The impassioned call to occupy public spaces in protest of the nation's economic imbalance and corporate influence in politics has triggered local "occupations" planned for Sonoma County this weekend.

Two local protest actions are planned for the coming weekend, in Sonoma and Santa Rosa. Ben Boyce of MoveOn.org (left)  says they are meant to provide a forum for people who are upset with the status quo, and both events could be open-ended. 

The first wave of protesters arrived near Wall Street on September 17, and stayed put. The movement has swollen dramatically in the past week, but Boyce observes that it took a while for the mainstream media to recognize the story there.

Surprisingly, Boyce notes, one of the first public policymakers to take the protests seriously was one of the Obama administration's top finance officials.

There are many overlapping issues roiled up in the Occupy Wall Street protests and the hundreds of others that have followed in cities across the country. But if there is one underlying concern that ties them together, Boyce suggests, it is creating jobs.