Relationships are the Only Real Transactions: Sacred Economics

Charles Eisenstein's recent book, 'Sacred Economics', discusses how our current economic and financial systems must change to more directly reflect and feed the metaphor of relationships they were initially created to reflect. The book is available for free download (with an option to give a gift of a payment too) on the website. This short film that accompanies Eisenstein's writing was produced by Velcrow Ripper. 

How Much Permission Do We Need?

Considering cultural policy are we valuing room for spontaneity and unsanctioned or unofficial (or 'officially' not allowed) art, cultural expression and community development? 

In his TEDxChristchurch presentation, Ryan Reynolds discusses the adolescent mind-frame of finding loopholes in policies to justify slightly subversive actions compared to an overly bureaucratic attitude towards anything occurring in the public realm (permit, insurance, licensing, etc requirements can be so onerous, they can stifle and stop creative expression and even simple community gatherings) that can be seen to be halting urban progress. This is especially important in cities like Christchurch NZ.

Christchurch was lambasted by multiple devastating earthquakes in 2011. Due to injuries and deaths and resulting mourning and mass out-migration, the city's social structures have been shredded. What does this have to do with arts policy and public policy?

The built environment literally shapes its own society - it is a reflexive, reciprocal relationship of influence. Though the city must obviously now consider amplified safety requirements for buildings, it must also allow things to get done, simple soft places for people to gather, connect, form community, share stories and remember. Also opportunities for economic development and entrepreneurial activities among a depressed economic situation too. According to Reynolds' presentation, thankfully it seems the city of Christchurch is considering the leniency in policy enforcement and a diversity of policy agendas necessary to allow for such things as pop up temporary architecture  displays and the other GapFiller projects Reynolds describes. 

Especially as funding for major arts and cultural organisations is becoming harder to secure, surely we must make it easier for grassroots efforts for local identities to be formed and express themselves in their localities?

References and Reading

For "Cultural Sustainability and Burning Man" I developed a decent body of reference materials and I'll share them, if you're nice... 

Oh, okay...!

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“The Gift” by Lewis Hyde discusses group formation and relationships created amongst a gift economy, which is one of the. Hyde’s analysis of other communities which explicitly practice gift giving as part of their culture offers an academically sound framework for the discussion of this idealized cornerstone of Burning Man culture. Readings regarding the un-sustainability of current population growth and consumption patterns (Erik Assadourian’s “The Rise and Fall of Consumer Cultures”, Wendell Berry’s “Faustian Economics” and Bill McKibben’s “Deep Economy”) provided further scholarly references for the point of departure from current mainstream cultural dogma that Burning Man culture advocates and offers.

When one is a part of Burning Man culture, by attending a ‘burner’ event or dedicating oneself to living the principles in everyday life, one may be removed from many of the definitive structures of ‘normality’. This may occur by literally retreating into a dusty desert, or by taking an exodus of the mindset and sense of self that has been previously constructed. Whatever the extent, Victor Turner’s “Liminal to Liminoid in Play and Flow and Ritual” supplies a rigourous and respected discussion of personal and philosophical expansion and transition, or what I had previously thought to be only hippy chatter.

Noyes, Dorothy. “Group,” The Journal of American Folklore 108 (1995): 449-478.

Noyes’ article, “Group” discusses the “impossibility” of a “neat definition” of the title term in a 1995 edition of the Journal of American Folklore dedicated to keywords of the field. As pioneers in this field now known as Cultural Sustainably, the slipperiness and yet imperative of creating and sharing definitions is of import. Noyes’ discussion of the fact “that groups are not homogenous,” is of great use to my discussion of the dramatically diverse Burning Man community and her description of fieldwork closely mirrors my initial interactions within this group, as does her assertion that “long and patient self-insinuation” is required for the practice – an investment I could not say I have yet fulfilled. The author’s own assertions and references to Ben-Amos, Burke and Hymes and Turner work to present a well textured understanding of ‘group’ and ‘identity’. Noyes concludes with a defeatist discussion of commodification, market society, the Situationists and the possibility that study of these is self-sabotaging which provides me with ample inspiration for the discussion of the counterculture which Burning Man is a part of.

Geertz, Clifford. The Interpretation of Cultures. Basic Books, 1993.

