Occupy Wall Street sign of the day: Sasha, 7, painting "Homes for the Homeless"

Scott Matthews of Turnstyle tells Boing Boing:

Hi Xeni, saw your post about the signs of Occupy Wall Street, and thought I'd share ours. Amy (Cory blogged her autism story a few weeks ago) and I took our seven-year-old daughter Sasha to visit Occupy Wall Street last Sunday.

She was very interested in the many signs splayed out across the sidewalk. We spotted some people with a pile of cardboard, paint, and brushes, and asked if we could contribute.

Sasha asked us what she should write, and we told her to write about something that she cared about and wished could make the world a nicer place. She was very proud to add her sign to join the rest.

• [geekcalif]

  Next stop–Occupy Chuckie Cheese.

• [Oliver Schmieding]

  “homes for the homeless” would have to be paid for with someone else’s money, thereby creating more homeless.
  some tea party lady senator who knows what’s what said that a few days ago, that commie kid must not have listened.
  3 weeks bible camp and no halloween this year seems appropriate.

  • [parrotboy]

    I really shouldn’t, but here goes:

    How about paying for homes with the hundreds of billions that were handed out to the people who caused the financial problem in the first place?

    Facile and simplistic statements like yours go a long way to explaining how the US public has been so thoroughly hoodwinked.

    • [BarBarSeven]

      Oliver is joking. Being sarcastic. Taking the piss out of this. Pulling your leg. Etc, etc, etc…

    • [Oliver Schmieding]

      *ouch*

      i’ll blame that reaction on my inadequate grasp of  the intricacies of your language.on the positive side, it’s good to see that you won’t fall for simplistic statements any longer. carry on.

• [BarBarSeven]

  Stuff like this absolutely convinces me this is not going to end anytime soon and in no way is going to be ignored by the next election. 1 year seems like a long time away, but man November 2012 will be intense. I hope the good guys win.

  • [geekcalif]

    I regret to say that there are no “good guys”.  It’s all convenient, subjective perception based upon what is the most politically correct internet theme of the moment.

    Read all the comments and see if it’s not true.

    • [Cowicide]

      I regret to say that there are no “good guys”.  It’s all convenient, subjective perception based upon what is the most politically correct internet theme of the moment. Read all the comments and see if it’s not true.

      Go outdoors.  Meet people face to face and you might have a different opinion, geekcalif.  Reboot yourself.

• [bingo]

  Does anyone see the irony in the fact that since 2004 at least one of the Nobel Laureates in Economics has been from the US?  But here we are, deeply stagnated, depressed, irritated, and unstable.  An odd thing from a distance.

  • [bingo]

    even better…since 2000, apparently, squaks my computer.

• [spam4tony]

  Don’t sweat it, Oliver – It’s just  a matter of punctuation: those little marks which use their influence, to help a sentence make more sense.

  Now let’s talk about this little hippie girl and her spelling of “homeless”. “homeles” sounds like a delectable preparation of down on their luck migrant farm workers.

  • [Felicitas]

    Wondering what your spelling was like when you were seven…

• [Cowicide]

  Marine vets at Occupy Wall Street tell Sean Hannity what they frankly think of him.
  [language nsfw as you can imagine]

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aaTGsGdp4c

• [Cowicide]

  Veterans ATTACKED by Police at #occupyboston.  There’s been injuries and ambulances at the scene.  This just happened tonight.  See it for yourself.  Warning, it’s gets really disturbing/intense at the end. It even looks like the cops LITERALLY stomp over an American flag in the process of spitting in the face of our vets and our American way.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iu63e7QD_5k

  If you’ve been sitting on the fence about this movement.  Now is the time to stand up for your fellow Americans.  It’s ON.

  If you’re a cop and you are reading this. It’s time for you to STAND UP and support the American people. These aristocrats who don’t care about you or American citizens are making you nothing more than corporate lackeys to do their dirty work. Unite with Americans, not these traitors.

• [Cowicide]

  Geraldo flees Occupy Wall Street to chants of FOX News LIES
  Watch him sweat and turn red with anger and embarrassment. The best part is at the end, of course.
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88YUQ8C5qEI

• [Cowicide]

  Great odds.

  • [Antinous / Moderator]

    I saw a 60ish gay man wearing a handmade 99% tee shirt the other day. In Palm Springs! That was pretty surprising. Apparently, word is penetrating even to the land of pool boys and collagen.

    • [Cowicide]

      Did you just use “penetrating” and “pool boys” in the same sentence? And, are you sure it didn’t say 99% cotton?   ;D

    • [Mister44]

      Keep going – I was almost there… ;oP

• [twodimensionalme]

  “Homes for the homeless”?

  I bet millions of people would quit working.

  • [Cowicide]

    “Homes for the homeless”?  I bet millions of people would quit working.

    Great job betting against your fellow Americans!

    • [twodimensionalme]

      I’m Italian, but this is kind of international.

