About this project
I was attracted to Occupy Oakland as a skeptic, looking to answer my own criticisms about the lack of diversity in the Occupy movement. But what I found in Frank Ogawa Plaza, now rechristened Oscar Grant Plaza, was something completely unexpected, and something, I believe, that is unique among all the Occupy movements. A community, a utopia in production, a contentious and often dysfunctional organic being with a life of its own. And a political movement the likes of which has not been seen for decades. Occupy Oakland is, and has been, all these things, and continues to grow and change at dizzying speed.
My writing to date has been the product of long hours and days spent with the people who live in the camp, at its outskirts and who have become regular social and political fixtures in its day to day existence. Especially in the earlier period of the plaza, my reporting has been at times, and for most of this period, the only in-depth narrative work done on the camp, and by any estimate the most accurate.
The over-whelming support I've already received through this kickstarter account has been humbling. Its also allowed me a more intense focus for documentation. I've added an audio archive of General Assemblies to my blog, and will endeavor to record each GA from beginning to end. I'm confident that this alone will be of great historical value even in the near future.
I'm also now able to spend more time with the occupation, allowing me to often capture important events as they happen in this fluid and dynamic movement.
Read some of my current reporting:
http://hyphenatedrepublic.wordpress.com/2011/10/21/occupy-oakland-day-11-from-crisis-comes-dancing-beatboxing-resolve-community/
http://hyphenatedrepublic.wordpress.com/2011/10/14/occupy-oakland-day-four-wherein-i-speak-to-some-folks-and-the-general-assembly-debates-move-ons-move-in/
http://hyphenatedrepublic.wordpress.com/2011/10/18/occupy-oakland-day-8-solving-global-problems-in-a-downtown-microcosm/
http://hyphenatedrepublic.wordpress.com/occupy-oakland-coverage/
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A detailed view of a revolution in progress.
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I'm a self-trained documentarian and journalist. I believe that events and movements are best described by the people who experienced them, and by documentarians willing to spend the time necessary to understand and know them.
