About the Book
Seth Reynolds and his Columbia University colleague friend, Jeffery Weymuth, met when they began picketing their bank complaining about the exorbitant interest rate charged for their loans. The bank complained to the city...'n' the city forced them to picket fifty feet away from the bank entrance. They were"forced" to occupy the park. Jeff knocked up his high school sweetheart when she came to town to visit. Then he moved back to Sacramento to get married. Actually she begged him to move back home. Told him that her daddy had a good, well paying job waiting for him: Heating and air conditioning sales. Begging didn't work, so she got herself pregnant. Now we have at least four hundred occupy-ers. I have a Vietnamese family who are victims of BP, the banks foreclosure of their house and repossession of their shrimp boat. Jasmine is a Native American leading the Native's cause to 'De-colonize" America. That guy sprawled on the ground over there is a staunch Republican, highly decorated twenty-five year veteran of the United States Marine Corps. He lost his "junk" on patrol in a back alley of Kabul! He also lost the use of a leg! He's trying to set up a Veteran's Consul for me to direct homeless vets. That guy over there is a veteran of the War in Afghanistan, an Army Ranger. He's setting up a computer station to help people find jobs. He has no physical wounds, but he's a victim of PTSD. There are unemployed men and women here. There are under-employed men and women, like me, who have uber degrees, but are brewing four and five dollar coffees or slingin' hamburgers. Where's the fairness there? See that woman over there pulling that little red wagon? She has two degrees from Harvard: law and business. She's delivering sandwiches for Hymie's, across the street for minimum wage and tips, when she can get them from people with no or low income jobs. We've defied the mayor's order to dismantle and vacate the park. The retailers downtown have complained that it is a health hazard. Our port-a-potties are not sufficient, they say. The most vocal is a local medical marijuana retailer. Go figure! There are rumors that the mayor is organizing the police, the sheriffs and the highway patrol, local and federal drug enforcement, whatever, to invade the park and remove us with force using tear gas, beanbag rounds, pepper spray and flash-bang grenades. But we are and remain a peaceful occupy. We'll see.
About the Author: Résumé Thomas M. Kelly EDUCATION: Mr. Kelly was born and raised in Iowa. "Once a Marine, always a Marine" (1957 - 1960). He is a graduate of Orange County Community College, Middletown, NY. He attended two years at the University of California, Davis and is a graduate of Lincoln Law School, Sacramento, California. PUBLISHED: A monologue, "Sara", from his play "smile, and smile, and be a villain.", is included in Young Women's Monologs From Contemporary Plays: Professional Auditions For Aspiring Actresses, edited byGerald Lee Ratliff, State University New York, Potsdam and published in 2004 by Meriwether Publishing, Ltd. A monologue, "Zhev", from his play "Fana!" will be published by Smith & Kraus Inc. in an anthology: 221 One-Minute Monologues From Literature. JAC Publishing, Burlington, MA, has published nine of his plays: "Mixville"; "Extreme Unction"; "The Timekeeper"; "Zen and the Art of Making Par"; "The Butterfly Within"; "Fana!"; and "smile, and smile, and be a villain."; "Ba-Bang!"; "The (Mis)Adventures of Charlie & Jay". Long Island City Arts Project, in New York, a non-professional production company, produced his one act play, "Too Late to Waken", which is now on cd. HONORS: "The Butterfly Within" is included in the Eileen Heckart's Senior Drama Archives in the Lawrence and Lee Theatre Research Institute at Ohio State University. LOCAL THEATRE AWARDS: Several Elly Nominations and Elly Awards including Best Overall Production, for "A Shayna Madel" by Barbara Lebow, and Best Set, for "Nighthawks and Night Café" by Edward Evan Blake, based on the painting "Nighthawks" by Edward Hopper. "Wake up, Jay! It's Christmas!", winner of four Elly Awards for Young Peoples Theatre, including Best Overall Production. OTHER WORKS: "Ba-Bang!, The Musical"; "It's'a comin' inta' bein' ", co-written with Paul Hauck; and "Pádraig's Aibhistear". "Ole' Gimlet Eye"; "Frankie and Johnny Were Schweethawts"; "Liza!"; "Pawns are but Poor Men"; "Save yer pennies, kids."; "Sacred Ground"; "Hey Mom, tell Rod..."; and "On the Line", are more recent full-length plays. Mr. Kelly is the founder and Artistic Director of the award winning Thistle Dew Theatre in Sacramento in 1994 and founder of the highly successful Thistle Dew Playwright's Workshop in 2005 with five playwrights published.
