Recently in class, we analyzed Occupy Wall Street. This article–from the Journal News, a local paper from my home town in Westchester–focuses on how music has become a central component of Occupy Wall Street. “The sound of insistent drumming…announce[s] the location of the Occupy Wall Street home base long before its inhabitants are otherwise seen or heard.” This alone is a major factor of any protest or social movement. In the past, there were relentless, unified chants that could be heard at protests, but now, we hear all different kinds of music drifting out from Occupy Wall Street. “The soundtrack (for Occupy Wall Street) is just as democratic and grass roots as the movement…” This diversity makes sense, because Occupy Wall Street is composed of the 99 percent, encompassing millions of people with differing musical tastes.
As it grows, both in the actual participation size and as it permeates everyday society, Occupy Wall Street has gained some famous musical supporters. David Crosby, Graham Nash and Tom Morello–all recording artists, the last one a former member of the band “Rage Against the Machine”–have all performed for Occupy Wall Street. There have been enough musical contribution that “[Tom Morello] has also volunteered to contribute to an album of protest songs that Occupy Wall Street is putting together as a fundraiser this winter.” I am intrigued by this idea of creating a list of compositions/performances to represent Occupy Wall Street. How will the public respond to this, and are they choosing to do this in the winter because it is going to be brutally cold and they need something to keep people engaged? A “national-anthem-esq” playlist of songs could certainly increase the popularity of Occupy Wall Street, as it adds to the “Occupy cultural” that it is creating.

Another topic that I find interesting, and I am constantly searching for in the news (as my previous blog posts show) is how art is transforming (art meaning any form or medium of art). This article also briefly brings the issue of music as a changing media to the limelight. “If Occupy Wall Street has no anthem yet, it’s partly due to how a new generation experiences music: through personalized iPod playlists streaming through headphones instead of communal songalongs.” Certainly, music has become much more personalized: people used to walk around with Boom-Boxes on their shoulders as opposed to headphone ear-buds in their ears. This probably has had an effect on Occupy Wall Street, as this individualism only increases the variety that the participants have, thus making it harder to unify them behind one cause or ideal. I wonder if they will be able to surmount this dilemma with this new album, or if more aggressive action is necessary to persuade people to place “Occupy Wall Street Music” on their iPod.

In class, we keep asking where are the musicians of today when it comes to Occupy Wall Street? In the past, political movements like these have gotten large amounts of attention from musicians, with songs being written about just about every cause imaginable.

Well, Third Eye Blind seems to have been listening. They recently put out a song called “If There Ever Was a Time”, which is sort of an attempted anthem for the movement. You need only to look at the chorus to see what their message is:

If there ever was a time, it would be now
For the rest of us
If there ever was a time it would be now
‘Cause money and power are incestuous
A moment makes a movement
Or it fades out in the dark
Come on, meet me down at Zuccotti park

The song calls on the youth to come make a stand, because if they don’t, no one will. Though the song may not necessarily be the best one I’ve heard recently, it’s certainly a start. Musicians have the unique ability to give over messages over to large masses of people in a way that doesn’t bore them. This is even more true when it comes to the young who may not read the news and may not even know what’s going on. Music can spread the word in an interesting, creative way. If more musicians tried to help the cause, I believe we would see a significant increase in participation.

The song can be downloaded for free from the Third Eye Blind website.

I attended the Occupy Wall Street teach-in at Queens College on Thursday, November 18th. The teach in provided some background information on the Occupy Wall Street movement, such as its start date, which was September 17th, and the founders of the movement, Ad Busters. The teach in did not provide very useful information on what the movement is moving towards; what are its goals, how does it plan to achieve them, and what need to change in society today? The teach-in mainly focused on activism as a whole, and how to become and activist. After leaving the teach-in I was just as confused as I was before attending. “99%”, “disenfranchisement”, “lay offs”, and other terms are being thrown around without being explained. After doing some research on my own, I discovered that the Occupy Wall Street web site outlines a list of accusations against corporate America. These claims include illegal foreclosures, perpetuating inequality, unjust bailouts, and criminal activity abroad. So its clear that this is an anti-corporate movement nostalgic of the 1960’s hippie movement.

