1. A jury in Athens, Georgia is deciding whether or not to convict a man accused of targeting two women for rape, sodomy, and other sexual battery just because they were homeless and addicted to drugs. Avery Christopher Bradford, 47, was charged with rape after the two women came forward with allegations. The second rape allegedly occurred three months after Bradford was released on his own recognizance after spending one year in jail on the previous charge. The Athens Banner-Herald reports that the prosecutor told the jury “These two women were brutally raped by this man for his own pleasure…They didn’t ask for it; they didn’t deserve it.” Bradford’s public defender stood up for his client saying that he believed in his innocence and that these alleged sexual incidents were merely payment for drugs.

2. A man who says he became homeless as a result of Hurricane Katrina has been ordered by the Colorado Department of Transportation to abandon his camp alongside a road outside Pueblo, the Associated Press reports. The department has accused the man of trespassing and being a nuisance. He was given three days to leave, but has not retained an attorney who is challenging the order.

3. Police in South Bend, Indiana are investigating whether shots fired at a man standing in line for a church weather amnesty shelter were the result of a hate crime based on the man’s housing status. The South Bend Tribune reports the man had a hole in his clothing but was not injured when a driver indiscriminately fired at him outside a United Methodist church. The man said he had no known enemies.

4. Lawmakers in Rhode Island are debating one legislators proposal to created a “Homeless Bill of Rights” to protect people from discrimination in public housing and employment. Democratic Sen. John Tassoni is introducing the bill for a hearing in the Senate, according to the Associated Press. Advocates say the bill is necessary because people without homes are discriminated not only in these areas but in other basic liberties like sitting in the park.

5. The Knoxville News Sentinel issued a scathing editorial against Tennessee lawmakers after the state fell 14 spots in the rankings of states offering the best services and protections to children experiencing homelessness. The National Center on Family Homelessness issued its “America’s Youngest Outcasts of 2010” report in which Tennessee now ranks 39th compared to its ranking of 24th in 2006, a move the newspaper called “the wrong direction.” The newspaper admitted it is unlikely state legislators beginning their session in Nashville will take the time to address the problem, but countered that  “[i]t’s time lawmakers begin paying attention.” The editorial said the issue goes beyond housing because children experiencing homelessess suffer many more negative health effects and struggle to succeed in basic educational goals which is costly to the state.

Due to an odd set of circumstances, the Occupy Cincinnati group has found itself getting up-front-and-personal with several horses of late. No, we have not chosen to occupy the farm country in the suburbs. The occurrences were both downtown, both at Piatt/Garfield Park.

During the long, warm fall, our group’s GA (General Assembly) meetings were held each night around the statue of President Garfield near the library.

Every night, a string of horse-drawn, open buggies carrying tourists through our fair city would make the left turn onto 8^th Street, with the curious passengers ogling our meetings. Many of us demonstrators would wave to the folks in the buggies, and often they would wave back. We felt like ambassadors for our city, providing the tourists with something a little different to talk about during their equine-enabled tour.

Then, on the Saturday before Christmas, as we held our afternoon GA, we were startled by a strange incident involving one of these same, ornately-festooned carriages, this one bereft of both passengers and driver.

Suddenly we heard the clatter of thundering hooves. One of the horses was running at a good gallop up on the far sidewalk going northbound on Vine, the buggy swinging wildly behind. Fortunately, no cars were approaching as horse and carriage raced through the intersection.  When it hit the curb nearest the library, the carriage bounced violently, almost overturning. Then when runaways reached 9th, the spooked horse took a hard right against the flow of traffic. The buggy seemed ready to fall apart. We Occupiers watched in amazement.

Immediately, in mad pursuit, came two squad cars, their sirens blaring. I heard someone in our group say, “Now they are really gonna scare that poor horse.” Later, we were told that the incident ended safely for the horse. Apparently, it tried to run between a car and a van at a stop light on Walnut and the carriage jammed itself against the back of the two vehicles, trapping the frightened horse between them.

The following Saturday, January 7, we demonstrators were confronted by another incident involving a horse, this one with a rider. About thirty-five of us were celebrating the three-month “anniversary” of Occupy Cincinnati, with a march from Lytle Park, the movement’s original home, to Piatt Park, our adopted home, where the ill-fated encampment had taken place.

Along the march route, we were carrying several colorful tents, fully set up, to commemorate the time when 25 tents had “occupied” the little park in the middle of 8^th Street. Both tents sported signs. One said, in bold letters, “We Are In “Tents.” We had bullhorns and music. Everyone was in a festive mood, as we arrived back at Piatt Park.

Then something happened that dampened our spirits. One of our own, long-time Occupier (and Streetvibes salesman), James Brown, was apprehended by the police for walking in the street. James apparently had had too much to drink, but none of the demonstrators felt he had done anything that warranted him being cuffed and arrested. We shouted and yelled. Instead of “This is what democracy looks like,” (referring to our own exercise of our Constitutional rights), we shouted, “This is what a Police State looks like!”

Several of us tried to talk the police into letting us take care of James and get him safely home, but they would have none of it. By the time they put him into the first of the patrol cars, five police cars had collected there along Vine Street, all this to arrest one small, non-violent man.

