Occupy Wall Street

The Fiction of Money

November 2, 2011 by admin

It’s hard to write about money. We’re taught not to talk about it — and as we are seeing from the Occupy Wall Street movement, the more we are forced into the conversation, the more we see the “stuff” that people have about money.

Turns out that when I , my character of Julia in The Foreign Language of Friends is potentially a member of the 1%. A few readers made mention of this in so many words when I posted last week’s chapter. Now, I didn’t invent her tax returns when I invented the character, but the art collection alone suggests a high income level.

When I first conceived the story, I wasn’t thinking about class warfare or the 99% — those discussions didn’t exist. The Tea Party generated conversation about government spending, but the 99% were pretty quiet at the time.

I intended to write about four women who were isolated from female friendships. I wanted to demonstrate how women suffer when they are cut off from each other, and how healing it can be when they learn to give and receive support. Julia’s money just happened to be the way that other people felt uncomfortable around her.

Just as Julia is a fictional character, our thoughts and beliefs about money can be fictional, too. These stereotypes can lead us to the sense of “us vs. them” separation that we see. We are suspicious of the “other,” the person we think isn’t like us at all. Here are some ways we fictionalize people because they are either rich or poor (and note the contradictions):

We can’t raise taxes on the rich because either we a) are rich or b) will be one day when we win the lottery.
People have lost their jobs because they made bad choices or are lazy.
If you’re rich, it’s because you worked harder and accomplished more than poor people do.
If you’re rich, it’s because you did something bad to get there.
Rich people and poor people can’t be friends.
Rich people are happier.
Rich people are miserable and lonely.
Money brings nothing but trouble.
If I had money, I wouldn’t have any trouble.
Rich people don’t care about poor people.

So, let’s look at Julia. I suspect that any reader of my book will recognize that Julia probably doesn’t care as much about taxes as you’d think she would. Her husband would disagree, but I think Julia would be happy to pay a little more because she already has everything she could ever possibly want. She’s grateful, not greedy.

Julia doesn’t strike me as someone who would accuse the poor of being lazy. Julia, in fact, is an East Texas girl who fell in love, not knowing that her husband would strike it rich. I don’t go into Julia’s family at all, but I suspect they were nice, working-class people, the backbone of America. I also suspect that many of them saw their jobs go off to China and India! Did that make them lazy or bad? No. When did we stop saying “There but for the grace of God go I” and start saying, “It’s their own damn fault?” Yet I doubt Julia would have that attitude. I suspect she knows how lucky she is.

At the same time, Julia and Larry didn’t do anything illegal or immoral to get where they got. They weren’t lobbying Congress or buying Supreme Court justices to maintain their lavish lifestyle. While we see the reality that some of the 1% are buying and selling our government, not all of them do. The OWS movement, as I understand it, is not anti-wealth, but anti-corruption, and there is a difference. There are 1%-ers who make a positive difference in the world, and who are willing to pay more taxes.

It’s possible that Julia falls under the stereotype of “rich people are miserable and lonely.” Julia wants friends, and the new women she meets are suspicious of her because of her obvious wealth. I think Julia smashes the stereotype, though, with her determination and persistence to bring this disparate group of women together in friendship.

A reader asked: what would happen if Julia lost her money? Well, I don’t go into that in FLF, though it could be some fun fodder for a sequel. We can imagine that her friend Geri wouldn’t want much to do with her, which is Geri’s loss. I love Julia, because she has spirit, energy, and the persistence to help her newer friends figure out how to get along.

I can also imagine, if I were writing a prequel, that we could look at what happened when Julia and Larry became wealthy. Just as she would lose friends if she lost her money, she would most likely lose friends when she gained it, too. Trust me on this. Now, there are plenty of wealthy people these days playing the victim, and I don’t approve of that, either — but judge Julia on her merits as a human being, not her wealth. Pay attention to how she treats others, regardless of their status, and how equal these women are, rich or poor.

