(image) by Nicole Powers (image) Excitement for the dawn of a day that had taken much planning was severely tempered by the harsh reality of the night before. Sleep deprived but running on adrenalin, our group headed over to Grant Park. In the same way the powers that be had tried to frame the narrative... more

by Nicole Powers



Excitement for the dawn of a day that had taken much planning was severely tempered by the harsh reality of the night before. Sleep deprived but running on adrenalin, our group headed over to Grant Park.

In the same way the powers that be had tried to frame the narrative for the May Day 'General Strike' action by conveniently breaking news that morning of a terrorist plot by supposed Occupy activists, news of the arrest of the NATO 3 on the eve of M20 had been a prominent talking point over the past day. However, by now, more details were emerging, which made the whole scenario seem very suspect.

A pattern had started to emerge that had distinct similarities to the alleged May 1st plan to blow up an Ohio bridge – a scenario that turned out to be facilitated by the FBI to entrap a group of unfortunates who, left to their own devices, would likely be barely able to set off fireworks on bonfire night. Similarly, with the NATO 3 there was much talk of planted evidence and a highly suspect search warrant.

Following a speech by Jesse Jackson, Chris Geovanis of Chicago Indymedia briefed members of the media under the shade of a press not-quite-tent. She told us that when the police conducted the search that had lead to the NATO 3’s arrest it had taken them four hours to produce a warrant which was unsigned when it finally arrived. “That is the hallmark of dirty policing in this town,” said Giovanis, “There may very well be police entrapment here.”







The sun was beating down on Grant Park, so as the rallying cries began in the band shell, protesters were mostly scattered to take advantage of any shade they could find. Tactical and medic briefings wisely took place amidst clumps of trees.

Just before 2 PM, the protesters – and police – began to take formation, lining up in the road alongside the park. Protesters took their place in the center of the street, which was lined by police in riot helmets on either side. At the top of the march, ahead of the official rally banner, press were kettled in a pen of their own. Two police trucks were parked in front of the press pen, and in front of them, somewhat bizarrely, there was a red double-decker sight-seeing bus, the top floor of which was filled with news camera crews.

As the march set off, with the indie media segregated from the protesters, they resorted to interviewing each other. This made more sense that it might otherwise have, since the persecution of key livestreamers and members of the Twitterverse and Bloggersphere, had become one of the main stories of the day.





Walking through the streets of Chicago, I fell in step with Luke Rudkowski a.k.a. ‏‪@Lukewearechange, who was giving an on camera interview as he did his livestreaming thing. Listening in, I heard him talk about how he’d spent the night at a “safe house” outside of the city. This was a precaution several other streamers had thought it prudent to take. “We stream live, raw and unedited for people to make up their own mind,” explained Luke to the old guard reporter. “It’s a very weird situation when homeland security is interviewing your friends about you.”



When they weren’t comparing war stories from the past 24-hours, those in the press kettle were gleefully mocking the news crews atop the double-decker bus. Physically separated from the actual march by the two police trucks, these so called “journalists” were limited to reporting a perspective the police controlled. It served as a graphic illustration as to why the world is tuning into livestreams as mainstream news audiences continue to fall.



Halfway through the march, I ducked under the leading “NO to NATO warmakers” banner and worked my way back through the impressively large mass of bodies. I found my friends just as the march ground to a halt at a point where a group of veterans intended to symbolically hand back their medals. Hot, tired, and too far back to hear the speeches, we spread our large banner on the ground and lay down on top of it.



As I lay back and sunbathed with my eyes closed, I could hear the crowd at the head of the march taunting the cops on horseback who were blocking their way (“Get that animal off that horse”). When I open them once more, much of the crowd has already dissipated. Parched, I left my group, and went in search of somewhere to buy a drink. This turned out to be a highly fortuitous time to act on my thirst.

heading back along the march route I encountered massive formations of ominously attired officers from a variety of law enforcement agencies. The state police I passed in full RoboCop body armor looked particularly threatening, sporting batons of a size and length more akin to baseball bats. Before ducking into a convenience store I passed one who was clearly in a leadership role. His smile, swagger, not to mention the large, lighted cigar he made a huge show of savoring all seemed highly inappropriate.



Heading back with supplies in hand, I bumped into my California 99% Solidarity media bus comrade @CodeFrameSF. He was one of several new but fast friends I’d made over the course of this hectic and historic weekend. As we made our way back towards the rally the CPD issued their first dispersal warning. A few minutes later the first of several injured and bloodied protesters began to trickle by, the most severe cases were being tended to and/or carried by Occupy medics. At this point, having got a fair idea of what was likely to come watching the livestreams the previous night, this reporter decided to get the fuck out of dodge.