Oh, yes, there was 6^th (or 7^th or 8^th) police officer, a Mountie, on a huge black horse.

Many of us had walked out into the cross-walk, and all of us kept shouting, “Free James Brown,” over and over. One demonstrator, who gave his name as “Tequila,” told us had just arrived back in Cincinnati from Occupy Portland (Or). He was an African American, probably 6’3”, and he had commandeered one of our large American flags on a flagpole.

Occupier James Brown in the back of the police car, and officer Jones mounted on the horse that he uses to repeatedly push Occupier "Tequila." Photo: Courtesy of Occupy Cincinnati

This young man stood in the middle of the crosswalk as the police officer moved his horse around to him, bumping into him again and again. As the horse pushed him around,

Tequila seemed not to even notice. Waving his flag in the air, he refused to look at the angry cop, or to acknowledge him in any way. Several times, I glanced down to notice that the horse had very nearly stepped on the man’s foot.

Finally the incident ended, and we processed, with our tents again in hand to the Injustice Center (jail), where we held a mini-GA, and expressed our frustration and anger at having one of us arrested for what we saw as a non-crime.

As I mulled over the incident, I felt that this display of macho bravado, on the part of the cop (and the overkill of unnecessary arrest, symbolized, in a very clear way, the manner in which most of the police around the country have chosen to deal with us Occupy protestors. We are standing up to the Corporate Elite who believe they can control our lives. The cops act almost as puppets of the 1%. Over the months, we Occupiers have told them repeatedly that we are acting in their interest as well on behalf of all oppressed people. Our hope is that, at some point, they will stop horsing around join us in the struggle.

Wednesday January 18, 2012 and Wikipedia goes offline for 24 hours in protest over the SOPA bill, and its cousin PIPA, that threatens to bring huge scale censorship to the internet. Over 7000 other sites, including Google, have joined the protest against the bill introduced three months ago by Texas Republican Lamar Smith. On the surface the bill is a pro-Hollywood act to protect the media industry from piracy, but many see this as a big governmental step to seize greater control over the Internet. 2011 saw the Internet mature into its adulthood, (and no we’re not talking about adult content, that aspect was there before the first modem ever went online) the Arab Spring protests and subsequent Occupy Movement seem like the result of a generation born after the arrival of the Internet who are now old enough to vote and are definitely old enough to make a difference.

So is it really mere coincidence that the month after the Neo-Democracy movement hits America that the Republican reaction is to introduce a censorship bill? For decades “wacky” liberals have been spouting rhetoric about civil rights and equality, but now that the general public (i.e. the 99%) are starting to lean this way too, we see a rapid reaction from “our” elected officials to clamp down on our rights. 2011 was also the same year that the Senate passed laws allowing the government to declare the U.S. part of the war zone and thereby empower the military to arrest U.S. citizens on U.S. soil without charge or representation. Strange days indeed when the paranoid amongst us are being proved right.

For now SOPA has been shelved, but PIPA is still lingering. Emphasis should be placed on the word shelved; those who want to see this sort of control enacted are patient and will bide their time. Progressives also need to be patient and prepare ourselves for a lifetime of vigilance; a civil rights victory is not guaranteed to be permanent unless we keep a watchful eye over the liberties that we have won. Perhaps a moderate dose of paranoia a day is a healthy thing.

If on April 4, 1968, Revered. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had survived being shot at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis he might have turned 83-years-old this month. There is no doubt in people’s minds about the legacy that followed Dr. King’s death, but there could be endless debate as to what would he have done with those extra 44 years had he lived. What might the country have looked like if Martin Luther King Jr. had continued to into the 21^st Century with his activism?

Monday, January 16, 2012, many hundreds gathered downtown outside the Freedom Center to celebrate and remember the achievements of Dr. King, but a smaller gathering started the march from across the river in Newport, Kentucky. Occupy Cincinnati was invited by the MLK Jr. Coalition to join them in a ceremonial ringing of the World Peace Bell to acknowledge how the activism of the Occupy Movement today is a continuation of the Civil Rights Movement of past years. The spirit of social justice and civil equality runs through history into the present.

Hundreds of people march up Vine Street toward Fountain Square. Photo: Jason Dean

The Occupiers had got there early to enjoy a breakfast together before braving the cold with their signs and banners; however, it was not actually that cold. For mid January it was the type of mild above freezing winter’s day that taps you on the shoulder and reminds you of Global Warming issues. After the ringing of the bell, the Occupiers set off through Newport and across the Taylor-Southgate Central Bridge, chanting as they marched; into Cincinnati and upward and onward toward the Freedom Center.

A hundred or so were already waiting at the Freedom Center, but not long after the Occupiers arrived other groups began to convene at the museum: Planned Parenthood gaining signatures, Public Allies, The Alpha Esquires Youth Group, Omega Psi Phi, and others. The Red Cross provided much appreciated hot drinks to keep the crowd warm and jovial. Police cars closed off the section of Vine Street outside the Freedom Center, and before long it was filled with people of all ages and races, gathered to remember the dream of Martin Luther King Jr.