Similar to the hippie movement of the 1960’s, Occupy Wall Street is seeped in artistic practices such as painting and music. Rolling Stone posted an article explaining Occupy Wall Street’s relationship to art. “[…] on any given day in downtown Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park, Occupy Wall Street protestors can be witnessed huddling around guitarists or poets as they articulate the grievances of the crowd through song and verse.” Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, artist Wolf Geyr, and even musician Kanye West have shown up in Zuccotti park to show their support. There is even an exhibit in the old JP Morgan building of all of the visual art inspired by the recent event of Occupy Wall Street. With such an emphasis on art, it’s a wonder how Occupy Wall Street reconciles the long standing relationship between corporations and art. Numerous museums have been founded by philanthropists, such as The Rubin Museum by Donald Rubin, a big player in health insurance companies. Andrew Carnegie, the steel industry tycoon himself said the charity is best invested in public works, especially in the arts. He founded Carnegie Hall, one of the mot recognizable attractions of New York. Even Tom Morello’s band, Rage Against the Machine, which built its musical career on leftist anti-corporate rants, was sponsored by a sub-company of Sony Music. The park that Occupy Wall Street stood in is owned by Brookfield Office Properties, who allocated the park to public use. Although corporate America may not be completely innocent, the contributions it has made to the arts alone raises eyebrows when under scrutiny from such an artistic crowd.

Strip away the crazy videos that FOX news posts on their YouTube channel, and search for the true causes behind the powerhouse that is Occupy Wall Street and one can find true organizations fighting for equality and the rights of the 99%. It is not just about the free handouts and jobs that people want, it is also about what has been promised and what has been actually done, or lack there of. One of the organizations that make up Occupy Wall Street is Picture The Homeless.

It was with great interest that I attended an event run by The Queens College Center for Ethnic, Racial and Religious Understanding led by Macaulay Honors student, Dasi Fruchter, where the focus was on those without a voice and their need to be heard. From the organization Picture The Homeless, two members, both homeless, spoke to a room filled with Queens College students, explaining the issues of poverty and homelessness and why it is so difficult for people to find homes once put into the “system”. The amount of injustice that occurs without being reported or noticed because of the overlapping between government and personal interest is repulsive; if it was not for this one event I would still remain clueless. I can not stress enough the importance of all the information that was shared with us and how important it is for everyone to know, but Carlsky has already beaten me to the punch, as seen by his blog post below. Therefore I would like to focus on how organizations, like Picture The Homeless, and others at OWS, will affect art.

Art and its expression constantly vary from time to time, because of the many different influences that change over the course of history. In the 18^th century Romanticism was born in response against aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment and a reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature. Romanticism, much similar to the discontent against Wall Street today, formed against the corruption of the upper class and the injustices that occurred to the larger lower classes. I would not be surprised then that if soon enough we will see an outpouring of art because of the buildup of frustration at OWS. Although I am not expecting a new type of art form, I am expecting lots of modern art to be influenced by Occupy Wall Street.

I would not be surprised that if one day while walking through a museum I would come across a piece of modern art that would be a collage of all the picture sweeping the internet of everyday people covering their faces with letters of grievance claiming to be part of the 99%. If you want, you can see examples of these pictures at the Occupy Wall Street TUMBLR site.

As I have mentioned in a previous post, “New Art or Old Art…It’s All The Same”, as of now we do not see the outpouring of Occupy Wall Street, but rather a lifeline to the past. We see that people are relying on music and art of the past, primarily showcasing dissent against the war in Vietnam, to represent their own feelings on modern issues. Some people may view this as an issue, that our generation is not living up to the standards of previous protests and its effect on art. As for I, this seems to be a non-issue. Is it not the point of artists to produce art that outlives their own lives? Art is supposed to find meaning for the people that search for it. If this is the case, then any art should be applicable to todays protest as long as someone finds meaning to it.

As a question that is constantly brought up in class, “where do we draw the line?”, this line can be questioned even further with the outcries from Occupy Wall Street. One can claim that all the protests and different expressions of discontent can be classified as art itself. Art is art as long as someone says that it is art. Should we then claim that all of the forms of discontent should be considered some form of performance art?

