When Diane McEachern ventured out onto the foggy western
Alaska tundra a week ago to show solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street
movement, she had no idea her tiny demonstration would go viral.
McEachern, an assistant
professor at the University of Alaska campus in Bethel, snapped a portrait of
herself, accompanied by her three dogs, holding a hand-printed cardboard sign
that read: "Occupy the Tundra."
She was kneeling on the
frost-covered ground and dressed in proper Alaska gear for the season,
including a borrowed musk-ox wool scarf to ward off the chill.
The idea was to express
support for the Occupy movement that has been rallying in U.S. cities against a
financial system protesters say most benefits corporations and the wealthy, but
also to show a sense of humor, she said on Sunday.
"Part of it was
whimsical, yes, but it was also authentic."
But after she posted her
self-portrait on the "Occupy Wall Street" Facebook page, the response
was overwhelming, and she said she found herself fielding inquiries from
numerous national media outlets.
"Waking up to 200 friend
requests... On a good day, five would make sense," she said. "I never
thought it would get all the attention it has."
The tundra display was not
McEachern's first such political demonstration. She said she stood alone on a
Bethel street corner in 2003 in minus 40-degree weather to protest the U.S.
invasion of Iraq, holding a sign that said: "It's never too cold to oppose
war."
Now others in rural Alaska
outposts are following her example. In the Aleutian island town of Unalaska, 10
residents braved the chilly beach on Saturday to snap an "Occupy the
Bering Sea" photo, which they also posted on Facebook.
(Editing by Cynthia Johnston)
Source : Reuters
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