Emergency Assistance: Thank You Alex

Arrest me before I 
can speak freely. 

On 27 April I was arrested for being a participant in Occupy Wall Street. You can read that story here. As I was in police custody and working to secure my release, the NYPD raided the Occupy camp at Union Square and confiscated my personal rolling luggage as 'unattended' amongst other group property. That story is here. Inside that luggage was all the paint, brushes and supplies I use to make protest signs for the movement, and to collect donations that support my and the work of the movement. In one day, in a completely illegal arrest of an individual and theft of his personal belongings, a person was not only accused of crimes not committed, but denied the ability to support himself in his attempts to exercise his (and your) first amendment rights. And what's left of middle class America tucks in the kids and settles down to a hot cup of Nestle's cocoa, secure in the fact that the American dream is alive and well and the grass will still need cutting on Saturday. Or maybe not. (Continued...)

This blog. aHBiNYC is now available as an eBook. It covers the writer's homeless experiences in New York City from September 11, 2011 through January 2013 in 245 pages and 50 chapters. To order simply use the PayPal button in the sidebar, send $10, and include your email address in the PayPal memo form. Thank you.

Emergency Assistance: Thank You Melissa

On Wednesday, just hours after my post for emergency assistance, I received a PayPal notice of deposit for $50 from a woman I had not heard from in years. It was the first help I've seen since my illegal arrest and the confiscation of my property by the NYPD last Friday. The next day, I received the following note: 

"I've been keeping up with your journeys via your blog and various updates that you do such a great job of putting out across the social media spectrum. Bravo! Your journalism is both candid and captivating. I'm terribly sorry to hear of the arrest and loss of your of supplies. I hope that I was able to help in some way. What you're doing takes some real balls and I absolutely admire that."

Demand #4623

And Melissa and I have never met. A few years ago, while I was living in Vietnam, Melissa had been referred to me by a colleague for some assistance in helping her secure an internship at my alma mater, Leo Burnett - so my job was to be a virtual mentor of sorts. Melissa never got that job and I never became the President of America but we've both gone on to Occupations that suit our talents and places in life. Melissa occupies a 9-5 insurance job in Las Vegas and I occupy New York City in hopes of bringing positive social change to a world that greatly needs it. Yet our missions are the same. Contrary to many people's beliefs, the Occupy movement is not anti-capitalism,  but it is anti-irresponsible capitalism. And contrary as well to conventional wisdom, occupiers may not have conventional jobs, but they definitely have a collective Occupation. With well over 12 hours a day invested in Occupy over the last 8 months, my being arrested by the NYPD has signaled that I am so constant an Occupier and so resilient an artist that I have now become a threat. And generally, this is a good thing. That means that I am doing very, very well at my job. Rarely a day goes by at Union Square that I am not approached by the 9-5 class and given thanks for doing a job that they are not able to do. And that job is to raise awareness about the issues that affect humankind the most - Economic justice - The right to a job and home - and non-profit healthcare for all.

Without the 9-5 Melissas and others out there, Occupy could never survive - but together we can continue to reshape and control the destiny that is our lives and the lives and futures of our children, grandchildren and beyond. Long live this Occupation. And thank you again Melissa.

The OWS People's Library/West Park Branch is Now Open/Closed

OWS People's 
Library/West Park

One week ago I awoke to my weekly chore of helping to do the house laundry. We hauled the bags of others along with our own down to the local laundromat and did the OWS wash. Since moving to the new West Park Presbyterian church just a few days before, it had seemed that a new paradigm was taking over. New people were contributing and a marked sense of enthusiasm on fresh spaces and wider horizons was emerging. Could this be the new encampment we had been hoping for? Could this old creaky building with it's leaky pipes and leakier windows be the place of new beginnings? Work had been underway for weeks on installing a new boiler in the place but it still had no showers and the chances for even hot water were unsure at move-in time. Add to that the absolute shambles with which said housing working group principles had handled our exit from SPSA (St. Paul & St. Anthony's) a week before, complete with a mock sexual predator trial including the accused and the announcement that no one would be able to take their bedding to the new space but must leave it for the housing group (stated as the owner) to pick it up and haul it away, things were unsure at best. Uncomfortable at most.

But once moved, things seemed to settle in nicely. People found their sleeping spots and the reverend had no issues with people setting up warmer confines in the balcony. My spot even made a news story. And so I set about floating the idea of building a library area where we could take all the books the library people had been carrying around in bags. To those who heard, it seemed a good idea - in fact, a lovely idea.

Welcome home

And so returning from the laundry detail, I looked forward to a full day in a big old building, doing something I have always loved to do - making something out of nothing for absolutely no money - rummaging through a trash heap of history and repurposing old items into new lives. Lamps came from a men's toilet and an under-stage junk pile and chairs from all around the largely abandoned premises. The church, despite its charm had been the victim of water damage for years and accumulated a collection of rooms with broken-down stuff that no one seemed sure what to do with - exactly what we were looking for. 2 matching naugahyde dining room chairs, a big round sectional table, another leather chair saved by 1/2 a roll of duct tape, a busted unused bookcase (we found two of those actually) and an assortment of vases, planters and even a live bamboo plant that had forgotten to die.

