Interesting Visualization of Money

HUGE Poster about money - who has it, where it goes, etc...

Short visit to non-violent action group in Occupy Oakland

  
   My friend Tim, who has been heavily involved in Occupy Oakland, sent me information on an Occupy Oakland group centered on non-violent activity. There are a lot of different agendas represented in OO, and I wanted to throw my support behind a group interested in constructive, non-violent activities - and multiple sources have observed that the Occupy movement has to move beyond occupying public spaces to capitalize on the media attention it has garnered, and maintain politically relevance. This sounded like the right group and I have to thank Tim for getting me connected.
  The group collected actionable topics and broke into small groups to further discuss them. The overall structure seemed identical to what I observed at Code for Oakland earlier this year. The emphasis in this group was non-violent approaches to the OO agenda - this involves defining what it means to be non-violent, and also addressing some of the factors within the OO that stand in the way of giving a fair voice to pacifist/non-violent approaches. A very large fraction of the attendees were concerned with this issue of internal OO procedures and leadership. I'm glad so many people were interested in it - as a newcomer, I have no idea how those things operate and what to do about them, though I understand that all too often, the most aggressive voices carry the day.

   It was an interesting meeting, and reminded me of the hard work in involved in democracy - giving people a fair voice, at the same time appreciating, but setting boundaries, around the louder, more (hyper)active personalities involved. My small group worked on political action and leadership, and it included an enthusiastic, but loud, ranting and somewhat disruptive participant. The facilitator did a fairly good job of giving him voice, while working hard to set boundaries so that he did not monopolize our group and/or disrupt other groups. Despite her efforts, we still had some visits from other groups. But that's the messy business of participating in democracy and the politics of dealing with personalities.

   Hopefully I will find time in my schedule to participate more - though things are busy now with work, holidays, incoming baby, home renovation and find a path through the OUSD kindergarten enrollment to a good school for Ansel...

Blog reboot

   They did it for Battlestar Galactica:

and Hawaii-Five O:

and (perhaps more appropriately) Beavis and Butthead:

    So maybe I can reboot my blog as well?

    Unlike Battlestar or Hawaii-Five O, the lovely Grace Park will not be replacing your regularly scheduled brown man (that role is still played by me). And also unlike Battlestar or Hawaii-Five O, the new blog won't be grittier with more athletic, sexier but angst ridden characters (maybe just the opposite).
    Will it be more like Beavis and Butthead? Hmmm...

    In any case, the major changes since the last posting in 2006 are fatherhood and marriage - both of which are wonderful and all consuming roles. Still, I hope to be able to post some things now and then - stay tuned!