It’s the Final Countdown - #9 Occupy Baltimore

2011 – Last 100 Days

Prodigal Altar Boy Countdown

T-9 Days and Counting

22 December 2011

Goal:  1 hour per day working on the film

Details: 

Watched Karen Everett’s Ultimate Guide to Structuring Your Documentary week 2 module: “Three Act Structure”

Total time:  1 hour

Goal:  30 minutes per day music practice

Details:

Warm up on the MojoCaster

Grace City Christmas Service Songs

Mary, Did You Know

Emmanuel

We Three Kings

The First Noel

You Are The Living Word

O Little Town of Bethlehem

Joy To The World (Unspeakable Joy)

Total time:  1 hour

Goal:  15 minutes exercise per day

“Round up From the Ground Up” workout

Kettlebell Swings – 5 reps per side - 20kg kettlebell

Kettlebell Squats – 5 reps– 20kg kettlebell

Kettlebell Cleans – 5 reps per side – 20kg kettlebell

Kettlebell Military Press – 5 reps per side – 20kg kettlelbell

Kettlebell Snatch – 5 reps per side – 20kg kettlebell

Kettlebell Row – 5 reps per side – 20kg kettlebell

6 sets

Total time:  16:30

 

Goal:  15 minutes per day working on the score for the movie

“Donated” this time to Christmas Eve music work

Nine Days – It’s the Final Countdown

My Top Ten Favorite Things of the Last 100 Days:

#9 - Occupy Baltimore

Occupy Baltimore took many hits in the press.  In the end, they departed McKeldin Square without incident, which might have translated to a whimper in the press.  I think the Occupy Baltimore people had a larger impact on the city than anyone would care to admit.  If you line up the Occupy Baltimore timeline alongside the other events in the city, one can posit had Occupy Baltimore not been there, things might have turned out differently.  When I look at the Grand Prix/BRD meltdown, I can see an alternate outcome in the absence of Occupy Baltimore.

Examining public statements from Baltimore City officials concerning the Grand Prix financial reporting, even though initial reports showed the race brought in less money than projected, the reaction of city officials ranged from questioning the validity of the reports (done by university researchers), promising a city-sponsored study, to a concession that even if the race did not generate the projected revenue, it was still a good thing. 

As the Occupy movement grew nationwide and solidified in Baltimore, the movement’s de-emphasis on what they “wanted” to focus on the disparity between “the 1%” moneyed elite versus “the 99%” raised many questions about who benefits from government support of “business.”  As the Occupy movement voices got louder and resonated with everyday city residents, you can see a shift in the city’s attitude toward BRD officials.  The BRD CEO resigned, reporting of BRD mismanagement and near usurious terms of a last-minute loan seemed to validate many of the Occupy paradigms of how catering to the 1% is often at the peril of the 99%.  Before Occupy Baltimore exited McKeldin square, Baltimore City would attach liens to BRD and the former CEO, promising that if the city isn’t paid by year’s end (ahem,  NINE DAYS AWAY), the contract for the race could be null and void.

So while most of the public’s memory of the Occupy movement gets dumbed down to something like this:

The reality for Baltimore is the Occupy Movement probably saw that BRD got exactly what they deserved, and probably saved the city some money.

Occupy Baltimore, or as Jimmy Durante would say, “Everybody wants to get into the act!”

2011 last 100 days

Countdown:

72 Days Left

Day: 28

19 October 2011

• Goal - 1 hour per day doing some work on the movie:

Digitized more footage from 31 October 2008

Time:  1 hour

• Goal:  30 minutes per day basic music work:

Warm Ups  on the MojoCaster

“So What” – Miles Davis

“Talkin’ Loud and Sayin’ Nothing” – Living Colour Version

Granby Street lyric swap

Total time: 30 minutes

• Goal:  15 minutes per day (minimum) exercise:

Active Rest 

• Goal:  15 minutes per day (minimum) scoring work for the movie:

Details:

Dies Irae 2X - piece as a whole.  After that, focused on dyad climbing and octaves.

R&B Chord Progression Work

E-B/D#-C#m-A chord progression work

Total time:  15 minutes

Notes:

As Jimmy Durante would say, “Everybody wants to get into the act!”  The Baltimore Sun continues its coverage of the Occupy Baltimore protests.  It’s not a bad piece.  I had to chuckle when the author  noted the protesters, “aren't saying — and probably don't even know — exactly how long they'll remain on McKeldin Square.”   A dig along the lines of the initial media complaints about the movement, whether it was a lack of clear goals or what it is they want.  Isn’t it just like a bunch of protester troublemakers to make more work for the media?  Wow.  Instead of getting an event-by-event agenda of what the protesters are going to be doing, and how long they are going to be there, the media might just have to, uhh, cover the protests and find out what they’re up to.  Wow, what a concept.   As hard as I try to give the media credit, I just can’t.  (Hey, it’s a tight credit market these days)  I always get the feeling the media’s biggest problem with the occupy movement is the protesters refuse to do the reporter’s work for them.  If you want to know what “they” want, you’re going to have to actually talk to a lot of them.  You’re also going to have to listen and make sense out of what they tell you.  Yes, the answer probably won’t fit inside a nice seven second sound bite, but maybe if the public (your audience, remember?) might actually learn something and have the data needed to make an informed decision.

As always, I continue to implore you to check out the graphics purporting to show the Four Things the Occupy Wall Street protesters Are Angry About.   As much as mainstream media wants to portray the protesters as unfocused, these charts come from The Business Insider, so somebody gets it.  Compare these graphics up with this clip of an Occupy Wall Street protester raising good points about wanting to see more “Jesus stuff like helping the poor.”  No wonder the clip never made it to Fox News! 

Tie all of that in with this letter to the editor in the 13 October Baltimore Sun.  The author, Michelle D. Breau, makes an astute connection between the Occupy Wall Street movement and Pope John Paul II’s  warning the “...all-consuming desire for profit and the thirst for power at any price with the intention of imposing one’s will upon others are opposed to the will of God and the good of neighbor.”

TQ and John Paul II did not see eye to eye on many things, but were in lock step on the dangers of concentrating the world’s resources in the hands of a few.  In the trailer for TQ’s book, “A Reluctant Malachi.”  TQ states many churches have missed this point entirely.  Note TQ’s description of our responsibility dovetails with Occupy Wall Street.