And then there was the wiring. As my father had been an electrical engineer I had, by default, learned at least how to wire a house and so in this incarnation was skillful enough to work with an electrical system that was at least as old as my dad - maybe older. Hit the switch kids.

Still life

It fell together beautifully, if not at all quickly, as the work commenced throughout the day with the easiest part being the putting up of books, including a huge bag of books Ernie and I had found discarded by a second-hand bookstore which more than doubled the collection. Wires were run to make allowance for extra plug-ins for the charging of cellphones and even around one balcony-mate who held a particular aversion to wiring in general, unless of course, it was for plugging in her own computer.  Around 8:30 that evening the occupants began to come home. To announce the opening I had made paper signs by hand that directed residents from the front door to the balcony above the sanctuary. Oddly, one of the first reactions was someone screaming about putting paper signs up in the hallway. There are all sorts of paper signs up in the hallway. If fact, the place is made a whole lot more attractive by the signs. They help cover up holes left by all the plaster which has fallen down over years of neglect. But someone else's sign had fallen down and they thought we had taken it down instead. Of course we hadn't. But little could we see the complaints to follow.

As people came upstairs the "Oohs and aahs" just grew and grew ("Where did you get this?", "How did you do it?, "Why didn't we do this sooner?"), until all the chairs were full of people reading, and conversing and becoming, yet again, a community. A community drawn together by warmth and art and anarchy and self expression and an extreme dislike for authority - mainly the authority that had taken away basic human rights from many of us: the educated, the homeless, the two together, the bi-polars, the recovering addicts, the practicing addicts, the aspiring managers, the underachievers, the brilliant and the lost. Find a way to bring that variety together and you might not guess that a library could do it. But the People's Library of OWS had been a primary visual and intellectual force in indeed the beginnings of the movement - that is, until the assholes tore it down - until the spread of knowledge and art became the enemy of process and conformity. Until the world's 8th largest army tore it down at Zuccotti park? No. Until OWS itself lost it's way and found a library, built with initiative and hope, creativity, ingenuity and forbearance, to be a threat. A threat to the status quo.

Preoccupied

"Why do you think they tore it down?", I asked one of my co-occupiers. "Because it was good and they didn't make it", answered my friend.  And so, almost as quickly as it had been assembled, it started to be dismantled, first conceptually, and then finally physically.

"Did you ask the pastor if you could do it?", I was asked by a minion. "Of course not", I answered. "We're Occupiers! We occupied a whole city park illegally for two months and nobody thought that calling Bloomberg and asking his permission was particularly necessary", I answered. So why in the "F" would I ask permission to basically rearrange a bunch of furniture in a building that otherwise had been a dumping ground for stuff nobody wanted? Did I need to ask permission to do something that was essentially good for the community? Did I need to ask permission for something that cost absolutely no money? Of course not. OWS is, at its heart an anarchist organization. Do we get permits to protest and march on the streets? Of course not. So who would need permission to repurpose a bunch of old junk into a library? People don't need permission to steal stuff and break real rules at OWS, and that happens all the time.

And that's what happened last weekend. While way too much attention was diverted to the building of a small corner of solace and knowledge, someone stole a church relic. A 100 year old cover to a baptismal fountain. And word had it that some wild party happened in another room on the weekend - far, far away from the library. So while the ersatz managers and minions were busying themselves with the building of a reading area, real movement threatening crimes were happening - things that would shake what little left of a community there was, apart.

OWS was not built in a day, and it was not built by permission. How to allow initiative and creativity to co-exist peacefully with consensus decision making and proper process will be a challenge to the movement's survival. If OWS needed a GA or a Spokes Council to have been born, it never would have happened.

Trouble in the Homeless House of #OWS

SPSA

For the past month I have lived at St. Paul & St. Andrew's church (SPSA), one of the churches that OWS uses to house it's members. Recently a large issue has come into play over who is "homeless" and who is not - which seems odd considering that everyone living at the church full-time, truly has nowhere else to go. One guy has a family, but won't stay with them so he is running from something and OWS gives him a place to be. Another guy I know at another church we occupy was essentially homeless before OWS but now, because he has some responsibility, talks as if the homeless are somehow less than he and wants to deny them food and shelter - even if they work for it. Above is a photo of the interior of the church we have lived in for the past month. Lat night we moved into West Park church on W. 86th Street. In some frustration of poor management and even poorer communication amidst the housing group, I penned the following note yesterday to a friend:

"Will be spotty on Internet tonight. Spokes Council meeting at 7:30 at West Park Church. Noted last night at SPSA but no confirmation on new church for tonight. OWS facilitators saying they are not social services and not responsible for homeless. Putting 80-100 people on the line tonight with un-agreed requirements for 'being an occupier' and then leaving decision up to facilitators as to who 'might' get into the new church. Meeting this afternoon with Housing Working Group verging on mutiny. Meeting aborted due to loud arguments, name calling, real internal strife.

