Occupy Houston
Tomorrow kicks of the beginning of Houston’s participation in the OccupyTogether movement.
TIME: Thursday, October 6 – Ongoing
LOCATION:
Neet at Market Square Park at 8:30am on October 6. Pick up a sign if you don’t have one. Meet your fellow protesters, and get ready to march!
At 9:00am we march to J.P. Morgan Chase Tower downtown.
After an hour of speaking out against corporate corruption, at 10:00am we head toHermann Square and begin our occupation.
I’m a bit torn here. On one hand, I’m not really the protesting type. I’m pretty lazy and lack the outward enthusiasm necessary. That’s true for most things, no matter how excited I am about some things, I’m usually pretty reserved. That was one reason for this blog, I can be more expressive with words.
Part of me fears, I’ll drive down there, there will be a handful of people that perfectly fit the “dirty hippie” stereotype, and I’ll walk away. I’m a clean, middle class, uptight, boring hippie. I believe in many of the same things (socialized universal healthcare, no drug war, progressive taxes, social security, equitable pay, etc) but I don’t drink, smoke, do drugs, socialize, get art, etc and DO enjoy my tv, video games, fancy commercial products, popular music and owning a home, etc.
I also fear that it will be a small gathering and I will lose heart in the chances of the movement in achieving anything. Alternatively, I also hate being in large gatherings of people. I’ve very introvert that way.
On the other hand, I agree with the goals and purpose of this protest movement. In order for change to happen, it needs people of all types to go down and show support. This movement is slowly starting to build up steam and for it to have any impact on society, it needs to reach a critical mass. A mass of people that can not be ignored or simply dismissed by the media and the rest of the country. That requires people to get off their ass and participate (yeah, mirror, I’m talking to you).
Either way, I have no intention of joining the group of people staying there full time. I have a pregnant wife to take care of and a book to write, but there’s nothing stopping me from going down for a few hours, especially on this first day. Except my own laziness and social awkwardness.
4 Comments
Hilary · October 7, 2011 at 1:08 pm
I feel like you feel! Good summary. Except substitute “business to run” for “pregnant wife” 🙂
I also feel bad about not being there because I imagine explaining to my kids 20 years from now that… “Yeah, the revolution of my time was the Occupy series of events… No, I didn’t go. Why? Um…. I dunno. Just didn’t. Yeah, I pretty much missed it. I read about it on the news sometimes.”
It’s kind of hard to live with myself when I think about it that way.
Maarkean · October 7, 2011 at 1:16 pm
Indeed. Turns out I had a dentist appointment Thursday at the same time the march was supposed to happen. It’s a poor excuse, but those take months to reschedule.
Fortunately, the movement is just getting started. Spreading the word is the best way to be involved right now. It’s not very well portrayed in the media, so most people don’t know what it is or that it even exists.
Plenty of time to swing by later, as it is an occupation that won’t end anytime soon.
Hilary · October 14, 2011 at 1:55 pm
BTW, I did go out to Occupy Houston on Wednesday night. It’s a smallish group (I think around 20 sleep there, but around 60 or so participate during the day), but big enough to do something, and they’re dedicated. They’re also well organized, with a medic station, food team, legal team, media team, etc. It’s not a bunch of dirty hippies — it’s mostly normal-looking young people.
I also participated in one of their General Assembly meetings; it was interesting, and nifty, to be a direct part of a truly democratic process.
So, point being, you can still swing by for a coupla hours here and there, as you said, and I don’t *think* you’d want to turn around and leave as soon as you got there.
Maarkean · October 15, 2011 at 3:14 pm
I stopped by before the scifi meeting on mon. Donated some food. It was cool but small. I want to go to a ga meeting at some point. It sounds really cool.
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