Julia may be one of the 1%, but she’s one of the good guys. I’ve made her suffer in The Foreign Language of Friends, not because she’s rich, but because she’s human, and stuff happens to all of us. I know she doesn’t have to worry about how to pay the mortgage this month or feed her family — and she’s aware of that, too. She knows she’s fortunate. But she’s going to have some rough days ahead, and I hope she gets the empathy she deserves.

OWS: Democracy Stew

October 12, 2011 by admin

I wrote this as my stepdaughter and her boyfriend were cooking food for her work lunches. I guess that’s why I had food on the brain! This will be my last OWS post. Today I’m headed in the other direction, to Central Park to meet my editor. I hope to write that experience up for Thursday, but our plane leaves early Thursday morning, so I may not be back until Friday — to share more fiction. Speaking of fiction, there’s more being reported about Occupy Wall Street. Below are more reflections on my experience as of yesterday.

I do not speak for OWS, but only for myself. The observations that follow are formed from my visits to OWS and reflect my personal thoughts.

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OWS Photo — Crowds at yesterday's gathering

I’m a lover of slow food. We buy organic, avoid processed foods, and enjoy savoring our meals. We believe that good things are worth preparing and waiting for. The anticipation, the scents wafting from the kitchen, and relaxing conversation after the meal are all important to us.

Contrast this with our instant gratification society: eat from a box or from a restaurant as fast as possible, sometimes in the car, sometimes standing up, and — well, you get the picture. In this scenario, we never notice the bites we take or get the pleasure of a beautiful meal.

What does this have to do with Occupy Wall Street?

I belong to a women’s writing group, She Writes, and specifically the Blooming Late group. Yesterday’s blog post stirred up the group when one of the members asked, “What do they want?” Since we’re a passionate group, a spirited debate ensued.

It’s a valid question, and one asked frequently by the media and others. For some, “What do they want?” will determine whether or not to join the movement. These people have real concerns about what’s happening but don’t want to discover down the road that they’ve joined the Communist Party unintentionally. For others, “What do they want?” is a way to deride the movement by painting the protesters as being aimless and undirected.

Man With Job — There are "shifts" of people who come when they're off work. Not everyone is unemployed.

I can tell you what this movement does not want. It does not want violence. These are not kidnappers or terrorists. They are American citizens concerned about the direction of the country. I have met people who blew my cynicism out of the water with their sweetness and sincerity, not to mention a surprising amount of intellectual capacity. I’ve never had so many conversations with New Yorkers as I have had with the protesters, and I get up here a fair amount. This is a group that values the nonviolent civil disobedience demonstrated by Ghandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King.

The protesters also do not have the authority to put people out of work, nor would they. If a Wall Street company lays off its people, it’s for the company’s own business decisions – Occupy Wall Street has nothing to do with that. So please don’t blame the upcoming Goldman Sachs layoffs on OWS.

As to what they want, this is still being determined. There is no official platform at this time. No “demands” have been settled on. Here’s a good article on why that I ran across just this morning: CNN Article. It answers a question posed by some of, “What are they going to do if demands aren’t met?” And isn’t that where the fear mongerers such as Glenn Beck are having their field day, projecting mass murders in our streets?

Now, for those who want to know “what they want,” but are unwilling to do the two-minute Google search to find it, here’s the link: Occupy Wall Street proposed demands. Again, please note that this is a PROPOSED list that is neither complete nor official at this time.

It’s not easy to live with questions when all we want is answers, but sometimes we have to.

Let’s look back in history to the beginnings of our government. The Articles of Confederation were drafted in 1777 and formally ratified in 1781. It was replaced by the Constitution in 1789. Obviously, our Founding Fathers cared enough about the nature of this new government to take their time. A lot of debate went on, and a fair amount of disagreement.

The issue of slavery, the most shameful scourge of our history, took decades of work to dissolve. Even then, it took longer to create equal opportunity for minorities. The Civil Rights Act of the 1960s, a full hundred years after the Civil War, righted some wrongs…though we still deal with racism today.