And yes. "This is what Democracy looks like". Pushing things to last minute/breaking point is power control device for those in control of information/contacts forcing general populace to vote for rules and amendments they do not agree on in return for shelter and food. Now very divisive with obvious 'anti homeless' bent from leaders. But define homeless? That's what they can't do. OWS succeeded because a standing army of 500 lived in a park - uh, a home. Now park is gone and movement abandons those who made it? That's what's on the table in 1.5 hours. Think I'll attend that meeting. This is defining stuff."

People moved to the new church just fine, but no word on many of the issues from the Housing Working Group that made people upset. That means that I'll be going home to a house divided. Right now, rather than work on the things that brought us to OWS in the first place and are good for the country, it seems we are distracted by simple living details, complicated by unsure management. If you were the opposition to OWS, wouldn't it be best to confuse them at the core of their existence - their home? That's a thought that has been floated as of late. Trojan horses sit right in the square and nobody sees them for what they are.

On a better note, Michael Moore attended Spokes Council last night and sat quietly throughout the meeting. After the meeting he spoke at some length and was pretty inspiring. His main point and basic pep talk was that in just three months, Occupy had made a larger impact on society than any movement before had from racial equality to ending the Vietnam war in the same period of time. That seemed to be much more worth thinking about than all the internal strife that had a house divided for the week prior.

Thank You All and Joyeux Noël

Last weekend I put up a post looking for holiday donations and it would be safe to say that the reactions were mixed. A good number of you were gracious and generous and one was just unhappy and downright mad at me - even mean spirited. And I have the comments to prove it. But in any case I am thankful to those who have contributed thus far.

1) Camera:     

On loan, a lovely Lumix SLR w/case (Kim)

2) Phone:       

iPhone with cracked screen but possibly repairable (Marsha, CO)

3) Phone:       

Possibly one used HTC wildfire running Android (Thomas)

4) Computer: 

Still looking for used Mac. Ask around. May be able to buy cheap

5) Cash:         

$100 (Thomas)

6) Cash:        

$35 (Marsha NY) by helping me turn food stamps into cash (Cash is important because I  still need to be able to open a bank account with minimum balance and pay for phone and travel). 

As for the person who is not happy, they are not happy because I am asking for seemingly expensive items - and new, they could be - but since landing in New York three months ago, I've seen everything from iPods to $4000 living room sectionals thrown into the trash or placed at curbside for pickup. You never know.

Starbucks throws out all those bistro boxes at the end of every day and Occupiers dumpster dive on a regular basis for some pretty high end chow. The standard of normal is different here and so even begging takes on a different set of financials. I see people just sit with a sign that says, "Homeless, please help" and make $100 a day or more. And they do much better than minimum wage. One guy with a dog makes more than a hundred because people feel sorry for the dog. 

But I won't sit on the street and beg. To do that takes all day and there's no time to write, to do Occupy work, to apply for jobs, to do anything but beg. And in time, you'll get good at it. So good at that, and living the successful homeless life, that it becomes a goal in itself - and not where I need to be.

For this effort, I was encouraged by someone I respect to not be so proud, and to ask for help because I needed it. It its working. So thank you everyone. And have a blessed Holiday. 

Another Week In Occupied New York - Keep Shopping, Everything's Fine

My OWS 'un-logo'

This is a story about a frog. They say if you throw a frog into a pot of boiling water, he will instinctively jump out. Because it is fucking hot. But if you put the frog into a pot of cool water and turn on the flame, he will sit patiently as the water warms, then heats, then boils - until he dies. This is what happens when little changes are made over time, instead of all at once. This week progressed with President Obama passing the NDAA (National Defence Authorization Act) legalizing detention of American citizens on American soil without charge, indefinitely, which in reality, could be forever. Nobody blinked. Whilst Bradley Manning, a young military officer, who allegedly blew the whistle on the illegal and immoral war in Iraq. He exposed what the Pentagon and the Bush administration did in creating this evil and did so by allegedly leaking documents and footage to Wikileaks. Many of these documents dealt not only with Iraq but with how we prop up dictators around the world and how our corporations exploit the poor on this planet. Saturday was his birthday and 570 days in military detention. Nobody blinked. 

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Earlier in the year, the original Pentagon Papers were released (photo). Blinking was not an option.

