Occupy My Kitchen Island [View All]

I've lived a rollercoaster of an existence. When I was 22, I wanted to unionize the world with the IWW and burn all my shit and run around like the bohemians in "Rent." Now, fifteen years late, I prefer LeCreuset, Tactel separates and a generally spotless white countertop contrasting with green organic apples. I try to make good choices as a consumer. I buy organic food, I try to buy USA-made clothing and I recycle A LOT. I like good, mid-priced value wines and the stability that comes from being gainfully employed, living in a safe neighborhood, and appropriately insured.

I value good medical care -- like we all do -- and technology. I love my computer and yet...

I know that the power we're all using right now to pound away like a million monkeys on a million typewriters is killing the planet
I know that the choice between war and destroying the environment is how I power my life
I buy things outside their use value because I like feeling affluent and not having to buy cheap crap
I know that buying American is nationalistic and though we think it sucks, people in other countries like having jobs
I know that were we all to be equal, that I would not be as comfortable
I know that our way of life is unsustainable
I know that I avoid taking public transportation because of the crazies on the bus
I know that unemployment is much higher than the numbers say
I cringe when I hear about 250 people applying for one job
I know that while I'm not one paycheck away from financial ruin, I might be 5 or 6 away
I know the extremely wealthy are playing with our stability
But I know that our stability still means death and genocide for people in foreign countries
The American middle class, the entire Western world exploits other countries for their labor, their resources, etc.
That everyone from snotty, do-gooding Democratic socialists in Sweden to country clubbers in the Hamptons are just as guilty
That there is no road that logically leads to anything but extreme austerity, deference and the collective
That the collective can and does crush the individual in its totality and authority
That the other countries and cultures that we revere as sacred are humans and would do the same thing we're doing
That the poor are humans and not moral by virtue of being poor and could easily do the terrible things Wall St. bankers do


Meanwhile, back in the kitchen...I'm listening to Jonathan Franzen interviewed on NPR, planning what I'm going to wear to a play tonight, and where I'm going to eat. Anxiously awaiting the end of school day, so I can get my son and we can chat over Ginger-Os and I can find out what he got on his test.

The American middle class, in all its decadence and beauty and unsustainability, is a lovely and secure bubble -- in some ways, the pinnacle of human existence. What if I'm not ready to give it up? Most people really aren't. You cannot say that I don't know what's going on. You cannot say that I'm not aware and sit in front of my TV and drive an SUV and eat McDonald's all the time. I'm a bright and informed member of the populace.

What are we fighting for? Our way of life is unsustainable and fucks other people. It's also intellectually stimulating, full of fantastic technological advance and possibility and somewhere between the Large Hadron Collider, Khan Academy and James Franco, we're not doing all that bad as a civilization.

I guess the big question is how do the Wall St. protests fit in with human potential? How does technological potential fit in with sustainability? I don't want to be part of anyone's austere Cultural Revolution in a world with all of these possibilities? What does it mean to be rich or to be poor? What do we all want? Beyond stopping basic suffering, what else is a right? If you hate the rich, but have 90 percent more wealth than someone living in a hut, is that okay? Maybe the person in the hut is better off. Does the person in the hut deserve an iPod? How much clean water can your iPod buy?