Occupy Your Mind

After seeing the link at the bottom and the pictures there, I was reminded of a good friend who allowed me to experience Haiti, and I wanted to let him know I was still thinking of him, Haiti and the lessons I learned there.  I wanted to share that link on his wall.  So, as I was doing the above, this evolved and this is what I posted on his wall, and I realized, this is what I've been trying to say.

OCCUPY YOUR MIND

-------------------

Short Story: The Boy's Coin

Editor's Note: This is the 100th post of this blog.  I dedicate it to those of my friends and family who read this.  This is a fictional story I wrote last week.  To see other pieces of writing you can click the label "writing" and the other posts will show.  Enjoy and comment with feedback, suggestions, send me edited copies, etc. whatever you feel like. :D -Jared  Second Note:  Apparently this was the 100th draft, but not published post, instead it was the 93rd.  Shucks. haha

Scarlet looked over her 1971 half-dollar, wondering about the fingers that’d worn its sharpness smooth. Scarlet was a woman, and her hair was shoulder length and scarlet red; she thought it ironic.

The chair in which she sat was deceptively uncomfortable in the way that it only lets you sit upright. And when you turned or leaned, leaving the confines of the depression left by the thousands of eager and bored behinds, you entered the realm of, “fucking arm rests in my side.”

My Most Recent Letter to Grassley

Dear Sir,

Your support of the National Defense Authorization Act, which includes, no matter how you spin it, the ability for the indefinite military detaining of any prisoners deemed terrorist by the government without charging, as well as the militarizing of law enforcement, is absolutely disgusting.

A Thanksgiving Thanks

I sent an email and posted on Facebook: I wanted contributions to my Thanksgiving post.  "What are you thankful for in 250 words or less?"  It, apparently, was difficult for some. :)  Teasing aside, I'm very glad the people who responded did so.

I think this is completed.  :) Time to get up and start baking pies and making Thanksgiving's food.  :) Mmmm

Thank you! :D

Reaction Gaddafi's Death

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

Watch these videos:

Imagine you are the wife of a man whom you love and respect, despite all his eccentricities.

Imagine you are the daughter of a man whom has given you everything you could ever need, provided for every want, given opportunities that have not been afforded to the rest of the world.

Imagine you are the son of a man who has trained you, educated you, given you the skills and ability to make something of yourself, for good or bad.

Imagine you are the best friend of a man whom you watched give away billions in dollars to help his country, his continent.

Imagine you woke up this morning -as one of the aforementioned- and you saw the video of that man, bloodied, shaking, confused, dying, while lying on a transport speeding and bumping across the Libyan desert, with people screaming all around him as his blood soaks the clothes covering the wounds in his body. 

Imagine you woke up and watched a video of that man stumbling on his feet as he tried to make his way somewhere, somehow. 

Imagine you woke up this morning and you saw the video plastered all across the world, the same video the President of the United States saw, that the Prime Minister of England, France, and Germany watched.  

Imagine that you read headlines and statement from around the world that read: 

Hillary Clinton responding with just "Wow." at first and then mild amusement at his capture here.

Seeing the bloodied and deathly pale face of that man on the main page of Fox News with the headline “Qaddafi [sic] is dead … Absolutely dead.”  Showing the world his bloodied face, a whiter shade of pale. 

Or perhaps you wanted to see how MSNBC declares, everyone in Sirte saw the body, and then gives you the chance to project to the world what they think of "The life and times of a despot":

Group Think.

In the West, proponents of peace and love, democracy and due process, rejoicing in the death of anyone person... -the situation seems hypocritical to me. If your motives for his removal from power are for the peace and prosperity of the Libyan people (as NATO and it's components declared, and not for oil...wait, not for oil?  Unthinkable.), then you should be more focused on Libya's infrastructure, the way they will build a government representative of all and exclusive to none.    Of course, be glad Gaddafi is no longer in the picture, but to rejoice? 