The point is, even where there is the most obvious need for change, change does not come easily. Solutions don’t occur overnight. Occupy Wall Street is not a box of instant potatoes. It is a burgeoning movement that is taking its time and having numerous thoughtful discussions to determine their next steps.

By the way, anyone who wants to know what “they” want is allowed to participate. Have concerns? Make your own comments. This is America. You are welcome to speak. Those who asking what to “they” want would do well to ask themselves that question. What do YOU want?

Will Occupy Wall Street determine positive solutions? I hope so. I don’t know that yet. I will evaluate my involvement step by step. I am not a Marxist, a Socialist, or any other names that get bandied about by those who are critical of the movement. I am a concerned citizen who loves my country. So are the protesters. We must take our passion to the voting booth and seek out candidates who are willing to solve the problems that face our country, and not just give lip service to them. For a movement to last, it must be willing to evolve and work for real change. Will it happen with this group? Maybe, maybe not. But even if this group does not coalesce, the American people are being forced to examine the problems and debate them. That, in and of itself, is a positive.

In the meantime, I am comfortable, for now, living with the questions. A good pot of spaghetti needs to simmer for hours to reach its full flavor. A good pot of democracy needs to simmer and stew as well, with multiple points of view and ideas being sifted in to create an aroma and flavor that we can all live with. To not take the time to sort out these questions does a disservice to our country and the seriousness of the debate involved. I am proud that people are taking their time — we should all do that in our lives and with our democracy.

The View From the (Occupy Wall) Street

October 11, 2011 by admin

Nadine with Protesters — Here I am with my new best friends.

One of the novels I’m working on, Blood and Loam, is set in 1970, and my main character, Stella, has come home in a daze from Kent State, trying to escape the violence. Of course, she will face her own war when she returns to her hometown, so there’s no running away from turmoil.

I was a kid when students marched and occupied school administration buildings to protest the Vietnam War. My only official protest occurred in high school a few years later when our teachers threatened to strike. A lot of us kids, in sympathy for our teachers, showed up at a school board meeting and disrupted it with our questions. We were angry, but nonviolent and asking sincere questions. The superintendent closed the board meeting to the public and called the state police, and we were ushered out. Some of us vowed to meet at the park on Saturday to discuss next steps, but I chickened out. I didn’t want to rock the boat.

Signs were being made throughout the edges of the park.

In Zucotti Park, a group of people, many (though not all) of them young, have taken a strong stand — and I’m not just talking about the fact that many haven’t showered in days. They are willing to demonstrate for their future, to draw attention to corporate greed and government corruption. While hubby and I have talked privately about these matters, and occasionally slipped some money toward a political campaign, we did not take the added step of publicly declaring our concerns and organizing others who felt the same way.

As I visited with some of the young people, I saw that they are intelligent, thoughtful, and caring. We arrived early in the day, and some of the protesters were still sleeping, lined up in rows in the park. Others were walking around, chatting and making signs. A little while later, a row of drummers started playing.

There was an unexpected order to the park. One section was a designated library. In others, we saw a press room, complete with power; a kitchen area with a sign requesting vegetables and vegan food; an area where people could get socks and gloves for keeping warm during the night; and a medical area. It looked like a microcosm of a town.

The group acknowledges that they attract a wide range of people. Though the majority are young, and hence far more willing to spend days or weeks living outside, not all are. They even have their own newspaper, and one of the protesters gave me a copy of one. I read nothing “crazy” or even unrealistic in the paper, just newsy articles about the events going on.

Some thanked us for our support and asked us to go back to our homes to share the reality of what we saw. I thanked THEM for having the courage to take a stand. Americans are angry about corporate greed an corruption within our government. We have discussed these same issues privately in our own homes, but it never occurred to us that we could do something about it. Yes, we grew passive as we grew older, bemoaning the status quo but not having the courage to take a public stand.