Back in the relative comfort of the 99% Solidarity base camp, I monitored the livestreams. With the permit having timed out at 4 PM for the official march, it had now morphed into one of the wildcat variety, which was being policed with increasing ferocity.

Once again, the mainstream press were paying attention to Occupy for all the wrong reasons. Members of our group clustered around the TV and channel surfed through several network news reports.

The visions of violence were so shocking that the collective tone of the anchors was distinctly sympathetic to those on the business end of the batons. "We've also seen police officers pummeling people and we don't know why," noted CNN's Don Lemon. Later on in the same report, after viewing a particularly brutal shot, he exclaimed, "My goodness! Does anyone deserve that?"

Reports of injuries and arrests were coming in thick and fast. At this point one of our number with legal experience peeled off to do jail support.


["Does Anybody Deserve This!" - CNN's Don Lemon]

Disturbed by the riot porn that was taking over the TV on all channels, and in need of food and beverages of the alcoholic variety, the rest of our group decamped to a local eatery. The conversation was subdued, as our number stared down at their iPhone and iPad screens, keeping tabs on the wildcat marches that continued on for several hours.

As we walked back our base, a by now beyond capacity Red Roof Inn room, a brief moment of semi-delirious levity took hold as we spontaneously broke out in a chorus of our new favorite chant: “What do we want? Time travel. When do we want it? It’s relevant.” Yeah, I know, it’s occu-humor. Like much about the movement, you either get it or you don’t.








Full disclosure: Nicole Powers has been assisting with 99% Solidarity’s efforts and is in no way an impartial observer. She is proud of this fact.

Related Posts:

99Solidarity Occu-Bus: Day 1 Of Our Epic Coast-To-Coast Road Trip From Los Angeles To New York By Way Of Chicago
99Solidarity Occu-Bus: Day 2 Of Our Epic Coast-To-Coast Road Trip From Los Angeles To New York By Way Of Chicago
99Solidarity Occu-Bus: Day 3 Of Our Epic Coast-To-Coast Road TripFrom Los Angeles To New York By Way Of Chicago
99Solidarity Occu-Bus: Day 4 (Pt. 1) Of Our Epic Coast-To-Coast Road Trip From Los Angeles To New York By Way Of Chicago
99Solidarity Occu-Bus: Day 4 (Pt. 2) Of Our Epic Coast-To-Coast Road Trip From Los Angeles To New York By Way Of Chicago

by SG's Team Agony feat. Yulia Let us answer life's questions - because great advice is even better when it comes from SuicideGirls. (image) [Yulia in Don't Panic] Q: So here's my problem, while I'm sure it is not unique it's the first time I've come across it. I am... more

by SG's Team Agony feat. Yulia

Let us answer life's questions - because great advice is even better when it comes from SuicideGirls.


[Yulia in Don't Panic]

Q: So here's my problem, while I'm sure it is not unique it's the first time I've come across it. I am interested in a woman that is a single parent. I am one too. However, my access to my son is alternating weekends, whereas she is, from what I can tell, the only parent in the picture. As I'm sure you can guess, this makes going out very difficult for her.

We met at a New Year’s Eve party and all attempts to get together since have turned into one obstacle after another, all dealing with childcare. I am a patient guy and I have no problem waiting for her, she is special, strong, good looking, and devoted to her daughter.

This is pretty special to me as all of my previous partners have been rather weak and unsure of themselves. She is different. I don't want to push into her life and make her uncomfortable, but at the same time, I do want to see her again. Tonight we almost connected, however timing and childcare became an issue again. I am sure that she wants to see me again, since, as we exchanged numbers this evening to make communication a little easier, she was apologetic about the situation.

I am a patient guy and generally nice too. This, I feel, may work against me. I'm worried that I either won't be assertive enough and she'll feel I'm not interested. But, on the flip side I don't want to push too hard and come off as either an ass or desperate.

Oh, did I mention, it's also been eleven years since I've been on a first date?

Sincerely, trying to remember how to date!

A: You are in a tough and confusing situation, for sure! It's hard enough beginning any relationship after being single for a long time, but you're interested in someone whose first concern will always be for her daughter. Even if she is actively hoping to get together with you, her desire is not her priority. Because you mention childcare I will assume her daughter is young.

It's nerve-racking when you've flown solo for so long but finally have feelings for someone else. It can feel like you're hitting puberty all over again -- figuratively speaking -- and experiencing that first crush. What do you say? How do you let her know? How do you know what she feels? Even though you're past this initial stage and have already planned on spending time together, you're still waiting for the first date. If at all possible, try to see this as anticipation and excitement rather than frustration. I'm not suggesting you stop trying to plan, but that you focus on what could be and share these feelings with the woman you're into and maybe it will motivate her to find a good babysitter.

