By Lacy MacAuley

I was standing on a street one evening near my home in Washington, DC — it seems like ages ago now — with a chatty friend who travels often to New York. He mentioned that a few New Yorkers were planning an “occupation” of Wall Street.

Not knowing what I was getting myself into, I said, “I’m there.” A few days later, I boarded a bus, backpack and sleeping bag in tow. I was there when Occupy Wall Street began.

After some chilly nights in Liberty Plaza, I returned to Washington to help plan an occupation in my city. Others in Boston, San Francisco, Dallas, Atlanta, Denver, Seattle, and so many more cities have begun their own occupations. Occupy DC started October 1, and is still going strong.

Many people are asking why. While the occupation of city squares all over the nation is inspiring many people, others are (understandably) a bit perplexed.

But I think people understand more than they know. Something is very wrong with our country and our world. The rich got richer from our economic crisis and the poor barely got the crumbs from their banquet table.

Now big corporations are asking for a new tax break, a tax holiday that they say will create jobs – while the last time Congress granted that tax break the main result was layoffs and downsizing. Corporations are sitting on over $2 trillion in cash but aren’t hiring. Our environment is under assault. Natural disasters are laying waste to towns like Joplin, Missouri, and some lawmakers even held up relief efforts by threatening to trim education, health care, and other vital services to free up money for emergency aid.

We keep paying for wars and people keep dying in them. About 50 million Americans have no health insurance, and too many of them go bankrupt paying for health care. Agribusiness is destroying family farms. Poverty is rampant. Congress can’t stop squabbling. Corporations have too much control. About 25 million of us are unemployed and underemployed and can’t find jobs. Too many college graduates can’t find jobs. Our children’s future is uncertain.

So, many of us are fed up. We’ve brought our anger and hopes to our city squares. We’re not leaving until we see real movement toward change. More people are arriving every day and joining us. In liberated squares, parks, and plazas all over the country, we’re discussing challenges and talking about solutions. Every voice is equal, and all of us are expected to raise our voices, our ideas, our concerns. We’re reaching consensus. We’re figuring it out as we go.

All I can say is that true democracy takes time. At Occupy DC, we meet daily to discuss why we’re there. The unemployed, the foreclosed, and the sick-of-it-all are coming together to discuss the world that we want to see and how to get there. We have big problems. We need big solutions. And those big solutions take time.

While on Wall Street and on McPherson Square on K Street in Washington, I’ve learned how to change my clothes in my sleeping bag. I’ve learned how to run a generator, which keeps us in electronic touch with the outside world. I’ve learned the best methods for hauling plastic bags of donated bread, pastries, and bagels nine city blocks. I’ve learned to appreciate tarps.

I’ve also learned that when we all raise our voices together and work in the spirit of true democracy, we can work toward real solutions and real changes to our world. We the people tend to agree on a lot more than we realize. It just takes coming together, talking things through, and not leaving until things change.

And that’s what the occupations are doing: We’re staying put, and taking the time for true democracy to work.

Some of the restaurants taking part are: Cafe Barron’s, Bodacious Bar-B-Q on Highway 80, Cotton Patch Cafe, Dudley’s Cajun Cafe, Johnny Cace’s Seafood & Steakhouse, McAlister’s Deli, McDonald’s on Highway 80 (near Good Shepherd,) McDonald’s at Loop 281 and Gilmer Road, Papacita’s Mexican Restaurant, Pizza King, T. Blanco’s, Wendy’s on 4th Street, and Wendy’s on Gilmer Road.

LCM also sponsors The Food Box, which is the city’s largest food pantry, Brown Bag, which makes monthly grocery deliveries to the homebound and elderly, Meals on Wheels, whose volunteers deliver hot meals daily to the homebound, disabled and elderly, Coats for Kids, which give the city’s less-fortunate children the chance to affordably shop for coats each November, and the Family Crisis Center and Learning Lab, whose trained caseworkers and LCM staff offer compassionate assistance to families in need of medicine, food, shelter, job and computer training and other needs.

