Going to New York City Wednesday, to thank the people at Random House for their great work on behalf of “Going Home: FInding Peace When Pets Die,” a beautiful launch, book tour, and publicity campaign. No writer could ask for more, so we’ll have some pizza in Manhattan. I’m going back and forth in one day, and then Thursday, to the Deerfield Elementary School, Wilmington, Vt.  6 p.m. for a talk and signing on behalf of Lisa Sullivan and Bartleby Books, flooded during Hurricane Irene. Should be fun. Saturday, signing books at Barnes and Noble, Saratoga Springs. 2 p.m.

I am not political, and am not a joiner. I dislike the narrow labels – “left” or “right” – that we give one another.

But Saturday I am thinking of dropping by the “Occupy Glens Falls” demonstration in Glens Falls, N.Y., one of my favorite towns. I am not ready to join this or any other protest, yet I am very drawn to these demonstrations, and to the things they seem to represent. I don’t blame Wall Street or anyone else for my life, it is my life to make or break, yet I do have this sense that we seem to be worrying more about corporations than individuals, and that government is listening to corporations more than people,  and that has been a long-standing belief of mine. Commentators squawk that the protestors have no goal, but that is a media notion, not a human one. Everyone who comes to these protests has a goal, or they wouldn’t be there. I want to hear more from them why they are there, since journalists seem completely flummoxed. In my heart, I am drawn to them.

Personally, I feel totally responsible for my life, and  I don’t seek to occupy anything.  If I want to speak up for anything, it is the power of the individual to answer the creative spark within them and alter their life, at any age. It is not easy to do, but it is possible to do. More and more, it seems to me, we are looking to others to tell us what to do and think, from the animal world to politics to our financial, work and medical decisions. Increasingly, my life has been about taking responsibility for those things myself, and not looking to others to blame or to alter my reality. I am out of Struggle Stories. I have noone to blame for me and my life but me. Still, I am stirred by the message I am hearing that corporations are both too big and too powerful, having seem these behemoths devour one American institution after another, from media to publishing and the environment, from farming to movies to the very  nature of work and personal security.  For me, politics is not an argument but a personal expression of belief. When I e-mailed an Occupy Glens Falls organizer what, if anything, I should bring, she said “ideas.” Might be my kind of group.

It is not a simple thing to demonstrate in upstate New York, it is usually quite a lonely thing, and I admire the small band of people who have gathered at the Civil War monument in this neat but staid city and are speaking out for themselves. A very American thing to do.

If individual people need to take responsibility for their lives – I do – perhaps corporations could take some responsibility for the world they are creating as well. I think the only thing I can really occupy is myself. If Occupy Glens Falls is speaking up for individuals to keep control of their lives and have a larger say in what happens to us, then I might well get a tent and a placard. Let you know this weekend.