Pre-Occupied with Occupy Wall Street

Or, "How I'm missing a historical movement in my backyard while working for the man."

Man, it's so taxing worrying about what you're missing, isn't it? Now I've done this with lots of stuff throughout my life - mainly in the form of career paths not taken, but also opportunities missed or avoided because I'm a fake introvert. A long-ish list of various instances over the years includes parties, dates, drugs the feeling of school spirit, intrepid teen journalism, rock climbing, female sports superstardom (a.k.a. sports obscurity except for enthusiastic families of the players and Paul Giamatti-esque single men), improv comedy superstardom, quirky indie music lyricist, quirky indie star of stage and screen, English literature grad student, beloved professor, beloved bartender, wearing of various skirts (or other female garb), screenwriter w/hit female comedy, top chef, urban farmer, horse trainer, poker genius, and marathoner.

Perhaps my tendency to lament all the paths not taken explains why the Mindy Kaling's brilliantly-titled new book, Is Everyone Hanging Out with Me? (And Other Concerns) seems like something I'll eventually read.

But back to the point of this post - now I add Occupy Demonstrator to my list of woulda shoulda couldas. I can't help but feel I've missed an opportunity in observing or documenting the Occupy Wall Street movement. I feel like a character in Mad Men, blithely mentioning their friend was going to "some stupid concert" in Woodstock, NY. The difference, I suppose, is that OWS is still going on, so I guess it's not too late to join up and start not bathing my way to equality, but a weekly yoga class is about as close as I come to embracing a group movement, and even that is a little much most of the time (For example, the last class I went to, the teacher kept saying, "Remember, angels can fly because they take themselves so lightly" and waggling his eyebrows meaningfully. Instead of inspiring me to dig deeper in my half pigeon, this quote became obsessively lodged in my brain as completely nonsensical. If there's anyone who doesn't take themselves lightly, it's angels. Divine justice missions and flaming swords are not exactly casually conceived, after all.)

The point is, I won't be performing group consensus hand signals or pitching a tent in Zuccotti Park anytime soon. But I am fascinated by the entire thing as a cultural observer - the loose formation of a paradigm shift, the constant conversation, and the emergence of people actually doing things in real life (not on a video game, not on a reality show, not *just* on the Internet, not for a Kia-sponsored flashmob or anything else related to the typically fake and technologically advanced world of obesity and sloth and shitty voter turnout we've all come to be disappointed by).

This is something actually exciting, and actually a result of real people and real problems. And I guess I just assumed that despite its flaws (wtf is their goal, again?) and the obvious target they make for mockery (did I mention the group consensus hand signals?), just the fact that our democracy is able to muster up this scrap of authenticity and action in its garage sale of sponsored chotchkies and FOX news snake oil and made-in-tv-studios sentimental ornaments should be celebrated, in my opinion. I feel like in all our rummaging around in boxes of broken toys and self-help books, we pulled out vintage revolutionary poster (somehow) in mint condition. It's kind of nice, that people, you know, believe in stuff.

In the past couple of weeks I've found myself defending the Occupy movement for this reason alone, even though I definitely don't know everything about its progress, nor do I necessarily feel like a participant. After all, I like my credit card rules (some would say I pay my monthly fee with a religious fervor), and my nice job, and my creature comforts. But I don't think that the OWS demonstrators just want a free ride, or want to punish successful people, or are college kids that are pissed because they can't pay their student loans and feel sorry for themselves.

Even if all those arguments that make OWS seem silly may be partly true, so is the part of the argument that got hundreds of thousands of people paying attention. Namely, that there was little accountability for the financial entities and masters of the universe that made millions off of playing fast and loose with the savings of middle America. That a person who can't afford health insurance and has an unexpected medical problem may be financially underwater for the rest of his or her life. That no one will ever pay off their student loans, ever, even though the bootstrap-arguers would agree that most decent jobs in America require a college degree. Even if just one or two of the stories of people losing everything, being unable to get a job, or feeling completely helpless no matter how hard they try are true, the inequities are worth pointing out, and the solutions are worth debating.

Much has been said about the OWS movement being a muddled consensus, with no leaders, and no narrowing of goals. While that approach has its flaws (mainly it's hard to argue with people who think the movement will go nowhere for those reasons), it's fascinating to watch it play out - and unless the proceedings turn violent, I'm on board as a passive supporter and active opinion spewer. It's actually made me feel kind of hopeful about the country - and given me the first signs that we aren't all going to be technologically cocooned assholes constantly choosing which flavor of tortilla chips we want to buy from TraderWalfoods.com ten years down the road.