unleashing creativity

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As an artist, I have a unique appreciation for the Wisconsin uprising. In addition to the usual outrage about the extreme right takeover of our state, I feel a thrill that so many people are expressing themselves in amazingly imaginative and creative ways.

The every-weekday Solidarity Singalong at the Madison Capitol brims with original protest music and artistry. For over 200 days, during the noon hour, hundreds of people have been singing with a lot of heart—though not much talent or experience—and we’ve been told that, against all odds, we’re starting to sound pretty good!

Meanwhile, banner artistry has blossomed. One Solidarity Singer, Val, created the banners you see in these photos. She is a young mom with four children, yet she finds the time to sew expressions of the songs we sing. Look closely and you can see that they tell stories—including the crank phone call from “David Koch” to Scott Walker, orange-shirted Democrats shouting “Shame!” on the Assembly floor and Supreme Court Justice Prosser choking Justice Bradley.

And at least a dozen instrumentalists have learned through lots of practice how to play well together. Since they sound better every week, they’ve gained the name Learning Curve.

I shot this two-minute video of the Learning Curve’s impromptu jam session on October 21. It’s guaranteed to make you smile in solidarity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=BHJ2Jrh5GBk

occupy design

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you may know that several months ago, the Canadian magazine Adbusters called for a protest on Wall Street, providing the spark that ignited a movement across the country and the world. The power of creative marketing is enormous.

Propaganda is a form of communication aimed primarily at influencing an audience in a preferred direction. It was originally a neutral and often benign term to describe advertisements such as public health recommendations or calls for citizens to participate in a census or election.

Today “propaganda” has a strong negative connotation, especially in describing how the world's largest corporations use biased ads, newscasts and politicians to manipulate public opinion. They tell us that consumerism is the path to happiness, that governmental regulation causes our problems, and that economic globalization is both inevitable and a boon to humanity.

A brand new website, Occupy Design, brings back the original sense of the word: truthful propaganda for the public good—not for the benefit of huge corporations. A grassroots project, it connects designers with demonstrators in the Occupy Together movement. It was created in less than 24 hours October 14-15 by a team of designers, programmers, artists, and demonstrators in San Francisco. Their goal is to share custom-designed, open-source visual icons around social justice themes. Visit the site today to download and print poster designs that bring compelling statistical evidence to life.

And if you’re a designer, you can download a toolkit and help create infographics. occupydesign.org/guide/for-designers/ Please spread the word so we can get facts in the hands

of more people!


occupy

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Definition: Fill or take up (a space or time)
Synonyms: take - seize - hold – inhabit

 

The current Occupy movement has a small official outpost in Madison—this sign announces the General Assembly daily agenda. Those of us who have been keeping

a daily vigil at the Capitol since February 15 view Occupy Madison as a continuation of the occupation that started when the Capitol building was first seized, inhabited, filled and held for many weeks by outraged Wisconsin citizens.

Jonathan Schell of The Nation says about the wildfire spread of the Occupy movement: “Its members are crying out ‘Enough!’ to a corrupt political, economic and media establishment that is hijacking the world’s wealth for itself, making ordinary people miserable, sabotaging the rule of law, waging interminable savage and futile wars, plundering the world’s finite resources, lying about all this to the public and threatening Earth’s life forms into the bargain.” He adds: “When such sea changes in opinion and will are under way, entrenched institutions start to tremble and shake, and political miracles become possible.”

We cry out “Enough!” to our corrupt and power-hungry GOP governor and legislature. They can’t wage foreign wars but are waging one against the people of Wisconsin. We can’t wait to overthrow our state government with more recalls. On November 15, we can begin!

sustaining solidarity

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why did I decide on October 4 to fly to Washington DC the next day?

Because, in recognition of the role Wisconsin played in sparking the October 2011 Movement, organizers asked Wisconsin participants to kick off their occupation of Freedom Plaza on October 6. I just had to be there to join with their movement to protest corporate greed and stand for social justice and democracy.

It was a thrill for me to march into the plaza with many other Wisconsinites, our flags, banners, heart balloons and heads held high. (So many cameras! I've never felt like such a rock star . . .)

I had just a day in Freedom Plaza. During that one day, I spoke with people who had traveled to DC from eighteen states. Each person thanked me profusely for Wisconsin’s response to Scott Walker’s unprecedented power grab in February. I usually answered, “We couldn’t help ourselves! We didn’t make a plan to stand up and fight back. A gut-level response to injustice welled up in each of us and sent us out into the streets. I’m so happy that many of you seem to feel that same indignation.”

On the other hand, what Wisconsin citizens have done since last winter has been more calculated. Once we discovered solidarity, once we connected and discovered the strength we have together, we took on the impossible—an historic recall of six senators, a Solidarity Singalong for 200 days in the Capitol rotunda, the work of exposing ALEC and following Walker wherever he goes with our protests. Most importantly we learned that the joy of fighting together is so much better than anger and apathy alone.

Now brave Wisconsin activists have scattered to occupations around the country to help others who will discover solidarity and sustain it. This video is filled with my photos from Oct 6 in Freedom Plaza and contains my message to Occupiers everywhere.