Photo: Jason Dean

The day’s official program began at 10:30 a.m. when TV and radio’s Courtis Fuller, the charismatic master of ceremonies, addressed the gathering with his broad grin and energized voice. More subdued reflections and prayers were then led by Pastor Michael Suggs, of the Light of the World Ministries, and Tarek Elmessidi, of the Islamic Association of Cincinnati, but all speakers were well received with rapt attention from most of the crowd. Shortly after, the march began and several hundred people began the walk up Vine Street. A bus followed for procession for those less able to walk, but it was mostly empty; a fitting symbol of the bus boycotts of the Civil Rights Movement.

The march came to a pause at Fountain Square where Fuller once more livened the crowd and introduced the next set of speakers to provide reflection and prayer. Rabbi Miriam Terlinchamp, of the Temple Sholom, and Pastor Lesley Jones, of the Truth and Destiny Covenant Ministries, gave messages of peace and unity to the diverse gathering. Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls and County Commissioner Todd Portune joined ministers and children on the Fountain Square stage, and milling around the crowd was the grinning, former city councilman, Jim Tarbell. Smiles adorned the vast majority of faces in the crowd; a sense of accomplishment in so many different people being together and a sense of joy in recognizing that the commonality outweighed those differences. While the killing of Dr. King is tragic, there was a strong celebration of his life, ideals, and how to keep that energy alive in these times when it is most needed.

Shortly after 11 a.m. the march continued to its stopping point at Music Hall, where the next stage of the program awaited. At this phase of the march Roxanne Qualls and Todd Portune took their place at the front of the march with other community leaders. It was particularly striking to see Portune joining the march; the two crutches that support his weakened frame spoke volumes to his support of the progressive cause.

"Activism makes me feel happy," says Michael O'Brian. Photo: Jason Dean

As the march arrived at Music Hall a few drops of rain began to fall; up until then the predicted bad weather had been gracious enough to leave the crowd alone. Fortunately the next part of the schedule was inside the warmth and comfort of the great opera house. Occupy Cincinnati and some others remained on the steps to hold banners aloft, while the rest of the march proceeded inside to find a seat.

A huge choir of men and women, boys and girls, all dressed in bright colors that painted a palate of diversity, sat on raised bleachers on the stage. Around noon Edith Thrower, President of the Martin Luther King Jr. Coalition, stepped out in front of the choir and up to the stage’s podium to welcome the hundreds of people who now rested their feet after the 13 block walk up the hill. In addition to further reflections on Dr. King, Thrower also took time to pay homage and respect to the late Reverend Dr. Fred Shuttlesworth who died in October of 2011; just like King, Shuttlesworth had devoted his life to social justice and activism, but unlike King, Shuttlesworth lived to be 89-years-old before dying.

Thrower handed the stage over to Fuller and the 90-minute program of beautiful songs from the Ad Hoc Interfaith Youth Choir and the Martin Luther King Chorale, and speakers. Betty Daniels Rosemond; in May of 2011, Rosemond appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show as one of the surviving 189 Freedom Riders, and on this MLK Day she shared her stories of fighting racism in the South.

From start to finish, the day’s schedule was very well organized and well received by those attending. The day was to remember a great person, but overwhelmingly the theme of the speeches kept coming back to the fact that the work is not over; the struggle for social equality continues, but we must not lose hope, or each other.­

In 1982 in the whole country in the whole year it was estimated that between 250,000 and 500,000 people experienced homelessness.  Relative to national economics, the Reagan Administration told us that if we put our dollars into the top; big business, the dollars would “trickle down.”  The people at the top of the economic pyramid would purchase big houses built by people who buy nice cars, built by people who eat at the local hamburger joint serviced by people like the rest of us; the money would work its way down.  The problem is that the plan was never meant to truly benefit everyone and because of greed, the money did not work its way down.  By 1986, following the Reagan Administration’s cuts to housing and basic services to put the dollars into big business and the military as a part of Reagan’s “supply-side theory,” “trickle-down economics” or “Reaganomics” that 250,000 to 500,000 in 1982, to an estimated three million people who experienced homelessness in 1986.  It is in this era that we created modern-day homelessness.

In 1989 a “Housing NOW” March on Washington was planned to take on this new phenomenon of massive homelessness.   They knew that the primary cause of homelessness was a lack of affordable housing, because so many units of affordable housing had been lost due to enormous financial cuts and gentrification.  In 1989 the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless, working with its Members and Partners, sent 500 people to the “Housing Now” March.  500 people is a big number of people to travel from Cincinnati to Washington D.C. and certainly took a big effort to organize.

Consider today, do we still see homelessness as a phenomenon that must be ended quickly?  If we don’t, we must again.  We have got to change the conversation.  We cannot talk about homeless shelters as absolutes or as the primary response to a housing crisis.  We put far too much burden on the shoulders of our wonderful shelters.  When an individual or a family is facing losing their home the first response should not have to be shelter, we should have a system that responds to that issue and prevents the need to go to shelter.   We must also back our perspective up even further; we must ask the questions of what could have happened so that the individual or family would have never needed assistance to prevent the need for shelter.  What could have prevented them from facing the potential loss of their home?  The primary answer comes in three parts:  affordable housing, living wage employment and access to good healthcare.  The lack of each of these is the three primary causes of homelessness in this country and the delivery of these three needs is the primary solution to homelessness.

