Hello, I don't have anything particularly interesting to say, but for what it's worth, I just wanted to say how much I value and appreciate both the Occupiers in Detroit and the effort you have put into this blog. It is great and I enjoy reading it every day. So, thank you, and I look forward to participating soon! :)
Thank you for taking a moment and expressing the appreciation. It is very valuable to know that one or more people were actually "reached" with a message. If we could gauge that more were seeing and being reached it would be inspiring, and likely we would have more people contributing. Those involved have given so much of our lives. We need fresh waves of people to be coming in and getting involved. We need new points of view that properly reflect a greater populace.
You might gather that personally I've been busy in more than this blog. My 'regular life' has been placed on hold. I am going through changes in my life's priorities and how to serve those. I work on the Occupy Detroit website, I capture streaming video during events, attend and lead meetings of the media working group, I'm also a photographer, create graphics, and I hope to be a trusted friend, mentor, and co-conspirator to all of honorable intent.
It takes listening to have an agenda that is for and by the people. I have had people accuse me of being 'white privleged', I can only offer them a glimpse into the times I've spent couch-surfing for a place to stay and shacking up in an abandoned house. I suppose I can't change the color of my skin, but I have experiences that are not self-evident.
Our elected representatives become molded by the circumstance of existing policy when they take office. Their intent is to change things, but they are shown a limited set of controls and they don't lead to moving much. We can't fault the unknowing too much, but you can't claim ignorance when you've been taught the lesson. The goal has to be to break the machine - a true revolution - not for the sake of revolution, but to initiate the rebuilding of a system the people can trust. I don't know what that will be and refuse to be pinned in a corner to attempt describing it. I know we must be adaptable - that is the greatest gift a human being has is to know how to use tools, collaboration, logic, and reason to adapt.
