While Faraone's "Dispatches" won't be the only source of information on Occupy Boston or Occupy Wallstreet by any means. 99 Nights with the 99% is an excellent jumping off point for you, our hypothetical coma patient. It's a bummer you missed out on @Fara1's often contentious twitter escapades while he traipsed through ten separate "tent cities" to get the skinny on the Occupy movement. Within the first dozen pages of this occu-page-turner you'll learn fun facts about Occupy's media operation, protest movements past and present. Not to mention interactions with the local constabulary, as well as insights into communities nation-wide prior to Occupy, well, Occupying.
The really interesting thing about "99 Nights" or "Occu-Book" as I like to call it; is that it isn't just a collection of articles and insights from the "Movement Man" himself Chris Faraone (Columbia Journalism Review Dec. 2011). I could go back into the Boston Phoenix archives for that, or just search "Chris Faraone" in google, go ahead, try it... right now.... What you'll get when you read "99 Nights with the 99%" is two stories. Yes, you will read the often foul-mouthed narratives of Occupy from the trenches, as balls deep as you can get on a shoe-string budget. Even if you were a coma patient during Occupy, you'll also get the story of a man struggling between a Stockholm Syndrome-esque love/hate relationship with a budding movement and the makings of a world class journalist.
And so, dear head trauma recoveree, once you've sorted the shoes, pants, house situation, you're sure to be curious as to why everyone is talking about #occupy. Read 99 Nights with the 99% the national release to retailers is 3/27, or you can order your copy from Amazon or Barnes & Noble now. If you're in the Boston area be sure to pick up a copy early from a local participating independent retailer, checkout facebook.com/occupybook for details.
Chris Faraone's special brand of reporting can be found weekly in the Boston Phoenix and on www.JumpTheTurnstyle.com, where he waxes enthusiastically about wax when the mood strikes. He has penned for Spin, The Source, The Boston Herald, and Boston's Weekly Dig, as well.
-KC Hoye
22
Feb
Take a journey with me into imagination land. Close your eyes. Think back to last March, "temperature check" was a phrase applied to turkey thermometers and self help meetings. Consensus training was a google search still predominately linked to C.T. Butler, and the phrase "pitching a tent" still made folks giggle on the T... aaahhh those were the days. What if you'd never heard of Occupy Wallstreet? What if you'd taken a knock to the noggin and you woke up on March 27, 2012. Not only would you be waking up on the day that Phoenix staffer Chris Faraone's book 99 Nights with the 99%: Dispatches From the First Three Months of the Occupy Revolution will be released to the nationally to retailers, and, you'd also be in luck.