Yes, these protesters have long hair, piercings, and tattoos, but they are exposing concerns that many of us have. It’s easy to “shoot the messenger,” but the message they are conveying is a valid one. I am reminded that back in the late 60s and early 70s, students were mocked for their appearance, but their protests made the war so unpopular that it did, I believe, make a difference. We can look back now and know that the hippies were right.

We were present to hear the “mic check” communications that go on — where one person yells “Mic check!” to get attention, and his or her words are shouted down the line to the group. During our stay there, they were looking for legal aid representatives. One of the women was being arrested for writing “Good morning, NYPD” on the sidewalk with chalk. Seriously?

That was the most disturbing part. The protesters were quietly talking and going about their business, not causing trouble. The police, on the other hand, seemed wired up and ready to confront. In fact, during one hubbub when we worked our way toward the action to see what was going on, Henry and I were briefly separated from each other. Worried that I was getting swept up into a mass arrest, I pulled back and turned around to look for him. A police officer brushed against me not once, but twice — and not because we were getting sandwiched together. I felt as though he was trying to either intimidate or provoke me. I pulled back to another area, getting as far away from him as I could, so I could call Henry. Fortunately, he found me at that moment, and we moved away from the action.

The protesters responded by inviting others to write on the sidewalk with chalk, a deliberate act of civil disobedience in solidarity with the woman who was arrested. We decided not to try our luck.

Protest ramping up for the day. — Protesters Getting Rolling

A few other observations:

I did not see the sanitation issues being reported in the media. I did see people cleaning up after themselves and loading up garbage bags.
I did not see chaos, but rather an organized and thoughtful demonstration.
I did not see evidence of the conspiracy theorists’ opinions that George Soros is funding the movement. If he is, he isn’t doing a very good job. People were relying on donated food and passed a bucket to get other needed supplies. The bucket I saw had a handful of $1 bills in it.

“Spread the word,” one of them told me. “Go back to your city and tell everyone you know what you saw here.” I am doing that because I know that we are getting untruthful reporting in the mainstream media. It’s one thing to know that intellectually. It’s quite another to see it for myself, and I am sickened and disheartened at how sanitized the news has become. What else is going on that we haven’t learned about?

I am a fortunate woman. I live in an affluent area of Houston and visited Occupy Wall Street after leaving the safety and comfort of a hotel room. In a few days I will go back to a life that is largely insulated from many of the problems our country faces. I no longer have to work at a job where annual pressure was brought to bear on employees to financially support the company’s PAC — and, of course, its Republican candidates.

Still, we cannot sit idly by while our fellow Americans keep losing jobs, while our government gets increasingly bought and sold by corporate interests, and while those who brought the economy down receive special favors and corporate welfare. I am passing along what I have seen in hopes that these young people will, with enough voices raised in chorus, get the respect they are due for forcing attention to the many problems we as Americans all share.

Will marching on Wall Street solve our problems? Of course not. But if the attention called to our problems helps us shake off our apathy and vote, or to help grass roots service organizations keep going in a tough economy, or to defend our food supply by buying local and organic foods — in these ways and more, we are reminded by Occupy Wall Street that we can make a difference. We can make our country great again. We just have to fight a little harder.

Good Morning, Monday! NYC is “Occupying” My Thoughts

October 10, 2011 by admin

“Please don’t get arrested.” These were some of my stepdaughter’s parting words last night. We’re visiting New York City and feel the magnetic draw of the protests going on in Lower Manhattan, protests now being replicated in cities around the country and even the world.

I’ve also been told by my kids to turn my music down. Of course, I don’t listen. I’m a Baby Boomer after all, and I grew up thinking that you can’t trust anyone over 30, and if it’s too loud, you’re too old. I’ve given up the former, having passed 30 decades ago, but it’s my kitchen and I’ll dance in it, dammit.