Easier said than done, I know. Is her child very young, or old enough to understand a few things? If we're talking about an infant, this won't apply, but if the child is in school than your love interest may be worried about how that child will feel if his or her mother is dating. You say there's no father in the picture, so the mother may fear her child will get attached to quickly or immediately see you as a potential dad. She may also fear the child will see you as competition for attention. She may not want the child to see her go through the range of emotions relationships bring. However, she has expressed interest in seeing you, so if she is deeply concerned about any of this, she may be willing to see you if you agree to underplay the significance of your relationship in front of the child (at least for now). There is nothing wrong with this! Many single parents choose to wait for months before telling their children about a relationship. They aren't lying or hiding their partners; they're simply making sure this is important enough to share with the kids. When it is, it will be that much more meaningful.

If that's not the case, could you suggest getting together with the kids? If both your children are there it will seem more natural, and you could even fudge the storyline a bit by telling the kids you're friends from work, Say you just happened to have four tickets to the ball game and needed two more people. Just don't alter the truth too often or someone will catch on. Kids aren't stupid!

Meanwhile, perhaps there's a way you can help her find child care. Do you know any great babysitters? Do you have any responsible relatives nearby looking for a bit of extra work? If money is an issue, offer to split the cost of a babysitter. If trust is an issue, you could suggest meeting with candidates and then inviting them to spend time with both mother and child to create that trust.

Above all, pay attention to non-verbal signs you get from her. Is she really interested, but concerned about her kid's reaction? Is she into you, but nervous for herself? Maybe she hasn't dated in a long time either, or maybe you are the first person she has felt an attraction to since the child's father. Try to find some common ground in your struggles to get together and work from there.

Yulia

***

Got Problems? Let SuicideGirls’ team of Agony Aunts provide solutions. Email questions to: gotproblems@suicidegirls.com

Nadine Labaki is my kind of woman. Sometimes I have to go around the world to find a soulful intelligence to whom I can relate. A Lebanese filmmaker, Labaki has lived life and experienced war and tragedy, so the perspective in her art is perceptive and philosophical. Certainly not superficial. You would... more

Nadine Labaki is my kind of woman. Sometimes I have to go around the world to find a soulful intelligence to whom I can relate. A Lebanese filmmaker, Labaki has lived life and experienced war and tragedy, so the perspective in her art is perceptive and philosophical. Certainly not superficial. You would think coming from a conflicted region, Labaki’s films would be serious and perhaps difficult to take. She actually makes comedies. Her first film, Caramel, was a romantic comedy. Her second, Where Do We Go Now?, is a comedy about religious conflict between Christians and Muslims.

How can such a subject be funny? Well, Where Do We Go Now? opens with a procession of Muslim women marching and swaying in a musical rhythm, so you know there's something different here. The men of their unnamed village are always on the brink of fighting. The women do everything they can to distract the men, from drowning out news broadcast to bussing in a group of bikini models. With a light touch Labaki gets people thinking and talking about important matters. Speaking with her in person was equally impressive. Though she was from the other side of the world, she spoke my language both literally (English) and spiritually. We had a gentle conversation about the culture and film making of Lebanon.

SuicideGirls: Is the opening scene that’s like a dance, is that an actual religious ceremony?

Nadine Labaki: No, no, it’s really inspired by, I don't know if you’ve seen images of these women on TV show have lost children, hitting themselves and tearing their clothes apart. We have seen this image for so many years in Lebanon, either on TV or in my family, of women reacting very aggressively towards themselves. It becomes sort of like the ritual of mourning, the ritual of suffering where women really hit themselves. Because I think suffering becomes so intense that they can’t do anything but hit themselves. So this is inspired by these women that I’ve seen in my life. It became like a ritual of mourning that I imagined.

SG: Did that also help you indicate the humorous side of the movie by turning it into a dance?

NL: Yes, it was important. All these aspects, whether it’s humor or dancing and musical numbers, it was important because this is intended to be a fable. It’s not really a realistic film. With nonprofessional actors, and the fact that they’re acting very real, it has this very realistic approach. But at the same time, it had to be like sort of a fable because I didn’t want to relate it to any specific event. Unfortunately in Lebanon, because we’ve been through so many wars, when you talk about the war, people tend to want to relate it to a specific event and this is not what I wanted to happen. I wanted to be more universal. I’m talking about conflicts in general. I’m talking about the war in general. This conflict could’ve happened between two families or two football teams or two friends. It’s not specifically between Christians and Muslims in Lebanon. And I think the fact that there's musical [elements], it does give you that. The fact that there’s humor also give you this distance. I needed humor to create this distance because sometimes when you laugh about your flaws, it’s a way to start seeing them and maybe to start healing from them. It was an important part also to make the reasons why we get into the conflict ridiculous, to make you understand that sometimes it is ridiculous why we make wars.

