Occupy LA Protester, Former REV Student, Featured on Time Magazine Cover

In a year marked by the protests of both the Arab Spring and the Occupy movement, TIME magazine will honor "The Protester" as its 2011 Person of The Year, and the cover features Echo Park resident Shepard Fairey's art based on a photograph of an Occupy L.A. protester.

"For capturing and highlighting a global sense of restless promise, for upending governments and conventional wisdom, for combining the oldest of techniques with the newest of technologies to shine a light on human dignity and, finally, for steering the planet on a more democratic though sometimes more dangerous path for the 21st century, the Protester is TIME's 2011 Person of the Year," said TIME Editor Rick Stengel in a statement, explaining the decision.

The image chosen to represent a year of unprecedented uprising is that of Sarah Mason, captured by L.A. based photojournalist Ted Soqui, according to Fishbowl L.A.

From Fishbowl L.A.:

The woman in the photo is Highland Park resident Sarah Mason. According to Soqui, she was a camper at the Occupy LA encampment in front of City Hall, and was arrested in the LAPD raid. [Ed. note: Soqui told Patch Mason lives in Highland, not Highland Park.]

Kristin Quezada, who attended Redlands East Valley High with Mason through 2004, said she "laughed (in a good way)" when she found out her former classmate inspired the TIME cover. 

"Very 'Sarah' of her," Quezada said. "She was Vice-President of her class and very well liked by everyone. Very smart, very involved in school, never got in trouble but was very socially aware of what was going on in the world.  If she was out there protesting she wasn't doing it just do it, she knew what she was doing and would have believed she had a good reason to be out there."

More from Soqui's blog:

I took the photo at a protest at the Bank of America building in downtown LA. There was a small group of protesters linking arms and making a human chain around several tents near the front of the building. I made a few wide angle photos, then realized a tight shot was going to be way better. There was only one photo where eye contact was made, and that's the shot.
The woman in the photo camped out at LA City Hall and was arrested during the LAPD raid and spent time in jail.