Two video photographers capturing a moment in history. Have no idea what the plans are for their footage.

Just received this morning from “Dont Suppress OWS” working group a notice of a conference call for 9 p.m.

RE: Comments/Agenda:There’s 22 days to build for the day of mass action against the suppression of occupy and tens of thousands of people who support the occupy movement who need to know about the rally and march on Tuesday February 28 at 4pm and why they need to be there. There needs to be creative ambitious plans to get this out in a major way, reach a lot of people, and work with them to make this a powerful action, so let’s develop a strategy and some plans.

Discussion going on about the proposal from the adhoc working group on the suppression of OSW. Notice the multicolored hat at the top left of the picture (image partially blocked by video camera)..

Have no idea who she was. Definitely opposed to the proposal. Her objection made little sense but it was respected out of the protocol of OSW General Assembly. Kept barking at me to stop taking her picture and at first I did stop until I noticed that she said nothing to the videographers and others shooting away.

The Atrium, Wall Street Area, Meeting With General Assembly, OCCUPY WALL STREET. Saturday, February 4, sometime after 7 p.m.

I’ve been working with an ad hoc group that wants to do a mass action rally against the blatant political suppression – via NYPD – of OCCUPY WALL STREET in New York City and the attack on the movement in general across the country. The purpose of the nonviolent rally is a quick infusion of visible energy and support to OWS  in this time of crisis, to stir up the spirit of millions in the wake of the NYPD attack on Zuccotti Park, evicting OWS. I was concerned that though the spirt of OCCUPY is manifest, the NYPD eviction could be interpreted as a defeat for OCCUPY and that the movement has been thwarted.

Members of the ad hock group believe that a quick response is necessary as a response to the police eviction. So, I was there in the Atrium with the ad hoc group seeking approval to move forward with the plans: An interesting experience for this writer who did not participate directly in the Zuccotti Park action. Most of the 50-plus GA members seemed generally supportive of what we wanted to do. There were at least four who didn’t and, based on the rules formulated by OCCUPY, one could block the support. And, of course, there were four.

The guy holding the white form ins his left hand showed up well after the discussion began and, complaining that an OWS Facilitator treated him with disrespect, voted to block the plan. He was invited to address the assembled audience; there were hopes that he could be swayed to be supported. He wasn't.

It would be easy for me to heap criticism on the OWSer in the picture above but I won’t. That goes to the three others who also blocked. I am new to the game. The blocks, we eventually learned, reflected internal discord in OWS. There were attempts by the Facilitator and members of the ad hoc group and others from the audience to try to ameliorate the block of the OSWer in the picture above and the blocks of the others but it was to no avail.

So, it was decided that the proposal be tabled. The ad hoc group is to meet this coming Thursday to work on, discuss the Friendly Amendments of the four blockers and to re-appear before the General Assembly as soon as possible.

The creator of the sign was one of the <em>blockers</em> and he was insistent that the proposal include include information that there would be no burning of the American Flag at the rally.

For a variety a reasons, I have not been as detailed about the February 4 OWS GA as I would like. One reason, timeliness: I am publishing this today when I should have done it last night but was beat and need to whip it out  today, thus no time for many, many rewrites. Another, I haven’t discussed with the other members of the group what they thought and are thinking.

And one more reason: I Don’t wish to offend anyone until I have a great grasp of what I’m involved. Not that I’m saying I would offend anyone after I had the grasp.

CASABLANCA — In a packed courtroom, Mouad Belrhouat, 24, an anti-monarchist rapper who performs as El-Haqed, or The Spiteful, was convicted last Thursday of assault and sentenced to prison and a fine.

Article by Aida Alami 

This year has given us simply too many worthy contenders for FAIR’s annual P.U.-litzers–recognizing the stinkiest journalism of the year. A big part of the problem was that so many outlets were striving to distinguish themselves with especially awful coverage of the Occupy Wall Street movement. So to note those lowlights, we bring you a special installment of P.U.-litzers: The OWS edition.

Read full story here.

Dear Professor Morris,

It’s embarrassing that I have to get to this point for any class, but unfortunately, here we are. It’s time to man up or shut up.

As you are well aware, I have been absent for more than half the class this semester. At this point in time in my life, I’m in a scenario where I have to reorganize my priorities, and this class is unfortunately an obstruction for me.

Unlike other students who have dropped this class, I’m not backing out because of the course material or your teaching. Quite the contrary, when the semester started, I was excited to take a legitimately HARD journalism course. Unfortunately, it also happened to be my 5th class, and when coupled with my current (sometimes never ending) job quest, It’s just turned out to be too much.

Therefore, as unfortunate as it is, I will be drafting up the materials to Withdraw from this class with a W, and will be coming by your office during your Monday hours for signatures (so that I may properly turn in all the paperwork by the Wednesday, Nov. 17th Deadline)

As much s**t as you took/take from the other students in the class at times, I want to let you know that I appreciated your academic style and the course setup.