While we're on NATO's "humanitarian bombing", check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PG1O1kj9Ef8&feature=player_detailpage#t=191s  - WARNING VERY GRAPHIC

You think "humanitarian bombing" exists?  They were there to protect the people, and instead they killed the civilians. -Tangent

You are not on the ground in Libya, you have not had the sand in your mouth as bullets ring out around you, huddled against the ground, trying to save your own life, scared of losing it to one bullet or another.  You've not felt the oppression of the regime, seen your friends taken away, money hoarded to the top, and the rest of the people forgotten.  Sure, be empathetic, be sympathetic, but consider the way in which you rejoice.   You have the ability to respond rationally to the news. You can exercise patience, humility, judgement, respect. You are a thousand miles away.

I'm not telling you how to think, or what to do; I'm only suggesting that you think critically, that you consider your actions and your responses.

This is for the people in the rest of the world, this is not for the people who fought to end the rule of an oppressive regime.

I am not saying I support the decisions of Gaddafi.  I am saying that we demand human rights, respect for the inherent dignity in our fellow man and our environment.  Well, where in those videos at the top, the headlines in the pictures do you see respect?  I see the disrespect of a human body, post-mortem.  What I see is group think happening, everyone assuming this is okay, or at least not saying much about how wrong it is. The same thing happened with Hussein, Bin Laden, Awlaki and his son.  YES!  Two American citizens were killed in the past two weeks.  AMERICAN CITIZENS!  The President gave the order to kill, without even attempting to capture, two American citizens without them being tried in a court.  

Yes, let's rejoice at that. Let us unite the country (America) under this feeling of elation at the death of another human being, let's get that group think going. Let us assume it is okay to kill and rejoice, but only if it's in the name of good! …

Wait?

Only if it's in the name of good? That's a slippery slope if I ever saw one; you're like to go a sliding down that sand dune when you try and tip-toe the top of it.

All I'm saying is think before you rejoice at the death of a man whom to some meant the world, meant love, meant cherished moments, memories of smiles and laughter.

All I'm saying is have the respect that you demand.
All I'm saying is be the change you want to see in the world.
All I'm saying is: What the fuck, man?


This is not concise at all.  This is a reaction.  This is my feelings pouring out.  Don't be petty and pick apart everything I say, or do; I don't care.

What I Think the Occupation Is & A Call to Arms - Revised

If we are anything, we are plural; meaning, we are all individuals acknowledging that the status quo is not working and needs to be changed. We all have our own personal opinions as to the solution, but the Movement as a whole has no single ideology.  Thus, we utilize the ability to speak and to listen to each other in a calm rationale way, and work towards compromise that is continually in the pursuit of improving our community.

We are attempting to build a community which represents the best of all aspects of our species at this moment in time, in order to give proof to the pursuit of perfection, and encouragement to striving thereof.  We, the Occupiers, are here to stand in solidarity with anyone whom feels the status quo is broken, and that there needs to begin to be actual dialogue amongst the populace, and not among a few elite who serve to only better themselves.

When the people as a whole come together to work towards the betterment of not only themselves, but their fellow man, the ones standing to their right and left and to those reading the same words on a different screen somewhere else in the world, we begin to take steps in a direction which is both general and specific to the needs of the people.

By involving the populace on the decision making of policy, you being to have a policy that is actually representative of the people, rather than of a few's interpretation of the people's voice, which, in the current paradigm, the 'people's voice' amounts to the amount of money a lobbyist places in the pockets of politicians.

Currently, it is implied in our party-politics-representative-democracy that we as the 99%, the general population, are not intelligent enough to be informed on the issues pertaining to our country and inter & intra-country relationships and policies.  The collective knowledge and ability for understanding of complex ideas amongst the general population has risen to a point where our former modal of government no longer accommodates that collective intelligence.

There needs to be a change to a form of government which is more fluid, more adaptable to the people's demands.  Society has progressed past the current form of governance. In history, anytime this is the case, the people take to the streets demanding a changing of the guard, in essence.  And, if successful, it results in a government which attempts to be representative of the best ideas for the greatest good of people.

