So, anyone following these OWS nationwide protests?

More than nationwide! They've been up here, too. Co-ordinated multinational assemblies...an amazing age we live in.

I went to Day 1 of Occupy Houston just to see what happens when people who are real mad get into a crowd. Someone handed my roommate and me signs, and all of a sudden made us Punk Rock Lesbian Poster Children of the Revolution.

It was really exhilarating to be swept up in such a mass of people chanting and demanding what does seem to me to be a good change.

But the problem is the disorganization. By the time i went to a general assembly three days later, the crowd had shrunk from about 800 to 50 at best, and speakers at the assembly had largely turned into ego-thumping agenda-pushers. Granted, the core 'leaders' were mostly still around, but you could see how defeated they were getting.

Still, Houston is a very negative city. This is a bad place, and it's hard to organize a cohesive, effective movement under any circumstances. Here, splinters broke off. One of them got eight people arrested this Wednesday (i was thanking my lucky stars i hadn't gone; it would be perfect if i were arrested the day before Sean got out of prison). Another, headed by a friend of mine, headed over to Occupy the Fed. Turns out that my friend, although still being all about OWS, was pretty much using Occupy Houston as a vehicle to promote his pet project, Occupy the Fed. Who knows how that's going. He might actually be in jail now...

The whole experience here so far has been really disheartening. It took less than a week to devolve into the stagnant, rag-tag puddle of die-hard true believers and crazies, and even less time to stop being taken seriously.