All You Need is Occupy

This morning when the kids announced they were bored I told them to design a game. (They had been watching Tabletop over my shoulder yesterday, and thought it was hilarious. "Harpies! Shrieking Geeks!" ProtestKid yelled. "Can I be a shrieking geek?"... "No," we said, because we are the meanest parents ever...)

I was surprised when they dismissed Star Wars, Robots and Fairies as suitable game topics. "Occupy?" I hazarded... "Yes!"

LittleMan scavenged the dice from another game, ProtestKid got out the colored pencils.

The game design started, of course, at the Start. Liberty Square? Tunisia? Who knows what the start truly was... ;)

Jail, Feed the Poor, and Narrow Escape soon followed. The "safe area", with its yellow balloons, is particularly sweet.(Edited to add: and now, Kettling Nets! Move back two spaces!)

But I think my favorite squares are the "March" squares: a friend can move from anywhere-- including jail-- to join you in the march. (The other way to escape imprisonment is if a friend passes you while you are stuck in jail. Then you go forward one space to "narrow escape". Still working on refining it... maybe you can call the NLG and make bail if you roll the right number?) (Edited to add: yes, a 6 or a 1 or whatever-- but only if every other player is also in jail.)

One thing we *did* settle on was the name. ProtestKid's first choice was "Occupy Police Escape" my first choice was "Solidarity March"... but in the end, I think he chose the best name:

All you need is Occupy.

Oh, and here's a few more shots of the board and pieces. Do you prefer pedal or petal power?

(If there are any other icons that you think should go on the teeny-tiny tiny tents, please let me know and I'll add them. The more the merrier. Occupy Every Space!)

Argh and solidarity tokens

I'm feeling frustrated that I can't do more, right now. Between summer vacation and twisted ankle, my physical forms of protest (or even gardening. My poor tomatoes) are severely curtailed.

So... if you're not seeing much of me, that's why.

I'm trying to buck myself up by looking ahead to Sept 17th, when LittleMan and ProtestKid will be safely in school and I can march and witness more safely.

Before the May 1st protests, I acknowledged that a lot of people I know and love wanted to be there in the streets but couldn't risk leaving home and work. I suggested people make and send tokens to me and I promised to wear them that day, so they could be present in some way.

Several people said Yes, they wanted to participate, but then life got in the way and that didn't happen.

But hey look, I'm stuck on my butt and don't have any more kerchiefs to make and I really want to be making things for Occupy.

So let's make it super easy: you tell me what you would like me to make to symbolize you and your support of Occupy Wall Street, and I'll (do my best to) make it and wear it September 17th. Preferably fabric/badge type stuff, but I'm flexible and enjoy a challenge.

Or, if you prefer, tell me what you'd like me to make and I'll send it to you so you can wear something in solidarity with OWS in your own life on September 17th. (Kerchiefs are fun, but I can probably make more subtle stuff than that on request...)

Cheers,
alia

Solidarity Sunday

We're on vacation, so I haven't been able to do any active actions-- no Summer Disobedience School, no Occupy the Citi, No standing outside Trinity with a cardboard sign and stalwart expression. Hence the lack of dramatic posts.

Also, because my cell phone can't get a signal, no posting photos of the amazing pictures my kids have been drawing for Mark Adams.

How can I brag properly without them?

We've been sending letters almost daily since we got his mailing address in jail. About two weeks of daily cards, now, with pictures from ProtestKid and LittleMan (Who has asked me to call him Protest4 because he is 4 years old. Is there a prouder ProtestMom out there? I don't think so...) in each one. I've been nervous, wondering if I was addressing them correctly or if they would confiscate the kids' drawings.

But just the other morning I stumbled across http://supportmarkadams.wordpress.com/ and started to tear up:

"He’s received quite a bit of written correspondence – so much, in fact, that the corrections officers remarked to him that he was getting mail “like Lil Wayne did when he was in Rikers!” Some of the letters came from quite a distance, and Mark said he was particularly tickled by some childrens’ drawings of the D17 courtroom – a big round judge, and Mark sitting on a bench with a big beard."

