October 7-9, 2011 #occupydc

The first day and first weekend there. While it started on the 1st I was unable to get there so had been following the tweets. While obviously basic at the time, by they had some clear directions. While the end result of this will be wonderful, the process just in getting there is amazing!

Kate Bornstein tweeted that she just got home to NYC and wanted suggestions of what to do. Of course, I immediately replied "occupy wall street". She did and had a blast.

While holding signs for the traffic occasionally some of them will yell at you, but they are hilarious when they try. The top 2 were 'get a job!' (actually, I have one, but thanks for the advice) and 'hippies!' (I take being compared to people I look up to, most who were hippies in their youth, as a compliment for some odd reason, so thanks again). This is a symptom of why the occupy movement will not be gotten rid of, people and governments think they know how to 'deal with' protests and this one completely breaks all of their ideas on how to do so.

The usual, signs.


A reporter.


The food table grew up from things on a bench just since Friday!


The information table, the library is on the ground.


What? There is a daily meeting to decide things here by consensus?


Well, I guess I will make a sign too.

Wake me up when September ends

This ties in nicely to the most 'recent' post in this blog too which was about the student revolution in Iran. By now most people know about the Occupy movement, particularly if you are in the United States.

As October draws to a close (yes, as it closes, I will backdate posts dealing with Occupy as needed to put them in context of what day it was) it makes for an interesting look back. A month ago most people were not even aware of it. Even though I follow protests I was only dimly aware of it because a major project was due at the end of the month that even sleep could not escape from.

Then things changed. The march across Brooklyn Bridge on Oct 1, 700 arrested, hundreds of other Occupations sprang up overnight in cities around the world and the official count would pass 2000 cities (with more than 1 occupation in some cities, and some of those 'cities' are state coalitions) by the end of October.

OccupyDC started on K Street (McPherson Square) on October 1. Some confusion comes in because an unrelated group (although individuals cross over naturally) started an antiwar protest in Freedom Plaza on the 6th and decided to also call themselves 'occupydc'. Because of various time commitments I was unable to get there until the 7th so will change the date on this to be then.