G.A. Minutes 5-14-13
We sure started things off with a bang this evening. We had just arrived, got the chairs and the burner out when a big fire truck pulls up, all its lights flashing and parks in the middle of the street in front of the Memorial. One guy gets out, he’s probably the head dude, and walks over to us. He says, “What’s going on? I got a call saying there was a bonfire in progress.” We laugh because we hadn’t even put the wood in the burner yet.

The fireman picks up our burner and turns it around a few times like he’s inspecting it and says, “Well seeing as this is a city park and…” An Occupier interrupts him saying, “Actually it’s not a city park and…” He gives her a look that says just hears me out then says, “In a city park a person can make a small safe fire in a personal receptacle designed for fires until 10pm. Your receptacle is just fine and I don’t see any problems here. Go ahead with what you were doing and have a good evening.”

While he was talking, 2 cops pulled up. They jump out of their car looking like they’re ready to spring into action. The fire guy says, “Nothing wrong here. Everything is in order.” He and his crew drive off. The cops look kinda disappointed but they drive off too.

We start up the fire and hope that’s the biggest drama we will encounter tonight. You never know. One of our City official friends arrives. Everyone is delighted to see him. We joke back and forth and then carry on a discussion about the state of the Duluth public school system. Our friend is an expert on matters concerning education. He tells us that the current graduation rate for white senior high school students is 75%, for black seniors it’s 39.5% and for native students 27%. We are shocked! We knew it wasn’t what it should be but we had no idea it was this bad.

He says, “Have you ever seen those statistics publicized anywhere?” We have not. Our friend has some good ideas about how to improve our schools. He thinks all teachers should be given more yearly training sessions, more collaborations between schools and businesses need to be developed, student to teacher ratios must be reduced, more elective course options are needed, all students should be required to enroll in and pass at least one honors level course and curriculum needs to be reviewed and improved to meet changing employment opportunities. We also talk about the harm created by out of school suspension and incorporation of the criminal justice system into the school system. It’s called The Pipeline to Prison.

We tell our friend we think he should run the Duluth school system and we will back him if he will give it a try. He laughs and says, “I don’t think publicly listing Occupy as one of my major supporters will help me much.” Then he is off to his next stop.

An Occupier who has been living out of town is trying to rent a place in the Twin Ports and he tells us about the trouble he’s been having. He has a guaranteed monthly income but his credit score is not very high so no one wants to rent to him. He says, “I don’t see why having a low credit score should mean you can’t have a place to live. Housing is a human right.”

In the middle of this discussion a person who can best be described as a wild woman bounces over. She’s talking very loud and fast, asks for a glass of water, drinks it down, asks for another, is making homophobic remarks and asking for meth and bath salts, starts throwing her water all over, sits down and begins to let loose with some very vulgar descriptions of something.

An Occupier says, “You’re being very vulgar and we don’t like that sort of thing. Could you please just sit and enjoy the fire with us?” She says, “Sorry” and bounces off down the almost empty street.

Someone asks if there has been any more news about the May 25th rally against Monsanto. The Occupiers who are working on this say major event announcements will be out very shortly. A discussion begins concerning GMOs and corporations that are trying to patent things that have been given to us by Mother Nature. We have a good few Occupiers who are of a scientific nature and they begin talking deep science. After we get past the topic of sustainable energy the rest of the Occupiers don’t really know what they’re talking about but it sounds real good.

As this is going on a young woman arrives, she is very drunk and apologizes for being so. We offer her a cup of strong coffee and a chair. She says,”Miigwetch. Miigwetch. I’m sorry for being so fu**ed up.” The conversation continues, it’s getting dark, the fire is dying. Some of the Occupiers say good night and the rest begin to pack up when we notice that the young woman is passed out cold.

