Why I started to "Occupy"

It just hit me, as I was trying to think about how to start the blogging series that I am about to begin. I simply want to describe the complex and various things that I've recently experienced.  :P  I started this 'occu'-journey over 6 and 1/2 months ago because things are just SOO messed up in the world, SOO wrong, that I didn't know of anything better to do than to join up with others who felt the same. It has been an unforgettable experience that has been very enlightening and (imo) necessary.

99% is Too Big to Fail!
We are the 99% only if We Stand Together.

The wonderful (along with the difficult-to-deal-with) people that I and many others have met through this process have made this experience worth it. It is not easy being around a bunch of highly eccentric people who you have just met. Yet, the Occupy Wall St. Movement has been successful for the very fact that it brought a bunch of like-minded and like-hearted strangers together. What will come out of this giant 'meet-n-greet' of people who desperately want to change things (based off of a perceived need) has yet to be written.

< continue reading after the jump break >



I watched the Occupy Wall Street Movement start in New York City and was (like many others) instantly hooked. It was compelling, raw, REAL, and powerful. It made one believe in -and was a great reminder of- the Power of the People; fellow Homo sapiens who were willing to sacrifice and put their selves on the line to publicly tell the Truth about what is happening in our world, which is suspiciously absent from public discourse. In a crazy way, it seems like many of us were just waiting for something like this to happen; waiting for anything to get us involved on a different level; a level that seemingly addresses some of the root problems that we face: Human Greed, Apathy, and Arrogance, as well as Social Constructs (both physical, i.e. Governmental, and mental, i.e. Societal Paradigms). The Occupy Movement seems to address the core of Human problems.

The Occupy Movement started as a broad coalition of diverse people coming together to go after the root causes of our collective problems. What we title this problem varies, but the idea of wealth inequality, social and environmental deterioration, and the corruption and collusion between politics and big businesses, seem to persist. Now, these are just a FEW of the problems. The criticism of the Occupy Movement (and some of it may very well be fair) is that it is too broad and not concise in its messaging. Yet, I ask, how can the 99% (which is one of the most well-known 'messages' of the movement) be packaged into a cute, 3 minute soundbite?

Hundreds march around Cesar Chavez Memorial Plaza on October 15th, as thousands gathered.

Packaging the message the way that the main stream media (MSM) would PREFER, or that 'ordinary' people would 'appreciate', would be an insult to the complexity and vastness of the problems. Yet, it is important to listen to criticism as it can help us progress. It is a fine line of listening to criticism and being steadfast in your convictions. Bottom line: 'Take everything with a grain of salt'. Figuratively, of course.

Back to the topic at hand, as to finish up this blog post so I can move on to the next ones. The main thing that the Occupy Movement has done is to reconnect people with each other. Humanity, in general, has become soo disconnected with each other and with the Earth. We are soo caught up in our daily lives, which we seemingly can't break free from (but, alas, that is a point to be made in another post). For example, we (in general) do not even know our own next-door neighbors that well!

This is the point of the Occupy Movement. It is meant for people to come and work together, to try to address some of these seemingly insurmountable social/ ecological problems. Not only by imagining a 'better world', but by embodying it. The journey that I have experienced has changed me forever; I started out on October 15th by being open and for whatever was to come and have embraced a lot of what has transpired. I am still 'open' and ready to do my best to 'make things better' for humanity and the natural world that we rely upon. I am not afraid to say that I am indeed a part of this movement and that I will try my best to help to make it as Good as I feel like it can be.

Many of us are here for some real change. We are hear to take back that word (among other things, lol) and other words, like hope. A lot of us hope to give others real hope... ;)
Imagining and Embodying another way of doing things: that is 'Why I started to Occupy'.

Free Market at Occupy Phoenix: An alternative way of doing things.
'People > Profits'

*Note: The pictures in this post were taken by me on the first day of Occupy Phoenix, on October 15th, which started about a month after Occupy Wall St.


Here are some resources about the Occupy Movement:
- First, a video from a friend of mine, Blake Higgins, about the 1st day of OPHX: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PWzaF19QIo
- Second, The Declaration of the Occupy Movement (via the General Assembly of OWS), read by Keith Olbermann: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgQXuHABWnM&feature=youtu.be
- Thirdly, the 'About' section from Occupy Wall Street's main website:
http://occupywallst.org/about/
- Lastly, Occupy Phoenix resources:
http://occupyphx.org/
https://www.facebook.com/occupyphoenix
http://twitter.com/occupyphoenix


Thank you all for your support, and I wish you all the best.
Peace, Love, Unity, and Solidarity