The greatest of faults is to be conscious of none.
I've joked these past few weeks about being an Occuposer since I work constantly and only voice my approval and admiration of The Occupy Movement though I'm not out in the streets protesting. This evening I drew up a Guy Fawkes mask in my own surreal style with a bangin' third eye to make a few propaganda pieces and lend my skills! Feel free to share these around, post them on social networks and even email me if you want a print-sized version to get them made in real life and take it to the streets! I'm not Jay-Z and I'm not here to make a dime off them, just drop a line to dregstudios@gmail.com. What you get here are 11in x 17in web quality so let me know if you 'd like a print file you can blow any of them up as large as your imagination and wallet will take you with the help of your local printer.
I am more fortunate than some... not as fortunate as others. I join the rest of the 99% grinding through my Six Day work weeks managing a marketing department to come home to a wonderful and loving wife who shares me with my art, which Occupies much of my time aside from sleep and being punched in on someone else's clock. Like most Americans, despite full-time work- I have no health insurance, I can't afford a house, I owe money with exorbitant interests rates, I've had my wages garnished for student loan debts and I get a fraction of the time off that workers in Communist and Socialist countries get.
Before we can change the way Capitalism has distorted our lives, we have to admit there is a problem. We have to stop being get-along / go-along. We have to raise our voice. The Occupy movement is the most important event in modern history for two reasons: 1) People are bringing attention to the fact that there's not just a problem, there are many; and 2) The past two months of our lives have marked a first in human history- a GLOBAL Protest! Through the power of the internet, word-of-mouth and despite media blackouts the first few weeks of the sit-ins, the message of the 99% has spread across the entire world with major demonstrations in over 80 countries.
"Every generation needs a new Revolution." -Thomas Jefferson
If you didn't realize the scale of these events over the past 9 weeks, its because our Government and Big Business don't want you to know. They want you to think that there are unemployed drug addicts gathering in parks. They don't want you to know about the hundreds and thousands of Union Workers, Teachers, Retired Police, Veterans, Unemployed College Graduates, Medical Professionals, Musicians, Actors, Artists and Brilliant Peaceful Folk who are standing up and saying YES- there is a problem. Research for yourself and read read read. Power is knowledge and if you spend 15 minutes a day reading about the things you WANT to change, then you can help facilitate that very CHANGE. 15 minutes a day 6 days a week equal 25 books worth of knowledge in a single year. Just 35 books of knowledge equals an $80,000 MBA education.
"The man who thinks becomes a light and a power!" -Henry George
Hundreds of people have been arrested over the past two months in cities from Nashville to Denver to Los Angeles to Portland and everywhere in between here in our country. The same is happening across Canada, much of Europe and Australia on the same large scale. Over the past week, every Constitutional right of American Citizens has been compromised by the corruption of our Government from the Arms of Big Business and their seemingly infinite reach. Press members have been arrested, quarantined outside of raids as to not be able to report them- even news helicopters were grounded in New York City. Pregnant women, elderly women and college students have been gassed, pepper sprayed and beaten in the streets. Is this the United States we were taught to love by our system? It is today and we can't be too careful about letting our rights slip further out of our grasp.
"Man's greatest fear is that he can do anything." -Nelson Mandella
I stand with the 99% and am grateful for each and every person who Occupies the streets of the United States and all over the world. They are fighting for you and I. They are standing up for our civil liberties. They are raising their voices to call for change. They want you to have health insurance. They want your children to have affordable education. They want you to be able to keep your house and know what retirement is. They want to live in a better and fairer world and not just for one out of every hundred of us.
"Stripes" is the theme for Illustration Friday today as I continue in my endeavor to submit to their site EVERY Friday of 2011! So far, so good and today I've got an illustration from my Scraps & Motives (S&M) Exhibit at Cafe Coco in Nashville back in the summer of 2008. This drawing is actually a very small work (about 5 inches tall) and is a crowd favorite. The look on his face was my own response and outlet for being overrun with house flies at the time I drew the piece. I hate flies, they make me crazy and I'm sure it's a sight to see a grown man jumping up and down in victory every time one feels the wrath of my swatter. I'm not sure why, but folks seem to like my characters the more they look like they should be wearing a helmet. Why do you think my viewers are drawn to the deranged?
