From the desk of the editor:

This past weekend, I was walking through downtown Washington, D.C. with the Chips editorial staff, when we came across a veritable shanty town of tents pitched in a public park. Entirely by accident, we had stumbled across the physical manifestation of our country’s 99%: the Occupy D.C. movement.

Camps and gatherings like this have been popping up all across the nation, ranging from Oakland to Iowa City, even making a brief but intentional appearance in Decorah this past Saturday, where some 60-odd concerned citizens gathered on the steps of the courthouse to voice their concerns about the direction our country has taken in the last few years.

Obviously these protesters have garnered a lot of attention from the media (Chips included, if the front page is to be any indicator of what catches our eye) in recent weeks, but why? Seeing this tent village, it dawned on me: these people are getting the attention of the press because of the fitting symbolism in their actions. Humor me:

Middle class people (the 99%) are protesting the greed of the upper-upper-upper class (the 1%) by subjecting themselves to the living conditions of our country’s poorest. They persist on these street corners, a inescapable reminder in the eyes of those who would oppose them of the not-so-postive effect their actions have on others in this system of trickle-down economics.

But it’s at the reminder where this grassroots protest has stagnated. Much discussion is being had, but to whom should these thinkers bring their conclusions too?

Paul Loeb addressed this in his lecture Tuesday night, based on his latest book, “Soul of a Citizen.”

Between emphatic swigs of water, Loeb said of the Occupy movement, “What the people are doing – standing out there – is dramatizing the issue. You can’t depend on this flickering media coverage. You have to have a real discourse.”

That’s exactly where we are. These protesters have made their presence known, but at some point they have to move past the point of ‘We’re here’ and get to the ‘and this is what we want.’ The presence is there, and so is the nation’s attention. However, our collective attention could soon be diverted.

It seems that now it’s time to say something. But then again, maybe not.

We’re all asking for conclusions, myself included. Perhaps the lack of a list of demands is this movement’s greatest strength. Like an experienced angler, the Occupy movement has sunk its hook into the public, and it’s likely we’re going to remain on this line for a long time.

The longer the public is kept waiting, the more interest is cultivated, which very well might be the most anyone can hope for. In a time where very little is certain, it seems the Occupy movement’s apparent ends might very well be their means. Gaining a voice is the endgame.

A headline this week from “The Onion” summates this entire issue accurately, reading: “Nation Waiting For Protesters To Clearly Articulate Demands Before Ignoring Them.”

Let’s just hope when a conclusion is finally decided upon, we’re not so apathetic that we ignore it.