Our Fiction Friday serialized novel, The Killswitch Review, is a futuristic murder mystery with killer sociopolitical commentary (and some of the best sex scenes we’ve ever read!). Written by bestselling sci-fi author Steven-Elliot Altman (with Diane DeKelb-Rittenhouse), it offers a terrifying postmodern vision in the tradition of Blade Runner and Brave New World…
By the year 2156, stem cell therapy has triumphed over aging and disease, extending the human lifespan indefinitely. But only for those who have achieved Conscientious Citizen Status. To combat overpopulation, the U.S. has sealed its borders, instituted compulsory contraception and a strict one child per couple policy for those who are permitted to breed, and made technology-assisted suicide readily available. But in a world where the old can remain vital forever, America’s youth have little hope of prosperity.
Jason Haggerty is an investigator for Black Buttons Inc, the government agency responsible for dispensing personal handheld Kevorkian devices, which afford the only legal form of suicide. An armed “Killswitch” monitors and records a citizen’s final moments — up to the point where they press a button and peacefully die. Post-press review agents — “button collectors” — are dispatched to review and judge these final recordings to rule out foul play.
When three teens stage an illegal public suicide, Haggerty suspects their deaths may have been murders. Now his race is on to uncover proof and prevent a nationwide epidemic of copycat suicides. Trouble is, for the first time in history, an entire generation might just decide they’re better off dead.
(Catch up with the previous installments of Killswitch – see links below – then continue reading after the jump…)
“This is the first record I’ve done where it was like something other than me.”
– Matthew Sweet
In the early ’90s after a few albums and a lot of hard work Matthew Sweet broke into the mainstream with the hit song and record, Girlfriend. Since then hes been able to flit from project to project gaining talented new friends and collaborators. Now hes teamed up with The Bangles vocalist Susanna Hoffs for the album Under the Covers, Vol. 1. The new release has Sweet and Hoffs covering their favorite 60s pop hits.
[Above: OWS protestors hold the line and refuse to move.]
It’s likely no coincidence that Mayor Bloomberg and the NYPD took undeniably brutal action against #OccupyWallStreet protesters at Zuccotti Park just two days before the encampment will celebrate its two month anniversary. The cowardly raid, no doubt designed to intimidate (but ultimately resolve-strengthening), started around 1.30 AM EST on the morning of Tuesday, November 15, long after news crews had knocked off for the evening, under the cover of night as protesters slept in their tents. Photographer, videographer, journalist, and friend of SuicideGirls, Zach D. Roberts was on the scene to report. – Nicole Powers, Ed
[Above: Police move protestors with extreme brute force.]
There was the road and moving traffic behind us, but he didn’t seem to care – so the choice was keep walking backward and filming, possibly backing into moving traffic or dart between the taxis – I made the decision to turn and dart, keeping my camera facing back just shooting wide and point in the cops general direction.
Some kids got plastered into and over the cab, which luckily at this point had stopped. Others fell, and while trying to get up were whacked with night sticks, “MOVE, MOVE!”
The fact that they were on the ground, on their back getting hit and held down didn’t really matter to the NYPD. Eventually the cops allowed other protestors to drag the kids away and out of the street.
This night wasn’t about making arrests, it was about beating heads and making a point. The 17th was only 48 hours away and the police wanted to make sure that everyone knew they were the law (to be read in a Judge Dredd voice)
[Above: Police push back protestors away from Zucotti Square, pushing one woman to the ground.]
Ok, so here’s what happened in Lower Manhattan early Tuesday morning.
Fuck. That’s what happened.
Free speech, the right to assemble peacefully, and some well meaning kids were pissed upon by a 3-term mayor who is also a billionaire and owner of a media empire.
[Above: Police arrest protestor for jaywalking.]
I’m sorry for the expletives, but if you were there you’d know they were needed. I haven’t seen this sort of police madness since the years of the Bush admin when dirty hippies and the press were fair game. Also watching a kid get slammed repeatedly in the face with a police shield has it’s effect on your bias. I’ll admit it here – I’m with the kids, the protestors, with the occupiers. If we have any hope for this nation it will be from the ones at the business end of a baton – not the one swinging it.
After the initial confrontation with the NYPD, protestors were bottle necked and then split up so their numbers would be too small to take on the masses of over-timed police that were standing, waiting with pepper spray, helmets, shields and batons. I saw all of the aforementioned used as weapons that night in a way that you knew that their supervisors weren’t watching.