It’s just a shame my work and attendance ethic could not meet up to the standards I held the class in. For that, I apologize.

Thank you for your patience, attention(!) and assistance(!) through this phase of my life, and hopefully in the future we can meet/teach under better circumstances.

-With Regret,
-[Name Withheld of Course]

As of this date, there are four students still enrolled.

So, what is this about? Read on.

Truth can wither in the throes of too much self-aggrandizement.

For the record: Casavant, with her mentor’s considerable support and help, was selected for a Chips Quinn Scholar but she never represented the WORD in that matter (as well as manner) as she alleged in her post. But that’s a minor quibble. She was blocked from the Hunter WORD facebook page for lying and deceit and for calling, absurdly, for a boycott of the publication because facebook friends didn’t agree with her reasoning. [They were a lot more tolerant of her than I was but they didn't know she was lying. I did.]

Also, there was no posting of 9/11 jokes in the WORD. Nor was there ever any consideration for that, only for a serious discussion in a restricted forum about what was appropriate and inappropriate. It has to be said that sometimes some facebook “friends “act like morons and have to be quickly dispatched.

More to come on this after the period ends, that is, the time I allotted  for a response from the news services regarding this writers queries and alerts. Also, here is the link to her tumblr page. It’s beginning to make sense why her tenure as a newspaper reporter probably was short: The truth can be daunting for those who prefer to engage in un-truths and deceptions.

Nevertheless, this whole matter will make for a great discussion in my journalism classes.

!

On my way home from Hunter College

Picture so much better as size gets bigger.

[Soon to be a Major Motion Picture — ]

Also, posted on Hunter-L

Attention D:F/M Colleagues Tami Gold***Ricardo Miranda***Bernard Stein***Kelly Anderson***Isabel Pinedo***Tim Portlock

OCCUPY D:F/M, Part 2
A Public Service Announcement 

As a result of Hunter Alumnus Jed Brandt – of Envoy & SLAM Ill Repute – being identified as one of the co-founders of the OCCUPY Newspaper, this came to mind: Colleagues proselytizing students to join the Z-Revolution should remind them to beware of nefarious, opportunistic, carpetbagging, ersatz Freedom Fighters posing as liberals, super-liberals and super-super-cool-liberal-radical-whatevers.

We don’t want our students exploited and mislead? We want them informed, right? Ersatz Freedom Fighters are worse than Barnacles. Would you not agree? I am considering a Beware List for students in my classes. How about you? Yet, I stand prepared to join you in a Zuccotti Tribute after we:

OCCUPY D:F/M and end the tyranny. End the flimflamming. Stop The Comatose Journalism – Comatose Media Studies Movement (TCJ-CMSM). Spare the department increasing dollops of ignominy. Provide students The Skinny they so rightfully deserve since they have to pay increasing tuition and we don’t want to stand accused of phony promises that D:F/M can’t deliver the goods, so to speak, that students need to compete for the best internships and grad schools.

 Remember: True Democracy Begins at Home. OCCUPY D:F/M

G Morris
D:F/M

— “Need to Know the Skinny” and “True Liberation Begins at Home” and “The Bard Had It Wrong,  But We Can Get It Right: Out with the Barnacles” posters and T-shirts could be soon in the making.

Writer’s Note: This post contains minor corrections and slight changes not included in the original post on Hunter-L.

At the J Walter Thompson agency on Lexington Avenue, 46 Street today.

The nervous energy before the start of the press conference announcing the SUS campaign to help U.S. military vets and soldiers could not be denied. And then things got serious.

There wasn't a dry eye in the place by the end of the press conference.

WORD writers got an unexpected dose of real-world journalism and rose to the occasion. Lots of stories in the works.

Each day 18 current or former military personnel take their own lives. Over 2,300 active duty members of the U.S. Armed Forces have killed themselves since January, 2001.

Listen here.

[Editor's Note: For some reason yet to be understood, the mp3 connection doesn't work with Firefox. Safari works. Sorry about that.]

Click here for AftertheParade on Facebook.

SUS: Unemployment also is a problem. Click here for radio announcement.

Marine Corps News reports:”The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday, November 4, that the national unemployment rate remains mostly unchanged at 9 percent, while the jobless rate for veterans of all generations dropped to 7.7 percent in October, down from 8.1 percent in September.

But for Iraq- and Afghanistan-era veterans who left active duty since 2001, the unemployment rate for October was 12.1 percent, up from 11.7 percent in September and from an average of 10.5 percent in 2010. Read more here.

The New York Department of Housing and Urban Development calculates that there are approximately 3,500 homeless veterans in the Big Apple. NYC.gov reports that the law allows 3,100 year-round food vending permits. Do the math. Homelessness Radio Short.