We can’t wake her, we don’t know who she is, we can’t just leave her there and we’re not going to call 911. An Occupier offers to go down to the Casino and look for someone from the neighborhood who might know her. Then just in the nick of time, Wild Woman reappears. She’s a little calmer now and says she knows the passed out woman. She is able to shake her awake and the two of them walk off arm and arm.

From all directions, people are starting to appear. It looks like the street is coming alive. The weather is forecasting rain for Saturday. If it rains we’ll meet at the Occupy couple’s home. If not, we’ll be back to interact with our people of the hood.

G.A. Minutes 5-11-13
It’s somewhat chilly and very windy this evening. It takes a couple of tries before we get the fire going. There are many people here, all the chairs are in use and some folks are standing. We have many of the regulars, an occasional Occupier, an Occupier who hasn’t been around for at least a year and several who are here for the first time.
A group of 5 or 6 street people are at the Memorial when we arrive. They are talking and laughing loudly and appear to be very drunk. They notice us, toss a friendly glance our way and continue with their conversation. One young man comes over and sits by the fire. He doesn’t say anything, he’s possibly too drunk to speak but he’s clearly attracted to the fire. His friends finish their beverage and are ready to leave. It looks as though he wants to stay near the flame but his friends won’t allow him to remain so he staggers off.
A regular Occupier tells us an international day of protest against Monsanto is planned for May 25th. A group of Duluthians would like to organize a demonstration for that day and ask if the Occupiers will participate. We will. We are still a little exhausted from the May Day event so offer to play a supporting role. There is a brief discussion of possible venues, the Occupier says he will be meeting later in the evening with people who are initiating this event and get back to us with details.
An occasional Occupier tells us about the environmental group Water Legacy. We all know the issue of the proposed Polymet nonferrous mine is of major importance in northern Minnesota. We also know only 3% of the water on the earth is suitable for drinking. This water is rapidly being polluted by various corporations in their quest to extract profits from the Earth’s natural resources. The task of stopping the corporations from destroying the earth and all those who live on it is a daunting task however; it is a task we must take on. All around the world people are fighting corporate attempts to destroy the natural resources of the planet. The corporations rob these resources in an attempt to satisfy an insatiable need for more and more profits. In impoverished countries this theft if accomplished by the barrel of a gun. In wealthier countries it is accomplished by bribes to those in power and lies and false promises to those living on the coveted land. In northern Minnesota, the Polymet Company is proposing to build a copper mine near Hoyt Lakes. There has never been a nonferrous (not iron) mine anywhere in the world that has not severely polluted the water in and around the area of the mine. Northern Minnesota is home to many rivers and streams of clean water. These waterways empty into Lake Superior, the world’s largest source of fresh water. Well, guess what…….. according to Polymet, their mine is not going to pollute. They are engaged in a serious smoke and mirrors campaign in an attempt to convince people of northern Minnesota their mine will bring no pollution, only good jobs. Their claims are false but many are being tricked by their promises. The Water Legacy and many other environmental groups are engaged in a most important battle to save our water for ourselves and for generations to come. We are all fully aware of the life and death issues involved here. The occasional Occupier invites us join the fight and we accept his invitation.
An occasional Occupier has been to an international conference of longtime organizers. He tells us about the people he met and the ideas they presented. We are engrossed by his story. Included in the advice given by the conference presenters were recommendations for young organizers to seek the council of older organizers so they may learn what tactics have worked in the past and a suggestion for all organizers to take the time to establish a solid base of support and to make long range plans.
Some of the Occupiers must leave in order to meet with those planning the anti-Monsanto event. The rest of us throw more wood on the fire and begin talking with a homeless man who lives in a small homeless camp about a half a mile from CJM. He and one of the homeless Occupiers start a conversation about some of the secret homeless camps around town. The man says he and his friends don’t dare make a small safe fire to cook food on. If they do, the police show up, spray their food with a fire extinguisher and then knock everything to the ground. They say, “This is for your own safety you know”. Just then a squad car pulls up to the Memorial, 2 officers get out and walk over to us. These are officers we have not seen before. One of them says, “What do you think you are doing here? You can’t have a fire here. This is a city park and you can’t a fire have in a city park”. An Occupier says pleasantly, “Actually this isn’t a city park. If you look on the official Duluth list of city parks you will find the Memorial is not listed there. However, if it were it would still be legal for us to be having a fire like this. The legislative code for fires in city parks says one may make a fire in any of the fire receptacles provided by the park or in any personal receptacle that is designed for fires. The policemen look at the Occupier like she is out of her mind. The Occupier asks, “Were you guys working in this neighborhood last fall?” The officers look up and down the street with distain and say no. She tells them, “We went through all this stuff with Officer Tuscan last fall. It was determined we were within our legal rights by having a small safe fire at the CJM Memorial.” One cop says, “You mean Deputy Chief Tuscan! I think we will call him right now.” At that moment another squad pulls up. It is driven by one of the regular neighborhood policemen. The 2 officers walk over to his car and we hear the officer in the car say, “When they had a fire here last fall…………blah,blah,blah”. The 2 officers walk back to their car and drive away. They don’t look at us or say goodbye. After they leave, many of the street folks come over to sit and talk. Some we remember from our previous fires. One woman we have met several times remembers us. She is visibly drunk as she has been all the other times she has sat with us. She introduces us to a much younger woman who is her daughter and they talk about her other daughter who also lives on the street and has been badly beaten by a group of women earlier that day. Some of the street people begin to pull out bottles and blatantly pass and wave them around. Perhaps they have become emboldened by watching us “defeat” the police. We wish to share our fire with the people of the neighborhood but we’re not interested in encouraging rowdy drunken behavior. That would be boring, counterproductive and would give the DPD a legitimate reason to close us down. We quietly put out the fire, pack up and say a pleasant good night to everyone. On Tuesday we will begin to establish a code of behavior for those sitting at the fire.

