I pull into the Tammy and Michaela Remus’ driveway, parking carefully behind the shiny Range Rover in the driveway. Before I even have a chance to ring the bell, the door to the pretty Colonial-Revival home swings open and I find myself being ushered into a grand foyer by Tammy and Michaela Remus. At 17, Michaela Remus is already taller than her mother, but both share the same shiny blonde hair, ice blue eyes, and blindingly white smiles.
Ushering me into their beige sitting room, Tammy offers me a cappuccino. “We just got a new Italian espresso maker and the coffee is to die for,” she tells me, closing her eyes and rolling her head back for emphasis. When I tell her I just want some water, she brings me a bottle of Perrier with a crystal glass.
I get straight to the point and ask them to tell me how the Occupy the Mall movement was born.
“Well,” begins Michaela, “I’ve never, like, been super-involved in social activism, but when I found out that the Gap is planning to close a bunch of its stores, I was super pissed.”
At first young Michaela, a senior in high school, didn’t know how to channel that anger, but when she remembered the coverage of the Occupy Wall Street protests she’d once seen during the commercial break of Gossip Girl, inspiration struck.
“I saw how those poor people were, like, camping out in the parks and stuff to protest and I thought why not occupy the mall to protest the Gap closures?” Michaela explains.
When I suggest that perhaps the Gap closures may partly be in response to the increasing number of North Americans that are doing their shopping online, Michaela and Tammy exchange troubled glances.
Rising from the plush taupe couch, Michaela gives a slow spin. “You see that? These skinny jeans fit me like a glove, right? Well, guess what? I had to try on like three pairs of the same jeans, all in the same size, zero of course, before I found the perfect pair. You just can’t do that when you’re online shopping.”
“Also,” adds Tammy, “weekend trips to the mall are a tradition among North American teenagers. If stores start to close, a whole way of life is threatened.” She pauses to let this sink in.
When I suggest that the Occupy the Mall movement might nonetheless seem frivolous to some in light of the more serious issues of the day, such as the kidnapping of young girls in Nigeria, Tammy vehemently disagrees.
“I think the mall is a really valuable way to ensure kids get exposed to different kinds of people. Of course her father and I send Michaela to private school. On an everyday basis we do obviously prefer she be surrounded by those of our stature, but we think it’s good for her to get some limited exposure to poorer people and people of different races and the like. Also, I think shopping at the mall is an important leisure activity for our young people and I believe such recreational opportunities are key in preventing teen pregnancies and suicides.” Tammy smiles tightly. “So, I think to suggest this movement is frivolous is really short-sighted.”
“Is this the main reason why you got involved in movement?” I ask.
Tammy clears her throat. “Of course, I always supported Michaela in her efforts to prevent the Gap closures,” she explains, “but I didn’t really get actively involved until I heard recently about the impending closure of a number of Sears stores. That’s when I realized that this isn’t just an isolated problem but truly an epidemic.”
I ask Tammy if she’s a frequent Sears shopper.
“You know, I obviously go to a lot of higher end shops too,” she concedes. “But, yes I do shop at Sears. You know that espresso maker I was raving about? It was about $3,000 and I got it at Sears. Of course, you can also get your run of the mill no frills coffee makers there too. So I think a lot of these mall stores, like Sears, really transcend class.”
With the first Occupy the Mall sit-in scheduled for this weekend, I ask Tammy and Michaela what they ultimately hope the movement will accomplish.
“For me,” says, Michaela, “I’m really hoping to prevent the stores I shop at from closing because shopping is something that’s, like, a big part of my life right now.”
Tammy smiles indulgently at her daughter. “Yes,” she adds, “ideally we do want to prevent store closures, but beyond that, I think we really just hope to raise awareness of an important issue that isn’t getting enough attention. If we don’t stand up now, we may find there are fewer and fewer shopping opportunities available to us and we’ll have only ourselves to blame for our inaction. That’s why I really hope people will do the right thing and support this movement.”
With that rousing speech, both mother and daughter shake my hand and show me to the door.
Author’s update: Due to poor turnout, Michaela and Tammy Remus called off their protest a mere two and half hours after they first set up camp outside the Gap, retiring dejectedly to the food court to split a Cinnabon.
Submitted by: Karen Gilmore