We must shift our thinking, we cannot only talk about what to do when an individual or family experiences homelessness as if that is their chosen path or somehow their fate.  To do so is not only short-sighted and undermines the strength of the individual and the family, but it also over-burdens our shelters.  To do so is like saying the only groups responsible for doing something about homelessness are the shelters and the rest of us are off the hook.  The work that our shelters in Hamilton County are currently doing is amazing.  With not nearly enough resources and a large demand, they are sustaining the lives of individuals and families in great need, working diligently to assist them in getting to a preferred life.  Our shelters are performing very well and acting as models to shelters in other places, but homelessness must be taken on by all of us.   We must work for the next step; when shelter is the response after prevention has been fully accessible in the way of affordable housing a preventative assistance.  Homelessness must be prevented and no longer assumed.

It has occasioned my thoughts as to, why do people wait until the end of each year and then decide to create resolves for the coming year? Of course I have been guilty of the exact same thing in the past, only today I have a bit of a different view.

The idea that I need a resolve for some of the instances, issues, or troubles that affect my life is an ongoing phenomenon and cannot be solved by some yearly connotation of relief such as a new years resolution. The fact remains that I must encounter each episode as a fact at hand, and emplace whatever solution for resolve with immediacy, otherwise the issue becomes more instilled in my day to day reality then a mere connotation can satisfy.  Making a plan of resolve at a particular time in lieu of a particular occasion is to me quite ludicrous, in fact down right absurd in the sense that I think that I will be able implement the decree! Honestly, every resolution that I have ever made in the name of the New Years was soon forgotten! It’s as if we can just make an onhands decision about our shortcomings and then like magic they disappear with a few words. I would suggest that many resolutions are spontaneous and come from the tradition of making such pronouncements just for the occasion.

Now I wouldn’t want anyone to misunderstand me. I am not saying that one should not make a New Year’s resolution, only I feel that we should be more attentive to our plans, in so much as, saying that a resolution should always begin when the problem arises!  When I am troubled, the problem again, calls for immediate resolve, or at least some immediate sort of plan of action for relief. Usually a resolution is only momentary, and as soon as the moment passes the relief plan goes as well. The end result I have to keep resolving the same issues. Then, I also realize that each of us has to confront our shortcomings, and that there is no one solution for everyone or every problem, it just appeals to me that making a yearly resolve is not much of away to relief whatever dilemma I wish to overcome. We have to confront our issues, troubles, or problems from our oppositions and get the relief the best way we can! If it is no more then a mere resolve through a self- committed resolution, then we won’t necessarily have to commit ourselves year after year, and just think all our troubles will be over! So, I suggest that we be very careful about committing ourselves to the age -old tradition of New Years desolating and confront those issues as they come.

Well, I don’t want to attempt to dissuade anyone on their ideas or approach toward relief for their troubles etc. but that is they way I see resolve! Immediate like in right now! So as we began this New Year let us not be caught up in resolving that which has passed, but let us began the eradication of those shortcomings that we are to encounter throughout the year.

Peace, and let it be a good year for us all.

With the closures of Covington’s Mad Hatter and Newport’s Southgate House this past year, local music fans have lost two major music venues. This has made many curious as to where shows will take place now since so many shows rolled through both venues. Fortunately for the Cincinnati area, there are many great venues still around, but a question that not many know how to answer is how does one actually get a show booked in these venues.

If you speak with Jimmy Nielsen, singer/guitarist for Doctor Bombay and the Atomic Bachelor Pad, the booking process all boils down to good business sense. And he should know; he’s been booking shows in the Cincinnati area for over a decade. “You always have to present it [the show] like a business. The business side is the side that everyone hates,” Nielsen explained. Luckily, many Cincinnati venues have quality websites with a booking contact listed. This makes it very easy for bands to get a hold of their right person and start setting up a show quickly and efficiently.

Jimmy Nielson (second from right) brings many years of experience to latest music project known as Doctor Bombay and the Atomic Bachelor Pad. Photo: Courtesy of Jimmy Nielson

However, Nielsen explained that just an email to the listed contact isn’t enough. “Because they’re websites, not knowing when they’re updated, you’ve got to do your due diligence and give them a call,” Nielsen said. This due diligence and taking the extra steps extended past an email and a phone call to the venue’s booking contact. “Even though it’s not said, it’s expected that you have either an electronic press kit or a hard copy one, consisting of a CD with a couple songs or a place where, digitally, you can listen to a couple of songs, information on shows you’ve played before, band bio, etcetera,” Nielsen said.

If the appropriate work is put in, Nielsen said that the booking contacts are generally receptive to new and aspiring bands, and working with them to book a successful show. Many of the booking agents are either musicians themselves, former musicians or connected in the scene in other ways. Bands just have to remember that the venues are businesses and they’re looking for assurances that the show will be successful and make them money. “All venues want to know that you’re going to have a draw and understandably so, they’re running a business, they want to know that people are going to be there,” Nielsen said.

That responsibility falls on the bands, not the venues to guarantee. Once the show is set up, the promotion process starts and, once again, treating the procedure like a business is paramount. Nielsen is a fan of going old-school. A Facebook announcement isn’t enough. Flyers, stickers, and other tactics are just as important, as they get the band’s name out into the public, including those who’ve never heard of it.

