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(CNN) -- Director and actor Orson Welles once said, "If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story."

Of course, the story of Occupy Wall Street and the movement it's sparking across the nation is just beginning to be written. But those watching it unfold, especially those of us who are sympathetic to the movement, are eager to know how it might end.

Will politicians start paying more attention to people instead of profits? Will the "99%" persuade the "1%" to be more compassionate? Will the protests spawn a new generation of engaged citizens, the "flower power" for the 21st century? If the occupations aren't forcibly ended by authorities, how will they stay visible in our easily distracted society? And how will the protesters stay warm and dry?

Sally Kohn

When I asked Occupy Wall Street organizer Jesse Myerson about the possible endgame of the movement, he replied, "That's a dumb question. The movement isn't yet 3 weeks old." Fair point. As a culture, we have a short attention span; we're too inclined to see everything as a sitcom and want to fast-forward to the end. Myerson was being a bit evasive. And this makes sense. Critics of Occupy Wall Street may demand to know the agenda -- the ending -- of the movement, but perhaps its ongoing victory is that its story is even being told.

Americans had become shockingly complacent in the face of outrageous inequality and injustice, seeming to defend the special rights of yacht-owning "job creators" while swallowing the notion that millions of our fellow citizens can be both working and poor. One poster at Occupy Wall Street read, "The light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off." That we're now having a public debate about inequality and the ugly road to nowhere on which many hardworking Americans are traveling suggests that, whatever Occupy's ultimate agenda, the process of movement building -- the fact of its existence -- may be its essential point.

Social movements spring up not to achieve narrow policy goals but to shift the broader public debate, mobilizing public will toward change. Polls show this movement's message against corporate greed not only has wider support than either political party in Washington but wider support than the tea party. "Occupy" protests are springing up in unlikely places, from Idaho to Indiana, and drawing unlikely protesters like soccer moms, small-business owners and, yes, tea party members. That you're even reading this column is evidence the protests are making a mark.

Even if the 99% movement -- as it's coming to be known in some quarters -- fizzles in the coming months, historically it may be the spark that lights another flame that ultimately leads to change. Just as interest on a bank account multiplies and compounds over time, so does outrage and resistance.

(CNN) -- It seems fitting that Herman Cain has surged into the top tier of the GOP candidates just as "Celebrity Apprentice" announces its new cast for the upcoming season.

I suspect a year from now the two will be one.

After all, reality TV is at its best when there's a villain we can't take our eyes off of, and over the past two weeks, can you think of anyone who one has benefited more from playing the bad guy than Cain? Back in August he received less than 10% of the Iowa straw poll vote. At the beginning of September, he was still near the bottom in the polls. Now he's a front-runner.

How'd he do it?

By imitating Omarosa -- the villain from the first season of "The Apprentice," who has since made a career out of being bad on reality TV. You see there are three things the media absolutely loves: white women (preferably in jail or missing), a sex scandal (preferably with photos or text messages) and inflammatory comments (preferably involving black people, so we can quote Jesse Jackson).

The latter's particularly effective in raising a person's profile because like with reality TV, the more controversial things you say, the more screen time you get, the more popular you become.

This is why I believe Herman Cain stopped running for president on September 28.

That was the day he went on CNN's "The Situation Room" and told Wolf Blitzer he believed the reason blacks don't vote for Republicans is because they're "brainwashed." Days later he went on ABC's "This Week" with Christiane Amanpour and repeated himself. Sunday he went back to CNN and told Candy Crowley that he didn't "believe there is racism in this country today that holds anybody back in a big way," and by Monday he was in the zone, telling Fox's Sean Hannity that he "left the Democrat plantation a long time ago."

The more inflammatory his statements were, the more television time he received, and the more his numbers climbed. He's not campaigning for president; he's auditioning to be the next pop culture bad boy, and he's using the media to do it.

Now, some pundits say Cain catapulted from curious long shot to unlikely front-runner because of the growing popularity of his 9-9-9 tax plan, which calls for a 9% national sales tax, a 9% personal income tax rate and a 9% corporate tax rate. I say he's been touting that plan of his for months, but he didn't move the needle until he started tossing the poor and the black community under the bus two weeks ago.

Since the change in strategy, everyone from Cornel West to Harry Belafonte to yes, Jesse Jackson (told you we love him) has taken time to condemn Cain, which now enables him to frame himself as a victim of internalized racism. That tack will certainly keep this routine of his going for at least another week.

(CNN) -- The newest monument in Washington dedicated to the memory and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. is attracting thousands of Americans and foreign tourists. It will finally get its official day in the sun on Sunday. That is when the federal government will formally dedicate the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial on the National Mall.

This weekend in Washington should not be a destination, however. It should be viewed as a new leg on a long journey to find the America that King spoke of 48 years ago when he gave his "I Have a Dream" speech. When a quarter-million people turned out for the 1963 historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, the nation's capital was also not so much a destination but a journey.

