As you can see I do graphic design. If anyone wants services contact me.
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Why I’m an Omnivore.
Omnivores, if you don’t know, are animals that can eat both grass and meat.
I’ll start by asking some questions:
Humans don’t eat each other… most don’t anyway, so no questions need to be asked there.
We do eat plants and animals though. So let’s ask an animal how it feels about us eating it. While we’re at it let’s ask plants and grains how they feel about us eating them. Also, may as well go the extra mile and ask plants how they feel about animals eating them.
I suppose we could ask water how it feels about us drinking it… and then peeing it out into it… Could also ask water how it feels that plants drink it too. Maybe ask a plant what it thinks water tastes like, or any of the other animals that drink it for that matter. No need to ask ourselves how water tastes…
It’s only fair to ask other animals how they taste to each other and what they think about each other eating each other. That’s fair, right?
Oh yeah, I forgot another player. We should probably ask the sun how it feels about all life on earth feeding off its energy and nutrients. Yeah, that sounds reasonable. I guess we could also ask the sun of its opinions on solar panels. Would it prefer us to use oil as our primary means of energy production? Does oil mind that we use it?!
Yeah, this is so circular and there’s too much permission needed from non-sentient organisms…
I’m an Omnivore because meat tastes fucking good!
#Occupypep
(The following event took place on or around February 10th)
#Occupypep was insane. First I hung out with the crowd across the street from Brooklyn Technical High School. Heard some speak outs from politicians who of course said the generic crap about “students need education, can’t cut funding, blah blah blah.” Even heard from Marty Markowitz too. I heckled him personally about his dealings with Bruce Ratner.
If you aren’t keen to that subject. Markowitz allowed Bruce Ratner’s development of the Atlantic Yards complex in order to “create jobs and affordable housing.” Atlantic Yards forced a good number of businesses to close and forced many out their homes. The only housing which came from Atlantic Yards will be condos. Also, fyi, the jobs potentially created ended up being a lie as there is no money to build anything more than the stadium. Excuse me for digression.
So anyway after hearing some of the speak outs we headed inside to watch the Public Education Panel (PEP). The subject of the night, “to close 23 schools, or not to close 23 schools… that is the question.” Well I was expecting something along the lines of what we’ve already seen as Occupiers “mic-checked” Scott Walker, or Sarah Palin, or Obama. No, this was nothing like that.
I enter the auditorium and I see the mic-checking has already started. I think, “crap I need to get my camera out and start livestreaming.” Then I get a little closer and realize “wait, they aren’t stopping.” They didn’t stop, at all. The public session of the meeting (prior to the panel “discussion”) lasted 3 hours. During that time the Occupiers, UFT, Students in danger of losing their schools, and anyone else in opposition to the proposal of the night didn’t stop screaming, mic-checking, chanting, people’s micing, or even singing. A great many times the people’s mic (which consisted of the about 1000 pissed-off people in the auditorium) COMPLETELY drowned out ANYONE speaking on the microphone. It was unreal. At one point one of the people from the audience said into the microphone “I have NEVER seen ANYTHING like this before.”
There was one point when the students decided to leave the main auditorium to plan strategically. Then we found out the Police were giving them a hard time about coming back in. To which chants began “Let them in!! Let them in!!” They were eventually allowed back into the auditorium, but not without a brief confrontation with police who threatened to kick them out for good. For the record, I do not believe any arrests were made over the course of the night.
After the public portion of the night the panel members took a 5 minute break. Next they came back and had a “discussion” on whether or not it was a good idea to close the schools. One or two people spoke defiantly against the school closures. One person spoke, with MUCH stuttering, in favor of closing them. In the end, though ABC News apparently reported that 17 schools were closed down, it looked to me (while I was present) like they were all closed.
It’s worth noting that the voting panel’s members were comprised as follows
4 members elected by the populace (who all voted against the closure)
6 members elected by Bloomberg (who all voted for the closure).
If you would like to watch the actual footage check out my channel on ustream:
www.ustream.tv/user/stopmotionsolo It is titled “On the front lines February 9, 2012” I think Feb 10, may be the voting portion.
I always tweet when I will be streaming so feel free to follow me @stopmotionsolo
Also, one last note. As a general invitation to anyone who has lost their school or has fallen victim to this night events. Or if you know someone. You are ALL welcome to join us in future protests this spring and summer. Oh, it’s gonna be one HELL of a year :) …
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Occupy is only dead if you say it is
As a general point of information:
To all those who think the Occupy movement is “dead.” My response, the movement is only dead if YOU say it is. The Occupiers who have been with the movement from the start have not rested a day since it began. Even though the numbers have dwindled since our Times Square march, or our walk over the Brooklyn Bridge; I can assure you there are far more than the original 20 members who decided to sleep in the park in the beginning. Whether or not it can resurface as a force to be reckoned with is up to just one thing. How much YOU want to come out and support. Occupiers can, and do, work tirelessly to feed one another and organize events every day, and build community. The only thing that will allow us to grow is whether or not YOU support it and work with what you have.
