Mel Van Nize
29, Denver
Occupation: Registered nurse in the intensive- care unit at Porter Hospital. She has been volunteering at Occupy Denver for 17 days. She’s taking classes at Metropolitan State College of Denver to earn a bachelor’s degree in public health.
Why she’s here: “I’m here whenever I’m not at work, in school or asleep. I see a lot of mental illness and addiction-related issues, plus the usual cut-my-finger, blister or what have you. I honestly believe everyone has a right to food, water, shelter and education. I make a good wage. I have resources and skills that I can use to help people here and on the streets.”
Lori Phillips
53, Denver
Occupation: Montana Air National Guard veteran laid off from a job as an electronics technician
Why she’s here: “I’m a veteran. I fixed navigation and communication systems on airplanes. I joined the Air National Guard because I was a single mom and I thought it would give me marketable skills. I’ve got the skills but not a job.”
Rick Reimer
62, Denver
Occupation: Retired attorney operating a courier business
Why he’s here: “People are here because they are against the war, because of the Wall Street occupation. People are here to protest corporations controlling their lives, and corporate media are part of the problem.”
Allen Zink
43, Denver
Occupation: Laid off from his job of 12 years as a carpenter in Carbondale in 2009, then became a quadriplegic in an accident a few months later. He relies on Medicaid and a wheelchair that has a sip-straw.
Why he’s here: “This is my first day here. I’m protesting the loss of the middle class. The rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, and the middle class, the backbone of this country, is disappearing.”
Carly “Stray” Parkinson
21, San Diego
Occupation: Itinerant
Why she’s here: “I’m just traveling through. A lot of people are here for the cause, but standing around here isn’t going to do anything. I’m just here to camp and sleep without police harassment.”
Alyria Salazar
34, Broomfield
Occupation: Hairstylist and single mom
Why she’s here: She’s losing ground in her pursuit of the American dream. “I’m still paying for my student loan, and my son is about to start college. I don’t think it’s fair that interest rates are higher for me than for rich people. I’m scared for my future and for my children.”
Ty Link
48, Denver
Occupation: Johnson & Wales University graduate and a 30-year pastry chef who can’t find work in that field. She hired on with a temp firm and currently works as a dishwasher at Cava Greens. She is three months behind on her payments for a car that also needs a $600 repair, and she lives paycheck to paycheck. She has no health insurance.
Why she’s here: “Thirty years of experience as a pastry chef, and now I’m a dishwasher for $8.85 an hour. I’ve been coming and going here to donate my time, money if I have it, or hot chocolate. I’m the very last year of the baby boomers, and I have not a dime for retirement. It just makes me sad to see all the kids out here, high school and college age: They haven’t lived a life yet, but they’ve already got hundreds of thousands of dollars of bills to pay back.”
Odysseus Lombardi
31, Boulder
Occupation: Online sales representative and bookstore buyer
Why he’s here: “These two jobs cover my rent and other living expenses, but I can’t save. I’d like to travel. I’m not going to be doing that. I trained to be a physical trainer, I did freelance writing and got published. I thought they would lead to something, but they didn’t lead to anything. It seems like opportunities aren’t out there. It’s kind of scary.”
Scott Greene
34, Aurora
Occupation: Director of Mile High NORML
Why he’s here: He doesn’t want his movement to legalize marijuana forgotten in the fuss over Occupy Denver.
Mark Martinez
15, Arvada
Occupation: Suspended Arvada West High School student living since Friday at the Occupy Denver camp with his mother, who is helping with the OD kitchen
Why he’s here: “I’m the cooks’ helper. I found out about this from my mom. She’s helping out at the food tent. She got laid off from her job doing coding for Kaiser Permanente.”
Kerri Kellerman
38, Arlington, Va.
Occupation: Has been with Occupy Denver for about a week and plans to continue west to Occupy San Francisco and Occupy Portland.
Why she’s here: “Until April 14, I was a pharmacy technician for Walmart. I’m here because I’m a transgendered person, and corporations don’t want to hire people like me.”
Wes McKinley
66, Walsh
Occupation: Rancher and District 64 representative in the state legislature. He spent three nights in a camp teepee.
Why he’s here: “This is a segment of our society — the disenfranchised, the unemployed, the homeless — that I am not real familiar with but is growing. When you actually go out and break bread and live with them, you get a much better feel for who they are. This isn’t in my district, but I am concerned about what is happening in our state.”
David Le
26, Denver
Occupation: State employee
Why he’s here: He was walking through the block on his way to lunch yet is supportive of getting the message out that “the middle class is struggling.”