Going old-school is very important for new bands. In Cincinnati, name recognition for both the band and the booker are very important. For new bands, just starting out, earning that name recognition is a major hurdle. Nielsen explained that he earned his good name by working with other bands, often playing shows for free, to establish himself. “Not having a name locally, showing that you can promote yourself and your band, it was a lot more difficult to get in on stuff. I had to work with other bands because the venues weren’t giving us opportunities; it was other bands that were opening the doors,” Nielsen said.

Nielsen has seen Cincinnati’s scene grow over eleven years of playing and booking shows. His opinion of the local music scene is positive. He firmly believes that, if bands work hard, network, take the extra step and craft a strong product, the local venues will respond in kind. “Treat it like a business. Present yourself in a professional manner, don’t half ass it. S**t in, s**t out,” is Nielsen’s final advice. New bands would do well to take heed.

1.  A man experiencing homelessness was brutally assaulted in Memphis, Tennessee, on Dec. 30, and police have yet to make any arrests. Michael Young, 35, remains hospitalized after he was beaten and shot by a group of four men who randomly attacked him, according to local news station Fox13. As he was sitting along the road, the group stopped and asked Young if he had “raped anybody,” and when Young replied, “no,”  the group began beating him and he was later shot before the beating continued. Local homeless advocates say people like Young are vulnerable targets of gang initiations, but police have declined to call the activity gang related.

2.  Police in Orange County, California, are passing out fliers warning people experiencing homelessness that they could be targeted for attack.  The alert resulted because three separate attacks have occurred since Dec. 21, 2011. Lloyd Middaugh, 42, and James McGillivray, 53, were both found dead near where they slept. The cause of their deaths were multiple stab wounds. Another 57-year-old man experiencing homelessness was found dead and covered in blood, according to KABC-TV, but his identify and cause of death have not yet been released. Local residents said they are trying to find ways to protect themselves and police are urging community members to contact them with tips or reports of suspicious activity.

3. People experiencing homelessness in Indianapolis, Indiana, are fearful they may be arrested or bussed away in advance of the National Football League’s Super Bowl XLVI, according to The Chicago Tribune. The city’s police chief, Mike Bates, admits there are efforts to deal with people living around LP Field, but that there will not be any “forced relocation.” But, those people living near the field are skeptical. The director of the Coalition for the Homeless, Mike Hurst, said that he has learned  that Indianapolis Police will begin more strictly enforcing the city’s panhandling laws as the Super Bowl nears. Historically, several other cities hosting major sporting events have temporarily relocated people experiencing homelessness.

4. A church near St. Louis, Missouri, has been targeted by racist vandalism after reaching out to people experiencing homelessness, according to KMOX. The Rock Church of Soulard recently started a ministry “Servant Saturdays” where people with need could find a place to escape the temperatures and get something to eat on Saturdays. They also began offering rides to the church from local encampments. But, sometime during the holidays, someone spray painted the front door with a hate message based on race. The message came shortly after someone complained to city officials about people experiencing homelessness congregating near the church. The city responded with “a cease and desist” order and demanded inspections before the church serves any more meals. The church says it has complained to the police regarding the graffiti incident.

I’m seventy four-years-old, but a lot younger in spirit than I was when the Occupations burst into being this summer, inspired mostly by vigorous young people less than half my age.  Like other old lefties, I felt I had waited a long time for such a movement to arrive.

In September, I rallied with Occupy Cincinnati at the huge extravaganza in Lytle Park, and I made it to a couple of GA’s before I went off to Las Cruces, New Mexico, where I spend a part of each year, and fell in with Occupy Las Cruces!   Thereby hangs my tale today — a look-back at an Occupation in a smaller place.

I remember my first visit to the Occupy site in Las Cruces.  Two young women saw me approaching across the lawn with a friend, and one of them said with some surprise, “Are you coming to Occupy?”  –”Why yes-s,” we replied, rather shyly.  “Okay!” she said.  “You’ll give us credibility! “

A pizza box, a sharpie, a phone cord, and a whole lot of spirit are Martha Stephens tools for Democracy. Photo: Joe Wilson.

Things went from good to better after that, and on October 29, I wrote this in my journal:

“We set up camp last night on the wide lawns across from Branigan Library, lawns sheltered by large trees and crisscrossed by pleasant walks.  A small round patio in the center affords a table and benches.  Homey sort of place.”

“Our camp will occupy just one corner, off on its own beyond a winding path but very close to a busy intersection.  We want to be visible after all and show off our tents and banners to all who pass.

“Tonight, as dusk was falling, we lined up on the sidewalks facing the whizzing cars.  We’re the 99 Percent, said one of our placards in great big letters.  Justice and Liberty for All, said another.  It was a cheerful event, and we received a fair number of appreciative honks; only once an angry gibe.  Go home!  a driver called out, and one of our women cried back, “I am home!”  At times we huddled in little pods and more or less congratulated ourselves on our togetherness in this cause.

“As dusk fell, a General Assembly followed on the lawn.  We sat in a circle on the grass and talked camp rules and etiquettes.  How many of us will it take, at any given time, to patrol our site and watch over the tents and possessions?  Where do the smokers light up, who cleans up, and so on and so forth.  This is a whole village way of life and requires its own little governance.  We passed a kitchen rule: all perishable foods brought to camp must be marked as to date.