It is that journey that several of King's Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity brothers took to heart to spark the campaign to build a memorial in his honor. Little did they know their idea for a small tribute would become the monument that it is today. Little did fraternity members know that the young Atlantan who joined the fraternity in 1952 at Boston University would become a world leader and historic figure who inspires millions.

Rick Blalock

Fraternity historian Robert Harris, a professor of history at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, says the idea for the monument started 28 years ago when brother George Sealey and his wife, sitting at their kitchen table, said there should be a tribute to King in Washington. Harris says they got the idea after watching President Reagan sign into law the King holiday bill in the fall of 1983.

Sealey, then living in Silver Spring, Maryland, brought together four other Alpha men in his local chapter, and from there the idea became a national mission of the fraternity. After years of producing fiscal and fundraising plans, drawings and blueprints and galvanizing public support, Alpha Phi Alpha persuaded Congress and key elements of the executive branch, including the Department of the Interior and the White House, to green light the project.

King's brothers' dream is now a reality.

(CNN) -- Whenever there is an uprising among the people of this country in the form of protests and organized dissent, especially with a presidential election 13 months away, the discussion inevitably shifts to what it will mean for one of the nation's two political parties.

No matter how hard they've tried to suggest that they aren't partisan, the tea party is nothing more than a sub-group of the Republican Party. If there were a healthy number of tea party Democrats, then that would be true. But there isn't, so it's nonsensical to waste time not calling the tea party Republicans exactly what they are: tea party Republicans. From Day One the movement aligned itself with the GOP, and that is true today.

Roland Martin

Yet the attempt by Fox News, conservative radio show hosts and the GOP presidential candidates to associate Occupy Wall Street protesters with the image of far-left radical hippies being in lockstep with the Democratic Party is wrong, shameful and pure intellectual dishonesty.

Being concerned about the nation's well-being, and the depths to which the big-monied interests are driving the nation's policies is not a partisan question; it is a moral one.

GOP presidential candidate wants to cheapen the discussion by suggesting Occupy Wall Street protesters hate capitalism. I sense they despise a nation that has come to be one in which Fortune 500 companies and big banks run ads talking about how great America is, but work hard to destroy America by shipping jobs overseas and engaging in shameful business practices that require the taxpayer to bail them out.

It's really simple, and insanely stupid, to examine the real anger of Occupy Wall Street as a bunch of young folks with nothing to do. If we recall March 2009 when the AIG bonuses came to light, every corner of this nation was angry with what we heard. Political ideology didn't matter. It was seen as a matter of right and wrong.

That's why the various leaders of Occupy Wall Street, no matter how local and decentralized, must look at their effort as not being a galvanizing force to put one party into office. Instead, it should be about candidates of both political parties, as well as independents, speaking to their needs and desires.

This tea party vs. Occupy Wall Street construct is a ridiculous one. From a media perspective, it's a cheap and easy narrative that, in the end, doesn't tell the full story.

As someone who is more enamored with studying the intricacies of the civil rights movement rather than memorizing key speeches of its leaders, what was clear from Day One was that it wasn't about getting a Democrat or Republican elected. It was always about ensuring full freedom and equality for African-Americans who were denied their rights as citizens.

At different points, Republicans and Democrats were allies of the civil rights movement, while at the same time some Republicans and Democrats were virulent opponents. It wasn't about party for civil rights leaders; it was about principle.

(CNN) -- Dorothy Cooper is a 96-year-old African-American resident of Chattanooga, Tennessee. She was born in a small town in northern Georgia before women could vote and when Jim Crow laws mandated racial segregation. Her life has spanned nearly a century of progress: The 19th Amendment extended suffrage to women, the Civil Rights movement led to the dismantling of segregation laws, and the Voting Rights Act outlawed overt racial discrimination in elections.

Mrs. Cooper has always honored this past by voting. In 70 years, she has missed only one election, in 1960, because a move made her miss the registration deadline. Despite living through an era when African-Americans were routinely turned away from the ballot box -- and worse -- Mrs. Cooper said she "never had any problems" exercising her rights. Even before the Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965.

Until now.

Last week Tennessee effectively prohibited her from voting because of the state's new photo ID requirement.

In 2011, Republicans in Tennessee passed a law requiring all voters to show current, government-issued photo identification before voting in person. Mrs. Cooper has a Social Security card and a photo ID issued by the Chattanooga Police Department for seniors in her housing complex.

When she went to the Tennessee Driver Service Center to obtain a new photo ID before the next election, she came prepared. She had her rent receipt, a copy of her lease, voter registration card and birth certificate.

But under the new Republican law, this still wasn't good enough. Tennessee refused to issue Mrs. Cooper a photo ID because the last name on her birth certificate is different from her married name, the name she uses now. But she has no marriage certificate, so she cannot clear up the discrepancy to Tennessee's satisfaction. And so she cannot enter a voting booth and have her vote counted.