NOTE: This was the first time the uniformed NYPD (the blue shirts) were not directly supervised by the white shirts (Leuitenants and up in rank).
Word got around that everyone was reconvening at Union Square to figure out what exactly to do. Foley square was also mentioned, but the group that I decided to go with was going with Union. The group started out with about a dozen then attached itself to a larger contingent of about 50, this metastasizing went on for a while until we were in the East Village (about 15 blocks from Zuccotti) and our numbers were 150-200.
Unfortunately these numbers included a contingent of what might be called black bloc. These are the people you see on the news – the only ones that the mainstream cameras usually go with. Garbage cans being thrown in the street make for much sexier footage than a protestor explaining the intricacies of why they are marching. I understand why they do. Personally I’ll take the shots and let my editors decide. Luckily I usually work for smart editors – I don’t work for The Post.
Somehow we lose the police. I can’t tell if it’s because they gave up chasing us (your average protestor is in better shape than your average cop, it’s a fact – I’m sorry) or if our quick and flowing changes in direction made them lose us. Either way, there’s 150 protestors running down the middle of Broadway with only 5 members of the press (counting me) to cover it. This. Is. Awesome.
Full disclosure, I used to be a protestor, a community organizer (gasp!) but then I got sick and tired of losing and not getting anything covered by the news so I decided to switch allegiances and start covering the events.
[Above: Protestors make it up to Houston St. – many blocks from Zucotti Park – on their way to Union Square.]
Ah shit. Lights, and they’re coming up quick. Holy shit they’re coming up quick. Really quick. People are yelling, “Watch out! Watch out!” I grab one of my friends, another freelance shooter out of the way from a cop car flying by. That was close, waayyy too close. The cop drives the car into the crowd of protestors up ahead nearly hitting about 10 that couldn’t jump out of the way quick enough. He’s immediately out of the car, baton ready, and grabs the first kid he sees and slams him face down into the hood of the car.
Fucking brilliant! AP shooter John Minchillo and I are the first ones there. The kids are sprinting ahead now, while others stay behind chanting “SHAME! SHAME! SHAME!” One gets hauled away in the cop car.
We’re off again, this time back towards Zuccotti – or at least I think so. The cops are very outnumbered, so they stay behind and let us retake Broadway and then Houston. Some of the black bloc protestors run up the front of taxis waiting at the stop light to the surprise of the tourists inside. The driver actually looks somewhat bored.
[Above: Protestors take the street in the East Village.]
Stand off at Zuccotti.
Five hours later and probably about five miles of cat and mouse games with the police we’re back at where this all started – standing near the closest entrance to Wall St. Well not on the street; My best friend since grade school, CS Muncy (another brilliant shooter), is standing with me on top of a police car. We’re exhausted. CS was sleeping comfortably when I called him screaming, “They’re clearing the fucking park!” He lucked out and made it in the Zuccotti Park to shoot the actual cleanup while I was stuck on the outside. He jumped the police barricades and ignored the cops yells to stop, getting some front page shots before being thrown out. Press were not allowed. No photos for the history books – except for the ones that he got. That’s what he does.
It’s 6am. There is now a general feeling of victory in the air. People are playing music and dancing. A couple makes out for a solid 15 mins on top of a phone booth. Half for the pleasure, half for the photographers. This is their moment in the sun, their 15mins – what better way of spending it than making out with your girlfriend. I’ve got my injured camera.
Black bloc starts letting the air out of the tires of the police cars that we are currently occupying.
I’m wondering though as the police start pushing forward to clear this part of the street, to push us again away from Zuccotti, is this the crest of the wave? Will this be remembered 20 years from now by anyone other than a handful of protestors and journo’s as they reminisce over beers? Will I write about this like Hunter Thompson wrote about the middle ‘60s?
To steal a better ending than I could write I’ll use Hunter’s words.
There was madness in any direction, at any hour. If not across the Hudson, then up the Brooklyn Bridge or down Broadway to Zuccotti. . . . You could strike sparks anywhere. There was a fantastic universal sense that whatever we were doing was right, that we were winning. . . .
And that, I think, was the handle — that sense of inevitable victory over the forces of Old and Evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we didn’t need that. Our energy would simply prevail. There was no point in fighting — on our side or theirs. We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave. . . .