That's my boy!

... And that's all, really. On vacation. Writing letters. Sand everywhere. Be back soon.

ProtestKid interviews Me

ProtestKid has a lot of questions about why his friend Ted got arrested on December 17th, and since writing helps me clarify my thoughts on things, I thought I'd put it out here. Please to note, these are answers I am giving to an eight year old. Adults might get slightly different answers.

Why are police being so mean to protesters? Why would they arrest a peaceful protester?

In our society, police are supposed to focus on the law-- what's legal and what isn't. Their job (not who they are as people, just what they get paid for) is not to worry about what's right or what's good.

I know the police's job is to enforce the laws. Why did they arrest him when he wasn't doing anything wrong? He was protesting a grievance, the bill of rights says you can do that.

Good question! In this particular situation, a lot of stuff was going on. People were making music and talking and carrying signs on the sidewalk outside a fenced lot. That piece of land, the city says, belonged to Trinity Wall St, a religious corporation. (Note: that language I picked up from sitting in court. I'm not being snarky, Trinity's legal counsel called them that.)

The police didn't arrest anybody for being on the sidewalk. Some people brought a ladder and used it to climb over the fence. Do you remember how Liberty got cleared out in November?

Yes. They put up a fence so people couldn't get in. They beated people. They killed puppies. So so so bad.

Right. So for a whole month, the occupiers hadn't had anywhere to call home, from November to December 17th. And Trinity Wall St owned this vacant land, and the Occupiers decided that it was the perfect place to build a new home.

They brought two ladders, actually, and people even moved part of the fence and opened a gate and lots of people went into the space with backpacks full of camping gear so they could make a place to protest from.

Our friend Ted was one of those people. After lots of people came in, chanting and hugging and dancing, the police came and arrested everyone they could reach. They reached Ted. (The guy wearing a grey knit hat sitting in front of Bishop Packard)

Why didn't they put handcuffs on him? Usually they put handcuffs on the prisoners?

I don't know! I think they ran out of handcuffs.

That's kind of funny. ...Why didn't he run away?

I don't know for sure, because I haven't asked him. But I can tell you some reasons a person might not run away.

One is, they know they can't escape. If you "resist arrest" and the police catch you again, you can get into a lot of trouble. Really lots.

Another is, they think they haven't done anything wrong. If you aren't afraid of the consequences of being arrested, then you have no reason to run.

Is that enough? Or do you need more explanation?

A little more, I'm still confused.

Sometimes police arrest the wrong person. If you're sure you're innocent and you believe you (or your lawyer) can prove it in a court of law, then you don't need to feel afraid and run away. (Though even if you are innocent, it is scary being arrested, and you can't be sure the court will find you innocent, and jail is no fun.)

Another kind of innocent is if the police say what you're doing is wrong-- like trespassing--

What is trespassing?

It's when you go onto somebody else's property without their permission and knowing that if you asked permission, they would definitely say no way.

...So maybe someone arrested for trespassing would say, "Well, yes I was there, but I didn't think the owner would mind so much." So they think a trial will clear them of the charges against them.

Another kind of being innocent, though it's trickier, is saying, "Yes, I was there, and yes I knew the owner of the space I was in wouldn't like it, but my reasons for being there were much more important than what the owners want."

Like, if you saw a little kid was hurt in somebody's back yard and no one was coming to help them. They might not want you in their yard, but helping the little kid is way more important than something like "property rights"... So if the police arrested you, you might say, "Yes, I was trespassing, and I had no reason to think the owners of the yard would let me in, but the little kid was hurt, and helping is more important than anything else."

I've got a question about the court. What does the jail look like? Does it look like a really tall upside down cylinder made from bars?

