Over the past few weeks, the mainstream media’s coverage of Occupy Wall Street has tended to paint the protesters camping out in Liberty Square as ill-informed and naive rich kids or loopy conspiracy theorists, and in any case not all that worth taking seriously. But as anyone who’s been down to Liberty Square can tell you, most of the protesters do not fit these caricatures.

Nick, 23, is a recent college graduate and independent filmmaker who helps out at the protests whenever he’s off work. Unassuming and well-spoken, his choice to join the protests was informed by a generational legacy of American progressivism—and he’s living proof that you don’t need to be unemployed or homeless to pull the night shift at Occupy Wall Street.

For all of The Nation‘s coverage of Occupy Wall Street, visit our special page on the protests. Be sure to also watch the first, second and third installments in this video series.

—Jin Zhao and Teresa Cotsirilos