Monday: The week began for me at Spokes Council, a roundtable discussion of OWS topics for the week. After Spokes Council many issues are forwarded to the General Assembly (GA) in the form of motions to be voted upon. Discussions ranged from Diversity to the focus on being a world movement vs. just a city franchise to housing eventually 400 people here in New York alone. An argument rose on the legality of independent film makers to film during the meeting. Live streaming is common in an effort to encourage transparency (like Cspan coverage of congress) but journalists are not allowed in closed OWS meetings. I made the point that independent film and documentary film makers are essentially a business. They enter film festivals in order to gain distribution for their products. It was decided that independent film makers would not be allowed to shoot - although one woman, just ignored it and kept on filming. 


A Racial Justice framework was encouraged and I was encouraged to speak with Tech Ops and Media regarding work on our website. On this day my old computer died, like I needed something else to work on. Good time to talk to Tech Ops. A man from the Finance group stands up and tells everyone that OWS has $375,000 in the bank, but this number doesn't make any sense to me - not without knowing what it costs per day to exist, how much we have coming in per day in donations and how much of a horizon we have on that money. Another woman stands up and rails against the Spokes Council for not investigating an estimated $350,000 in unaccounted for cash from media. For an organization that espouses transparency there is nowhere anyone can go to see a proper balance sheet, or projections for the future. Maybe we don't have them. In any case, transparency and spending, remain ongoing and thorny issues.

Tuesday: I spent the day in the office at OWS and briefly had the opportunity to go to Washington to meet with the Congressional Progressive Caucus - until that meeting was canceled due to a media leak in Washington. That caucus is primarily Democratic and the decision was made to abort, wanting to keep our affiliation, and the press reporting of such, with any party neutral. Tuesday ended with my weekly meeting with Dr. Kim Hopper and Cindy. Always interesting, I arrived in a flurry of new clothing and clean shaven exuberance due to an early Christmas gift from Freya. We talked of OWS' dealing with homelessness as a factor in the Occupation and how OWS handles the various medical and psychological issues that present themselves when 500 people with different agendas try to live and form global policy together (is that funny or what?).

Wednesday: The morning began as the first 'sleep in' we've enjoyed thus far. That meant we were able to sleep past 8 and ready ourselves for a 10am meeting with Starhawk, a facilitator from the west coast. Starhawk's focus was intended to be a primer to consensus decision making but the gathering quickly turned into more of a support group meeting. A man cried, on his admission that he felt he had found a home, a common ground, a family. "Finally I am in a room full of people I can share with", he said. There are more than one of us like that. Zeke read letters he had collected from participants at the park and the irony of the phrase, "Liberty and justice for all". Don talked about being arrested for skateboarding. A woman railed against people with NYU degrees and proudly called herself a ghetto bitch just getting her 2 cents worth in - which was more like two bucks. Later she was supported by another woman who related that sexual abuse as a teen and young woman had made her rant in public as well. And think. And grow. And aim for strength in confidence. So much to feel.  Is it hard to do things with so much personality crisis in the way? But everyone does. Just here, it comes out in the open.

Thursday: Ben Cohen is mostly know for being the Ben of Ben & Jerry's. But when he's waiting for the coffee pot at the OWS office and I'm the barrista, he's just another customer. He talks fundraising with another member. We all thank him for serving ice cream in Zuccotti park as he did on so many days during the physical occupation. He has life experience we can use. Everyone knows that. Young, overeducated and underemployed the occupiers have been called. That's not entirely true. Ben occupies with us.

The Guggenheim NY

Friday: I had been told that Friday was the day at the Guggenheim where you could enter for a "suggested donation". You could suggest a penny, as opposed to the $18 they normally ask. I am reminded that art is a business and not a public service. Michelangelo did not paint the Sistine Chapel for free. Leaving the church early for my walk across Central Park to the museum I found it a glorious morning - light filtering through trees, bouncing off east side cornices to light a path for the runners. I have no camera so I can only see with my pen. Something good about that. The exhibit today is Maurizio Cattelean and it is called All. I arrive early and talk to a street artist outside. He bemoans the fact that you don't need a license to sell art on the street in New York and says it has resulted in tons of shit hitting the streets. He talks of a woman buying his art, and then photocopying it to sell in Midtown. Thieves. 


Everybody steals everything in the creative arts - but in museums, stealing is called 'appropriation'. That's when one artist takes an idea from another artist and uses it. That's how Andy Warhol was able to appropriate a soup can and call it art. People who design soup cans and FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) labels are artists too. But they are called 'commercial' artists - something, somehow less than real artists because they admit they are paid for the work, or it is an industrial service, or some such thing. Maurizio Cattelan is a real artist - but I'm sure he licenses his work so the Guggenheim can make posters, t-shirts and coffee mugs from it - yes, which would make him commercial. But let's not talk about that now. Let's see what he's All about.


All is a retrospective of the artist's work. To have a retrospective at the Guggenheim while still living is quite the accomplishment. So I enter the ticket line. Once meeting an attendant I inquire about the 'suggested donation' plan and am told that that program has been moved to Saturday from 5:45 pm to 7:45 pm. Imagine that - letting the poor people in when the museum is the least busy and people who can afford $18 are busy having dinner before the theatre. Best to keep those two groups apart - so the rich people don't feel poorly about being rich and the poor people don't feel richly about being treated like society at large.