Geertz begins the introductory chapter to this book with what I believe is a description of the ideas “upon the intellectual landscape” which the counterculture of the 1960s and Burning Man are manifestations of. In a stroke of consoling honesty, Geertz states what I have suspected: “Anthropological writings are themselves interpretations… fictions, ‘something made’, ‘something fashioned’”, enabling me to pursue this research topic without the impossible aim of absolute understanding of the vast and varied culture and community of Burning Man. Geertz goes on to recognize the incoherence that is necessary for something so complex as a cultural system and the vast restrictions of our understanding of such an intricate entity, ending with the gross and gorgeous admission that “cultural analysis is intrinsically incomplete” and the advancement of the field is defined by “better informed and better conceptualized” studies that propel scientific debate, providing an appropriate framework and objective for this endeavor.

Costello, Donald P. “From Counterculture to Anticulture,” Review of Politics: America in Change: Reflections on the 60's and70's, Vol. 34, No. 4, (October 1972), 187-193.

Costello’s essay discussing the films Woodstock, Easy Rider and A Clockwork Orange as “the best films of the counterculture” demonstrates the point that the counterculture of the 1960s (and I argue Burning Man) is an iteration of a much larger social impetus than one decade or one label can contain. Discussing the prophetic, hopeful, warning and descriptive natures of the films, Costello questions what is next for this movement, acknowledging the intrinsically complementary nature of documentary and fiction and linking nicely with Geertz’ discussion of the field of cultural anthropology.

Cultural Sustainability and Burning Man: The creation, organization, expansion, challenge and current state of a counterculture

For my first term paper at Goucher, I considered cultural sustainability and the incredibly imprecisely defined community of Burning Man.... and I had a lot to say. Hold on.

Cultural Sustainability and Burning Man:

The creation, organization, expansion, challenge and current state of a counterculture

Subversion at Burning Man 2012 (c) Miriam Fathalla

Due to mass media coverage, social networking and a growing common cultural shift, Burning Man, the event (a one-week festival of freedom, fire and imagination met with determination and action in middle of a harsh desert environment), has attracted a huge influx of attention and demand to be a part of the community of attendee participants. This dramatic growth of the community is causing a lot of debate and discussion of if and how to include new members and if and how to define (and defend?) the ‘burner’ culture for new and old community members alike. Investigation of this counterculture reveals that it has faced and adapted to other challenges in the past.

Since the pivotal year of 1996, the sustainability of this culture has been consciously and strategically planned for by those central to the event’s annual happening. Now that the main central event has reached capacity, it is clear that attendance of the annual festival in the desert can no longer be a defining factor indicating cultural membership.  The community has gone through major defining moments as the event joined with the Cacophony Society and moved from Baker Beach to the Black Rock Desert in 1990, adapted to tragedy and growth in 1996, expanded and diversified its expressions in 2000, endured a challenge to the group’s leadership and identity in 2005 and the event reached capacity in 2011. Through these shifts, it is clear that this group has been practicing Cultural Sustainability as it has maintained a group identity through changing circumstances. This practice is unique and deserves recognition and analysis in order to inform its future application.

As the Burning Man event has grown and a community was formed, the definition of this culture has become ever more nebulous and therefore necessarily vague and varied, while its organizational and social structures have become more established. From two guys’ beach bonfire to a 60,000 strong radical experiment in self-expression, self-reliance, communal effort and alternative society creation in the most inhospitable place on earth, has Burning Man sustained its culture? What is threatening this culture now?

A lot scholarly analysis and critical chat is being applied to the question of defining and/or defending the Burner community, a countercultural group, amidst a dramatically intensifying mainstream media and cultural presence. Burning Man provides many with a personal life philosophy, a post-modern pseudo-religion, an opportunity to express and empower uncensored and unmitigated identities and/or a righteous party destination. A sense of authenticity and irreverence to the establishment is central to these possible interpretations of what Burning Man is. Therefore analysis of the definition and sustainability of what it means to be a member of this group, how the group is rapidly expanding and changing and if the group’s character is remaining genuine is of import as many more are joining the ranks and the community must figure out if and how to welcome and communicate the culture to new members.

Similar to the counterculture of the 1960s, the Burning Man counterculture is seeping into mainstream media, begging the analysis of this sub or counterculture. Is Burning Man maintaining legitimacy and authenticity, with its steroidal growth being simply testimony to this alternative paradigm’s relevance, applicability and appeal, or is the expanding community an indicator that the ever-deified ‘it’ (that everyone’s out to ‘get’) has succumbed to the hyper commercialization the community purports to be adverse to?

