Occupy Wall Street Signs

The tech-savvy members of Occupy Wall Street can get access to ink-jetted signage, but there seem to be advantages to scrawling your message on an old cardboard box, writes Blake Gopnik.

Emmanuel Dunand, AFP / Getty Images

By Blake GopnikNov 03, 2011

galleries/2011/11/03/occupy-wall-street-signs-photos/occupy-wall-street-signs-gopnik-tease_cogeww — The tech-savvy members of Occupy Wall Street can get access to ink-jetted signage, but there seem to be advantages to scrawling your message on an old cardboard box, writes Blake Gopnik.
Emmanuel Dunand, AFP / Getty Images

galleries/2011/11/03/occupy-wall-street-signs-photos/occupy-wall-street-signs-3_k2vg9c — A young woman protests at Zuccotti Park in New York. “I think what we’re trying to emphasize is that normal people making their own signs can get the message across better than a bunch of perfectly made signs,” says Mark Bray, a member of the Occupy Wall Street press team who was at the park taking questions. We live in an era when almost everyone, and especially the tech-savvy members of Occupy Wall Street, can get access to perfectly ink-jetted signage. But there seem to be advantages to scrawling your message on an old cardboard box, writes Blake Gopnik.

Blake Gopnik

galleries/2011/11/03/occupy-wall-street-signs-photos/occupy-wall-street-signs-8_lhq2zq — Members of Occupy Wall Street display placards on Zuccotti Park near Wall Street in New York, Oct. 25, 2011. Deliberately artless?

Emmanuel Dunand, AFP / Getty Images

galleries/2011/11/03/occupy-wall-street-signs-photos/occupy-wall-street-signs-9_ov7c7r — A woman holds a placard equating Wall Street with greed as a small group of protesters march past banks in downtown Los Angeles on Oct. 19, 2011. Is scruffy signage a sign of authenticity?

Fredreic J. Brown / Getty Images

galleries/2011/11/03/occupy-wall-street-signs-photos/occupy-wall-street-signs-5_ulrypv — Nicole Stevens, a 24-year-old from Long Island (left) with Olya Ayzenshtat, protesting with placards at Zuccotti Park in Manhattan. “The written ones just draw more attention and show more effort. Anyone can just print one out,” says Stevens.

Blake Gopnik

galleries/2011/11/03/occupy-wall-street-signs-photos/occupy-wall-street-signs-10_aranbx — At age 71, sanitation worker Ben Jones is still working, so he can pay off the mortgage on his house. Jones holds a replica of the sign 'I AM A MAN' that many strikers carried during the Memphis sanitation workers' strike of 1968. In those days, an orderly appearance and a unified message led marchers to adopt machine-printed placards.

Miami Herald / Landov

galleries/2011/11/03/occupy-wall-street-signs-photos/occupy-wall-street-signs-2_p3dvgv — Ahmaz Freeman came to Zuccotti Park to support the Occupy Wall Street movement but then retired to a McDonald's to hand-write his sign.
Blake Gopnik

galleries/2011/11/03/occupy-wall-street-signs-photos/occupy-wall-street-signs-7_uct5ht — Occupy Wall Street supporters march calling for universal healthcare in New York, Oct. 26, 2011. In protest aesthetics, cardboard boxes trump white foamcore.

Emmanuel Dunand, AFP / Getty Images

galleries/2011/11/03/occupy-wall-street-signs-photos/occupy-wall-street-signs-6_tlvnbh — Rebecca Reid with her children Hayden, Natalie, and Oscar in Zuccotti Park in New York on October 23, 2011. Childlike scripts convey unrehearsed anger.

Timothy A. Clary, AFP / Getty Images

galleries/2011/11/03/occupy-wall-street-signs-photos/occupy-wall-street-signs-4_wqsmog — Ann Von Brock, from North Carolina, joins the Occupy Wall Street protest in Manhattan. She brought her sign with her from home, she said.
Blake Gopnik

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