Why I Support the Occupy Movement

When I signed on to be one of the managing editors of Scope Magazine, I knew that I was affiliating myself with a very liberal group of locals, but I didn't think much about how this would affect me until the magazine covered the demonstration at Pfizer last week. If someone asked me what I really thought about the movement, what would I say?

I have have been a liberal and registered Democrat since I was old enough to vote, and for the most part I am never shy about sharing my opinion when it comes to politics and political talking points.. until the Occupy Wall Street movement burst into existance last fall. 

Like many people I have talked to about the Occupy movement, I was confused at first. I got that these people were protesting big banks, Wall Street traders, and massive corporations that donated to campaigns, but as there was no cohesive message or voice behind the movement, it took a long time for me to think they had any credibility.  Because, what do these people really want? What exactly are they protesting? 

Well, the reason I have always kept mum about the subject until now, is that I pretty much thought the whole time that it didn't matter what they were protesting - it just mattered that people were out there doing it. 

There are things in this country that are completely wrecked - things that I will jump at the chance to argue with people about: women's equality, the death penalty, health care, and of course, as the Occupy movement has highlighted, income (in)equality.

But who cares about my argument? I think to myself. I am just one person flapping my jaws, how can I possibly change anything or make my voice matter?

via: The Atlantic

Well, that answer is pretty simple. We as Americans have been doing it for over three hundred years with great success. You just get a bunch of people together who have the same ideas and want the same things, and you yell until the people in charge start to listen. I may be oversimplifying things, but hey, protesting literally gave us America as it is today (England didn't just let us get away), it freed the slaves, it got us liquor back, it gave me the right to vote, and maybe it will even help keep me the right I currently have to abortion. 

So I am not going to laugh at the people singing in the back of the paddywagon after their arrest at Pfizer - I'm going to praise them. Yes, they look silly. Yes, it might even seem that even they think the protest is all a joke. But guess what? They did exactly what they intended to do. They got on the news. They got people talking about them. They got people to pay attention. 

At first, I was wary about openly supporting the Occupy movement. I still don't know much about the movement itself, I still don't know if they have any key players now or if the group has coalesced to stand behind something, and still, I don't think it matters. I support them anyway. I will support any person who has in themselves enough conviction to stand around somewhere with a sign, because damnit, that is what America is about. 

So to those naysayers who believe that the Occupiers are a bunch of wackos with nothing better to do, I say to you now: Do you hate America? Or did you just forget what America is all about?

Well then, let me use this snippet from the Declaration of Independence to remind you:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure that's still how America operates. 

Although it may seem like a ragtag operation, the Occupiers know exactly what they are doing - they are working our political system exactly as it was intended. They are speaking out against what they consider to be destructive in government. You may not have to agree with them - and certainly, I don't agree with all of them - but as an American, it is my opinion that you have to respect what they are doing, and dare I say, you should support the very act of the protest that they are demonstrating. 

You don't like who is representing you in government? Get your ass on the campaign trail and do something about it. Make a phone call. Knock on a door. Hold a sign. Motherfuckers, VOTE. 

But when the representatives we have elected aren't doing right by us, when we are still faced with so many problems, injustices and insecurities - when we just CAN'T wait for the next election? We congregate together and we protest. We speak out. We OCCUPY.

Because it is our right. Because it is our duty. Because standing around with a sign is a whole hell of a lot more fun than it looks like on television.

Leave my vagina alone.

"... the law provides that women seeking an abortion in Virginia will be forcibly penetrated for no medical reason. I am not the first person to note that under any other set of facts, that would constitute rape under state law."

I got into an argument today on Facebook over this. I am not one to argue on Facebook, or debate, or whatever it is you call it, but this is really, really getting to me.

I am a woman. I have anatomy that requires different doctors and proceedures than males get on a regular basis. I take medication every day - birth control pills - to control a painful, debilitatitng, and even potentially life threatening medical condition that a man can never have, because it's regarding my ovaries. I have a child that I am raising pretty much on my own. I know how hard it is to carry a baby to term, to give birth, to recover from birth - and that's just the beginning. Children need nurturing, they need financial security, they need clothing and shelter and food and love and time and devotion. Knowing what I know now, as a single mother, I know that if I were to have irresponsible sex and find myself pregnant again - pregnant and unloved and alone - I would have an abortion as soon as possible. Immediately. Without a second thought. Because I have thought about it for a long time, what being a mother means to me as compared to what it means to other moms I know. It's sort of hard to say it, but I know I never want to go through it again: pregnancy, birth, infancy, motherhood. I have my child. I'm done. But mistakes happen, accidents happen, anything could happen. And I should never, EVER have to be punished or shamed for asking for a medical procedure that is currently legal under federal law, and no one else should be either.

