Dear President Obama,

I am writing to you (and to any other American who wishes to share in this) because I, like many Americans, want to help our country get back on track. Call it a cry for help or a public plea of a distressed citizen, but I digress.

My personal situation is hardly the worst it could be: I’m a graduate student living with my parents and partially self-funding my education with my own personal savings (I’m taking out loans for the rest). On the other hand, I graduated in May of 2010 and have worked a total of only five months since then at a variety of jobs, always for $12 an hour or less. Compared to other people my age, I consider myself to be incredibly lucky.

I did not know what to expect when I decided to go to New York on Saturday to check out Occupy Wall Street. In fact, I had only opted to go after seeing the now famous footage of police brutality, courtesy of inspector Anthony Bologna aka “Tony Baloney”(video). I had originally planned to go with a couple of friends, but that did not pan out. For a moment I was hesitant to go by myself because I rarely travel to New York City, let alone get involved in a protest in which people have been beaten, pepper sprayed, and arrested. But I decided to go anyway.

I avoided the enigma that is #OccupyWallStreet for nearly two weeks, despite it essentially taking place in my backyard. However, this past Friday I made my way down to Zuccotti Park around 2pm, to experience it for myself. Well, that is not completely true. I originally left work early on Friday, with a Canon 5D Mark II (with a 70-200mm 2.8 L lens) and Nikon D3s (with a 35mm f/1.4 lens) in hand (how’s that for democracy?!), at my boss’ suggestion, due to circulating rumors that Radiohead would be performing in the park around 4pm. I was to shoot the show, if it happened, for Sound and Vision Magazine. Those rumors proved false—and that is probably for the best.

New Brunswick, NJ–According to reports, New Brunswick resident Barry Deloatch, 47, was shot twice and killed by a New Brunswick Police officer on Wednesday, September 21, 2011, near the intersection of Throop Avenue and Handy Street in New Brunswick.

Today Rutgers University president Richard McCormick announced that he had not been swayed by the popular movement which seized Old Queens, the main administration building at RU, Wednesday and Thursday.

I have been struggling all week to write about the Rally to Restore Sanity, which Alex and I attended in Washington D.C. last Saturday. At first I thought I was just tired after having driven one thousand miles to D.C. from Boston and back. I had many conversations with people about the Rally, and was able to speak about it with ease. Why then could I not strap down my thoughts to some loose leaf? Why?

From talking to Brendan for just a little bit, I was able to tell how much of him is in his work. Brendan captures emotion with his lens in the same way a poet wrangles up feelings with words. He doesn’t take photos; he snaps haikus. And that’s only scratching the surface of Brendan McInerney.

In this edition of Inside JVP, I turn the tables on Alex and “Draine” him of some of his Draineness as I learn more about one of the Johnsonville’s more prolific contributors.

It’s been a long time since I’ve written a formal article, so I thought I’d take what little free time at the end of this semester to discuss some things that have been on my mind this year. 2L year is not easy, and I spent the semester frantically trying to keep up with the demands of the criminal defense clinic, two classes, an internship, and the Journal of Telecommunications and High Technology Law. 80-hour work weeks were not uncommon, and sleep was a luxury highly coveted. I didn’t mind the work at the time because, due to a combination of sleep deprivation and starry-eyed idealism, I deluded myself into thinking that all this unpaid labor would be beneficial in the long run.

Recently, during a panel session on Arab-American affairs, I asked, “What do you believe to be the role of Muslim secularists and Muslim-Atheists in revolutionary movements which have been increasingly framed in an Islamic context?” I meant this in reference to the global Islamic Revival which followed the 1967 Six Day War. Grumbles of disagreement occurred almost immediately, and I was confused as to why my inquiry had caused controversy.