Occupy?

Second day in a row I've gotten a free newspaper and second time it's just been left on top of the paper box in front of Crane Coffee. Although I'm sure that it could've been someone inside, I feel foolish to put money into the box when a paper's sitting right there in front of me. It'll be like that dumb-ass scout leader of mine who walked a quarter of a mile to set a good example to us to use the crosswalk rather than the 30 feet to cross the street. Yes it's jaywalking, but there were easily no cars and such to me it was just stupid and made me want to run across the street and back and jaywalk even more to show how inane of an act it was.

Yesterday I got out of the bus stop to transfer at 30th and Dodge. There was a white girl, all made up and in a coat with a sign stating that "anything helps." As I waited for the green to cross, I noticed her face and she smiled sort of and I started wondering about her status. Whether she was homeless or out of job and had looked but getting nothing. This occurred to me because she had all appendages and was able to stand and walk without any disabilities and had money to afford make-up and the ability to apply it.

As I'm thinking this I notice across the street in the bus stop alcove which makes no sense on its position as it's on the opposite side of a one-way street where the bus stop is for the bus going south. But it's made for the Dodge street bus going east, but it's not facing Dodge street, it's facing west so unless you sit in the opposite direction the seats are made for, you're not going to notice the bus you're waiting to catch. But there's this douche-bag guy with a shit-eating grin on his face and he's holding a video camera with earphones plugged from it to his ear. He's looking at me and smililng as if he knows me or recognizes me from somewhere. I catch his stare and he just keeps looking at me and I think of punching his face.

A few minutes later my bus comes and I get on and get a window seat. I noticed douche-bag had moved from the bus stop to a power box on the north end of the parking lot, using the box as a tri-pod facing the girl with the sign. The only thing I could get is these two people are working together. Not in a scam thing, but I'm figuring it's some social-statement thing that maybe stating how a white, pretty girl begging gets a different reaction and more handouts than a black, homeless person or something. I don't know. It makes no sense otherwise. I also don't like being filmed without my persmission or knowing which is illegal to do unless they blur me out and there were no signs posted as to note the filming.

If this is the case it's dumb. For a number of reasons, but one being that unless they get someone other than her to do the same thing in that area and have the same people go through and see the same people reacting or responding then it's not an accurate study.

Secondly, fuck off and get a life. You're just as worthless as the Occupy Omaha idiots.

Occupy is a good cause and it's bringing unwanted publicity to an area that has been somewhat untouchable, but it's stuff that's always been around. It's making waves now because more people are being directly affected by it and that's it. People always wait until it affects them before getting involved with anything.

But ours here is doing nothing. It's so small and pointless and non-effective. For instance they had their march in downtown on a Saturday morning. No one's there on Saturday mornings. The banks there are closed and it's a ghost town.

They had a handful of people who casually showed up to protest to people already aware of what the protest is and what it represents, so whether or not this group existed or not the whole of the Occupy movement would have the same impact nationally. They also talked about not leaving after the permit expired as a stand for their freedom of speech rights. So three got arrested as more of a part-of-the-deal with the Occupy protest, but here it was unnecessary. The city is working with them and the police were being nice and accomodating, but these ineffective protesters are taking stands and making statements that others on the actual Wall Street and other areas that are making an effective presence are doing.

That being said, I've got to get some work done. I'm not doing a Thanksgiving dinner this year, even though I don't like to call it that. It's not a Thanksgiving celebration just a get together on Thanksgiving, because I don't believe in Thanksgiving and I sound like Mr. Scorpio saying that. But school gets out on the 21st and that Thursday is Thanksgiving and the next Thursday we leave and I've got a lot to get done by then including finishing up this quarter, registering for Spring semester at UNO (hopefully), doing the layout and printing and collating my zine and packing.