Len Shindel, Author at Baltimore Post-Examiner

Len Shindel began working at Bethlehem Steel’s Sparrows Point Plant in 1973, where he was a union activist and elected representative in local unions of the United Steelworkers, frequently publishing newsletters about issues confronting his co-workers. His nonfiction and poetry have been published in the “Other Voices” section of the Baltimore Evening Sun, The Pearl, The Mill Hunk Herald, Pig Iron, Labor Notes and other publications. After leaving Sparrows Point in 2002, Shindel, a father of three and grandfather of seven, began working as a communication specialist for an international union based in Washington, D.C. The International Labor Communications Association frequently rewarded his writing. He retired in 2016. Today he enjoys writing, cross-country skiing, kayaking, hiking, fly-fishing, and fighting for a more peaceful, sustainable and safe world for his grandchildren and their generation. Shindel is currently working on a book about the Garrett County Roads Workers Strike of 1970 www.garrettroadstrike.com.

Len Shindel Poetry

Swagger

March 12, 2026March 10, 2026 Len Shindel

Peace through Strength. Wars to end Wars. Reborn mantras slip off tongues of the freshly deluded as they swagger across

Len Shindel Poetry

Ambulances

February 1, 2026February 1, 2026 Len Shindel

Their sirens overpowered the mill’s wildest percussions, ram’s horns, shofars, stirring the flocks. Our fears tunneled back to the last

Len Shindel Poetry

Restraint

October 11, 2025 Len Shindel

Never went to war Don’t know what it’s like When team members go down, Bleed out, get shipped home Like

Poetry

Before

September 17, 2024 Len Shindel

Before our opinions, you were as confident and brash as I was tentative and timid.

Poetry

Rock

September 16, 2024 Len Shindel

As the coal train screeches by,

I think of the dust

from which they died,

their oxygen tanks

only a palliative,

their suffocation

normal and expected,

the inherent risk of a

transitory prosperity.

Blogs

Lincoln’s Melting Head and Artist Sandy Williams IV

August 29, 2024August 29, 2024 Len Shindel

I was about 12 when my parents took my younger brother and me on a family vacation from our home in West Hartford, Conn. to Washington, D.C. I remember our meals in the now-defunct Hot Shoppes and spending our nights in a motel on busy New York Avenue.

Commentary

AN OPEN LETTER: To Our Talented, Soulful, Progressive Celebrities

July 3, 2024July 3, 2024 Len Shindel

We Are the World. The Concert for Bangladesh. Farm Aid, “Ain’t Gonna Play Sun City,” the creative community supporting victims of Hurricane Katrina etc. etc….. So many artists have come together in the far and recent past to alleviate suffering and speak out at times of crisis and pain.