But with no ticket at all I am still allowed to stand at the base of Frank Lloyd Wright's inverted ziggurat and view, what for this exhibit, is all of the artist's work. Rather than hang the pieces on walls or keep sculptures on the floor, Cattelan has chosen to use the negative space of the interior as his canvas and hung all of the work, suspended in time, so to speak, with nothing on the walls or floor at all. That alone is impressive at least. But aside from that are the looks of the kids who are part of a school tour of the facility. They gape wondrously at all the images hung precariously from the ceiling - pigeons, donkeys and carts, a shopping cart that is three times longer than a conventional one, hanging male mannequins, a reclining Pope. Who knows what it's all about. That, I guess, is what one learns when they are able to see the entire show, from top to bottom as gravity will encourage at the Guggenheim - scheduled for another day.


Walking through Central Park afterwards an a Capella  group sings in the tunnel of Bethesda fountain. The light there through the archway is magical in the day growing towards noon and the music matches. Out of the park I veer to the west side towards the Apple store on 67th and on the way is Lincoln Center. I can remember the last time I was there in 1991 for the CLIO awards, advertising's version of the Oscars. I had been to Lincoln Center the year before for the same event and our hosts were Barbara Feldon (Agent 99) and Nipsy Russell (unfunny comedian). With that unlikely pair as hosts I should have known things were going south for the show in short order.


"The 1991 ceremony is referred as 'The Most Bizarre Event in Advertising History,' because it was a complete debacle. Attendees who had paid the $125 admission price did not have tickets waiting at the door, as promised. Also missing were Clio officials and Clio President, Bill Evans. The event did not start on time; in fact, people stood around drinking, schmoozing and trading rumors about Evans and the Clio organization for over two hours. Finally, the lights dimmed and the band started playing. A man walked up to the microphone and began to speak. He identified himself as the caterer and announced that the master of ceremonies was a no-show, but that he would give it a shot. It started out well, but after being informed that there was no script and no winners list, he gave up and walked off. A second fellow walked onstage and began talking, but was not a polished speaker; it was obvious that he was inebriated. Print ads were the first awards, When the last award in the category was dispensed, the band began playing an interlude, and the emcee began singing. The audience began booing and throwing dinner rolls, and the drunk staggered offstage. Several minutes passed, but no one took his place. As the people began to leave, one man mounted the stage, strode to the table of remaining statuettes, snatched one up, and waved it as he left the stage. Two other individuals claimed their own awards; then suddenly, the stage was stampeded by a feeding frenzy of advertising executives, intent on grabbing the Clios that remained."


Due to the disorganization of the event I have no idea if I won anything or not. I had had five works shortlisted that year - twenty years ago. One has to ask themselves what had gone wrong in the intervening years. As far as the Clios went, owner Bill Evans had allegedly become a coke-head and the company filed for bankruptcy in 1992. I myself missed the drug habit and have yet to file for bankruptcy. For that, one needs to have had at least had enough money to have run up a debt to be forgiven. Still debt free, I am also job free and house free these days, so going into chapter 13 doesn't really seem to be an issue.


I realize that I write this blog always from a point of view that I will not be jobless nor homeless forever. I realize that that belief taints the POV. What if I never rise from this station. What if this is permanent? If you look at the facts and figures regarding poverty in the US the one thing sure is that we are making more poor people and the rich people are getting richer. Thinking positive and being hopeful are always ways we tell ourselves to be - but what if the mathematics just simply don't work? What if it is statistically impossible to beat poverty? I see the way our government and our society are not working at all towards a more equal distribution of wealth - and I protest that fact at OWS - but that job doesn't pay either. 

Bloomscrooge & me

Saturday: D17, Occupy Wall Street's 3rd Anniversary was billed as a grand reoccupation of a not so grand piece of ground - a Trinity Church property adjacent to Duarte Square at Canal and 6th St. Trinity, being both a church and the third largest land holder in NYC had been encouraged by clergy citywide to 'deed' an occupation site to OWS thereby showing their firm commitment to the movement. Trinity has been both praised and derided since the start of Occupy for at once, supporting the movement through their community center, Charlotte's Place whilst secondly, not doing much to help since the early morning police raid of Zuccotti Park on November 15th. In the end, OWS's attempted reoccupation of a private park, against church wishes, didn't do much to help the movement and whilst the day was spirited and fun in many ways, helping to get OWS back together for a public gathering, things ground to a slow trickle by 6pm once the requisite number of arrests had been made, obligatory photographs of supposed police brutality made and a pretty damn fun puppet show featuring mayor Bloomscrooge staged - but more generally"Much ado about nothing in the end", the bard proclaimed.