“As to human digestive issues, the restrooms at the library are available until nine o’clock, and after nine, we learned, we’re welcome in the restrooms of a small eatery open until three a.m., The Lunch Box.  Still, it’s across two streets and down three blocks!  The young owner of The Lunch Box has been made happy, it seems, by our Occupation and may even camp with at times.

“After the Assembly, my friend and I stopped in at The Lunch Box to meet this fellow-traveling individual and stayed to sup.  I ordered a Black Sammy, a kind of a black-eyed-pea sandwich with sunflower sprouts, and my companion had a bowl of Green Chile Mac and Cheese.  She downed a free cup of Occupiers’ coffee.

“On Saturday many of us will close accounts at Wells Fargo or Bank of America.  I don’t have an account in Cruces to close, and I rather wish I did, but I can turn up with a sign and offer comradely support.

On November 5, I wrote in my journal again:

“HAPPY TODAY out on the pavements with Move Your Money day. “High winds, though, in the desert.  By 10:30 a.m. we suffered gusts of thirty and forty miles.  Our signs were blown back and forth and almost out of our hands by the mountain winds.

“I had waited for a ride out on the drive with Joe, who owns the motel where I rent a kitchenette apartment.  The sign hanging across my chest was made from a pizza box Joe found for me and an old phone cord.  Joe will always find what you need if you give him enough time to root around in the piles of materiel around his desk.

“Downtown we parked at Pied Piper Pizza across the street from Wells Fargo.  Two fellas from our group whipped across the road to welcome us old biddies and see us through the traffic, and on the walks we were handed a large coffee to share.  One of the younger women took my hand, said, “You’re cold!” and took off her finger gloves and put them on me.

“Hey this is not bad, thought I.  The left has never been organized in the U. S., and now here we are, organized at last around this felicitous movement of our children and grandchildren.

“We spread out on the walks with our great big signs. Who’s got an account with this bank?  We shouted to each other over the wind — and lo, four of us did have money there and were ready to go inside and take it out.

“Thirty minutes later, the Las Cruces Four came back to our lines happy and victorious, to loud huzzahs from the group.  They said that when they entered the bank, all the suits got on their phones at once — no one knew why.  Perhaps to their security, for guards did show up before long in the parking lot.

“After Wells Fargo, we marched a mile over to Bank of America chanting, They got bailed out, we got sold out and so on.  My favorite sign said in large beautiful letters of red and gold, UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE’RE BROKE.

“My own trusty placard, which I carry almost everywhere I go, says This is What We Want: Full Human Rights for All Citizens, and in finer print:  Right to a Place to Live, Right to a Job, Right to Healthcare, Right to Culture and Education.  At the bottom of all this, in even smaller letters: We say NO to the Corporate State, NO to Brutal and Needless wars, YES to Taxes on the Wealth of the Country.

“It’s way too much for one placard, made from a used pizza box, but people do come up to read it and seem to be comforted by what it says.

“When two of our group tried to enter Bank of America at 11:20 a.m., the doors were suddenly closed and did not open again.  We can’t prove it was us that brought this about, but if it was and they’re afraid of us — good!

“We then went around to the bank’s drive-through where cars were lined up at the windows and staged a showing of placards on the nearby walks, asking customers of B. of A. to take out their money.  Trade with Local Banks, our signs advised.  As cars moved down the drives between our clusters of placards, those inside them usually did not seem discomfited by what they saw.  Maybe some little brain cells start to churn when we appear.

“BACK AT CAMP, under handsome trees whose leaves are just beginning to turn, we shared some fruit and sweets and planned our Assembly for the next day.  A vibrant girl, who sometimes moderates our meetings and had taken out her small parcel of cash from Wells Fargo, said she’d have to bow out.  “Sorry, I won’t be here.  I’ve got to hit the books.”  She’s graduating from the university here in May.  I visited with a knowledgeable young Navajo woman with many ring piercings who runs smartly our email list and takes notes at meetings.  She works the overnight shift at a group home for delinquents.  Her pay?  $8.50 an hour.

“Some of the most faithful of our Occupiers are vets.  One of our tent campers is a strong-minded young fellow who was once in the Navy; he says he works “two retail jobs” these days.  We have a former Marine who knows how to keeps us on YouTube.  One of our seniors is a retired minister who was in Naval Reserve.  A super-efficient camper with a large tent named The Ritz is a former Navy firefighter, unemployed now, by his own design, he says.  He’s mostly a self-educated man, it seems, but a very able speaker and writer.

“Another camper is on the staff of a local environmental center and is a hardened hiker and wilderness man.

“AFTERWARDS, back in my own place, it was good to be warm and comfy — and satisfied in the thought that not all of us in the country are suffering silently and alone today.  My lunch tasted good — leftover fish on a bed of leftover rice, zapped in the microwave, with salady raw stuff on top.  Hunger, after all, is not likely to afflict me, as it does so many of my fellow citizens in this poor New Mexico county where I find myself, not far from the city of Juarez.  I work at times at a soup kitchen with friends from church here, and we’ll soon be out on a walk for world hunger.  We know that one in seven people on our old sighing earth are hungry.