That sounds like a cartoon! In real life... I don't know, I haven't been inside a jail before. But if Ted gets found guilty and is sent to jail, we will go visit him and find out. Deal?

Deal.

Pancakes of Lurve

A recipe:

3 cups flour. (I usually do a mix of whole wheat and white)
3 Tbsp sugar (I usually put in 1-2, because Maple Syrup!)
2 tsp double acting baking powder (orig recipe said 1.5, but that was hard to measure. It's not an exact science)
1 tsp salt
(an amount, not to exceed 3 Tbsp, of wheat germ if you are being super duper healthy or your guests aren't and need it)
(spices to try: cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom)

3 cups milk (or apple juice if you've run out of milk because Coffee!... use much less sugar if you use apple juice)
3 Tbsp butter (melted)
1-2 eggs (1 if you're low, one yolk 2 whites if you like it extra fluffy, 2 whole eggs if you're tired, 3 if you like really eggy pancakes or you're trying to kill someone with an egg allergy)
1 tsp vanilla

Mix dry ingredients while butter melts. This is a good job for a helper.

Once the butter is melted, mix it with the milk/juice/cider/liquid-that-is-not-eggs and warm it all to body temperature. (Stick your finger in it. If it feels pleasantly warm, good. If it hurts... let it cool.)

Add warm liquid to dry ingredients, then add beaten eggs and stir it gently and not very much. Lumps are ok, these aren't crepes. If the batter is too runny, add a Tbsp or 2 of white flour to thicken. If it gets too thick, then add some more milk/juice. No such thing as too much batter, adjust as you go if the first couple pancakes just don't turn out right.

Batter likes to have a rest before you start cooking it-- gives a chance for the double acting baking powder to do its thing. However, if you leave it overnight in the fridge (which Joy of Cooking says you can do for pancakes first thing in the morning) the batter will turn grey.

It's still edible, but... grey... So sometimes the kids get a bowl of cereal before I start making pancakes just so they don't whine while I'm cooking. Zombie pancakes. *shiver*

Skillet should be hot but not burning and should be sprayed with Pam or butter or something. There is enough butter in the batter that after the first pancake you don't need to re-grease, but an initial deposit of fat will improve your overall cooking experience.

Pancakes are ready to flip sometime after the first bubble pops and a crater is left behind, and before your smoke alarm goes off.

My mom used to say that the first pancake should be thrown away. I don't know if that's because she didn't grease the pan or it was a holdover from god-sacrifice times, but if your first pancake is a mess, don't panic. If your third pancake is a mess, try adjusting heat (warmer than medium but only just) liquid (milk!) dry (flour!) or expectations (human!)...

This recipe feeds 3 hungry people. If you need to feed more than that, add flour, bacon, sausages, croissants, yogurt, and other tasty things until everyone is full.

NOTE: If you want to add fruit, DO NOT add it to the batter. (And not just because some of your guests are picky eaters/ungrateful wretches, though they are and will make gagging noises at the thought of fruit in their pancakes) You never get them evenly distributed and they just burn and make holes in the pancake.

Pour (or scoop) out your batter onto your hot surface, and wait a few seconds for the bottom to cook. Then take a handful of fruit (or chocolate chips) and sprinkle them onto the top of the pancake. Proceed as normally. When you flip, yes they will make a mess and a hole-- but only on one side of the pancake.

...Or you could just serve fruit on the side...

Anyway, hope this was helpful. As I tweeted earlier, cigarettes and coffee work short term, but for a happy revolution you need pancakes.

Well, fuck

So, as my "About Me" section used to say, I wrote a novel the summer of 2010. It was a mad splurging rush of drama and excitement as I tried to create with my own ten fingers a future that had all the scary things in it I was afraid of (I am afraid of many things) that still had room for joy and growth and people falling in love and art and stuff so I could pretend my grandchildren would be ok because they so obviously weren't.

And then Occupy happened.

