I’ve decided to start blogging more frequently about Occupy and Oakland since when I tweet I just tip off the local press who won’t hire me. And I’m not going to put those frequent posts here, because this is more of a Susie Cagle clearing house for all my work.

So the blog is here! First post is about Occupy Oakland’s latest camp and police raid last night.

Photo via whipartist, taken October 27, 2011 at Occupy Oakland.

Today my first piece for the Atlantic went live, which is pretty exciting. Please check that out. And then hire me to write long in-depth pieces all the time because goddamn do I love doing this work even though it means a life of poverty.

You should really just be following me on Twitter these days by the way — where, sorry conspiracy theorists, but the powers that be are not censoring the #Occupy hashtags.

But if you’re not, I’ve recently written new Occupy stories for the Awl and the SF Appeal, and I’m contributing more frequent coverage over at In These Times on the Uprising blog with the inimitable Allison Kilkenny.

Flash mobs, mic checks, port shutdowns, all of it, and so much more in the works.

If you’re reading this, you probably already know that full-time freelance reporting is not an easy life to live. I have no institutional support or colleagues on whom to rely for help, and my expenses are all on me. While I’ve embraced my poverty for the last several years, I’ve been able to supplement my income with various short gigs and well-paid drawing jobs. Covering a popular movement, especially in an economically depressed city, is not nearly so lucrative.

But I don’t really fucking care.

So I’ve started a fund to help me stay on the Occupy beat and not have to take on some less than ideal illustration jobs to make ends. If you can, a couple bucks would help more than you might think. And thanks so much to everyone who has helped already.