for us during this awful strike. It was more than a little strange going back, seeing a smiling (always) [DSO CEO] Anne Parsons at the door made everyone want to gag, and it’s going to be tense with Leonard [Slatkin] for awhile too. But it was incredible to once again play in that great hall—a positive reminder of how inadequate many of the places we played during the strike were.

You guys were head and shoulders above any other journalists in your coverage of this whole drama, and you understood it completely from the beginning.

I think you have the makings of a book, and it would be a good one. No one else dug as deeply and has as much of the really interesting details. Just a thought …

Anyway, thank you again, I hope your conference goes well. Please stay in touch!

All the best.