And now I'm totally stuck, because Occupy has changed the universe for real. It has made more options possible, both good and horrible, and anything I write now in Suncatcher's universe feels out of touch unless I mention how  Occupy has touched it.

But since we don't know what Occupy will look like in 60 minutes, I can't write about it in 60 years without immediately being ret conned by reality.

Curse you, Occupy, for making my dystopia irrelevant.

Now how am I supposed to pay for my kids' college education?

(Or even get Bujold and Scalzi and Yolen and McKinley and McKillip to hang out with me at SF author nights?)

argh.

This was not the future I expected, and I don't know how to write about it. Ideas gratefully accepted in the comments.

Trinity

I've got a previous commitment this morning, but my heart is with those outside Trinity Church. I know one of the people charged with trespass on December 17th, and am aware that "It could have been me"... Well, if they had managed to get the fence down. (I'm afraid of many things, but especially heights. Thank goodness I'm short or I'd never make it out of bed.)

Light humor aside, I'm serious. Not as serious as this guy, but I am moved by his real sacrifice. The least I can do is collect some appropriate Bible quotes together in one place to help others make signs more easily:

Hebrews 13:3 Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.

 

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

(Psalm 23:6)

 

Matthew 25:40-45

And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was astranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’

Matthew 8:20 

And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”

Psalm 34:17-20 

When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken.

Proverbs 21:26 

All day long he craves and craves, but the righteous gives and does not hold back.

Isaiah 61:1 

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

2 Timothy 2:9 

For which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound!

If there are any other Bible quotes you think are appropriate, send me a link and I'll be happy to add them.

ProtestKid learns about corruption

What color was your balloon today?

Orange. It's easy to see. We usually use yellow and I wanted to use something different.


Why do you bring a balloon to Occupy events? 

So that we are visible to the other occupiers and the police so they're easy on people having the balloons.

What was the focus of today's Disobedience School?

Grounding. It's to be aware of your surroundings and the other things around you. It's also so you can maybe de-arrest someone if you're able to. Arresting is when the cops take you. De-arresting is when your friends take you back without handcuffs.

A way of grounding is, for instance, if someone takes you by the leg and tries to lift you up. If you're grounding, you put your weight on both feet, knees bent just a little bit. While you guys were grounding I was eating my McDonald's. 

What was something you learned?

Mainly it was about the grounding and the hopping which I did a little bit. I did help with the wall, as well. (LittleMan) came, too. I think he learned about the hopping. He's really good at the hop thing. I think I'm best at the wall. It's not too hard but it's not too easy.

Where did we go after Bryant Park?

This week we did marching. We used Broadway songs and wrapped them up a little bit to make relations with Occupy.


Which song was your favorite?

The last one on the sheet. "Super Catastrophic Economic Ponzi Schemes. Leave it up to Wall Street and they'll go to the extre-emes." (singing) It was kind of silly. I think we ended up at the fountain thing... on 50th street. After I was done singing I blew bubbles.

What sort of action would you like to do next week?

Next week I want to march to Wall Street. Do a little singing about banks being wrong and bad stock exchanges. If it's too far to march, then I'd want to go over to the Chrysler Building. It's a famous building, so it's got a lot of power with the government and the protestors are against corrupt government.


How do we fight corruption?

We march and do things like that. It makes people want to join occupy, and the more people we get the more powerful we are. Soon, we might get lots of hearts to rise up to occupy. And once we get to there, at that day, I think... I hope that day...we'd have enough people to defeat the government that's corrupt.

Do you know what corrupt means?

Well, no. It's not a good thing, that's all I know.

Corruption means they don't listen to the people they're supposed to serve, they just listen to the people with money.

 We need enough people that we can influence... and have them listen to the occupiers, not just the rich. Not just the 1%.

Memorial Day

So on twitter, I recently insinuated that Bloomberg stood to make money off of war because his fortunes are intimately tied to Wall Street, Wall Street makes more money in volatile times, and what makes things more volatile than war?

