#OccupySLC continues its camp-out in Pioneer Park in solidarity with #OccupyWallStreet and the movement that, as of now, has spread to at least 25 cities in America.
Each day has a march at noon and one at 6 PM, and a general assembly to discuss movement issues, goals, etc.
Some scenes and notes from Day Five:
Decision are made by loose group consensus, and topics of discussion are diverse. It still is - and always will be - a "weakness" of the left that we are great yakkers. The process is important, though, and part of a grass-roots, people's movement.
The "free school" has books available, and open time slots for people to expound on topics ranging from the history of the Fed to civil disobedience to whatever the LaRouchies devoted their five minutes to. If it seems sparsely populated, it's because this was taken while everyone was away at the march. The People's Library is taking donations if you have books that you think people might get something out of.
The kitchen area, medical tent, and HQ station were impressive operations for having no real resources beyond what people brought as donations and what they could MacGuyver together from available components. The cops toured all of the aforementioned sites and pronounced them "very decent."
The City Weekly has amazingly good ongoing coverage. The Twitter feed is here, and #OccupySLC's Twitter account is here. Stay tuned for updates!
Ahh, multi-media posts from the front lines.
ReplyDeleteIt strikes me that something about you reminds me of what I suspect Christopher Hitchens might've been like at your age. I'd like to be right about that (particularly about always having intellectual integrity, never being wedded to making observations fit preconceived premises, nor afraid to bite feeding hands).....
....You know he's winding down, right, i.e., wasting away from cancer? The link below was sent to me this a.m. by the "other Flora Lee Bernard" (my friend in Jersey - you know all the Jungian-level coincidences about this, right? That her son - a Microsoft Exec. - is Robert Charles Bernard? Etc.) - and anyway, arrives in my inbox on the day I decide to dub you in his footsteps.
It's all gotta mean something unless it doesn't, right? :)
This page was sent to you by: florabernard@gmail.com
BOOKS | October 10, 2011
A Voice, Still Vibrant, Reflects on Mortality
By CHARLES McGRATH
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/10/books/christopher-hitchens-on-writing-mortality-and-cancer.html?_r=1&emc=eta1
In most respects Christopher Hitchens is undiminished, preferring to see himself as living with cancer, not dying from it.
Copyright 2011 The New York Times Company | Privacy Policy
Jim - I'm flattered beyond measure by that comparison. Hitch is one of my guiding lights, although his neoconservative tendencies and hawkishness are obviously not qualities I share. Hell, maybe I'm Hitch in his early Trotsky stage before he went all "Let's Bomb Iraq" in his later years.
ReplyDeleteBoth Hitch and Ebert are being taken far too young by cancer, but both have been putting out some *amazing* blogging/thoughts about it. In Hitchens' case in particular, it has been valuable for me to get the perspective of an intelligent atheist who is looking at oblivion. Sad, but profound.
"Letters To A Young Contrarian" is a book by Hitch that I would dearly hope that everyone gets a chance to peruse - it's a classic.
Anyway, thanks again - I am very flattered by the comparison and will do my best to live up to it.
Having reached "later years" - what I appreciate most in a reporter/opinion journalist is that they not be apparatchiks for their general cohort - i.e., part of some interconnected great talking points networked megaphone, but rather, remain independent filters and original formulators of what they observe, whether I - or those they've manned barricades with over the decades - agree in any particular case or not.
ReplyDeleteIt's not simply iconoclasm I'm impressed or attracted by - they still have to make a cogent case and gather interesting, valid data - and need to hew to an internal compass which they continue to invest in keeping in order - and these factors are what make me give their words more weight than those who are simply echoing whichever rat pack at whatever skill or snark level.