With many different organizations gathering with so many different purposes in the same tight spaces for one goal, to be heard, it is hard to deny the greater effect Occupy Wall Street will have on our culture. While I hope that the people of Picture The Homeless attain their goal of ending the selfish amoral system of “helping” the poor, our ideology as a people will never be the same. With so much affecting so many nationally, it is without a question that people will be able to find new and creative (and artistic) ways of expressing their discontent with the way that the government plays with its people. History finds a way to repeats itself. Whether we have common grievances with our government similar to the time of the Romanticists, or we use art of the past to represent the discontent of the present, some form of expression will be adopted by the minds of today to fully express the emotions that can not be contained to sitting behind a TV watching some reported tell you what is wrong and right

On Thursday, November 17 , the second-month anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) Movement, the Mobilize for Economic Justice rally in Foley Square took place. It was an event filled with both anger and hope as people including college professors and students, came together to unite in an act of civil disobedience. With the exception of few arrests, this event was suprisingly refreshing; it felt good to hear the many opinions of the people that represent the “99%” who targeted issues such as budget cuts and funding the arts.

One issue that I find to be extremely essential to the OWS cause is the underfunding of the arts in the education system due to budget cuts. In this past fiscal year, budget cuts have had a detrimental affect to the arts-in-education system. In http://www.academyofart.us/budgetcuts.html it explains that because of the economic downfall, budget cuts have increasingly threatened the use of arts in the education system, which is dangerous. Why would it be dangerous? Well, according to the article and the protestors at OWS, funds have been taken away from the arts by placing budget cuts on schools and causing them to cut “the arts” out of the picture. What is being argued is that the arts have an important role on the overall happiness of kids in the education system. Studies showed that test scores went down when schools cut the arts! I find this to be a reasonable and essential argument.

From personal experience, I have seen how budget cuts have affected the lives of kids in the education system. Being that I went to Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School for Music, Art, and the Performing, I was constantly surrounded by arts which was part of my curriculum. I could say I was lucky enough to not have to experience the major changes others younger than me had to experience in my school. Although, my school was luckily heavily funded, compared to many other schools, there were still some major differences from when I first arrived as a freshman to when I graduated. Music classes were beginning to be weaned out; instead of every student taking 3-4 periods of “studio” classes (depending on your major), they began making the freshmen only take 2-3 classes. Now they may not seem like a big difference, but given that we had a rigorous conservatory-like set curriculum, it seemed almost life-changing because the arts had such a big affect on our lives. Even our major school productions such as the annual musical had to deal with extreme budget cuts. It scary to think that money might change the identity of the “Fame” school!

Although this issue, doesn’t seem to be as important to some people I feel like it holds a great deal of pressure on our future generation. If kids in the present education system don’t have the arts to fall back on that promotes creativity, what to expect of them in the future? Who will be handling our money? It is obvious, they will, and I find it to be reckless that we’re not making this issue a more prominent argument. I can say that I mostly understand the “general” cause of the Occupy Wall Street Movement and mostly agree with it, but I wonder if we should be paying more attention to our future generation…

There is no doubt that homelessness is a huge problem in the United States, and is only growing.  According to the statistical research of Picture the Homeless, in New York City alone, 38,000 people are living in shelters, 354,000 families are living doubled or tripled up with friends and family because they cannot afford to pay their own rents, and 400,000 households are paying more than half of their incomes on rent.

Picture the Homeless is an organization that is dedicated to promoting the civil rights of the homeless population, as well as solving the homelessness/housing problem. This organization is run by the homeless people themselves. Two members of the organization—a former postal worker and a former public school teacher—came to Queens College to discuss the situation with the student body.

It was distressing to hear that these hard-working individuals had fallen on hard times, which is why they found themselves stuck in the shelter system. New York’s shelter system leaves much to be desired. Many of the individuals who rely on the shelter system are mistreated. According to the speakers, the shelters are thought of as first and foremost a business, and since the amount of money they make is proportional to the number of people in the shelter, the shelter owners make it difficult for anyone to leave the system once they are in it. The speakers also said that the shelters are owned by relatives of powerful politicians, so government officials are not exactly encouraging reform in this area. Personally, I think this government conspiracy theory is a bit too far-fetched to be a hundred percent accurate.