G.A. Minutes 5-7-13

We’re back at the Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial tonight and we’re glad to be here. Although we’ve only been gone for 5 months it seems much longer than that. Winter lasted forever; Spring arrived quietly less than a week ago.

We begin by cleaning up the place, it’s not too bad considering how long it’s been unattended. It appears the neighborhood is just coming out of hibernation. A group of two men and one woman walk past, sit down on the back wall and watch us with idle curiosity. One of them is the older black man who harassed us last year. “Your granddaddy done hung those boys!”, he would say. Eventually we figured out he was angry as he thought we were interfering with his street business. One of the Occupiers calmly confronted him with this theory, after that he didn’t harass us anymore. Tonight he doesn’t appear angry; he acts as if we’d never met. The female comes over to get a few of our paper cups and they sit and share a beverage.

We get things set up, we’re ready to light the fire and an Occupier starts to dial 911. We’d started off doing that last year so as to counteract any hysterical phone calls claiming the Memorial was on fire. After a while they told us we needn’t bother as they knew when our meetings were. Another Occupier says he doesn’t think we should call as it’s too much like sucking up to” the man”. Some Occupiers agree and others don’t. Some say it’s counterproductive to challenge “the man” for no serious reason. A tranquil discussion ensues, each Occupier expresses his opinion and it is decided to start up the fire and call.

There are several occasional Occupiers with us tonight. They haven’t been to a meeting at CJM so ask about our history at this space. We explain the lengthy mental battle with the DPD. They showed up almost every meeting, making threats and telling lies. We knew our legal rights and politely stood our ground. After many months they backed down and our last meetings before we went in for winter were allowed to proceed without harassment.

An Occupier reports one of the union guys stopped by her house earlier to pick up the half of the donations from May Day. They were pleasantly surprised that we decided to split our contributions. The Occupiers are just trying to be fair.
Somebody asks what we should do next. Someone else mentions the Lake Superior Days event which happens every year in Duluth. Another states she thinks it’s an event mainly involving Chamber of Commerce types. No one knows much about it so we agree to check it out and report back.