True there are problems with it. True we have issues with organization. However, considering the fact that there was NOTHING there when it started on September 17th, I’d say it’s come a long way. To put it into another perspective, the idea of “self-governance” has never actually been attempted in modern civilization (this eliminates Ancient Greece btw). We usually do not even pay attention to our lawmakers until an election year comes around. When the election year does come around the attitude is pretty much this: “Okay, this guy seems nice. Okay I’ll vote for you, just don’t fuck up.” Then we barely even think about the laws which are being passed for the next 2 years. Then we have a “choice” between Democrats and Republicans… again.
One obstacle for organization which Occupy has had to deal with is that we have NEVER self-governed before. So yeah this shit is not going to be easy… especially since it started as a bunch of really really really idealistic 20-year-olds. This is not to say government should be encouraged on us, but rather NO ONE should be afraid of the idea of self-governance and discussing the issues in a public forum. I understand that a smooth transition to “self-governance” in the grand scheme of things may be necessary to carry out. However, there’s no reason to hold our difficulties against us, at least we’re trying.
Allow me now to address quickly the issues of “leaderlessness” in the movement. It still is a leaderless movement, yes. True we don’t have a Martin Luther King Jr., or a Malcolm X, or anyone else to rally behind. However, if you think about it this way, I HARDLY think that MLK or Malcolm X were at every civil rights protest back in the 50’s and 60’s. No. Those courageous individuals marched on their own and stood proud on their own. There may have been a household name whom everyone could reference, but it’s not like those figureheads were in every state at once, and it’s certainly not like in-fighting didn’t occur.
One more thing, it’s a little hypocritical for everyone to keep voting for candidates who consistently disappoint us after being elected, meanwhile everyone seems to expect a group of protesters to have EVERY possible answer and for that reason maybe dismiss the movement if no answers are given. We cut slack to those whose “job” it is to know what they are doing but don’t cut any slack to those who are learning as they go along; but have some damned good ideas which might just need a little tweaking.
Now back to the original thought. Occupy is far from dead. Whether or not it becomes a MOVEMENT is up to YOU. We do not go out and impose our beliefs on others. We march a lot. We hold demonstrations a lot. We have discussions a lot. We do not however go out telling you what to think, that’s the Mass Media’s job :) All Occupy has ever wanted to do was expose the truth (which is evidence based) and work together to find solutions, and if you have different perspectives we’d LOVE your input.
Sure you would be welcome to knock the movement all you want for being “leaderless,” or “disorganized,” or having too much in-fighting, or lacking demands, but tell me this “do you have another option?” Sure you can start another protest organization and try to build it, but at the moment is there ANYTHING else out there with as notorious or formidable a name as Occupy Wall Street? Please let me know about it if you can think of it.
When I first went to the park back in September I was confused and after a week I didn’t know what the hell they were doing. It was disorganized, it was leaderless, it had no demands, and there was in-fighting. What made me stay was I had NEVER seen the discussions they were having in a before in my life IN A PUBLIC FORUM. This was not school, or amongst a bunch of friends in a park, or watching a debate on TV. This was a bunch of people from around the country, who’d never met one another before, trying to figure stuff out. Please if you can think of another place where that has happened recently I implore you to bring it to my attention. The only reason I stayed at Occupy after that first week was because my thinking was this: “Well shit, there are so many problems, but you know what? This country is starved for these kinds of discussions and I’ll take what I can get.”
So one more time I’ll tell you straight away the Occupiers are not stopping. They never will stop. You don’t go and sleep in a park on concrete only because you are pissed, and stop working when things get difficult. The question is: will you join us? The movement can only grow with public support. The only way the movement will “die” is if you ALLOW it to. The ball is in your court, do what you will, but we aren’t leaving anytime soon. Get used to it.
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Livestreaming for Occupy Wall Street
If you want to help Occupy a great way to get involved (without even really doing much) is to become a livestreamer. If you have a smartphone get the ustream or the bambuzer app. It’s free to create an account on those sites. Once you’re set up all you have to do is this:
On ustream, open the app and select “go live.” next in the box you will see type in “#occupy.” If you are in New York put in “#occupynyc” if you are elsewhere im not positive but i would guess that just “#occupy” is a safe bet. Putting this into the stream name will allow those in the stream mixing studio to find your channel easier.
If you are using bambuser, open the app and on the top of the view screen you should see a place to name your stream again. Touch it (or however you select it) and then use “#occupy” or whatever.
FYI if you are on bambuser click on the “settings” icon before you set to record your stream (it looks like a wheel with cranks on it, if you aren’t tech savvy). The best video resolution that works without using too much memory is probably “320x240” (that’s how it was on my phone anyway). As far as “video quality” choose “better flow.”
No matter which service you use I recommend you get a 5 hour battery pack. If you don’t have one of these your phone battery will die within 20 minutes. Not good. Also, if you can afford the monthly fee, a 4G hotspot makes for better streaming quality as well. I personally use the 3G, and it’s not bad most of the time. You do what you can.