So my argument was that it wasn't necessary for all women having abortions to have a trans-vaginal ultrasound. Gestational age and the size of a fetus can be determined by the date of the last period and from feeling the size of the uterus from palpating the abdomen. It's not rocket science. Any woman who has been pregnant knows that she didn't get an ultrasound the first day she went to the doctor with her positive home test and sore boobies. You have to wait for that goodnees. At least most of us do. But regardless, an ultrasound MAY be part of an abortion PROCEDURE. That's what I was arguing. That when a woman is about to have an abortion, a doctor may use an ultrasound to guide the procedure. Maybe. 

It isn't necessary to have a trans-vaginal ultrasound BEFORE an abortion procedure. That is my argument and I am sticking to it, and thankfully, so are many members of congress. 

Listen. Wait. Look at this picture, and then listen.

 I had my first trans-vaginal ultrasound about a year and a half after Elise was born. Now they are more common during pregnancy, but six or seven years ago when I was pregnant I never had one. It was only after, when I started having problems. 

I'd been having really rough, heavy periods ever since Elise was born and things got back to their new normal. They were worse than they had ever been, and they were accompanied with debilitating cramps, and when I say debilitating I mean I missed work over them sometimes, because all I could do was lay curled up in bed, moaning and motionless, until the searing pain the spread from my abdomen to my back let loose its grip and subsided. Before giving birth, I had hardly cramped during periods. Something was wrong, I knew, but I didn't deal with it as fast as I should have.

One night I was at a bar with Brian and Alisha and I had some sort of attack. I didn't know it at the time, but it was a cyst on my left ovary bursting. I was in agony, but I was also a couple three or four beers past being totally drunk, so I half laughed and half cried and went to sleep, promising to make a doctor's appointment in the morning, which I did. I called my OBGYN and was referred right away to have a trans-vaginal ultrasound to figure out what the heck was going on in there.

The day I went for the appointment, Alisha and Michelle came with me. They waited outside and I was led into a dim little room with a massive wedge on top of a rickety gurney. A woman, not quite friendly, told me to undress and get up on that wedge, get my butt as high in the air as I could with my butt right on the edge of the wedge. I did it, squirmed around while she watched, and it was remarkably uncomfortable.  I had put my feet in many a pair of stirrups and spread my knees, but this was different. 

The tech lubed up the probe - there is nothing else really to call it. It was huge - I mean well over a foot long, and wider than I had expected. It had a curved, nubby edge like a penis. 

The tech asked me to relax while she inserted it into me. Now, years later, I know that most doctors or ultrasound techs will ask you to reach under a sheet and insert the probe yourself, which is in my opinion a testament to the fact that the trans-vaginal ultrasound is much more invasive than other gynocological procedures. You certainly don't have an OBGYN asking you to please insert your own speculum and swab your own cervix for a pap smear.

The probe went in and in and in, the tech was twisting and turning it as she slid it in, and then she hit the cervix and the pain began. The pain that didn't stop for next ten minutes as she took pictures of my ovaries, particularly the left one, which looked as it were as cratered as the moon. 

It hurts when things touch your cervix. It just hurts. It makes you cramp, it makes you ache, and it's something no man - like, for instance, the men on the panel against contraception yesterday - will ever feel.

But then we come back to the basics of it. Your ass is in the air, your legs are spread wide up on a wedge of hard foam that, let's face it, belongs in the bedroom, not a doctor's office. You're being vaginally probed by a stranger, and it's hurting you. It's hurting you.

When it comes to abortion, it is not necessary. It is just a tool for bigots to hurt and shame women into not exercising their right to an abortion, the right granted to them under federal law. 

Damnit, it makes me so angry. I'm ANGRY!!! Aren't you?

Horrified.

Something terrible is happening in America right now. I don't mean to sound dramatic, but here it is: Republicans are trying to take away women's rights. I am not sure what else it boils down to or how it could boil down more simply than that. 

