99%

I am lucky, I know. 

I attended one of the most expensive liberal arts colleges in the nation as well as an MFA grad program at another college, both based on my own merits and passions. I am not in debt for doing such. I have an apartment and health insurance and (currently) a job and food and clothing and hot water and  a car and some moderate savings for someone my age and with my resume. None of this would have been possible without the financial and emotional support of my parents and, going back even further, my grandparents and their parents and their parents and so forth. I do not pretend to be struggling in the same way that I have seen others struggle, especially those who have not been as fortunate in the supportive-parents department.

My generation certainly needs support in order to pursue the things about which we are passionate. Essentially, this means running the risk of having absolutely nothing to show for ourselves other than our creative/social efforts, our ideas and experiences, and a fancy schmancy degree, though degrees have become, in some cases, almost meaningless. What is life really about if we take away creativity and ideas and experiences and learning from one another? How can we ever hope to advance if we are not continually introducing new stories and images and patterns and perceptions and opinions and methods? In order to properly cultivate such things, we need an appropriate education, but in order to receive an education, we need money...and in order to make money, we need an education.

At times when I was unemployed and desperately hunting for a job I was not only "qualified" to do but truly wanted to do (what's the price of personal satisfaction nowadays?), I was lucky to have been able to save some money plus receive the support of parents who had wished me success in writing rather than  pushed me to follow a more "guaranteed" path. BUT THIS IS NOT THE NORM. More people than not are without health insurance, without homes, without jobs, without education, without pride, without hope, and without financial support. I have felt hopeless too, but my feeling of hopelessness about my worth in the job market as it currently exists, or my voice in the world at large, is nothing compared to those who have absolutely no support system to fall back on if they fail (and who never fails?)....those who are forced to turn to the government for help or relinquish themselves to working at, oh I don't know, KFC.

What I am trying to say is that living a life of doing what you actually WANT to do (for the good of yourself and others) is not easy and sometimes impossible. What I am trying to say is that I AM ONE OF THE 99% and I will stand with those who are broken and hopeless and cheated and lied to by the white collar diplomats of this country...you know them: the leaders and politicians and businesses that have caused massive job cuts, extreme environmental destruction, deaths due to lack of health insurance, et cetera. The ones who don't give a second thought to those humans and animals affected by their actions. The ones who, in this democratic society, are only looking out for themselves. The ones who are controlling all of us and reversing or halting any progress we might have made. I was born in this country and I continue to live in this  country and here I am saying that I want change. No, I demand change, and so should you. This is OUR future we're talking about. There is so much more I can say...but for now, PLEASE read more (both words are links):

TESTIMONIALS & DECLARATION

-a-my.
[first image is of me, second was taken at the Occupy Wall Street protest]