It's good to see you. Come on in, leave your shoes in the hallway, we've got fire on the stove preparing lunch for later. In the meantime, browse the bookshelves and plunk down on the sofa with one, or pick out some tunes from the music library or come in to the kitchen to help with the cooking. Our special blend of tea is steeping and will be right up.

Make yourself at home...

This week's installment is sort of a pictorial paean inspired by my friend Steven D. His essay about depression, and the malaise he was feeling right now stemming from the current situation in the country, touched me.

It is also an offering, to a larger extent, to anyone else here who are feeling out of sorts now, hopeless, uncertain, unsteady, or that pervasive gripping malaise gripping so many in this pretty bizarre time find ourselves in. The purpose of this is both to celebrate an amazing moment that galvanized the world five and a half years ago, as well as to be a salve to those who are grappling today with such a bleak and uncertain political situation.

It's mostly pictures, lots of pictures. Just as art is often like chicken soup for the soul this is also meant to connect with universal themes the bind us. I think the following photos came from an really good Atlantic piece on the one month anniversary of Occupy Wall St, in which the encampment in NYC put out a worldwide call to encourage others to start their own occupations locally.

Remember this: Tens of thousands of people actually participated in the Occupy Wall St protests here in NYC, whether for the Brooklyn Bridge marches or various other actions. I was there a bunch, maybe you were too. Maybe you visited your local encampment.

Multiply that by all the supporters the movement had around the world, when only a month in in response to OWS calling for solidarity encampments around the globe, resulted in over a thousand more occupations. That's a lot of people in solidarity.

Multiply that by the amount of folks who couldn't actually make it down to the occupations or actions, but who through some gesture large or small acted in solidarity with the movement. You have millions now.

Five and a half years later...The continued slog of an economic crisis remains unattended to by almost all of the world's governments and still mercilessly churns on grinding up people all over the world, despite the discredited Neoliberal theory of "free market" capitalism."

These pictures were taken during Occupy. Today, the number of people who now understand Occupy's brilliant and focused "We Are The 99%" message is probably in the billions.

Occupy Goes Global Massive protest march descends on Times Square, for the one-month anniversary.

Occupy Berlin

Occupy Brussels

Occupy Chicago

Occupy Alaska

Occupy Jordan

Occupy Los Angeles

Occupy Madrid

Occupy Miami

Occupy Paris

Occupy Pittsburgh

Occupy Seattle

Occupy Stockholm

Occupy Taiwan

Occupy Tallahassee

Occupy Vancouver

"Occupy Peace Dept" (I took this one on the 2012 May Day march of some 30k protestors that the media refused to cover. It was ignored at TOP also, so I wrote it up here, sorry for the link to there).

All these folks haven't gone anywhere. They very much understand what was happening. Five plus years removed from the initial confusion that always surrounds mass protest, aided by a beholden and complicit press acting as protectorates of the banks and corrupt system, people no longer are confused by the issue (Bernie did a great service by hammering this point during is campaign). Our governments are dysfunctional because they've been purchased by endless money in politics, resulting in the protection of a status quo benefitting those with concentrated wealth.

That energy is very much still bubbling under the surface, waiting to boil over in another, bigger, more powerful mass movement the next time.

You Are Not A Loan.
You Are Not Alone.

We. Are. Many.

We Are The 99%

So, what's going on with you?

Back in the kitchen we're listening to:

South Indian Coconut Curry Lentil Soup

South Indian coconut curry lentil soup (Nov 2103, MM)
The basics:

Have lentils boiling in one pot.

In another, sautée onions until carmelized, then add fenugreek, coriander and mustard seeds.

Add sliced carrots and celery, then ample chopped ginger, a good handful of shredded coconut and one chopped jalapeño pepper.

Add garlic.

Add sliced tomatoes. After the tomatoes are in add the following spices: turmeric, coriander and a little cinnamon. Add curry leaves.

Add a little chicken stock, or water.

Purée all other ingredients down.

Add lentils to the puréed soup, then add a few cardamom pods.

Just before serving squeeze fresh lemon onto the soup and some cilantro.

Lemongrass Chai Blend

heaping scoop of dried Thai lemongrass
shards of cinnamon bark
a few cardamom pods
a few black peppercorns
A few cloves
fresh chopped ginger