In support of photo ID laws, Republicans have argued that everyone has a photo ID -- a claim that Mrs. Cooper's story squarely disproves. Mrs. Cooper has proved her identity beyond a shadow of a doubt, and it's still not enough. Under this new Republican regime, her voting rights are entirely dependent on bureaucratic whims and one missing piece of paper. If only the GOP cared as much about the Constitution, Mrs. Cooper wouldn't have suffered this injustice and would continue to enjoy her fundamental right to vote.

Mrs. Cooper's experience is shocking, but because of an unprecedented wave of GOP legislation restricting ballot access across the country, this is not an isolated incident. In 2011, Republicans have pushed through photo ID mandates, reductions of early voting and restrictions on voter registration.

When I speak to groups and ask people that question -- and emphasize that I mean an aspirational dream, not one they had in their sleep -- they often say they wanted to be firefighters or princesses. Or cowboys, or ballerinas. Maybe superheroes.

That's what a lot of us think, because those are the oldest dreams we're conscious of, the first ones we remember formulating.

But before that -- before we ever imagined ourselves rocketing to outer space or drumming in a rock band -- we had other dreams. The first ones we ever felt.

If we rediscover those, a lot of us, particularly those of us who are parents, just may find the "sacrifices" we make for family a lot easier to accept.

I rediscovered mine after my wife skipped labor and I had to guide my son into this world.

On the phone with 911, I unraveled the umbilical cord that was snaked all over his neck.

In that moment, I saw life -- its fragility and its opportunity -- in a new way.

As I wrote in my CNN.com column, "what matters most -- my real values and priorities -- became crystal clear. Nothing else even existed."

A lot of people have asked me about that. What did I see -- and what didn't I see?

When I was preparing to give a TEDx Talk about chasing big dreams, I realized the answer.

What I saw, in that moment, was my real first dream, and my son's.

I live by my dreams. Throughout my career, instead of following traditional paths, I've come up with new ideas for what I wanted to do and found ways to make them happen.

I've been fortunate. Those dreams have brought me to the places I've wanted to be.

Everyone should chase big dreams. It brings a deep sense of satisfaction. And it makes the world better. We have advanced societies, stronger buildings to withstand storms, medical discoveries, technology, entertainment and so much more because dreamers pursued their visions and worked hard to make them happen.

But dream-chasing can also be addictive. Some people become so obsessed with making one idea happen that they stop focusing on what's most important in their lives. They stop spending time with their families and friends. As with any addiction, they pay a price.

In the moment my son was being born, all my professional dreams ceased to exist. In that room, it was just the four of us -- my wife, our then 3-year-old son, the baby, and me. Family and fatherhood were all I saw.

(CNN) -- This latest film from master filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar will be both familiar to his fans and viewed as a departure.

While it boasts a couple of his regular cast of performers (including Antonio Banderas for the first time in 21 years) it is not an original story (as most of his work is) and is instead adapted by the director and his frequent collaborator, brother Augustin, and based on a novel "Mygale" ("Tarantula" in the UK) by Thierry Jonquet.

It's also significantly darker in tone, more subtle, wholly unsentimental and rather more brutal than we're used to getting from Almodóvar.

World famous plastic surgeon Robert Ledgard (Banderas) lives in an isolated compound called El Cigarral, a magnificent mansion shut off from the world by trees, a wall and gates. In the compound's laboratory Robert is experimenting on a new kind of skin, one developed through the gene therapy called transgenesis, an ethically-challenged procedure that has been banned by Robert's superiors.

Using pig cells, Robert has developed a new kind of human skin that can resist disease, fire and puncture but still transmits other sensations, like human touch. He's achieved this by experimenting on humans, in strict violation of every ethical standard and contrary to the instructions of his medical superiors. One of these human subjects, a young and beautiful woman named Vera (Elena Anaya, "Talk To Her"), is his captive in the mansion and is Robert's latest guinea pig.

Vera lives in a sealed room. Her meals and other materials are delivered via dumbwaiter and her only contact with another person is when Robert is transplanting skin on to her or when he enters her room at night to give her some opium to smoke.

Robert lives with a caretaker, Marilia (Marisa Paredes, "All About My Mother," "Talk To Her"), who is his willing accomplice in this macabre medical experiment and acts as a mother figure to him. She makes meals for Vera and is the only other person with whom she has any contact. Marilia also dotes on Robert, whose tireless albeit creepy work was triggered by the death of his wife some years before, the victim of a horrible car crash and subsequent burning, hence the flam-resistant pigskin.

(CNN) -- The Jacksonville, Florida, man accused of hacking celebrities' online accounts for nude photos and other private information said Friday, "I am very sorry for all of this."