The day finished out with the first attempt of an OWS film festival at 56 Walker. Having seen literally hundreds of videographers and filmmakers during our occupation of Zucotti Park it was refreshing and enlightening to see the events from distinctly different POVs. My prevailing thoughts during the screenings 

were that the world needed to see these images, as mainstream media (MSM) doesn't at all seem to represent the movement at it's finest. These films did. Thanks to all the filmmakers and I hope this library and screenings grows as the movement progresses.


Sunday: Sunday featured an OWS 'unconference' at Pace University where skeletal presentations are featured but the conference grows as participants are encouraged to make spontaneous presentations on whatever they want, time permitting. I had become familiar with the unconference format from the Barcamp tech gatherings in Saigon and thought it was a worthwhile format for OWS - a sort of 'think as you go' format. More of these can certainly work to our advantage.


Monday: Monday ended after I had just cooked dinner at the church and did all the dishes for sixty by being told by one of the mangers that I didn't get a weekly Metrocard. Whilst knowing me as a resident of the church, he was not aware that I had spent 48 days in the park and accumulated all the media you see in the right sidebar under AHBINYC Media for OWS. Now I've been told that only work for official working groups is regarded as work worthy of the organization paying for all my transportation to work I am not paid for. So what I read from the organization is that the work I do individually for them is not valued - nor is the work people do by occupying Zuccotti Park, going on marches or other activities - unless of course, it is sanctioned by an official working group. 


Seems oddly like we are moving to a structure much like the one we are protesting - and just like that frog, mentioned at the beginning of this post, we may fail to realize that until we are summarily boiled in our own process - nickel and diming ourselves to death while the rich get richer.

And You thought I Was Kidding? No, Occupations Need Donations to Exist

Last year, I put a post up to solicit funds to travel and see a rock concert. I received $800. This week I put up a post to solicit funds and equipment  for job hunting and Occupation existence. So far, I've received nothing. Thank you. Or no thank you. For all of the lively comments I receive on this blog, it's amazing to see what happens when people are actually asked to act on their convictions. "Oh, involved? No, I just make comments on blogs and forums - and I Tweet", speak the conventional wisdoms "And I like, stuff on Facebook", they say. And if I get another Farmville or Mafia Wars invite, I'm gonna spit.

And this goes on inside of Occupy Wall Street (OWS) as well. For all the paper activism and armchair quarterbacking I witness at OWS meetings, it's amazing to see who doesn't show up when it's time for the rubber to meet the road at rallies and demonstrations. Occupiers - name the three most vocal and most disruptive people at OWS meetings...tick tock, tick tock...that took a 1/2 a second. Now, tell me if you saw them at Saturday's D17 reoccupation exercise in Duarte Square. "Nope", me neither.

And that tends to happen here as well. All sorts of people want to tell me what a lovely public service I'm providing, but when it comes to them joining in and helping, silence seems to be their loudest cry. "We'll support, so long as it doesn't cost us anything". The road to nowhere is indeed paved with excellent intensions.

So to restate: To continue Occupying and continue working to change the system from within the system, I need your support. Support in the form of donated equipment and cash. Please take a look at the hit list here and see if you can contribute. Hopefully you can.

1) For the complete pitch, click here.

2) To donate a laptop computer, click here.

3) To donate an unlocked iPhone, click here.

4) To donate cash, click here.

This week is Christmas. I live in a church on W. 86th St. and there's certainly no shortage of holiday shopping going on in that neighborhood. I see the bags as I work on a display computer at the Apple store on 67th. The bags are very full. Please know that your friendly neighborhood Occupier is hard at work as well this holiday season and help insure that his week is as merry and bright as the future can hold.

#DONATE: Support Your Friendly Neighborhood #Occupier This Holiday Season!

"That's funny, he doesn't look homeless", said the folks at the TV station when they queried me about doing a story. "And he doesn't look like an Occupier either",  I thought.

Thanks to a very good old friend, I was the proud recipient of a new set of clothing this week sent all the way from Wisconsin. Shoes, a hat, shirt, gloves, sweater, pants and socks all made their way here and onto the runway at our Occupied church on the upper east side. "You clean up well", said my fellow Occupiers. "Quite the entrance", said those I had a meeting with on Tuesday night.

But the feeling one gets in putting on brand new clothing after months of wearing the exact same set is incomparable to anything I have ever known. For the first time in three months I felt like an actual human - and I didn't feel like I had been checked out of the 30th St. men's prison (shelter) to get there. So now I'm all spit shined and ready to rock. Almost.

Over the next few weeks the holidays will pass, the 2012 job market will start to come into focus and that's where I need to be. The life of an Occupier is all well and good, but it's not a full-time gig,  doesn't pay the bills and whilst it does provide me with a more than curious place to live and at least a meal a day, it's far short of a real life - and moreover, well into the stats that determine poverty levels in the US  where 1 in 6 Americans live. Many Occupiers receive Food Stamps ($200 per month) and cash assistance ($47 per month) and so do I - but some quick math will tell you that you cannot eat 1 Big Mac meal a day on that. And so that's where this post is going. I am asking for your support in terms of equipment and finances.

