Blog Archives

Occupy Oakland at a Crossroads: Rebirth or Self-Destruction?

Over the last few months, I have been an active, critical, yet ultimately proud member of Occupy Oakland. Despite the sometimes-questionable tactics and lack of much diversity in this working-class, multi-racial city, I believed that Occupy Oakland was still a young movement and would mature into a more solid political…

Thousands in San Francisco “Occupy Wall Street West”

Sal Alper sat casually in front of the Wells Fargo headquarters in downtown San Francisco, as if chaining herself to the banking giant’s front doors was a normal thing to do on a Friday morning. As one of the many Occupy San Francisco protests on January 20, Sal had joined…

“Art is my Occupation”: Rethinking the Role of Artists in the Movement

As a member of the self-identified “slash profession” – writer/organizer/educator/whatever pays the rent that month – I have learned how to wear multiple hats. How to move between different worlds and code-switch my headgear to meet a particular place and community. Alright, I got this big event coming up tonight…should…

Dead Poets Society

  Dead Poets Society for Otto René Castillo (1936-1967), Roberto Obregon (1940-1970), Guadalupe Navas (1942-1980),  Luis de León (1939-1985), and all the poets and people of Guatemala who gave their lives for the people’s struggle this is not a movie starring Robin Williams this is not a white prep school…

¡El Pueblo Unido!…My Top Political Lessons from Central America

When this whole Occupy movement kicked off back in September, I wasn’t on the streets of Lower Manhattan. I wasn’t even on the streets of Oakland. I was walking along the quiet streets of Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, where my partner Esther and I had just started a three month journey through…