Never before have I been moved to start, write or dedicate myself to the written diatribe folks like to call a "Blog" until ... about three days ago when I was arrested during the first official day of "Occupy Des Moines" - an offshoot of "Occupy Wall Street".
It's been just four weeks since protesters took to the streets of New York during what they called, "Occupy Wall Street". I saw the new initiative posted on Facebook and some of my liberal e-newsletters and my FIRST reaction was, "Yeah, GOOD LUCK WITH THAT!" What kind of moron believes that living on the streets of New York would effect change? I mean, I was just in New York a few weeks ago and it seemed as though there are thousands who do that every day and it makes absolutely NO difference in the way people feel about the injustice of the world. Seriously. I expected their, "movement" to fizzle within a week and completely exit my memory bank as fast as my real bank tacks on their $3.00 convenience fee to each ATM transaction.
Alas, I was wrong.
Within three weeks the Occupy Wall Street Movement had gained protesters from all walks of life - including organized labor - and has dominated the news cycle for nearly two weeks. Just a few short days ago I told Carl (the husband) that if that movement made its way to Des Moines, we HAD to join in because of how impressive it is that so many people are shedding their apathy and FINALLY becoming involved!
WHAM - Fast Forward to Sunday afternoon. I opened an e-mail from my super-liberal bud, Ed Fallon which stated that not only would there be a protest on the State Capitol Grounds that evening, but the state police were threatening to make arrests should protesters stick around after an 11:00 PM "curfew". So of course, I had to make good on my personal promise and show up with my fed-up-brethren to the rally. I showered, shaved and even put on a little make up. I figured if there is even the most remote chance that I appear in press, I don't want to look like a dirty hippie and give those Right Wing Gasbags even more ammunition for their arsenal of insulting rhetoric when discussing who they think the 99% entail (important note: whenever you are representing any kind of movement, for the love of dog, PLEASE look half way decent! My fellow feminists and all my lefty loonies, I am talking to you!).
Long story super short (namely because I am running out of time and you are probably getting bored), my 15 year old daughter, Heaven, and I were arrested along with about 50 other protesters after 11:00 PM and a HUGE police presence showed up to flex their very Over-Reacting muscles! It was probably the most peculiar moment of my life and I will surely speak more of it in the posts to follow. However, in closing, thirty years of protesting on behalf of every kind of Liberal Loonie cause, I have NEVER been in trouble with the law.
So starts my journey. Will this movement fizzle? Will this movement explode with exuberance? Will I even remember to blog often enough to make this worth reading? Who knows - I've never been party to anything this dynamic and spontaneous. Let's see what this journey takes this mother of three on over the next few months. It is the GREAT EXPERIMENT OF A MINI-VAN DRIVING LIBERAL.
BECAUSE I AM ONE OF THE 99% - - - AND SO ARE YOU!!
JOIN ME!
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