The differences between ustream and bambuser are as follows: bambuser is really just for streaming and doesn’t really allow for much interaction with audience members. It’s decent though. Ustream is a lot more interactive. You can stream but you can also chat with people as you stream. If you use bambuser you have to stop the stream to give updates.
When you use ustream there is an option to share with people on facebook and twitter what’s up as you stream. There is also an option to chat with people, as you are filming, who are tuned into your channel watching. This makes the experience more interactive for you and the viewer. It can also help if you need to eat something on the go. Say “I’m starving at such and such place please help.” A perfect example of this is my friend Tim Pool, who livestreamed for 21 straight hours on November 17th. His streams are always engaging and interactive and he always has a lot of spare equipment with him. However, he’s said that he used the chat feature to ask for supplies and any other forms of assistance (food, a jacket, water, another battery pack).
I should also mention that if you have your ustream account linked with facebook and twitter and youtube (I had to log in with a computer to assemble this feature) you can have your videos uploaded to those sites automatically after you finish streaming. Be aware though that if you stream for an hour YouTube wont take it (only 15 mins long… so fuck Google).
At this point I may as well promote my pages www.ustream.com/user/stopmotionsolo
On Bambuser I’m www.bambuser.com/channel/stopmotionsolo
I have videos uploaded to those sites already that I have streamed plus some of them are on my facebook.
My twitter is @stopmotionsolo
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When the skies fill with fire,
Will we forget where we came from.
Be it a storm or a fallout,
Will our progression face never-ending drought?
From a time of primates
We have been guided by the North Star.
But upon reaching civilization…
Will the clouds become napalm?
Will we risk ourselves, gone.
The full reaching unity
Which maintains its potential…
Can it surpass its subtlety,
Hoisting the Earth to its next sequential?
It really is a collective effort
To exceed this precipice.
It requires the inherent generous
Feeling of our relevance.
An adult form of innocence.
The true beginning of our adolescence.
No longer the sun of a different
Solar System.
Admitting of our existence.
The start of pessimism?
The flow of intelligence
Embattling the troubled waters of consistency.
Unearth the benevolent
Evolution of monkey prodigies.
Adopt the atmosphere of Jupiter
Environmental collapse
Civilization reborn
Staring up, accepting of gas.
Two distinct possibilities.
Drastically different consistencies.
A new age of understanding reality.
Or environmental disaster produces…
Alzheimer’s in humanity.
All remedied still
With one simple solution.
Absolve oneself of ego.
Discipline creates conclusion.
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Chanting the wrong things at marches
I really don’t get why, when marching, there are certain chants that do nothing but antagonize the police. A chant about Police Brutality like “From Oakland to Greece, Stop Police Brutality” makes sense. However a chant like “whoop whoop, that’s the sound of the police” does nothing put taunt someone to be violent. A chant like “Obama, come out, we’ve got some stuff to talk about” illustrates the idea that we’re pissed off but also that we want a discussion (it’s also kind of funny). However, in most cases a chant like “From Oakland to Greece, FUCK the police” doesn’t help anything.There are rare exceptions to this rule, for example when Zuccotti Park/Liberty Square was raided by a coordinated police attack then I’d say we had the right to chant about something the police were doing directly to them. However, in most cases, when the police are just following a march, and USUALLY just present in the case something should happen, why antagonize them. Granted it’s just a chant and unless a protester acts on it, which usually doesn’t happen, it’s nothing more than free speech. However, when we are all taking part in a chant that does nothing more than potentially antagonize a group of men trained in combat tactics who have billy clubs, pepper sprays, and guns on them, just because you have the freedom of speech to say something doesn’t mean you should take advantage of said freedom. Honestly, I’m REALLY glad these chants are NOT used very often because I personally hate them. They have nice rhythms I’m not gonna deny that, but we should all really be more mindful of what we’re saying. There are plenty of other chants that work just as well, which don’t potentially alienate people who are there primarily to keep order, but at the same time (when they are with their families) might be in the same position as the protesters.
Fighting Bullies
A comment on the recent trend against bullying. How about this? Instead of ceaselessly analyzing the bully and what makes him tick, and just how much psychological damage is inflicted upon the victim, lets add a few things to the mixture: First, get the bullies parents to be responsible. Second, talk to the victim and get him/her to stand up for themselves. Not necessarily violently, but it’s not like bullying will ever end so how about we encourage the victim to start developing his/her own self-esteem a little early and tell them “no, you are very much worthy of yourself, be strong!!” See this way we can start helping the victims too, making them stronger, instead of just trying to get the bullies to listen. Both reprimanding the bully AND helping the victim can build much needed character.
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Perspectives
So these days, if you look up 1 sentence descriptions of any historical figure, and it tries to put them in a positive light it will always say “this person had a great respect for people, and always donated to the poor.” If we lived back 50 years ago and were looking the person up then we’d probably see this “this person hated black people, jews, and hispanics. the irish were growing on him but he could do without them. he never wanted women to vote though. most important though, he was a WASP.”
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