“I sat down on my sofa and took up my magnifying glass and my book, Blood Brothers, a story of life in Palestine before and after the founding of Israel.  I like reading about the olive trees and the fig orchards and the sturdy rural routines people enjoyed before the British Mandate — and then the arrival of more and more Jews into Palestine.  Many Jewish people of the time did not want to displace Palestinian families but to live beside them, as some had been doing for many years.

“The grouches and grumps will certainly say to us workers for change today, Why would you believe, when you see what happened to the Palestinians and all such suffering people, that things can be different from what they are — violent and conflicted.  Why would you go out on a road and hold up a sign for peace and democracy?  In the U.S. of all places?  Please!

“I don’t know why hope does not die; but somehow it does not.  In some epochs and places of the world people have lived in peace and in a sharing way.  What can we do but try to win such a peace again?

Young and old join Occupy Las Cruces to spread the message of the 99%. Photo: Norm Dettlaff.

ON BLACK FRIDAY our signs said NO to the Corporate State, NO to the Corporacracy.  They said Our Best Buy Is at Local Stores — and Walmart Destroys Local Economies.  I brought along my trusty pizza-box sign — We Want Full Human Rights for All Citizens.

We were standing out at a major intersection at the mall, trying to help people understand through our signs and fliers why jobs are so scarce, why wages are so low, why so many have been rendered virtually homeless by foreclosures, or by medical debt, or by college loans built-up in our half-privatized, high-tuition universities.

Occupy speaks with many voices, but all the voices seem to me to say We Must Change the Country.  Occupiers believe, I think, that we must disown much of our present economic system and develop one that is right and good for all humanity.  We know that the wealth of the country has been commandeered by powerful banks and corporations, companies less and less willing to pay their fair share of taxes, interested only in brutal profiteering and the impoverishment of the rest of us.  I like the sign I first saw at a union rally in Cincinnati: I Paid More Taxes Last Year Than GE.

On our wet, wind-swept Black Friday — black weather yet again — I ducked once into a fast-food place near our protest to talk to people about the Occupation.  I met a rosy-cheeked woman who was up on a ladder wiping down the walls of a corridor, and I stopped to ask her what the starting wage was in that place.  She said, “It’s $7.50.”  She had been there for four years, she said, but still makes $7.50. “We don’t get raises,” she said.  What about benefits, I asked, and she said, “No-o.  No benefits unless you’re a manager.”  She said her husband was ill and they had moved in with one of their children.

Yes, I gave her a flier, and she said, “I like this.”

The next week a whole fifth-grade class came over to see us and our camp with their teachers and a even a few parents!  A jolly time was had by all.

I KEEP UP with Occupy Las Cruces  by email these days and can report that park life goes on.  No eviction!  Early in the fall, there had been a police bust of a kind at one a.m., but then a progressive City Council said No, they can remain, and began to work things out.  Friends of Occupy have donated generously for the overnight permits.  The park is a good home, not just for tent campers but also for those who like to stop in every day or so and talk about the needs of the country with friends or just people passing by.

A few weeks ago the group were invited to Sunday breakfast at the First Christian Church and to speak at the service, and had a warm reception.  Saturday events are planned for the Farmer’s Market and for teach-ins on Walmart.  On January 1, some will join Occupy El Paso in a demonstration at a borderlands bridge about the first nineteen years of NAFTA — and the impoverishment it has brought to both sides of the border.  This joint action is wonderful news indeed!

Tensions among the group, though, are more in evidence these days.  Certain women are not happy with men who speak too long and too much at GA’s — that’s almost old news; but in recent weeks, trouble has centered on two individuals in camp who are drinking and causing disturbances.  Most people feel that the group must not harbor alcohol or aggressive behavior, but a camp marshal everyone depends on does not want to evict these two.  A tough knot of an issue that many Occupy groups have been facing.

BACK IN CINCINNATI, I was present at a court hearing on the fate of the Anna Louise Inn, and it was fine to see Occupiers there befriending this home for low-income women, and women from “the streets” trying to rebuild their lives.  I learned that there had been a good turnout for Occupy Cincinnati’s Winter Recharge.

All over the country, even in Las Cruces, winter weather is taking its toll.  Yet Occupiers are holding on — mystically, magically, it sometimes seems; and in springtime — look for us in full bloom again!

BY: JIM LUKEN

September 11, 2011, Jim Luken proudly holds his sign at a New York City rally to call for an end to war in Iraq. Photo: Jim Luken.

The Meetup column is based on the simple notion that: Everyone has a worthwhile story.  I guess I am enough of an egotist that I thought the readers of this newspaper, who may (or may not) read my one-page stories of real people (downtowners) each week, might like to know “the story” of the guy who writes down those stories. The editor and I agreed that the New Year Edition might a good time to try it.

The first thing I would like you to know about me is that I really hate lying, including the constant stream of lies that comes from the mouths of our politicians, talking heads, corporate bigwigs and media types. So, while the form of this column will be a little different (in that I will be asking myself questions that I normally pose to others), I promise I will try to be as honest as I can. But I guess you’ll have to trust me on that.

How did you come to volunteer your services to Streetvibes?