The Burning Man counterculture and community is a wave of the ocean of counterculture that has been lapping at the shores of the mainstream for a very long time; an alternate and current rendition of the counterculture. However this articulation of a culture of liberty, new forms of artistic expression, communal living, spiritual and consciousness expansion, distrust of power and authority and sexual emancipation has itself adapted to significant challenges since its birth out of a Cacophony society event in 1990.

Gang or Family? Apparently the FBI decides

Yesterday's post led me to further VICE reading...

In 2011 the FBI added Juggalos (ICP fans or ‘Family’) to their National Gang Threat Assessment List. Now images referring to the Insane Clown Posse or Juggalos  including clothing, tattoos, etc are considered gang apparel and people with such items considered gang members.

What does this say about the definition of ‘family’ (Juggalos’ self group definition) vs ‘gang’ (the FBI’s definition)?

What about the inclusion/confusion of commercial interests in community identity creation (I’m thinking of ‘brand’ing by sportswear, high fashion and other labels)?

What about the inclusion/confusion of government control in the commercial interests of those associated with this branding (ICP members, their record label employees and their merchandise chain employees gotta pay the rent too)?

And finally, how do we judge what ‘family’ relationships and social constructs are legal or not?

Even further reading: http://www.vice.com/read/land-of-juggalos-v14n10

And watching:

Occupy Love

http://www.viff.org/sites/default/files/styles/film_details/public/film-images/OccupyLove.jpg

Velcrow Ripper is a well known social change documentarian who recently released the film 'Occupy Love' which also features Eisenstien among many other social change activists. Occupy Love explores the social movement that got major attention from the Arab Spring to Occupy Wall Street, discussing the meaning of  love, and featuring some of the world’s key visionaries on alternative systems of economics, sustainability, and empathy.

The global community film launch is TODAY and a second wave of community screenings will be held May 3. Go to the website to find a screening near you, or organise one yourself!

Getting to know Baltimore: Dirt Bikes and State of the Reunion

"Baltimore is a city of many neighborhoods, of intense divides—racial, class, and otherwise– not easily overcome. It’s a city bogged down by a reputation for crime, poverty and dysfunction (thanks, in part, to the acclaimed TV show The Wire)—a reputation not entirely undeserved. But all of that often overshadows the passion and dedication many Baltimoreans have for their city, and for taking on what’s wrong with it in ways small and large."

http://arrestedmotion.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/gaia_baltimore_2.jpg

I've written about State of the Reunion before. As I was getting interested in Baltimore, the city I have signed up to visit twice a year 2012 - 2014, I started learning a little bit about this fascinating place and found a State of the Reunion podcast to help me out.

--

In my first visit to Baltimore to start my Master's program in Cultural Sustainability at Goucher College, I got a bit of a local’s tour of the city in July 2012. During our two and a half hour drive we saw (heard) a few dirt bikes; this perplexed me and my driver couldn’t explain. A month later said tour guide sent me a link to a VICE magazine article entitled "The Illegal Dirt Bike Gangs of Baltimore", that discusses this subculture and one man's mission to document it (see trailer below). 

I won’t comment on the validity, morals or sustainability of this subculture, but I highlight the tone of both the interviewer’s questions/reactions and the filmmaker’s comments as the documentation of the bike gangs and the documentation of the film-making are both ethnographic exercises. I wonder how you feel about these journalists’ comments? Also, note the viewer’s comments section; I find it fascinating how ‘us’ and ‘them’ can be such slippery and subjective constructs.

Cultural Sustainability... um, what?

In July 2012 I commenced my second attempt at a Master's degree at Goucher College in Baltimore, MD, studying Cultural Sustainability. I called my Dad from the train from the airport to my eagerly waiting couchsurf host and remembered that my parents had married in Maryland and lived in Baltimore before I was born. I was back where I was made. Hm.

Velesha inspects a traditional Mongolian mask in our Festivals Class.

"What's that?" is how absolutely everyone responds when I announce the course of my studies

Having only been coined 4 years ago by Goucher staff, cultural sustainability is a field that is constantly emerging and redefining itself for everyone who is associated with it. For me (today), it is an advancement of folklore and anthropology, looking to the our cultures of the present and what is desired for the cultures of the future (as opposed to describing and attempting to understand cultures of the other and the past) and considering what shared structures, processes and value systems need to be sustained today to get where we want to go.