SG: In real life have you ever been able to prevent fighting using some of the tactics these women use?

NL: [Laughs] No. No, no, no. I imagined, because it was inspired by true events that happened in 2008, true conflicts. There was conflict between two opposing political parties and then people who were followers of these parties took weapons again and went down to the streets and started killing each other again, after having succeeded in living at least 20 years of peace. At that point I had learned that I was pregnant and I think it does give you a different perspective on life. So I imagined my son if he was 18 years old now and he was tempted to take a weapon, to go down to the street and whatever the rest were doing, what would I do as a mother to stop him? That’s how the whole story started, the whole idea for the film started. So whatever these women are doing in the film are not really true events that happened, but it’s things that I would have imagined doing if I was in that situation.

SG: I would like to think there is a hope for preventing violent conflict, but is it inevitable? The women do everything to hide the news, and an accident still makes them fight. Is conflict inevitable?

NL: It’s not completely inevitable but unfortunately most of the time this is how it happens. I needed to talk about how we misinterpret things sometimes and how rumors can create conflicts out of nothing and how what happens outside can influence what happens inside. And how sometimes we are so eager for conflict that anything is an excuse for us. This was the proof. The cross fell and it broke and it’s even a Christian boy who did it, but the Christians, because they needed somebody to blame, they automatically blamed the Muslims of the village. So I wanted to talk about that. I wanted to talk sometimes how conflicts erupt out of misinterpretation.

SG: Is the issue at heart then that both sides want to have a conflict? Correcting that is the solution.

NL: Absolutely and unfortunately when there has been so much blood between two parties, we haven’t really talked about it. Revenge is inevitable when there has been so much blood, and there has been so much blood between so many parties in Lebanon, that anything can become an excuse to start a war again because we haven’t forgotten, because we haven’t forgiven. Forgiveness is really an important stage and this forgiveness is not something that we did unfortunately in Lebanon. There’s so much blood in the soil of this country and people are unable to forget it. So everything becomes an excuse to start a war again because they want revenge.

SG: I hope they try the busload of women. That was a good plan.

NL: [Laughs] That might work.

SG: Is the movie opening dialogue?

NL: A lot of dialogues. The movie is doing great over there. We’re breaking records. We’re making history and it’s going beyond the film. I’m having talks in universities and schools and doing political talk shows talking about the subject, talking about how we can try to avoid new conflicts. So it’s going really beyond the film and I’m really happy about that.

SG: We don’t get to see a lot of Middle Eastern humor. Is there a lot of humor?

NL: Yeah, of course. I think humor does create this distance. When you laugh about your flaws I think it’s a way to heal. It was important and it’s something that is part of our culture too. We tend to make a lot of jokes, we tend to laugh about our flaws, we tend to use our language in a very interesting humorous way. It’s also part of our personality.

SG: Is it distance it creates? I thought humor brought things closer to me.

NL: Distance in a sense that you do look at things in a different perspective through humor. When you’re laughing about the situation, it’s like as if you are acknowledging that the situation is ridiculous and then you acknowledge that maybe you should do something about it and change it because it is ridiculous. Maybe distance is not the right word for it but it does give you a different perspective on things.

SG: It might depend on the audience, because someone who lived this conflict might need a distance. Someone who’s never experienced it like me might see humor as a way in.

NL: Absolutely, true. That’s true. It does create distance for people who have lived the war. This film is really my way of saying we’ve had enough. We’ve had enough. I don't know one person that hasn’t lived a tragedy, a tragedy related to wars, especially women. When we have family gatherings, I look at the women in my family who have lost children in such absurd and violent ways during the wars. I look at them and say, “How do they do it? How do they manage to keep living?” I’m obsessed with this idea. I don’t want to be in that situation, God forbid. It’s really my way of saying we’ve had enough. We don’t want to go through this again.

SG: In Hollywood, it’s tough for female directors. What is the Lebanese film industry’s attitude towards female directors?

