critic, educator, curator, and consultant

Doesn’t look like much, you say? Well I no longer call it Zuccotti Park; think of it as ‘Zuccotti U,’ as in, University, a new campus that’s sprung up for anyone who has the gumption to walk inside and get an education.

There are so many extra-mural ‘classes’ to be had as well—now that the city feels it needs to power clean the park, campus has expanded if you just look about you. I’ve had some instructors, like one, named Alan, who stood on a side street and told me about how student loan debt is being (mis)reported and (mis)managed. One in four people are defaulting on their student loans, he says. That means that, at the next dinner party I attend, I can come clean about my own debt, and others around the same table will have to see if they can meet my gaze.

Do you think?

What if we all said that this situation is untenable? Apparently, the statistics being reported thusfar are serving the needs of the banks and the educational institutions, and not us.

Many new contraptions that are totally DIY in construction, are springing up around central campus: portable platforms on wheels that can display signage. Fred and George, respectively, showed me how theirs are made: namely, from light hollow plastic piping, nylon chord with anchors, plywood, and a four-wheel dolly.

They are glad there is no patent, because they want other people to make their own. (Put a cooler on it full of food, says Fred, and you’re good to go.)

On Wall Street is the spot where George Washington was sworn in as president.

And tarps are also used by the Stock Exchange for display purposes, not just for the people around the park with their spackel buckets and plywood platforms. DIY? Whatever works? Or, great minds think alike…