The theoretical groundings of Cultural Sustainability are in the fields of anthropology, sociology, folk lore studies, sustainability and environmental studies, humanities and community arts. These disciplines all serve as platforms from which we innovators and co-creators of this new field of curated and intentional cultural evolution are preparing to spring forward from. Victor Turner, along with Clifford Geertz, propelled the development of interpretive anthropology, thus shaping what is understood as the contemporary discipline of anthropology. It is of some significance that Rory Turner (son of Victor)  is central to the development of the field of Cultural Sustainability as an integral player in the creation of the MACS program at Goucher. As Cultural Sustainability students we are quite literally a part of the next generation of the study of human experience, history and humanity. And as we pioneer this transitional space, we must be aware that our work is constantly serving to clarify and rationalize a currently slippery working definition of the cause. Therefore definitions and boundaries may shift from one person, or one day, to another as the field of Cultural Sustainability is being generated.

Me and Goucher College - how it all started

My application essay for the Master's of Cultural Sustainability at Goucher College

Goucher College

Masters of Arts in Cultural Sustainability

Application Essay

August 2012 Entry

Hi, I’m Miriam, a bi-racial US and Canadian citizen and permanent resident of Australia since 2005; my life has always been a study of culture. I’m an intensely curious person and the evolution of the societies and structures of the American Midwest that is unfolding underneath us fascinates me.  I know I can help this cultural shift happen better, and I want a stronger understanding of ethnography, anthropology, cultural documentation, theories of community and economic development and social entrepreneurship in order to ensure my efforts make the maximum positive impact on as many as possible.

As a child I could never authentically answer the over-used, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

When I was eight years old, my dad bought me a sweater with “Harvard” printed on it in puff-paint.

I loved puff-paint.

Now I said, “I want to be a lawyer.”

People seemed pleased with this, so I stuck with it.

My dad still asks, “Whatever happened to that plan.”

I didn’t know, and still don’t know, what I want to be when I grow up, but I have always known that it is absolutely necessary for me to make a much as a positive difference in as many lives as possible. This has evolved into my many self-penned mantra: Earn Your Oxygen.

And we're back! ... Kinda like Arrested Development

Okay - I got a bit confused there for awhile!

I was writing conference papers, research network presentations, master's course applications, then tumblr posts and coursework papers and in all of that I forgot to keep this going.

Well.

Now I've mined all of those resources and over the next few weeks I am going to walk readers through the process of my thoughts and actions of the past year.

I'm now half way through a Master's of Cultural Sustainability at Goucher College and have just produced the international debut of FIGMENT, an interactive arts event (FIGMENT Geelong) in Australia two weeks ago. I'm gearing up to write papers on FIGMENT's unique and deeply engaging effects on individuals and communities for the Vermont Folklife Centre's Cultural Sustainability Symposium and the IAP2 Conference.

I'm also getting ready to expand my event management experience by interning with the rapidly growing, impressively popular and superfuntime Anywhere Theatre Festival in Brisbane, helping with the Temple for Christchurch and gunning to get on the build crew for this year's Burning Man temple, the Temple of Wholyness. (That is if I don't get into City Lore's awesome Documentary Institute this August.)

Yep, it's all happening... and it's about time I documented and shared it on MiriamintheMidwest.com

Miriam in the Midwest: What’s next?

In case any readers are wondering, no I’m not in the Midwest at the moment (though, I will be back in a few weeks for a quick visit) but I am still doing things.

Also, my focus has shifted to investigating how the social structures of transformational festivals may be applied to post-industrial city recovery/resilience efforts to maximize their success. Yep, I'm saying how do we make Black Rock City Everywhere, USA.

I’m networking.

I've attended and interviewed organizers and enthusiasts of transformational festivals here in Australia. Check out Rainbow Serpent, Maitreya and ConFest.

I’ve recently joined up with the Culture and Community Research Network, a “partnership between the Centre for  Cultural Partnerships (CCP) at the University of Melbourne and the Cultural  Development Network (CDN), that  brings together researchers who are interested in cultural development, social change, creative methodologies, artistic intervention, practice based research and/ or community research themes to create a friendly and collegial interdisciplinary environment to present new research, share ideas and build networks.” YAY!

Check out the next few months’ schedule of speakers on topics such as participatory and creative research,  sustainable urban citizenship, interactive technologies for commemorating tragedy and sensory production of urban space...

I’m going to conferences.

Unfortunately I’m going to miss March and April’s CDN presentations. As previously mentioned, I’ll be back in the US Mar 22 – April 17 for some visiting and to attend the PCA/ACA National Conference in Boston. This event, jointly hosted by the Popular Culture Association and the American Culture Association, is 4 days with hundreds of presentations with strong subject areas of visual culture, public spaces, vampires, dance, fat studies and a ton more. I’m going to meet with other academics and researchers who are looking at currently evolving American culture and the emerging and growing subculture that is related to Burning Man and other transformational festivals

I’ve also submitted abstracts to meetings on Healthy Cities and Public Participation here in Australia and in Canada.

