125 years ago today the great artist Diego Rivera was born.  On his birthday in 1940, he was in San Francisco.  Rivera celebrated his birthday by marrying Frida Kahlo for the second time.  It’s easy to imagine what Diego and Frida would be doing if they were in San Francisco in 2011.  They’d be marching and participating in the Occupy Wall Street movement.  Would security let Comrade Diego back inside at the Pacific Stock Exchange to see his own work?  Diego Rivera’s first San Francisco mural is inside, “safe” from the prying eyes of the general public and the rabble in the streets.

One can speculate but it really is not possible to really write history while it is unfolding.  But as 2011 comes toward an end there is one word that history will probably most associate with this year — occupy.  There is a time capsule element to the 2011 Project.  The 365 pieces are meant to be looked at 20, 50 and 100 years from now and perhaps even further into the future.  I feel confident in saying that the word occupy and the year 2011 will be linked together for a long time. 

If you think back a few months ago, it’s hard to imagine that something as simple as the tent would gain such symbolic importance.  And wherever the Occupy Wall Street movement goes from here, it has already succeeded in that it has opened a dialogue about wealth and power that we have not had in 80 years in the United States.  Yesterday I was in Frank Ogawa Plaza in front of Oakland’s City Hall.  It was inspiring.