 Tools of the Trade 

Computer: On Monday, this week, my old HP computer died. Dead, kaput, finis. The thing is history - and it's not coming back (I am currently working at the Apple store). And so I need a new computer. I have seen simple Dell laptops go recently for $150 new at Best Buy but would prefer a Mac to execute design, film editing and portfolio work. My uses for job hunting, consulting and Occupation work are extensive and reasonably complex. If anyone has an outdated MacBook Pro, MacBook or even PowerBook G4 and is upgrading, please consider donating your old machine to me. Used Macs are also available on Ebay or at resellers starting at $200. This is very important. I don't know anyone who can get a job today without a computer. Please consider. I am working to see if I can provide tax-deductible status (through another institution) to those who donate so I may be able to provide receipts.

iPhone (unlocked): "Yeah sure. Occupiers and the homeless need an iPhone". But then again, it doesn't hurt to ask and the need for an Internet compatible phone is extremely high in the job hunting market today - and even the Occupation market. My phone, an old Motorola Razor works but the battery is dead. Cost of a new battery will be the same as some very cheap phones so that makes little sense. If there are any old iPhones out there, please think about sending one here. 3Gs are fine and it would be best if the phone is unlocked and can take a SIM card. I won't be able to get an AT&T or Verizon contract because I have no credit record or US address for the last 16 years. If anyone is in Vietnam, these phones are plentiful there and cheap. Cost of 3Gs start around $200 for an unlocked phone. Do consider please.

Along with any Internet connected phone, I also need to spend around $50 a month for Internet service and unlimited calling. Currently I buy $10 recharge cards and they charge 30 cents a minute for calls. That's insane. I am constantly upset by the way the poorest people in this country need to pay the most for all kinds of things. It's a guaranteed lock that they will stay poor and never be able to rise from poverty - and that includes me now as well.

Digital Camera: Should I be lucky enough to get an iPhone or other smartphone, my need for a digital camera will go away - but such a large part of my work requires that I be able to document things digitally and use them in blog posts and other projects. If you have an old digital camera, any make or model, please send it this way. I'd love to put it to good use and maybe even use it to catch some cops doing bad things with pepper spray. You never know what's going to happen on the front lines of an Occupation.

 Expenses 

Expenses for a month at even basic levels can be surprising. Currently lodging and some food are handled by Occupy and I am able to buy grocery food (but not hot meals) at stores, but other expenses are not.

Metrocard (1 mo)......................... $120

Phone charge (1 mo).................. $50

Misc. @ $10 per day (1 mo).....$300

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Total (per month)                  $470

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So that's the story. If you are able to donate a computer, phone or cash over the next three months it will help support an Occupier and in time, help that Occupier find full-time, meaningful work.

 How to Support 

Donations: Let's talk. You can email me here, or leave a comment in the comment box below with details (If you wish to remain anonymous, just say so and I will not print the message). One talking point for instance: I am not able to accept PayPal right now because I do not have a US bank account. $150 is needed to keep an account at no-fee and I am not there yet so I even need cash donations before I can have a bank account. But there are other ways currently to transfer and accept money. Click here for Western Union.

Will Work For Stuff: I would prefer to work for my money. If you donate any of the above items or cash, please don't forget my professional services in advertising, marketing and journalism. I am able to write and prepare plans with some design over the Internet. Please let me know your business needs and I'll be pleased to provide in-kind services for donations of equipment or cash.

I wish you all a very nice holiday and hope to be doing better in the new year.

In holiday cheer and Occupied solidarity, thank you all.

Peace,

:David

Homeless No More, The #Occupation of New York is Just the Beginning

Photo courtesy of Mr. You from Japan with his lovely old Leica

With the birth of the #Occupy movement in New York on September 15th the world began to re-imagine what it means to be without a home and create a community that reaches from the top 1% to the bottom 1%. Along with the gathering at Zuccotti Park came a plethora of foreign journalists, ever interested in America's latest craze -  protest and occupation. "What took you so long?", they all said, referencing the people's protests in Egypt, Spain and other countries in need of reformation of government and finance.

In recent days I have come to see my time at Zuccotti as magical, life changing - even life affirming. But the true measure of what we experienced and created comes in my emails every day - the photos from the event, impressions, actions and resolutions of a revolution. We have been described recently by a journalist from Croatia as "contemporary desperados" and whilst I love the idea of being somehow at odds with the law, the truth of the matter is, is that we are totally within it - the embodiment of constitutional warriors, fighting for our/your rights, the same as those who fought for our original freedom from England.