I’m reading.

In preparation for these discussions I’ve been reading some great books on Burning Man culture.

This is Burning Man by Brian Doherty was the first and is widely referred to as the best introduction to the event/phenomenon/community. I read it in preparation for my playa-bound bus trip and honestly, it kinda scared me.

Next, Katherine Chen’s Enabling Creative Chaos: the organization behind the Burning Man event is a great academic discussion of the perils and harbingers of under- and over-organizing and how the Borg has harnessed the positive attributes of both to manage a monstrously growing self-defining organism into the lottery-ticketed madness it is today. Chen’s site has links to more talks and media discussing burner culture that she has produced.

I’m now reading The Tribes of Burning Man: How an Experimental City in the Desert Is Shaping the New American Counterculture by Stephen T. Jones (playa name: Scribe). This book is the closest to what I want to do with my project; it introduces and discussed Burner culture and then compares it to a breadth of subculture groups that would not necessarily share a label with Burning Man event-goers but may still be called ‘us’.

From the T-Shirt to the Street Sign: CityFabric Cultivates Civic Ownership

When it comes to civic action I'm a big believer in 'Ask for forgiveness, not permission.'

I discovered CityFabric last year when I was putting together a quickly made irrelevant post on the proliferation, profanity and absolute awesomeness of crowd-sourced funding schemes.

 In April 2011, these guys launched a project through Kickstarter to sell t-shirts and other apparel with the screen-printed image of Raleigh,NC’s Nolli Map. Since the ridiculously huge success of this initiative in Raleigh, CityFabric is now producing products with similar maps for Austin, Atlanta, Boston, Brooklyn, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Durham, Manhattan, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, DC.

I’ve expressed my belief in the power of the T before and according to their website, “CityFabric is a simple tool to bring the discussion of cities and urban design to the general public. Our maps are a very easy way for people to tell a story about where they live. Communicating the process of change and design in the built environment is crucial for inspiring people to get involved in the decisions that determine the direction of their city… the more people talk about their place, the more they will get involved in their community.” (Damn, I really should’ve gone to Pitchfork last year..)

CityFabric has also branched out into more direct placemaking and civic co-creation actions or what they call “civic minded projects fueled by civic-minded products.”

Walk Raleigh, a super simple guerrilla project, placed 27 wayfinding signs in 3 Raleigh, NC intersections to highlight and promote the walkability of the area. The project has attracted great media attention (set to be featured on BBC News and NPR ) and though it was taken down by the city, it was so well recevied by the community, the project has made its way onto the Raleigh City Council meeting agenda for this Tuesday, March 6^th. 

Sign the petition to make this a reality and follow the project on Facebook.

The Atlantic Cities says, “This is tactical urbanism at its best: a fly-by-night citizen-led escapade whose whimsy could ultimately prompt real improvements to city amenities”. The project reminds me of that image of a friend of a friend renaming streets at Burning Man last year and gives fervor to my ideas that this temporary city of super active citizens (it's going to be so interesting to see who/how the population is this year) is full of urban improvement lessons for more permanent environments.

Dancing in Detroit

Detroit has always been on the cutting edge of music and dance creation.


On August 29 I stumbled into Jodies Svagr's dance class 'for the Passionate Ones'. Walking through a parking garage, I noticed people in Detroit's Start Gallery's windows long after opening hours. Shouting "What are you doing?" until I got their attention, I honestly wasn't surprised to then be invited to check out the space and this unique and edgy dance class.



The dancer in me has become an often overlooked and frustrated piece of my persona; this chance encounter provided much needed physical exertion for me as well as ever further contact with creative and motivated Detroiters. In my experience, Detroit is full of such wondrous happenstances.

This example of people recognizing their skills and putting them to use to benefit others, as well as the city itself, is not unique to Detroit but seems to be missing from other cities. I'm impressed by how the potential of Jodie's talent, under-utilised gallery space, reflective windows and evening hours are all combined to create one of the best dance classes I've ever attended.

Meredith: The Music Festival That Isn't Really about the Music

Okay, I'm not in the Midwest anymore (but I do have a ton to post on my experiences there still) but I like the alliteration and I already paid for the domain name.

Also, I'm still finding 'emerging economic and social structures' that I'm keen to share, so here we go!