We have reached a peak though, where we have attempted throughout history to do the best good for the greatest amount of people by generalizing.  We have attempted to correct problems at such a large scale that we ignore the fact that the problems are multi-faceted and arise from a myriad of issues.

Thus, by allowing diversity and disagreement, having open dialogue to discuss the problems amongst individuals, share knowledge so each other can better understand, we begin to develop a society that allows for plurality. 

We begin to have a society where plurality is preferred.

So, will you join me?  Will you no longer accept that 'we have it pretty good' and instead demand better from ourselves, demand to be the best, to strive towards a better society, a better culture a new paradigm where oppression is collectively looked down upon.  Demand to be heard.  Demand your freedoms and liberties.  Demand of yourself and your fellow citizen that we represent the best, that we take back the image of America from the plutocracy and mold image with our own voices.  We are America, the People are America.  It's time that we use the voice we have kept silent.

All that is written here is the opinion of one, Jared Krauss.  I in no way am representative of the group, and am solely expressing my own ideas.  This in no way can be interpreted to be representative of the Occupy movement.

Protesting in Solidarity

I want to outline a few key things about our Occupation of our country, our land.

We must protest in solidarity with our fellow citizens across the country.  We must be unified.  Fractured we are weak, but when we use the power we have in our voices, and combine them, we can be heard around the world.  We can shake the foundations of hegemony that still exist today.

We, here in Iowa City must protest as the people across the country, and contribute to the voting for demands (down below) so that we CAN and ARE protesting in solidarity.  Be unified, don't stand alone.

Demand to be heard.

Learn about Occupy Wall Street by going to their website: Occupy Wall St

Vote on the demands by going to this website, also, go here to learn about the demands and why people are protesting.  Find out if you agree or disagree, and then let your voice be heard!  That is the most important thing.  Making your voice heard, because if you tell no one what you want, they will never give it to you and you will never get it.

This website here: http://coupmedia.org/occupywallstreet/occupy-wall-street-official-demands-2009

The protests are escalating, police are becoming violent with protesters:

Here is a news station from the NY area reporting on the same situation: http://www.myfoxny.com//dpp/news/occupy-wall-street-protest-broadens-scope-20111005 

Here is a picture of the cop who was involved: 

If you're in Iowa City and you want to get involved Occupy Iowa City begins Friday @ 6PM COLLEGE GREEN PARK!

There is a General Assembly tomorrow night Thursday October 5th!  Come! We'll be talking about logistics and teams needed.  If you have any skills, media, medical, law, advocacy, etc., food, water, comfort!  Contribute!

occupyiowacity.twitter.com
occupyiowacity.tumblr.com

Peace & Love,
Jared Krauss

The Beginnings of a Revolution

As I sit here and wonder at the possibility of possibilities that are waiting to be mined from the passion of my fellow youth. We youth, we are not young, nor are we old. We are not weak, nor are we strong. We simply are.

It is a movement, it is no one person. It is the masses, not the individual, that demand these changes. We demand these changes, combining our individual voices to make heard our demands for the liberties we were promised, the freedom we are denied.

This is us, standing together, as a body of individuals, united in our cause.

These are the moments that change the fate of the world. We here in America have the rare opportunity to affect the entire world, because our government is entrenched around the world.

Demand the end of our government as a business, demand the end of war-mongering, demand the end of our corporate-ocracy, demand the end of elitism. Demand of our government the morals they profess, to uphold the ideals they spew.

When our government represents our people around the world with their bombs and bullets, that is how the world knows America. They do not see the face of you or I; they see our tanks and our destructive wake.

This war on terror is not one which will be won with bullets and bombs, but maybe with books.

Demand democracy, demand freedom, demand truth. Demand to be heard.

expressions

by opening the door for you, cooking dinner for you, covering you with a blanket, giving you my jacket when you're cold and putting my arm around you when we're traveling, protecting you while you sleep, running my hands through your hair, tickling your fingers lightly when we walk, and putting my hand on the small of your back to guide you through a door

i want to kiss you