her body politik

 As I stepped out of class tonight at 10pm with a 45 minute drive ahead of me, I sighed in relief-- not because class was finally over, but because it felt so good to spend 4 hours with people who were engaged in learning something.  I know.  I'm a total geek.  But I love school. I can tell that I am more interested than everyone else there, but it doesn't matter.  I ask lots of questions to the professor, to the other students; I want to know everything  Pretty soon it spreads.  Everyone is asking questions- clarifying and inquiring. It feels electric, addictive.   I have to restrain myself so the other students don't start to hate me when we don't get out early because I am asking too many questions.  Someday I am going to be involved somewhere where everyone loves to acquire new information, where everyone wants to investigate how and why, where everyone wants to learn as much as I do.

They say 99% of protesting is just showing up.  The other 1% is voting.   If you want to have greater power over what happens in your democracy, you have to participate.  Vote.

If you feel that you're employees and/or business are being adversely effected by the Occupy Oakland movement send a representative to their nightly general assembly on Broadway and 14th Street in downtown Oakland.  Voice your concerns and take notes.  Be part of the process and help find solutions.   One suggestion is ask Occupy Oakland to publish the names of businesses who are supporting protests with signs and donations in their Twitter feed and Facebook pages.  My guess is that businesses who are willing to publicly support the movement with signage in their windows and announcements on their websites will find more customers than they know what to do with.  Go down to the encampment, bring donations and you will find allies, supporters, and lifelong customers.    http://sanfrancisco.grubstreet.com/2011/11/camino_closed_today_in_support.html

The Oakland Police Officers' Association just posted "An Open Letter to the Citizens of Oakland"  http://www.opoa.org/uncategorized/an-open-letter-to-the-citizens-of-oakland-from-the-oakland-police-officers%E2%80%99-association/  regarding the general strike tomorrow and inconsistency in the Mayor's message.  The letter notes the extreme cost of providing a police presence for protests and asks that the citizens of Oakland support the police in asking for the Mayor to give clear instructions that are consistent with her publicly stated positions on these issues. I support Oakland police officers and, like all employees, they deserve to have clear expectations laid out by their leadership that are in line with the values espoused by the city government.  That is that only way that any employee can be truly effective.  What is frustrating to me is that the motives of the Occupy movement have been convoluted by the Mayor and the actions of the OPD at the direction