    I’ve been living in the ghetto for the past seven and a half years. After I retired from my maintenance job with Over the Rhine Community Housing, I was looking for another way that I might contribute to what some call “our beloved community.”  Having been a semi-professional writer all my life, I thought I might fit in with the most truthful newspaper in Cincinnati.

What does “semi-professional writer” mean?

       Well, I was a full time newspaperman for a small daily in Vermont at the turn of the century, but all the rest has been what they call “freelance” work. Much of this was writing I did for the International Franciscan Order in war-torn places like Croatia (1991), Bosnia (’93) and Nicaragua (’85, ’86, ’87). I also did a story for the Episcopal Diocese of Cincinnati in Haiti (’99).

Why did you go to war-torn places?

I didn’t get paid for any of that work. I did it for the travel and for the experience. You see, I missed out on dealing with the Vietnam War, because I was in college (Xavier, English) then went into teaching (Elder HS). I waited to go to grad school (Villanova, theater) until I was too old to be drafted (26). I always felt guilty for failing to confront “Nam” personally, like so many others did. So I felt this weird need to know what war was like. Everyone says they hate war. I now have an up-close-and-personal reason to despise war and to fight against those who drag us into needless ongoing bloodshed.

What was it like being in the war zones?

I’m glad you asked. Bosnia was the worst. The situation was so dangerous I had to get inside a UN tank to get me to and from this town (Vitez) about 15 miles from Sarajevo. I was scared s**tless for three solid days and nights. Constant gunfire and shelling, couldn’t sleep, saw whole villages burning. I was all but certain I would never get back to my kids.

What did your wife and kids say about you’re running off to war?

The first time (the US-proxy “Contra” war in Nicaragua), the kids were pretty young. I wrote them a stupid letter, saying (romantically, I guess) that if I were to get killed, they should try to understand it was for a worthwhile cause. I should have had more sense. Their mother told me later that she should have not let me do it.

Was it worth it?

For me, as a human being, it was. Now I know how ordinary people feel when war is happening in their countries, in their midst. Although I wouldn’t wish those feelings on anyone, we all know that Clinton, Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Limbaugh, etc., chickened out on Nam, like I did. But at least I didn’t become a war-monger.

Part of me wishes that wars were conducted mano-a-mano between our leaders. If Obama wants to fight Iran, he and Ahmadinejad should duke it out like real men. I know that sounds silly, but it’s not as stupid as waging war is. War is an abomination, and the United States thrives on it. Most Americans are numb to the fact that they live in a terrorist nation. Bombing poor people for ten years is terrorism, whether it’s in Vietnam, Nicaragua, or Iraq. Why can’t people see that?

You are obviously a leftist/liberal. Was your family like that?

       I grew up in a blue collar Catholic family in Mack (Western Hills). My folks were good people but very conservative. I became a kind of black sheep. I much prefer the ghetto to the burbs.

Are you a religious person?

       I was pretty religious for a long time. My wife and kids and I were part of a lay Catholic community (New Jerusalem) in Winton Place. There was a strong social justice component. I learned that I could love a lot of people who were very different from me. I cherish the memory of all that, but I have lost the religious component. The notion of an afterlife simply doesn’t make sense to me. I don’t want to exist forever. And I don’t expect to. I think this is the only chance we get to… what?…make something of ourselves. I bought a bumper sticker not long ago. I have it by my desk. It’s kind of religious. It says: “The greatest sin is sitting on your ass.”

You’re retired. Isn’t this a time when you can sit on your ass without feeling guilty?

      I love life, but—like Robert Frost, I guess—I have “a lover’s quarrel with the world.” I want to change it. I want to be part of making a difference. Frost also wrote, “I have miles to go before I sleep.”  Me too. I know I don’t have a ton of time, but I want to make the best of it.

What do you have in mind to do?

        I plan to keep writing. I’ve done two books, and several plays. I think there’s a few more in me.

Pardon me, but doesn’t writing involve sitting on your ass?

      When your mind is busy, all the rest of you is too. But I have less sedentary things to do as well.

And what, pray tell, might that be?

      You ask the best questions. I have to live up to the honor of being Time’s “Person of the Year.” A protester. Tens of thousands of worldwide protesters were the most important people in 2011. Proudly, I am a part of that

For my entire life, I have prayed for, then hoped for, then given up on, the coming of a popular revolution, through which the world might come to its senses, embrace the poor, and quit the ungodly war games. I always thought I was jousting at windmills.

Then came Occupy Wall Street and the other 800 plus Occupys in 60 plus countries. This is our best, our only, chance. The US has been a fake democracy for a long time. Everyone knows we have government by, for, and of the corporations.

At our Occupy Cincinnati General Assembly meetings, we actually “do” democracy. We actually listen to one another respectfully, and we do our best to try to love one another. Each night, an amazing group called “Food not Bombs” brings healthy food to us and any poor or homeless folks who show up. Much of the time it feels like the heaven I no longer believe in.

Any words of wisdom for your readers, Jim?

Rich, poor, all races colors and creeds… come to the dance. Celebrate the revolution. Be a part of history, a part of changing the world.

Meetup is meant to tell people’s stories in their own words. The views expressed in this column are solely those of the interviewee and not those of the Greater Cincinnati Coalitions for the Homeless, Streetvibes or the staff, volunteers and board members.