gotta say, the chants could use a rewrite...

...Just because I don't think Norma Rae would be too impressed with, "How greedy can they get? They won't even share the net!" As for me, it just makes me think of Sandra Bullock getting her identity stolen.

Tuesday morning, Anderson Cooper came to speak at my school. The subject was about how we college students can move up in the world by "following our bliss," which was some advice his mother, Gloria Vanderbilt, gave him when he was our age. That, and to wear vertical stripes, which are slimming (just like these here mom jeans). Taking this advice, I left Claremont immediately after his speech was over, and made it to the picket lines at Universal Studios with just an hour before the day's picketing was scheduled to be over at 2pm. At first, I guess I really didn't understand what the strike line experience was going to be like, as I had only seen the supermarket strikes of a few years ago. I was expecting that everyone would be mingling around networking, and I'd just fit right in. Though that didn't turn out to be the case, the actual experience of supporting the strike and being a demonstrator became what I found I wanted to do.

Now, watching news footage of the strike, or the WGA's YouTube channel can be a little bit unusual. There are guitar-strumming SAG members and rich folk chanting "Union Power!" which is a little disconcerting when the conventional archetype of a union member is a blue-collar laborer. That aside, there are Union issues at hand here, and I think the interconnectivity of the WGA, DGA, and SAG is very interesting to watch. Certainly, there is a rank-and-file in the WGA, as not everyone is a head writer for a successful primetime show or a screenwriter making millions and winning Oscars. Maybe Tuesday was a unique day to go to the strike, as "Picketing With the Stars" day happened to coincide with my one afternoon off, so there was a different sort of feeling on Lankershim Blvd. And a lot more media attention.

Though I did have the chance to meet a few TV stars, I was particularly excited to meet Josh Schwartz, creator of what is quickly becoming one of my favorite shows of all time: Gossip Girl. I think I was a little obnoxious, actually, asking him about Rufus' backstory on the show...maybe it's because I look like I'm 14 that everyone I talked to was a little like, "why are you here?" but I think once I explained that I'm an aspiring writer who was there to support the WGA, I became a little less annoying. Also, I was walking around with my digital camera around my wrist, my borrowed camcorder in one hand, and my found picket sign in the other. Sometime in the next couple of days I should have finished editing the video I took of the strike (which includes a little Sarah Silverman, and a great moment in which Jack Black says simply, "Go. Writers." So sad I couldn't get the camera on quick enough to catch John Cho, too.

Oh, and does anyone know who this woman is? Ed Helms told me that she's a writer on The Office, and I have been racking my brain trying to think of her name! Speaking of The Office, it's a shame I missed out on Stanley and Creed's appearance earlier in the day, but that's life. I thought it was a great experience to meet the writers that I did, and really get a first-hand view of what this strike is really like. I would encourage any supporters of the WGA to make it down to the lines and help demonstrate, or to be one of the many people driving by, honking their horns in support.

Stay tuned sometime this weekend to see the video footage I got - it's pretty cool, if I do say so myself.