In any case, what struck me as most interesting about the talk was Picture the Homeless movement’s answer to the problem. The government spends as much money keeping people in shelters as it would cost in simply giving each homeless person an apartment to live in. The government claims that there is no housing available for this sort of thing, but Picture the Homeless, through extensive research, has proven that vacant buildings, warehouses that were originally built to house people, and vacant lots abound in New York City. Why, they ask, will the government not let us move out of the shelters and into one of these vacated apartments?

Well, for one thing, America believes in a Liberal Welfare System. That is, the system is not designed to lift people out of poverty, the way welfare systems work in socialist countries. Rather, the American system, as well as most American citizens, believes that the best way for society to run is for people to get out of poverty by their own hard work. There is a reason why “living on welfare” is stigmatizes in our society—we believe that people should be productive, and not resort to living off the state if they do not have to.

I am not saying that the two women who spoke last week are lazy, or that their mounting debt was in any way their fault. Rather, I am attempting to explain a flaw in their plan to fix the problem. If the government allowed the homeless to move into an apartment rent-free, there would be no incentive for people to keep a job in order to work for their own rent. The current shelter system acts a deterrent for people who might otherwise simply loaf off of the government and move into a rent-free apartment.

Clearly, the problem of homelessness is huge. According to the speakers, the majority of New York families are only a paycheck away from becoming homeless themselves. These are the types of problems that Occupy Wall Street is bringing to the forefront. In fact, Picture the Homeless is attempting to work together with OWS  to ensure that their voice is heard (although, because of OWS’s loose structure, they are experiencing difficulty working together because no one is ever sure of who to talk to).

The homeless situation is unfortunate, and clearly major reforms are needed. However, I do not believe that Picture the Homeless’s idea of rent-free government housing is necessarily the answer. The economic crisis is complex and rapidly-changing, and it will take the cooperation of the public and the government officials to come up with a workable solution.

As I was attending the Teach-in on last Thursday, a controversial question was sparked during the conversation: Is the police included in the 99% ? Some people thought that the police was not the 99% because they acted against the 99% and helped evict the protester from Zoccotti Park last week. There was a police happened to attend this teach-in, he said “It was my job and I had to do it. I had family to take care of; I could not lose this job. I was actually supporting this movement and most of my colleagues are backing it underneath too.” However, some people didn’t buy what he said. A native American activist later spoke and was indignant. She pointed out that “who ever said that the police is the 99%, sorry for my language, BULLSHIT!” She stated that she was hurt by the police on the day when the eviction of the Zoccotti Park happened. I feel sympathetic toward the police present in the teach-in that day. I understand how hard it is to be the person in the middle. If he refused to carry out the order, he would probably be laid off. However, if he executed the order, he would be abhorred by the 99% group, to which he’s supposed to belong. If he was single and alone, I think he would definitely support the movement openly. However, he has daughter and wife to take care of. They might be in the risk of being homeless if he lost his job. We can’t simply said that all the police are evil and hate them. However, some vicious police do exist, who are certainly unbearable. Here is a link to the same topic that is related to Oakland police who consider themselves as the 99%, but the responder questions it.

Everything looked peaceful before I got off at the City Hall stop. I found many police in the subway station and I met much more police when I left the subway station. Never seen so many police at one moment, I felt a bit nervous. I didn’t expect that there would be singers provoking the protesters, but I found this fascinating and excellent. The powerful word and rap will doubtless excite the protesters and make their slogan even more forceful, which intensify the strength of the movement. How amazingly the singers can contribute for the movement. They cry out the anger of themselves and the 99%. What’s more, protest organizer plan to play a 24-hours drum circle in front of the home of Mayor Bloomberg. At 2:00 pm November 20th, they began their show, with many other instruments. I personally don’t think this is a proper way to achieve their goal. Music should be used for provoking not for disturbing.