Maybe I’m naive, but I’m not concerned about getting arrested. We took a preliminary look early yesterday as we wandered down to Washington Square Park, where protesters in the Occupy Wall Street movement held a meeting the day before (having relocated due to growing size). Not much was going on yet, though we did see a small band of young men marching with signs and chanting, “We are the 99%!” A number of park police were milling around, with other police cars circling. Interestingly, the Starbucks at the corner claimed its restrooms were out of order. The park was filled with young people waiting, with “Occupy” written in chalk on the concrete — near another sign with an arrow pointing to “Jam Sesh.” In the meantime, a father threw a football to his son. Other families brought their children to play, as though it was a typical Sunday. Later, I saw a woman about my age with a sign — she is one of the 99% — and more evidence that this is not just a movement for unemployed young people.

When I needed to find a restroom, we had to walk several blocks away. I thought about the politics of bathrooms, recently described in one way in the book The Help, and now shown to me here, in this day and age, as a way to discourage protest. Hit people at the point of their basest needs. We eventually found a place that welcomed us as long as we purchased something — which I always do anyway. Inside one of the coffee shops, a group of young people were gathering. A sign outdoors invited people to come in and “join the movement. So, apparently not all business owners are disgruntled about the protesters — some welcome them.

We left before the day’s main event — after all, our primary plan is to visit Sarah. We had a normal day in New York, taking in a Sunday matinee of the musical Follies with Bernadette Peters. How does that woman stay so gorgeous? She’s ten years older than I am. Sure, one can get “work done,” but she has the trim, fit figure of a woman much younger. And her voice is amazing. I wasn’t wild about the musical, but she’s fabulous.

Today, though, we plan to head down to the protests. We attended last year’s Rally to Restore Sanity, and it feels as though Occupy Wall Street provides an outlet that the rally did not. While the rally provided plenty of entertainment and a spirit of solidarity, it was clear that something else wanted to happen, needed to happen, in order to shake up the status quo. A lot of younger people were disappointed that the rally didn’t provoke a movement, so they set up their own.

Normally I’m not political here at A Woman’s Nest, but I would just like to say this: Americans, regardless of political affiliation, have the right to assemble and to demonstrate. The media first ignored the protests, and now have begun to villify the protesters. I have seen enough online to not trust what’s being reported in general, and I want to see for myself what is happening.

Here’s what I do know: I am neither young nor a hippie. My husband and I are not on the dole in any way, shape or form…and yet I, too, worry about the infiltration of corporate interests into our government, including the Supreme Court. I get angry when I hear of hard-working Americans losing their jobs and then being treated as though it’s their fault. Yes, there are always people gaming the system, but I believe those represent the minority. I grew up in a household where manufacturing was the primary industry, and unions helped my father earn a living wage to support his family. Those people that I grew up with worked hard and were the backbone of this nation — so I know they are not the lazy bums that certain politicians would have you believe that they are.

I have a sister who is a teacher, and I know that much of the nastiness in the media about teachers is not true, either. She works hard, including during the summer, and is a single mom. She tutors on the side to earn extra income, and has coached as well. She is hardly living high on the hog.

I also know that unarmed people who have been corralled into a pen don’t need to be pepper-sprayed.

This is why I need to see for myself what is happening at Occupy Wall Street. I am a proud American who loves my country and wants it to be better, and I support the passion of those who march in hopes that they can make a difference. And, in case you plan to ask me, I support that right for Tea Partiers, too, even though I find their politics distasteful.

My plan has been to focus on “lightness” this month, but part of lightness is having freedom and a government that works for the good of the people, so I intend to explore more of that this week. At this point I don’t know how the blog will look — normally I have my book and blog recommendations and some sort of feature. I may or may not deviate from the plan this week. Sarah said, “Please don’t get arrested.” My friend Samantha said, “Please don’t get hurt.” I don’t plan on either, but if we’re writers, we can’t pass up a good story. This turmoil, this messy democracy, the cries of the people — none of it is “light.” But perhaps, as this group begins to find and articulate its message, we can see down the road a lighter future for our country. I hope so.