The street has been rather quiet, a squad has driven by several times, looked at us and then drove off. We’ve had only a few visitors. As always happens, a man stops by and angrily complains about being not allowed to use the bathroom at the Casino. He then complains homeless people have no place where they can go to the bathroom. We know this is a very real and serious issue. The CHUM center closes at 4pm so if one is not going to sleep there for the night there are no public bathrooms available anywhere on the Hillside. If one is caught relieving themselves outside, they will be ticketed. Too many tickets will send you to jail for a while. It shouldn’t be a crime to need to go to the bathroom. When meeting at the Memorial, the Occupiers routinely go to the Casino to use the bathrooms. The security people don’t appear to even notice us. We generally don’t appear to be homeless but a few of us are homeless. We are all human beings.

Another visitor says he is a working man with an alcohol problem. He says when he gets paid he covers his bills and then tries to spend the rest of his money as fast as he can so he can avoid going on a drinking binge. This visitor is amazed we are giving him a cup of coffee free of charge. “And it’s good coffee at that!” He knows what Occupy is and believes he may have stumbled onto something very interesting. We tell him we’ll be here every Tuesday and Saturday at 6pm if it’s not raining. Maybe he will come back again.

The sun is setting, as usual, the fire is hypnotic. Somebody sighs; we look at each other and smile. It’s so good to be back in the hood.

G.A. Minutes 5-4-13
Man oh man; the past couple of weeks have been busy. Almost nonstop work. It was worth it though. The May Day event was a big success. We’re all very tired but feeling good.
There’s only a few of us tonight. It’s HomeGrown weekend and some Occupiers are taking the opportunity to party and relax. There are several items of business to attend to and then we’re going to work on cleaning the Occupy couple’s apartment. Their apartment was a puppet workshop for about a month and a half, home base during May Day and when the event was done we just dumped everything in their place, went home and crashed.
Someone reports the Enbridge Blockade Camp at Red Lake caught on fire last week and most of the tents and supplies were lost. The Red Lakers are saying they don’t think it was sabotage, just an accident. They are asking for donations so they can get everything functioning again. We think we have two or more tents in storage. Some other Occupiers report INM is trying to organize a caravan up to Red Lake and they propose we give them the tents to take when they go. Everybody thinks this is a good idea.
An Occupier has received an email from the makers of the film Occupy Love. They say their movie is now available for showing and request him to fill out a form giving the date we would like to show it. Another Occupier says she’s been told that things have changed a little at the Zinema. The guy we are used to dealing with has moved to another position and the new person is doing things differently. She offers to go down and talk with the people and see what’s going on.
We received $84 worth of donations at our food table on May Day. Somebody suggests we offer to split this money with the AFL-CIO as they contributed a lot of their funds to buy materials for the event. We know $42 is just a drop in the bucket for them but it’s the fair thing to do. Everyone agrees.
An Occupier asks if we think it’s time to start holding our G.A.s at the CJM Memorial again. Unanimous happy octopi! We’re excited to be going back to our old stomping grounds and interested to see how all the street folks are doing.
One of the long time leaders of the Hillside African American community attended the May Day event. He was impressed, especially with the puppet parade and is asking that we officially participate in the Juneteenth celebration to be held in about one and one half months. We think we would be willing to do this but feel we should get more details as to what exactly he would like us to do.
With all the business finished it’s time to do a little cleaning. After that, we’ll go out for a little HomeGrown fun. Some former Occupiers are in town for the weekend and one of them has a HomeGrown gig tonight. We’ll be there to cheer him on. After that, we’ll take a day of rest and begin Occupation of the Memorial on Tuesday.