Previous to actually going and seeing for myself, I kind of wrote off the Meredith Music Festival as an elitist, self-selected group of Melbourne hipsters and cool kids who thought too much about what they were going to wear camping. (Hm. Sounds kinda like what I thought about Burning Man before I went too.) But this year I was given a free ticket (to the completely sold-out and balloted event) and a few hours' paid work, so I went along with no expectations. And those are the best kind. I knew I'd be serving up tapas with sass, but I was surprised to find myself on the receiving end of a fresh helping of 'and you thought you knew what's up, didn't you?'

The 21rst Meredith Music Festival was held December 9-12, 2011 near the otherwise unknown town of Meredith, a mere 46 kilometres (we're in the Commonwealth now, folks) away from my Australian hometown. Meredith kicks off the Australian summer festival season and tickets to the non-commercial, fun and friendly-vibed camping weekend are madly coveted by all good creative class members.

Meredith is the brainchild of a guy who got lost in the woods of his own property.

At the end of a sticky summer day in 1989, Jack Nolan drove his tractor another way home and got lost in the brush and bramble of a part of his farmland that hadn’t been used in years. The tractor seized and Jack realized the beauty and potential of the natural amphitheater he had stumbled upon. “Hmmmm”, thought Jack. “Build a stage, whack a heap of bands on one weekend, provide free camping and cheap food and there could be a totally independent festival of great live music every year.”

As an article on the 2010 event states, “If there’s one thing punters take home with them from the Meredith Music Festival, it's the communal vibe. (It) isn't just about 12,000 people snuggling away in the natural countryside and enjoying some of the best music Australia has to offer.”

The emphasis on supporting local community groups, the local economy and a co-created shared experience makes this event stand out in the Australian summer music festival circuit. A camping weekend set in stunning Australian bush land with a single stage that hosts acts from Appalacian folk to hard psych rock to hip hop and 80s reunion acts (and that was all just this year) adds to the vibe of a shared experience that has room for everyone. Attendees commonly report meeting friends at Meredith.. and then meeting them again and again each year (most return as often as the ballot process allows them too).

Janet Started the Dance Party Revolution: my night with the Occupy Chicago Alley Cats (Happy Birthday Occupy!)

image credit: http://endrtimes.blogspot.com/

November 17, 2011 marks the two month anniversary of Occupy Wall Street and the 9 month anniversary of the start of the Libyan revolution. To celebrate these milestones, I’m posting pieces on the two nights I have spent with two Occupy sites: Occupy Chicago and Occupy Portland.

In case you’ve been in a Hide’n’Seek championship, here’s a brief description of the Occupy movement from the Occupy Wall Street. 

Occupy Wall Street is an ongoing series of demonstrations that began September 17, 2011, in New York City's Wall Street financial district. The activist group Adbusters promoted the NYC protests which helped over 1,500 global cities (over 100 in the USA) get the idea to join in too. The movement is inspired by popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia and focuses on social and economic inequality, high unemployment, greed, corruption and the undue influence of corporations—particularly that of the financial services sector— on government. The Occupy slogan “We are the 99%” refers to the growing difference in wealth between the wealthiest 1% and the rest of the population.

Dance Party Revolution: my night with the Occupy Chicago Alley Cats

November 4, 2011, one year from when I will next cast my vote to decide who will lead the USA, I showed my support for a nation that I pledge even more allegiance to: the rhythm nation. In fact, let's just remember Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation's iconic video now - the lyrics are just as appropriate too.

lyrics: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/j/janet+jackson/rhythm+nation_20069561.html

It was Friday night and I wanted to create bike gang with banging beats; what I got was a crash course in revolution (so many puns intended) when I joined the Occupy Chicago ‘Alley Cats’, a roving crew of Occupy cyclists posting and pasting pamphlets from the Chicago Loop to Humboldt Park (my home neighborhood).

image: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/28/occupy-chicago-denied-per_n_1063798.html#s427938

The Party Bike

I turned up at ‘the Horse’, the main demonstration site of Occupy Chicago, around 8pm with my iPod speakers bumping some old school TLC from their perch atop my front basket and swinging my LED hula hoop. I’m more about parties than protests. I quickly made friends with stalwart Occupiers and I doubt this was solely due to the music and hoop trick lessons I brought as my offerings to the cause. I was upfront about the fact that I was there to have fun and be in a bike gang and that I would like to learn about Occupy Chicago but was not completely aware of exactly what it was all about.