NL: You know, you can’t really talk about an industry. We don’t have a film industry. It’s really cinematic adventures. That’s what I call them. We don’t really have an industry so you do things your own way. It’s not like people give you a chance to do it. You create your own chance and you say, “I want to do it” and you find a way to do it. It’s not like you’re waiting for other people to give you the chance because there’s no film industry. So you do things the way you want them. Even the way I work, I’ve created my own way of working. I don’t work like any other director. My way of working is a bit chaotic but it’s organized chaos because I work with nonprofessional actors and I improvise a lot and I do things I’m not supposed to do and I’m looking for that unpredictable moment of truth all the time. I don’t tell the actors what the scene is until the last moment. It’s really like my own way of working and I created it. I’m not waiting for anyone to give me permission.

SG: Had any of your actors experienced these conflicts in real life?

NL: Everybody. Every one of the actors, everybody that was on the shoot, everybody involved in the film. Everybody has a tragedy related to war so everybody relates, whether actors or even the crew. The atmosphere on the set was just amazing because everybody was aware of what the film was saying and everybody wants to make a change somehow and they believed that what they were participating in was something that could bring change an it made it even stronger. It was a very intense emotional adventure.

SG: How must it feel playing these scenes for pretend when they could be real?

NL: It wasn’t pretend. Most of the time it wasn’t pretend. Most of the time it was we were relating to things we knew very, very well. That’s why I don’t like the word acting very much. I need to believe as a filmmaker that what’s happening is true. The way that these actors are reacting or what they are saying could have happened. They could have said the things they said or they could have reacted this way in that situation. I need to believe that what’s happening is true because I think that cinema can be a very powerful nonviolent weapon to make a change. And it does make a change when you do relate as a viewer. When you relate to what you’re seeing and when you think, “This could have happened to me” or “This could have been me on the big screen” or this story could have been true,” this is when you start relating to your own life or to your own situation and this is when you start thinking, at least thinking. I want you to come out of the film or the movie theater and take this film with you and think about it. Think of the situations and I don’t want you to be in the situation when you know that you’re watching a film with actors and it has nothing to do with your reality and this is a different reality and you go out of the film and you forget it the next minute. Because I do believe that it’s very powerful and cinema can make a change.

SG: Are you rare in Lebanon, a woman who does all of this for herself? Are there a lot like you?

NL: No, I’m rare. There are other women that are directors and there are other directors that are doing very, very good things but like I said, we can’t really talk about the film industry. We are very, very limited and there’s not a lot of filmmakers. There’s a few women filmmakers that are doing good stuff and we are rare as filmmakers.

SG: They don’t have to be directors, but artists or women breaking out.

NL: There are, there are a lot of women breaking out and especially breaking the clichés of Arab women. That’s what’s very important. There’s a lot of interesting women, interesting artists that are breaking these clichés.

SG: Was this a controversial movie to make in Beirut?

NL: It could have been controversial if a lot of people knew about it but I kept it secret until the end. I didn’t give any scripts to any actors. They discovered the scenes most of the time the same day. Of course they knew about the theme but they didn’t really know in detail what we were talking about. I kept it secret. Nobody knew about it, not even the press. They knew I was filming but they didn’t really know what I was filming. It was important to keep it secret until the end.

SG: Here we call that guerilla style.

NL: It’s not really that. We had permissions, we had all of that but I didn’t want a lot of people to know, because when you talk about religion it becomes a very taboo subject and it becomes very delicate and people start interpreting things differently and I didn’t want any of that to happen.

SG: It’s not even specifically about Christianity or Muslim, but just the fact that there is religious conflict.

NL: It’s not really about religion for me. It’s not about Christians and Muslims. It’s about the fact that people are different and people have a problem tolerating this difference. We could have created two new religions. We could have created religions that don’t exist to make it even more universal. But I needed it to make it simpler for people to understand, so when they see a cross, they understand we’re talking about Christians. When they see veiled women, they understand that we’re talking about Muslims, or when they see a mosque. So it was important to make that clear for the viewer, but really we could have created two new, not even religions. Maybe two sects or two parties, or two political parties. It’s mainly about the fact that we don’t tolerate the difference of the other. That’s what I’m talking about.

SG: What’s your next film going to be?

NL: I don't know yet. I haven’t started writing yet. I think I will start writing at the end of the summer, my next film.

Where Do We Go Now? is in theaters now.

this was in another thread, and it got me thinking: RagleGumm said: (image) (image) But also (especially in the eyes): (image) (image) i've always thought that fractal looks a lot like natalie wood - an actress from the 60-70's, was in rebel without a cause, gypsy, the great race, etc. but i... more

this was in another thread, and it got me thinking:

RagleGumm said:




But also (especially in the eyes):




i've always thought that fractal looks a lot like natalie wood - an actress from the 60-70's, was in rebel without a cause, gypsy, the great race, etc. but i definitely see the resemblance above.

anyways, anyone else notice resemblances between any of the girls and particular celebrities?

I just joined. Find me here.