[Above: NYPD in front of the new World Trade Center building near Zucotti Park]
[Below: Zucotti Park being sanitized.]
***
Zach D. Roberts is a photo/video journalist who’s work has been seen in the Observer, The Guardian Online, TheNation.com, The Minnesota Independent, among others. For the past 5 years he’s been working as a researcher/producer for Greg Palast. He produced several DVD’s and news pieces for the BBC’s Newsnight show. Zach edited Palast and RFK Jr’s Steal Back Your Vote comic – which had nearly 100,000 downloads and print copies distributed throughout the world). Currently he works regularly as a video producer for Jamie Kilstein and Allison Kilkenny’s CitizenRadio.
Zach has been detained in New Orleans by Exxon Mobil security, threatened with arrest over three dozen times but has never been arrested. In 2010 he met Sarah Palin while working on his soon to be released first feature length documentary ‘The Rogue Candidate: Sarah Palin’s Real Alaska.’ While in Alaska he broke several stories via TheMudflats.net. For more visit his website, Facebook, and Twitter.
Mission Statement: Art is my religion. Paint is my passion. It’s buried deep into my soul, and under my fingernails. You will find me drawing and painting every day, like my life depends on it.
I saw Fatality posted that she made these in The Kitchen Group, I asked her for her recipe but she said she sort of just did her own version of a very basic recipe. So I did the same. It was delicious! A fantastic autumn dish with a little kick. I have to credit Fatality for the pickled onion idea. ABSOLUTELY made the dish!
Ingredients Tacos:
1 can of black beans
1/2 can of Ro*Tel diced tomatoes with peppers
Lime juice
Fresh cilantro
1 clove of garlic
1 small butternut squash
Olive oil
1 package of ground tofu “beef” bits (I love Smart Ground Original)
1 TBS Chinese 5 spice seasoning
Ground Sage (to taste, I used about a TBS)
Sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
1/2 TBS ground cumin
Pickled onions (recipe follows)
3 diced peppers (jalapenos or serranos work great)
Optional: Sour cream or yogurt (I used soy yogurt, to keep with the vegan theme)
Corn Tortillas
Preparation:
Combine beans, Ro*Tel tomatoes, lime juice (I used a generous squirt of refrigerated lime juice), and about 1/8 of a cup of chopped cilantro leaves. Stir until warm, add 1 clove of crushed garlic and simmer on low stirring occasionally to prevent beans/garlic from burning.
In a large skillet heat olive oil (a few turns of the pan) until it begins to smoke. Add chopped butternut squash (about 1/4 inch pieces or so, whatever your preference is), ground sage (fresh would also probably work great here, I just didn’t have any on hand), salt/pepper, 5 spice, and ground cumin. Sauté for about 10 minutes until squash is very tender. Add “beef” crumbles and a pinch more of previously mentioned spices (to taste) and cook another 4-6 minutes until flavors have combined and are scrumptious!
Warm tortillas in a dry pan. Serve butternut squash/veggie ground mixture topped with beans, diced jalapenos/serranos, pickled onions, yogurt, and fresh cilantro.
Eat and enjoy!
Ingredients Pickled Onions:
1 cup of red wine
1 cup of red wine vinegar
Approx. 1 TBS mustard seed
Approx 2 TBS whole peppercorns
1/2 cup of packed brown sugar
2 tsp red pepper flakes
2 small yellow onions
Preparation:
Combine red wine and red wine vinegar in a pan over med-low heat. Stir in sugar until melted. Add mustard seed, peppercorns and pepper flakes. Add onions (I sliced them in half and then did thin slices). Heat over medium-high until boils. Transfer to mason jar and allow to pickle 8-12 hours (or longer). They keep for about 10-14 days in the fridge and are heavenly 🙂
“I never just listen to music in the way that I think a normal person probably does and I read books in the same way.”
– Nick Cave
Even casual music fans recognize the name Nick Cave and realize how important he was and is to the music. His influence has reached the point where new bands may not even realize how much of an influence he is on them. Though even hardcore Cave fans may not remember the movie Ghosts… of the Civil Dead which he wrote, he’s written another screenplay, The Proposition, for director John Hillcoat. This time it’s an Australian western starring Guy Pearce, Danny Huston, Ray Winstone and Emily Watson. Pearce and Huston are brothers who are vicious killers in the late 19th century and are being hunted by Ray Winstone’s character. He captures Pearce and promises him his freedom if he agrees to turn on his brother.