Artists also assist in witnessing and recording the history of the movement. ” Jeff Sharlet and the other folks at Occupy Writers are putting the moral force of art to the wheel, whether they’re writing original work about the movement or holding storytelling events at the site of the now-dismantled library” (Alyssa Rosenberg). With no money, the artists still have their pen and their mind, through which they expose the corruption of the government and showcase the collective power of the ordinary people.

Same as the past revolution, Occupy Wall Street movement are propelled by creative and provocative posters.  Gaining no money, the artists use their creativity to express the anger and spread the idea of the power of union.You may find some posters here.

Michele Elam (link to her article) mentioned in her article that the great philosopher Aristotle insisted that the art had a profound social function. Also, she mentioned that “in 1926,the renowned black intellectual, W.E.B. Du Bois, argued passionately that art should be used for social justice.” It’s very conspicuous that art was, is being, and will be considered and truly an influential instrument of the social movement in the past, at present, and also in the future.

An Occupy Wall St. invitation designed by Shepard Fairey to draw people to an Occupy party in Times Square earlier this month

It’s a saying that’s been repeated by dutiful teachers probably since the beginning of time – don’t judge a book by it’s cover. While I’m not here to argue the upsides of that statement, I do want to pose a question using that age-old adage as a template of sorts. If we are not to judge a book by its cover, are we also not to judge a movement by its banner? I ask because I think the question is warranted, and its answer is not as simple as it may seem. Allow me to explain.

Slogans and banners have long been the trademark of political campaigning. Those of us who sat through a whole year straight of American History in high school can tell you that even before television, campaigners utilized political images and easy-to-remember one-liners as a means of advancing their candidate’s popularity (see “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too” from the elections of 1840). Then, once television became an established form of media, campaigners turned to short commercials for promotional purposes. (The Living Room Candidate, a website from the Museum of Moving Image – located in Queens! – documents commercials from the elections of 1952 to 2008. Check it out if you have the time. It’s pretty fascinating stuff.)

Now, what exactly am I getting at with all this? To answer that, I’m going to need a little help from The Living Room Candidate: “Television commercials use all the tools of fiction filmmaking, including script, visuals, editing, and performance, to distill a candidate’s major campaign themes into a few powerful images. Ads elicit emotional reactions, inspiring support for a candidate or raising doubts about his opponent.” What I want to argue is that a political movement is rendered less effective if it fails to utilize images and popular slogans. In fact, a powerful slogan or poster can be of immeasurable promotional help. I’m sure we all remember those popular Obama posters by Obey Giant splashed across t-shirts, pins, and other apparel during the 2008 elections. If you wore one of those items back then, you were considered officially “cool.”

Now, enter Occupy Wall Street into the above picture. While scrolling through their website, I found their Posters and Materials page most interesting.  There were fifty-some posters on the site, each original, informative, and eye-catching. What I found most surprising, however, was the little blurb to the right of the page: “We have compiled the beginnings of a Designer Toolkit for those wanting to use the Occupy Together logo and foundational WordPress theme used on this site.” Super cool, I thought. Apparently, Occupy Together is well aware of the impact a single catchy image can have. On that note, Picture the Homeless, an organization I learned about from the Homelessness in Focus lecture, seems to be on the right track as well. They already have a moving slogan – “Don’t talk about us; talk with us!” – and one quick look at their website shows that they are utilizing the image factor as well. I should note, however, that the practical difference between Picture the Homeless and Occupy Wall Street is significant. Whereas Occupy Wall Street as a political protest could always stand to use better lobbying techniques through various media, Picture the Homeless conveys a message that speaks for itself, regardless of how effective or ineffective their methods are. What I mean to say is that the issue of homelessness is one that can stir anyone into action, even if it has no accompanying image or slogan. With Occupy Wall Street, it’s not quite the same story.

To conclude my post, I turn again to The Living Room Candidate. I was so impressed with the website that I started to explore a bit. I’m glad I did, because I found this awesome link. Meet AdMaker – an educational site that allows you to make your very own political commercials (complete with videos, images, and sounds). It’s the best way I can think of to demonstrate how much artistic skill is needed in the political arena. Plus, it’s super fun!