Having said that (and being very ambivalent about the current state of Israel, especially in regards to its treatment of Palestinians), I want to unpack that insinuation in more than 140 characters while also talking about antisemitism in a more historical (pre-World War II) context.

I'm not sure where to begin, so let's start with Bloomberg.

He makes his money mainly by renting out "Bloomberg terminals"... These are monitors (now flat screen) that run proprietary software. They are expensive, the contracts are legal works of art (if you, as a hedge fund, crash and burn, you still have to pay out your full contract even if you no longer have an office to house your terminal(s) in), and the terminals crunch numbers (in an almost infinite variety of ways) so traders don't have to.

I don't know if the company actually makes money off of Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Business Week, but they gain "mindshare"... Bloomberg considers Reuters and Knight-Ridder its competition, because Bloomberg isn't about selling stocks. It's about renting out the means to make sense of the almost infinite amount of financial data out there.

So, that's why Bloomberg the Man (and Mayor) cares about Wall Street. He wants more and more terminals to be rented by denizens of Wall Street, and more and more eyeballs to turn to Bloomberg when they want raw (or crunched) financial data.

Ok, so, also?  He's Jewish. Just like he's also a guy who was born well off, and made his first million on Wall Street before he was fired (gossip is, because he was a jerk. I couldn't possibly comment as I have never met the man).... He might also collect My Little Ponies, but I don't know. (Isn't that a great image? Savor it, do...)

I have a knee-jerk reaction (as do, I think, most people who I consider "properly brought up") to anything that smacks of antisemitism. So, when I talk about Jews (especially historically) I want to be clear that I'm not a huge student of history, I'm not Jewish, and there's no such thing as one Jewish viewpoint or experience. Not a monolith.

I get nervous when people talk about "rich Jews" "Jewish bankers" "Jewish moneylenders" and any variation on that theme. I want to explore where that (dangerous) stereotype comes from. (Also, this is from an Anglo-centric, Christian-cultural place. I don't know more than this. My limits don't have to be your limits.)

So, here are some places I start when thinking about it:

Going back to ancient history, with the losses of the first and second Temples, Jews (unlike other gods-worshipping folk) were no longer defined by a singular place of worship. Jews made an epic transition from being People of the Temple (a specific and concrete location) to People of the Book (an idea). (A thought-- much like Occupy, as we have moved from physical encampments to trying to create a common identity without a common place to link us. I wonder how well we are succeeding, and where we will end up?)

...Without being tied to a location (and often being refused the right to own land or the means of production in the places they made their homes), Jews had to come up with ways to earn a living that were not tied to a specific place. Trading, selling, and honing skills that could be taken with you in the dead of night should your neighbors stop tolerating your Otherness weren't just stereotypes. They were the smart decision-- and sometimes no choice at all.

In medieval and Enlightenment England, for instance, Jews (and later Quakers) were barred from college or working in government. What does a smart person do if they cannot be a professor or a public servant? They go into business. 

You may have heard the term "usary"... basically, charging interest on a loan, which (early) Christian churches said not to do. A (Christian) king who was interested in going to war might have trouble squeezing his vassals for enough money to fund a thousand knights all at once. (Christian) folks with money might not be interested in giving him a huge loan, with only a vague promise to pay it all back... later. After he's conquered the Holy Lands. ("Just this once, I promise. I can quit Crusading any time...")

Jews who had money (not, let me remind my gentle reader, Jews who did *not* have a lot of money, which there were plenty of. Perhaps even 99%) were not limited by dogmatic prohibitions against charging interest, so they had no religious, social or practical reason *not* to lend a powerful king money to fight his little war far away, as long as he (I'm assuming gender here; I bet there are a few women money lenders out there and I should love to hear about them if you know more about it, but I'm sticking with "he" as generic for the moment) got his (huge) interest jackpot later. (Yea, spoils of war!)