      People here are fighting because the government doesn’t give them a secure job for their lifes. 
      Meanwhile they got older, turned 35 and forgot to build a family. “Ah, this is Berlusconi’s, Bush’s, Obama’s fault!”.

      I bet they would be so happy to get a house for free, while I started working when I was 19, now I’m 25, bought a house by myself (help of my wife) and waiting for my first baby.

      From my point of view, “house for the homeless” = “money for the poors” = “money for lazy people”.

      • [Cowicide]

        I’m 25, bought a house by myself … From my point of view, “house for the homeless” = “money for the poors” = “money for lazy people”.

        While you were lost within your own self-satisfaction,
        you didn’t notice the true message before your eyes.
        This little girl’s parents explained the intent of her message.
        But that stays on the periphery of your mind.

  • [Antinous / Moderator]

    “Homes for the homeless”?

    I bet millions of people would quit working.

    I could qualify for disability.  And yet, here I am working more than full-time.  Maybe I’m just an angelic being of moral uprightness.  Or maybe I’m just normal and most people would rather contribute to society.  I’m betting on the latter.

• [turnstyle]

  Hi all, I’m the dad. Funny that a few commenters  decided to economically critique a seven-year-old. :) She asked us what she should write, and we told her to write something she thought would make the world a nicer place.

  She thinks it’s not nice that some people are homeless.

  Don’t worry, she hasn’t yet completed her Keynesian analysis. :)

  • [millie fink]

    Your daughter rocks, and you do too, for encouraging the best in her. World’s Best Dad!

  • [Moriarty]

    A 7 year old who wants to help make the world a better place is a wonderful thing. I don’t think people are really critiquing the 7 year old so much as the adults that think like 7 year olds.

    • [turnstyle]

      “A 7 year old who wants to help make the world a better place is a wonderful thing. I don’t think people are really critiquing the 7 year old so much as the adults that think like 7 year olds.”

      Perhaps we could use more adults who think like 7 year olds.  ;)

      • [geekcalif]

        @ trunstyle: “Perhaps we could use more adults who think like 7 year olds.”

        You may be more correct than you think.  The media and political system already treats grown, experienced adults as such.

• [Michael Leung]

  It won’t be long before it’s spun in the media as “SHOCKER: Child brainwashed by parents into joining evil domestic terrorism protest!”

• [jtiii]

  I nominate this picture to be the new full-time unicorn chaser to anything.  Absolutely makes me feel warmer and fuzzier than any ol’ one horned horsey!

• [Robin goodfellow]

  “She asked us what she should write, and we told her to write something she thought would make the world a nicer place.”
  Kudos for making it her choice instead of telling her “write this”.  What many people are lacking today is the ability to think for themselves and teaching her kindness and to make her own decisions are the best lessons you can give her.

• [Roxanne]

  The interesting thing about her statement is that typically children will get their “political ideals” or catch phrases from their parents. This idea doesn’t seem to fit what is going around at the moment (the 99% catchphrases, et. al.) so this appears to be something truly original that this little girl who wants something nice for the world created of her own mind. Simple, and sensible, she wants everyone to have a home. Why can’t politicians be smart like her?

  • [Sarah Shevett]

    I can’t believe that there aren’t discussions going on in their home about the woes of the world and the homeless problem. I guarantee you that she gets her political ideals and her catch phrases from her parents.
    Truly original? There is no such thing.

    • [turnstyle]

      “I can’t believe that there aren’t discussions going on in their home about the woes of the world and the homeless problem. I guarantee you that she gets her political ideals and her catch phrases from her parents. Truly original? There is no such thing.”

      Of course we talk about the world, both good and bad. We (the adults) share our opinions, but also try to present differing viewpoints fairly. We also live in NYC, and when a seven-year-old sees somebody sleeping on the sidewalk she’s going to ask questions.

      As to whether she is putting her own thought into this, I’ll share something she told me recently:

      “I think black people are smarter than white people. Because it seems like more black people are homeless. And it must be hard being homeless because you have to figure out where to get your water and food and where to sleep, so you have to be smart.” That’s certainly not some “catch phrase” we fed her, and it still strikes me as a rather surprising thought.

      Lastly, I don’t mean to sound like she’s single-mindedly obsessed with this issue. But she does see people in need of help, and in an innocent seven-year-old kind of way, she wishes for them to be helped.

      • [millie fink]

        “I think black people are smarter than white people. Because it seems like more black people are homeless. And it must be hard being homeless because you have to figure out where to get your water and food and where to sleep, so you have to be smart.” 

        Fantastic. One for the ages. There’s a lot to back up that particular insight. More generally, the common non-black suspicion of black incompetence is so ironic. As is the common lack of non-black awareness of the smarts required on the part of black people to navigate through what remains a subtly racist social order.

• [pddxxx]

  How about “Everything Free for Everyone”. I mean, people want things, don’t they? Why can’t our all-powerful government just provide it for them? For free.

  • [Navin_Johnson]

    You mean like a TARP for the rest us?

• [Aaron Swain]

  That’s awesome! I think your kid is gonna be OKAY! :)