For additional information on LCM and the TOO HOT TO COOK event please contact Program Manager Lisa Simmons at (903) 753-3561, extension 207.

We’re forever warning teenagers to be careful online – don’t reveal personal information to strangers, avoid scams, report bullying behavior. The same advice may be appropriate for grandma and grandpa as well.
Seniors are the fastest-growing segment of new Internet users, as they’ve discovered email, online shopping and banking, social networking, traveling planning and other online conveniences.
Even the most tech-savvy among us sometimes fall prey to online scammers, so if your parents or grandparents have recently taken the online plunge, here are some safety tips you can share:
Update security software. Make sure their computers have anti-virus and anti-spyware software and show them how to update it regularly.
Think like the bad guys. Even the best software isn’t 100 percent foolproof, so teach them how to anticipate and ward off annoying – or criminal – behavior. For example:
• Only open or download information from trusted sites to which you navigated yourself. Don’t assume a link contained in an email, even from a friend, will necessarily take you to a company’s legitimate website.
•    Don’t click on pop-up windows or banners that appear when you’re browsing a site.
•    Common email scams that target seniors include offers for discounted drugs and low-cost insurance, and supposed warnings from the IRS – which incidentally, never contacts taxpayers by email.
•    Financial institutions never email customers asking for verification of account or password information.
•    When shopping online, look for safety symbols such as a padlock icon in the browser’s status bar, an “s” after “http” in the URL address, or the words “Secure Sockets Layer” (SSL) or “Transport Layer Security” (TLS). These are signs that the merchant is using a secure page for transmitting personal information.
These are all common tricks used to infect your computer with viruses or to install spyware that records your keystrokes to obtain account or other confidential information.
Use strong passwords. Believe it or not, the most frequently used password is “password.” Other common, easy-to-crack passwords include simple numeric sequences and names of pets, spouses and children. For more secure passwords:
•    Use at least seven characters with a mixture of upper and lower-case letters, numbers and symbols.
•    Use unique passwords for each account in case one gets compromised.
•    Change passwords frequently.
Protect personal information. Never post sensitive information on any website (or share via email, mail or phone) unless you initiated the contact. This might include numbers for credit cards, bank accounts, Social Security, Medicare and driver’s license, address/phone and full birthdate.
Set privacy controls. On social networking sites, carefully review privacy settings that let you limit who has access to your personal information. Similarly, always review a company’s privacy policy to ensure you agree with how it may share your information with affiliate organizations.
Be skeptical of “free” anything. Before signing up for free trials, especially via pop-up windows or banner ads, make sure you understand all terms and conditions. Pay particular attention to pre-checked boxes in online offers before submitting payment card information for an order. Failing to un-check the boxes may bind you to contracts you don’t want.
For more tips protecting personal and account information and preventing online fraud, visit www.VisaSecuritySense.com, which features tips on preventing fraud online, when traveling, at retail establishments and ATMs, deceptive marketing practices, and more.
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Jason Alderman directs Visa’s financial education programs. To Follow Jason Alderman on Twitter: www.twitter.com/PracticalMoney

Special Events:
Other special events include Family Night every Tuesday night from 5:00 – 6:15 p.m.; Itty Bitty Beach Party on July 15 from 10:00 a.m. – Noon at the Longview Swim Center; and the Dog Days of Summer on August 13 from 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. at Longview Swim Center. Also throughout the summer, swimming lessons will be available for children and adults. Classes include Introduction to Water Skills, Fundamental Aquatic Skills, Stroke Development, Stroke Improvement, Stroke Refinement, Swimming and Skill Proficiency.

City of Longview Pools and Splash Pads:
Longview Swim Center, 1111 W. Fairmont St.
Ingram Pool, 1300 N. Tenth St.
Paula Martin Jones Recreation Center Pool, 1230-B S. High St.
Broughton Park Splash Pad, 801 S. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Spring Hill Park Splash Pad, 738 Fenton Rd.