A federal judge ordered Christopher Chaney, 35, to appear in a California courtroom on November 1 to answer charges, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office said.

"What I'm most sorry about is that I had to drag my mom into all of this, and my family and my neighbors and they just want to live their lives," Chaney told reporters. He did not respond to questions.

Chaney is accused of hacking into the accounts of more than 50 celebrities, including movie stars Scarlett Johansson and Mila Kunis and singer Christina Aguilera.

A grand jury indicted Chaney on nine counts of computer hacking for gain, eight counts of aggravated identify theft, and nine counts of illegal wiretapping. If convicted of all 26 counts, Chaney would face a maximum of 121 years in federal prison, U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte Jr. said.

The aggravated identity theft charge alone carries a mandatory two-year prison sentence, he added.

The suspect's attorney, Christopher Chestnut, said his client "remains very remorseful" and understands the importance of privacy.

Still, Chestnut indicated the potential sentence appeared harsh.

"People who murder kids don't get 120 years in prison," he said.

Earlier this week, Chaney told a reporter that he had became "addicted" to the intrusion and "didn't know how to stop."

"I know what I did was probably one of the worst invasions of privacy someone could experience," Chaney told CNN affiliate WAWS/WTEV in Jacksonville, Florida, on Wednesday.

(CNN) -- If you grew up in the 1980s there's nothing guaranteed to make you feel older than a trip to the movies. "Conan the Barbarian", "The Thing" and "Footloose"... What's next? "Top Gun"?

But if there have to be remakes, then let them all be as much fun as Craig Brewer's "Footloose."

Brewer's previous movies, "Hustle & Flow" and "Black Snake Moan," were southern exploitation pictures with a smooth retro gloss, their sleazy trappings disguising a heart of pure vanilla. But both showed a real feel for music: hip-hop and 12-bar blues respectively. That's a good starting point when it comes to "Footloose," a fairly trite rock-n-roll rebellion story that's redeemed by its faith in dance.

The 1984 original was the first screenplay by songwriter Dean Pitchford, and Brewer sticks close enough to the template that Pitchford shares a screenplay credit with him here. Both versions get bogged down in silly speechifying, but in almost every respect Brewer's high fidelity cover version improves on the previous movie. It's sharper, punchier, better written and mostly better acted too. If anything the city-country cultural divide cuts deeper today than it did in the Reagan era, but Brewer shifts the action a few degrees south and navigates a more even-handed course between them. His small town, Bomont, Tennessee, is quite sympathetically drawn. And if the city by-laws prohibiting loud music, drink and public dancing make the local elders come off like the Taliban, Dennis Quaid's Reverend Moore is not the shrill evangelical caricature John Lithgow played, but a concerned parent and pastor who assumes responsibility for protecting his flock in the wake of a personal tragedy.

(CNN) -- Should zombies rise up someday soon and take over the world because of an unidentified plague or virus that's caused the collapse of modern society as we know it, how would you react?

Such is the fundamental question of AMC's widely successful show "The Walking Dead," which returns this Sunday for its second season.

Based on Robert Kirkman's comic book, the series is one of the more odd yet complex dramas on television today. At its core, it's about survival and the psychological stress that spending every waking moment together has on a small group. But that could be said about all human beings in that surviving the world is something we do on a daily basis; the trick with "The Walking Dead" is that a pack of ravenous zombies could be lurking around the corner, ready to make you into dinner.

Viewers are consistently presented with questions of morality, instinct and terror, where plots are less about discovery -- there's no race for the cure -- and more about the struggle to exist.

CNN checked in with "The Walking Dead" showrunner/executive producer Glen Mazzara to see what's in store for season two, how the show finds its storytelling voice and just how they get that authentic zombie feel.

CNN: On average, how much are you thinking about zombies each day?

Mazzara: All of them. I wake up thinking about zombies. How do I keep them scary? What's new, what's different, what's fun that we can do with zombies?

CNN: How did this show become so popular on just a six-episode first season? What's the appeal?

Mazzara: It's visceral. There's an immediacy for anyone watching it, where they think, "what would I do?"

People buy into the idea that a plague could wipe out things. We've seen that, and it's in the zeitgeist now. It's playing on the everyman level where it's about the survivors and not about what happened to the collapse of government or infrastructure. You get in the car, and it runs out of gas, and then what? Meanwhile, you're being chased by zombies.

CNN: Remember the swine flu? That was a legit panic.

Mazzara: Yeah. It's like when you're watching a horror movie and the people move into a haunted house. And you're wondering, why didn't think just move out? Everything our survivors are doing, hopefully, strikes people as realistic. They're making decisions that ordinary people would make. And none of those decisions have very good consequences.

CNN: There's also weird psychological dynamics between the characters where they have to get along while also ensuring that they survive, they want to survive, and everyone around them survives too, because as far as they know, they're it.