Been a long time reader of this blog, but especially since the daily coverage of Occupy Wall St. started. I live in New York and have been so exhilarated to live in this time and place to witness what may be the turning point of American politics. I wanted this moment to be a part of my story, and so I decided to take my girlfriend/baby mamma down to Liberty Plaza and ask her to be my wife using the people's mic to help me out:
I met Deb in early 2010 at an open mic we both performed at regularly. She has a voice that stirs your soul and I ran right up to her after her set and asked if she'd like to perform a duetwith me. As I got to know her, I realized we were walking side by side on similar paths. I had gotten divorced in early 2009 and jumped into the NYC open mic scene, first doing standup comedy but making a shift over to music where I've remained since August of 2009 when I started playing blues & folk as Beezy Douglas. She had walked away from her own big relationship ordeal about the same time and embraced her independence through art as well. She made the jump from being a secret-singing-in-the-car-star and karaoke diva to original blues and soul stylist. Seriously,listen to my woman sing.
About a month after meeting her and hanging out occasionally to work on my duet, she happens by a bar I was at for a friend's birthday and two mixed drinks later I ask "Can I just like you? Cuz I like you..." We kissed, four months later she was two months pregnant and the rest is history. It was all a series of beautiful accidents that occurred because we opened ourselves up to the universe.
We both care deeply about the world we occupy and are frustrated at our powerlessness over the systems that shape our lives. We are the 99%. I have a fairly new full time salaried job making banner ads for an ad agency (primarily for a major bank), which is the only way I could get benefits for her and our now 8 month old son. Thankfully we were able to easily get coverage by listing her as a domestic partner, despite getting the baby in front of the marriage. She works at home part time as a video editor, which overlaps with her job as a full-time mom. We don't want handouts, we want a government that actually represents us. That is what the Occupation means at this time and why I wanted to make the movement a part of my life. It's the first event to happen in a long time that has given me hope for the future of my family and friends.
Just wanted to share our story, as I'm very, very happy with how it's gone so far!