Today, the House Republicans held a hearing about women's access to birth control and family planning services under the Affordable Care Act, all of whom were opposing the White House's position. Here's the kicker - all of the people who testified today AGAINST the use of birth control and other women's health care access, ALL OF THEM WERE MEN.  Exibhit A:

In case you can't see the name cards in front of them, from left to right they are titled: Bishop, Reverend, Doctor, Rabbi, Doctor. But ALL OF THEM ARE MEN.

None of the people testifying to the "fact" that women shouldn't have affordable (or, in some cases, any) access to birth control, family planning, gynological services, and yes, my dear god in heaven, abortion - have vaginas. None of them will ever take the pill. None of them will ever become pregnant or need an abortion. None of them will ever give birth. None of them are women, and yet they are fighting tooth and nail to take the right of choice and affordable care from women. 

Nancy Pelosi, bless her heart, is not amused:

And for that matter, neither is Sandra Fluke, a Georgetown law student who wanted to testify as well, but she was turned away by the House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) (duh.) Evidently the men on the panel didn't want to hear about the problems that her friend faced with polycystic ovarian syndrome, which, ironically, is the condition I have that has required me to take a daily pill (yes, BIRTH CONTROL PILLS) since I had a huge cyst rupture on my left ovary four years ago. Lucikly for us, Sandra posted her testimony on YouTube:

I just don't know what to say, sometimes. I mean, why are we moving backwards? The way I see it, Republicans are trying to take away the rights of women that were fought for years ago, and won. They are trying to undo years of progress with the passage of a few bills that people don't get to vote on - the cowards route, of course. 

I just can't imagine what will happen to women all around the country - including myself - if measures passed nationally that took away our rights to birth control pills, abortion services, and simple family planning. I, for one, would be in a near daily state of agony. I probably wouldn't be able to work, that's how bad I remember the pain being from the cysts I had building up on my ovary years ago. The birth control pill that I take every morning gives me a quality of life that I wouldn't have otherwise, and I just can't believe that there are people, AMERICANS, who would take away the rights of so many because they are bigots. 

What is happening to us?

It's the goddamn American Dream in action

I've been blogging so much about writing lately, I've totally neglected up until this point to talk about this other major thing I'm doing with my life right now. I've been volunteering my time to work on a local political campaign, helping to get my new friend Daryl Finizio elected Mayor of New London. 

First, a little backstory: I lived in New London for about three years, and then left New London to move to neighboring Waterford so that Elise could go to school there. New London isn't known for its great schools, and since we knew that Elise had some potential developmental problems and possibly learning disabilities (which we still don't have a definitive answer on, by the way) I knew I wanted her to have the best education possible, and New London just didn't offer it. However, I still live just minutes from downtown NL, and I still shop, bank, go to the pharmacy, dine out, drink, and generally get my groove on in New London. I don't live there now, but I still consider myself a New Londoner for all intents and purposes. We'll see how important this is in a moment...

My best friend Alisha and her husband bought a house in New London last year. They had a baby, got a dog, and put down their roots in that city. So this summer when the race for Mayor, City Council and Board of Education really started heating up, Alisha got frustrated that all the events like debates, meet and greets, and fundraisers took place while she was working at her second shift job. She reached out to someone online, someone she had never met, and asked what the best way would be for her to go about meeting candidates, and the next thing I know, she calls to tell me that she's hosting a little political garden party at her house with Daryl Finizio - a guy we'd never heard of before. 

The day came for this little luncheon - I snuck out of work to be there, put on a pretty dress and headed to Alisha's. We were surprised to find out that a writer and photographer from the local paper would be there to cover this "event" which was really just eight or so twenty-somethings in the backyard chatting up the politician. Coming in to this meeting, we knew three things about Daryl: He was young, he was gay, and he wasn't from around here. But when Daryl arrived, I knew right away (after meeting so many other politicians in my life) that he was different. He's not FOR the people, he IS THE PEOPLE of New London. He explained his background - that he grew up in Westerly, Rhode Island, which if you live around here, you'd know how easy it is to forget that the little city on the other side of a river is in another state - that he got active in politics at a very young age, that he'd done big things in college and worked with the NYC Council after 9/11, was a council member in Westerly, and was also a lawyer AND college professor. Oh, he also likes kickboxing.  Heh. Anyway, he talked to us not like a politician but like a person who wanted to get things done. He listened to all of our concerns about the city - mainly regarding education and violent crime - and gave his thoughts on how he could make a difference in changing them. 

