Thank you Occupy Wall Street

Thank you for celebrating your birthday in such a breathtaking and classy way.  It was also fiendishly clever, considering how many Verizon workers were marching with us.

The most amazing thing about walking about a quarter way over the Brooklyn Bridge and then looking back was not that we made that bat signal happen.  It was that we were extending the occupation to everyone in the city and everyone who was coming into the city from Brooklyn.  And they took up the invitation with gusto, cheering and honking from their cars.  Not at *us* but for themselves.  They got to be part of a most wonderful day.  I will never forget it.

The occupiers of Zuccotti Park are very brave people.  I suspect that they knew that they needed to sacrifice themselves.  And in that sacrifice, they brought everyone together.  We all grew up thinking that we “could say whatever we want” because “it’s a free country”.  Admit it, you used to say that in the playground to your friends turned suddenly enemies (but you made up over a shared popsicle).  But saying anything you want, whereever you want, has dire consequences these days.  It can also bring out the courage of your friends.  I sprinted from Union Square to Foley Square with thousands and thousands of students who were surrounded by police but managed to occupy the streets anyway.  Then I stood for hours with the most cheerful bunch of musicians, local 802.  It was a pleasure to spend the evening with Aurora and her friends.

But the “bat signal” will be hard to top.  Projecting the aspirations of humanity on a symbol of corporate overreach was a stroke of genius.  And there I was, on the Brooklyn Bridge for the first time in my life, cheering along with the cars down below who were amazed and delighted to be a part of it all.

This is not the beginning of the end.  This is the beginning of the beginning.  The occupation of Zuccotti Park was a transient event.  The occupation of our hearts will live as long as we do.

Subvert the dominant paradigm.

Happy Birthday to all of us occupiers no matter where we are.

Images from #OWS

Wall Street Hearts Obama (Bibi)

Occupied Wall Street (Bibi)

From my remote outpost in Kansas, I’m forwarding photos from our intrepid Occupiers, Riverdaughter and my sister, Bibi. Bibi has been at the Occupation off and on since the first week and she was there first thing this morning:

Riot geared police in front of Trinity church. (Bibi)

This cheerful image was one of the first things she saw when she got down to the area of the park.

But there was more fun on the way!

What follows are Riverdaughter’s and Bibi’s photos from this morning (click on photos for larger view) ….

Police Escort (Bibi)

The crowd grows ... with police present (Bibi)

As many cops as occupiers? (Bibi)

Signs (Bibi)

Guarding Wall Street (Riverdaughter)

The new rules sign removed at Zucotti. (Bibi)

Theyre lining up in battalions like an army. These people are perfectly harmless. (Riverdaughter)

Union square (Riverdaughter)

Live from Z park

Dear people,
Thanks for your patience. I had hoped to be able to tweet my pics but the signal down here is either swamped or jammed.
I got here at about 8:30am. Z park was empty. There is a police tower at the west end of the park. Imagine being in a stalag with the guard tower watching every move you make.
There are police everywhere. When I first got here, I couldn’t figure out where the protest was and thought that maybe it fizzled. Au contraire. There are thousands of people down here, but we always like more.
I found the occupiers at William and Pine. It was a small contingent of a couple hundred. I had been standing there only a short time before someone announced that we had shut down the NYSE. shortly afterwards, the klezmer band came down the street and there was dancing on the sidewalk.
I walked to Pine and Nassau to find a *much* bigger crowd around the intersection doing a mic check in waves. At that point, you could see the NYSE about 500 ft away. Very impressive. We have now moved back to Z park and I’m sitting on a bench surrounded by occupiers making a lot of noise. The park has filled up from nearly empty to nearly full in the past couple of minutes. Amazing.
I have a lot of pictures and will post as soon as possible.

I can answer questions if you have them. Have at it.