I made a 3-minute video called To Occupiers Everywhere

From Wisconsin based on my trip to D.C. http://youtu.be/f0i5c8Z9bsM

 

Olbrich gardens

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recently good friends were in town for the weekend. The guys golfed 27 holes. Terry and I shopped and lunched and went to Olbrich Gardens. For some reason I had never walked the grounds. I think I have always been there in Winter and enjoyed the tropical plants in the conservatory. It was a nice day so we decided to walk some of the 16 acres of amazing plantings. The Thai Pavilion is worth the trip alone. If you live in Madison or nearby you really should do this before the snow falls.

And on the subject of snow my brother-in-law the meteorologist was just here. I always want to know what the next season will bring especially since this was such a strange weather year. Unfortunately he said colder and snowier than last year and it is going to start early. Now I wish I hadn't asked. I guess I am going to get snow tires for the Miata.

wine and wickedness

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On Sept. 22, Scott and Tonette Walker hosted a private reception and croquet tournament, “Wine and Wickets” at the governor's mansion to raise money to upgrade their [temporary!] home.

"It sounds like a two-part construction project," said Scot Ross, a frequent Walker critic. "The special interests pay to remodel Gov. Walker's mansion, and he builds them a private entrance to his office."

Fundraising invitations were sent to 1800 people, including lobbyists, lawmakers, neighbors of the mansion, GOP campaign contributors, leading business officials and friends of the first couple.

"I am inviting fellow leading ladies like yourself to please join me in donating a purse filled with some of your favorite things. The purses will then be raffled off at the event," Tonette Walker added. "For example, I'll be donating a Tignanello bag filled with some of my can't-live-without items like my favorite shade of Bobbi Brown lipstick and an Aveda hand cream that I can't get enough of."

I know I was turned off by the talk of designer handbags and croquet matches during this time of austerity and program cuts. So was my friend Nicole, pictured above. She filled many handbags from St. Vinnie’s with some of her favorite things, things like excellent education, clean air and water, and affordable health care.

Unfortunately, Nicole was not on the guest list. But she and many others decided to attend the event—some by land and some by sea. They warmly welcomed guests to the mansion owned by the citizens of Wisconsin. I guarantee that if you watch this video, you’ll smile. It’s obvious that the protesters enjoyed themselves far more than the croquet players did. http://youtu.be/FDZ2ztboPgA

For an eyewitness account and more photos, go to http://www.bluecheddar.net/page/3/

Fighting Bob Fest

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until recently I knew almost nothing about “Fighting Bob” LaFollette, the legendary Wisconsin reformer. From 1901 until 1906 he was our governor; then he served as a US Senator until his death in 1925. Fighting Bob Fest was begun ten years ago to highlight policies that lead to social justice. Some of the nations’ best-known progressives come to speak and attract a big crowd. Last week I attended Madison’s first ever Bob Fest and was inspired by the likes of Bernie Sanders, John Nichols, David Obey, and Thom Hartmann.

I listened to history professor Nancy Unger (author of the award-winning biography Fighting Bob LaFollette: The Righteous Reformer) as she gave us encouragement from the past. Just as LaFollette led an uphill battle to end the class warfare of his time, we’re in the fight of our lives now. We’re fighting so Wisconsin can reclaim national progressive leadership again. Like Fighting Bob we can’t give up.

The stakes are too high, as Senator Bernie Sanders (VT) points out. While the rich get richer, “the crisis of poverty in America is one of the great moral and economic issues facing our country. There are 46 million Americans -- about one in six -- living below the poverty line. That's the largest number on record, according to a new report by the Census Bureau. About 49.9 million Americans lacked health insurance, the report also said. That number has soared by 13.3 million since 2000. According to the latest figures, 21.6 percent of American children live in poverty.”

In Wisconsin today, we are fighting yet another GOP policy designed to hurt the poor. Fighting Bob would oppose SB107, a bill that if passed will roll back decades of progressive legislation for tenant's rights and make it harder than ever for people in poverty to find housing.

We’re the richest nation in the world but our priorities are sadly misplaced.

wisconsin to washington

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ever since the start of the Wisconsin uprising we’ve wondered, “Have we started a national movement?” or “”Will our movement just fizzle out?”

Well, we show no signs of fizzling in Wisconsin—and all across the country people have begun to protest the growing influence of big money in politics at the same time that income inequality is growing. Many of us think the current political impasse is caused by far

right Republicans who do not represent ordinary citizens and do not care about the public good. We think the opinion of the majority of Americans is being ignored in Washington. So we are taking our fight there. (Please spread the word via the poster I designed. You can download a printable pdf at http://www.scherpelz.com/contact)

Can you travel to Washington, DC where an October 6 concert, rally and protest will kick off a powerful stand for peace, economic justice, human rights and a healthy environment? The date marks the 10th anniversary of the invasion of Afghanistan and the beginning of the 2012 federal austerity budget. Many participants have committed to staying in Freedom Plaza for as long as they can, with the intention of making it the Tahrir Square/Cairo/Madison of our nation. Can you stand up and demand that America’s resources be invested in human needs and environmental protection instead of war and exploitation?
Find information about transportation and logistics at http://wisconsinwave.org/october2011