I don't know which came first, the Jewish money lender or the Jewish tax collector. I *think* that the "Jewish tax collector" motif comes more from Eastern Europe, where there were more Jews (than in England) but they were still often a minority-- a useful Other, as far as the ruler was concerned. Very useful, Others, when the populace starts to get restive about the huge amount of taxes you've been levying. Especially with all these wars you've been starting with the neighbor would-be Czar.

Sure, the peasants are ultimately mad at the king for taking their money-- but he's far away. The tax collector is the face of the 1%, the guy who is coming to your door. Much easier to punch *him* in the face-- and safer, too, if you can get away with it. He is the punching bag between the oppressor and the oppressed. Resentment of the (small) amount of power and otherness he represents (has) festered and flared over the years.

How does an unpopular local potentate cajole his peasants into believing he's someone you could drink a shot of Vodka with? Why, persecute a hated minority! Pogroms for everyone! Pass the pitchfork and look the other way...

So.

Antisemitism isn't just a dangerous path to trot down for those who might be labled/accused of being Semitic. It is a time-honored tradition by the 1% to keep the money-makers & takers at a distance... just close enough they can reach into their pockets, just far enough they can toss them at the peasants while they run away in the other direction...

Bloomberg is a human being. He is making decisions based on the best information he has and the resources available to him. I don't know if he thinks much about history, or about people who don't have money.

I'm sure he has padded the war chests of many elected officials, and it's kind of nice that we live in a day and age when he doesn't have to just be a go-between, but can hold political office himself. (Yea.)


I'm nervous that he seems to fit a historical pattern so well. I worry that I might see a pattern where there is none, just because of the Christian culture I grew up in. (Nevermind that I was raised vaguely Hindu. Christian culture, I swam in it.) I worry that others might, too.

So I wanted to share some information about choices, so we can choose to make new ones.

Especially today, in honor of people who have paid the price for other people's bad decisions.

Love,
me

Summer Disobedience School; Protest Kid Debriefs

Why were you excited to go to the protest today?

The part where I got excited today was when we got the philly cheese steak when we were going civilian.

What does "going civilian" mean?

If we see a cop we go away from the occupation and, like, do stuff that a regular person would be doing.Maybe, getting a hot dog, a souvenier or a toy at McDonalds. Looking at a map, things that protestors don't usually do.

What were we practicing today?

Invisible theater. For instance, you go up to a bank teller, for instance, and you say that you want to take your money out of the bank. And the teller says, "Well, ok, swipe your card into the reader so we can get the process started," but then you're totally ignoring him and cleaning everything up. You're not even listening a bit! You're wiping at things, like with a washcloth. So for that, also, you could go into a bank and not even have a reason to go there at all! You could go in and have a fake argument about whether a falcon or an eagle would win if they were hitting each other. ...I'm ready for the next question.

What did you learn today?

I learned how to "wall". It's kind of like soft blocking. It's different than soft blocking because sometimes you wall so you can get separated into different groups.

What was the most interesting thing we did?

The most interesting thing was doing the bank thing, with the two poles and the line of people walking around them singing chants and things like that. My real favorite chant is "Can't stop the power of the people 'cause the power of the people don't stop," because another group of people always say "Say what?" and I think it is pretty nice because you can take a moment to inhale before you spit any more words out.

Worst moment?

Getting lost when we were trying to find Wells Fargo.

What was the best moment?

The best moment was the pickets. I felt good because I was scouting-- being aware of police officers. It made me feel like one of the top people, because I was looking all over, until we started chanting. Then my thing was holding onto the balloon and chanting, then I wasn't as aware (of police).

What do you think would have made it even better?

Nothing really needed to change. I got bored at the end of the whole thing with all this meeting and I was so anxious to go. I was really tired. The grownups had a good time, I could tell that. I think the grownups will come back. Maybe next Saturday. Next Saturday I want to come back, but not Monday.

If someone wasn't there, what would you want them to know about it?

That it was fun.