In this post I want to share some of my impressions and the impressions of others shared with me - a stream of subconsciousness impressions if you will. Every day I think I am somehow lucky to have been chosen to be in the position I am in. Rather than feel what a sorry fucking life I have because it's not like everyone else's, I feel awfully good most days. I may not have a job, but I certainly have an occupation - and a circle of people who feel exactly as I do. Here are the comments of You, a Japanese visitor to our little #OWS utopia in Zuccotti park:

Hello, Mr.David,

"I am the Japanese guy who visited Ducatti park one day and photographed you in a lovely box with my old Leica. You asked me to send pictures and gave me your mail address. Hope you remember it.

Anyway, the moment I had at the park, surrounded by millions of tents and people staying, was something very special for me. I felt like I went back to 1970s. As a photographer, I fell in love with the atmosphere indeed. Although now is the age and here is the city which we seem to be able to get food, clothes, information, and even relationship by just pressing a button, you guys were doing everything by your own hands, face to face, friendlily, and they are always interactive, never be one-way. To be honest, I would like to tell you that what you have done showed me the essence of human being and the possibility of our future.

I attached some of your pictures, hope you enjoy it. Thank you very much again.

best regard"

--you

And then there are the people who don't talk to me anymore. My sisters and my father, Marsha, an old friend, and others whom I may have thought to have been friends There is a syndrome sometimes associated with homelessness or hard times that seems to go against the grain of what families and friends should be all about. Rather than support you and try to have an understanding of your circumstance, they abandon you. Throughout my life I have talked often of being adopted and somehow feeling a bit out of body when it comes to my adopted family - but it doesn't seem to have anything to do with adoption at all. Tolstoy saw it this way: " Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. " And so my family acts out in its own way - by not talking to me at all. My sister recently commented on a YouTube video of me, but won't contact me directly. Go figure.

At our church and residence Terry, an under-employed union worker says one daughter wouldn't talk to him because he lived in a tent at Zuccotti park - but another daughter calls him a hero and a patriot. This dichotomy seems to be everywhere. For every guy who calls you a looser there seem to be more who cheer you on and thank you for the work you're doing. "Support your local occupier" is a feeling I've been hearing.

Personally, I think I'm getting New York at it fullest - better than I would have gotten if I had had a lot of money. I ride the subway, I sell art at 14th street, I see places I never would have seen. I am learning the art of alternative ways. I am reading the plaques on statues (Why is the statue of Carl Schurz in Morningside Park instead of Carl Schurz Park?) - but most importantly, I am learning - and that means I am alive.

The Russians at the Heartland Brewery order the largest shots of Tequila I have ever seen. I have made a little money in the park today and enough to have two beers and watch a little football. It's important to have the little things in life sometimes.

We have a Rabbi as an occupier at our Methodist church. I call him the radical Rabbi. He calls himself 'embattled' referring to the way some press has described him. He may be one of those people who believes his own press. As an occupier, one has to watch that. One girl this morning said she had been called "The most eligible bachelorette" in OWS. And they may be right, but will she adapt to that description and suddenly become a bitch? Stay tuned...

Vampire Squid

At a meeting for the Direct Action group a proposal is made to get $500 for 'squid stuff'. OWS is not poor. The idea is to show up at Goldman Sachs and do something with 'squid stuff' (#Squidding). This is funny as are many of the protest ideas. Wonder what will happen?

Sleeping in a church with 70 other occupiers is also funny. I have said that if I didn't wake up to some disturbance or domestic squabble, I would be suspicious - something would be wrong. Other more quiet discussions outline various people's mental issues. It is generally concurred amongst the group that there any number of people with any number of issues. If you could tell the bi-polars from the multiple personality traits, from the merely depressed occupiers that might be a helpful social skill - but it's difficult. There must be 50 different kinds of psychosis at work at any one time and we don't really have a shrink on staff - so what I do, is simply compare those people and situations to ones I see in daily life. 


There is a 400lb man who inhabits my local Starbucks and sits in front of the 6 station electrical outlet and then complains when people ask him to move to plug in their computers. This is normal. Our mayor has deployed hundreds of police and a minimum 12 vehicles + a telescopic crowd viewing pod to Zuccotti park to monitor what at times could be six protesters. This is normal. At another Starbucks a woman proudly declares that she will be sharing my table (for which there is room for only 1 laptop) and then asks  (no, declares) that I move my laptop so that she can use hers. She is unapologetic and feeling very entitled to this. This is normal.


Whenever I see odd activity, selfish behavior, short tempers, domestic squabbles, finance troubles, thefts, addiction issues, LGBT issues, misguided romances, homelessness or the Peter Principle at work at OWS, I realize that these are exactly the same things I dealt with at advertising agencies (one writer friend of mine slept in his car for a time) or the real world - the difference is that in #OWS these issues are approached openly, whereas in the real world they are buried, masked and ignored.


I've had many, many people say to me over the last few months that they have seen me happy, engaged, challenged and involved in my activities at #OWS. And what I know is that I am homeless no more. "Maybe you have found your calling", I have heard. Maybe I have.