Who are the men and women seeking to occupy Union Square Park? Yesterday we met Fathema Shadida and Tim “Chyno” Chin. Today, meet two more of your new neighbors.
Jared Malsin Name: Karin Hofmann
Age: 69
Originally from: Germany. Emigrated to the Bronx at age 12.
Current residence: East 12th Street
Current job: Retired
Ideology: “Definitely a Liberal, and I say it proudly.”
Claim to fame within the movement: Known for sitting in the camp and knitting.
Why occupy? “It’s a new paradigm. It’s not about pushing lawmakers to pass something. It’s about showing them what the people want, and getting them to come behind us.”
Favorite music: Mozart, The Gypsy Kings
Favorite book(s): Political and historical nonfiction
Other causes: Voter registration drives. WBAI radio.
Number of Occupy-related arrests: Zero. But considering arrestable action on May 1.
Opinion of Mayor Bloomberg: “I used to think he can’t be bought…I generally liked the way he conducted himself… Since the occupation, I really think this has been brutal, so, I’m glad he cannot be reelected this time.”
Opinion of Obama and the Democrats: “I’m working hard, and will work hard, to register people to re-elect President Obama, because I’m horrified of what the Supreme Court might look like under someone else.”
Favorite revolutionary leader: Greg Smith, the Goldman Sachs executive who resigned after criticizing the firm in an article published in the Opinion pages of the The Times.
Favorite cop: Officer Timoney
Jared Malsin Name: Justin Stone-Diaz
Age: 38
Originally from: Bridgeport, CT
Current residence: Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn
Job: Freelance social media specialist
Ideology: “I was raised in a liberal family. My mother was a feminist and a police officer. So I have a weird mix of conservative left.”
Claim to fame within the movement: Occupy Wall Street Information group. Also: “There’s a group of us that tend to be very loud, and we call each other the yellies. I’m one of the yellies. And also I used to wear yellow in the old park.”
Why occupy? “I occupy to help better understand the tools of direct democracy that Occupy Wall Street uses, and to help bring consensus-building to the wider public.”
Favorite music: WNYC radio
Favorite book “One Hundred Years of Solitude” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Number of Occupy-related arrests: One, during the Zuccotti occupation
Opinion of Mayor Bloomberg: “I thought Bloomberg was a genius when we were in the park [Zuccotti] because it appeared that he was keeping three sides of the issue happy. And I was the biggest person that was pro-Bloomberg from Occupy, but after seeing what he’s done and the way he’s treating us now, I now see Bloomberg for what he is. He’s a politician, pure and simple.”
Opinion of President Obama and the Democrats: “I’m not exactly for Obama but I’m going to vote for him because he deserves, at least, four more years.”
Favorite revolutionary leader: Robert Thurman, professor at Columbia University’s Department of Religion. The Dalai Lama.
Favorite cop: Officer Timoney