Once the reporters were gone, he really opened up on a lot of issues that affected young people in the city, and elaborated rather frankly on what this city needs more (and less) of in government. In short, we were sold. We were sold by his demeanor and eloquence, we were sold by his vision, we were sold on his solid background, and we were ready to get to work. 

A few days later, one of our friends who had been at the political garden party started a group on Facebook called Young Voters of New London, a group that has grown to more than 165 members in just two short months, which is remarkable considering how many of the people belonging to the group joined it having never registered to vote before. And yet here we are, thanks to Daryl, making change.

On September 13th I participated in New London's democratic primary day: I stood outside Harbor School for three hours holding a sign with Daryl's name on it, welcoming voters to the polls and then thanking them for their time as they left. Daryl was (and still is) in stiff competition with the other democratic candidate he ran against in the primary, a man named Mike Buscetto, who lost the primary that day and is now running as a write-in candidate. Although we knew Daryl was a great man with great things to offer, primary day was nervewracking because we also knew that Buscetto has had ties to New London for generations and Daryl is a "newcomer" who has had to grow his support organically in just a few short years. But I will tell you, every time we got a sly thumbs up from a voter, or if people honked and waved from their cars as they drove by us (this is so pansy) my heart sped up, because it feels so good to see the person you support get supported. I loved every minute of that day. I made friends that day. And later on, we celebrated, because Daryl won the primary by leaps and bounds. 

After the primary, we partied all night - really, ALL NIGHT - celebrating something we'd worked for. It was amazing. Did I mention I made new friends? It's amazing, I'll say it again and again, how campaigning for Daryl has really changed my life for the better. So, it's a selfish thing, in a way. I support him, I want him to win this election, I think he is the best for the job.. but volunteering for this campaign has opened my eyes to things that I hadn't considered before, and I am not the only one blinking, surprised in the sun. 

For one thing, Alisha has never been political. She came into this not really having a clue about how the government worked or why it works the way it does. She just got into this because she knew it was the right thing to do as a homeowner and parent in New London, and she absolutely did the right thing. It's been a pleasure to help her learn the ropes of politics and elections, and it's been even more of a pleasure to get to know and get closer with other people. It's a fucking pleasure to be able to walk into a huge room, look around for a green and white button and know these are my people! and that I will be accepted by them and welcomed by them because we share common goal and common values. 

The thing is, this is a democracy here. We are working to elect someone who will speak for us to those who will not listen otherwise. We're working to elect someone who wants what we want, not just as taxpayers or business owners, but as HUMAN BEINGS. We are working to elect someone who has a dream of making New London a better place to live and visit not just for the people who have the most money or "connections" with the city government, but for the people who spend not only the majority of their time and money there, but also their energy to make it a fun, artsy, exciting place to be.

This past Saturday, I rallied with about thirty other supporters on the sidewalk in front of Muddy Waters, waiting for Daryl to show up with our state's Governor, Dan Malloy, so Malloy could endorse Daryl and the rest of the democratic ticket for this election. To some, this is no big deal. This is my blog, so I can say what I want to say here, right? Malloy is sort of a tool, but I'm still glad I voted for him, and I'm glad I got to leave saying "I met the Governor today. I shook his hand, and looked into his eyes, and knew that we were working together today."

There are exactly two weeks left until election day, and you can bet that I will be pounding the pavement and going door to door next weekend to make sure voters know who Daryl is and why they should vote for him. I'll be wearing my button and talking him up whenever someone asks about it. And NaNoWriMo be damned, I will be standing in front of a polling center, rain, sleet or shine on election day, knowing that I've done all I can to help Daryl win the election, and to help New London pave the way to a better future. 

I am so proud of New London, for opening the doors to electing a Mayor and taking on a new form of government. I am so proud of the people I know - good friends old a new - for working so hard to help with this campaign, and more so, I am so proud of everyone who has educated themselves about elections and governement. I am so proud that (in my opinion) as a whole our group of young voters has kept it clean and classy throughout the election. And I am so, so proud of Daryl, for keeping his chin up when so many people are trying to push him down. 

This is what I have been up to lately. This is what I am fighting for, for a city and people I love. Finizio... for motherfucking Mayor!