G.A. Minutes 4-16-13

It’s been a really busy week. There are seven large puppets in various stages of development, a few are almost complete and will be ready for their clothes soon. One large banner is finished and the other is half way done. All the signs are complete. We have two weeks until May Day. The Occupier who is big on time management is getting antsy. Everyone else tries to tell her not to worry; everything will be finished on time. She’s hoping all parade stuff will be complete within the next week so the final week can be spent getting food, tables, literature etc. together.

There has been minor political discussion going on but mostly it’s just lots of work, camaraderie and laughter. If you want to join in, give an Occupier a call. CALLING ALL PROGRESSIVES AND PEOPLE OF THE HOOD. Mark your calendar for the May Day celebration Wednesday May 1st, noon to 10pm, Central Hillside Community Park(Lake Ave and 4th St.).

G.A. Minutes 4-2-13

There are fewer folks here tonight. A few of our Occupiers have gone to attend a workshop with the Magic Smelt people. They are going to ask Magic Smelt to join in our May Day event coalition and to get some tips on making gigantic puppets.

We begin by discussing the upcoming May Day event. There are no Occupiers present this evening who have attended the planning meetings so we can only discuss what we’ve been told. We know several members of INM and the Northwoods Wolf Alliance were present at the last planning meeting and we’ve heard one or more union members had stated they were unwilling to accept any group that was opposed to the possibility of a non-ferrous mine on the Iron Range. We do not agree with this and believe all progressive groups should be able to present their views. Unfortunately none of the Occupiers present this evening are able to attend the planning meetings. We have faith our Occupiers who are able to attend will represent our views.

Someone reports the CJM Memorial fundraiser will be held at the Northland Country Club. We all laugh as we sense a big disconnect. We find it strange that a monument to poor people which is located in a poor neighborhood should have its fundraiser in an exclusive club frequented by the wealthiest Duluthians. The memorial is maintained by the City so the Occupiers wonder why a fundraiser is needed. An Occupier reminds us there is a CJM scholarship. We reminisce about the many conversations we had with the CJM neighborhood street people. Most were baffled by the memorial. One person told a story about the dedication of CJM. He said, “They had a big ceremony with lots of speeches about how this was for the people. Then they all went off to a big dinner that cost $20 a plate. They told us they needed to get money from rich people. We didn’t get to go to the dinner”. Another person asked, “Was this made so white people can feel better about themselves?”

We begin discussing the topic of liberals. One Occupier says it really bothers him that rich liberals will give money to support various services for the poor but will go to great lengths to avoid having any meaningful interactions with poor people. Another notes, many churches give to the main organization for homeless people on our streets however, the organization will not tell homeless people from which churches they receive donations. He says, “Is this because the churches don’t want any of us showing up at their church service?”

An Occupier reports one of our government official friends is going to run for a seat on the school board. Everyone is pleased to hear this. We all agree, our friend will make an excellent school board member. Some Occupiers volunteer to help with distributing flyers and such. This is not something they would normally do but they will make an exception for our friend.

Somebody looks out the window and says, “I see a robin sitting in the top of that tree.” Most Occupiers are very excited and pull out cell phones or cameras and run to the window. One would think we are anxious for Spring to arrive. The smokers take this moment to step outside. When they return the conversation is about Monsanto and their latest evil act. The corporation has slipped an amendment into a recently passed and signed U.S. government appropriations bill. The amendment states Monsanto will be able to manufacture any type of GMO they desire, no government entity will be able to deny them this manufacturing. We hypothesize whether a state’s passing of a mandatory labeling of GMO products law will make this amendment useless. That would be nice.

The decision is made to hold another working G.A. on Saturday at the Occupier couple’s home. Plans for what will need to accomplish are made and then we head out the door. We accomplished a lot last Saturday and hope to do the same in a few days. Unless the whether radically improves, we’ll be back here on Tuesday.

G.A. Minutes 3-26-13

A few of us are sitting around waiting for the rest of the Occupiers to arrive. An Occupier talks about a vision he’s been telling us about outside of our meetings. He has the idea of having a small coffee shop/meeting space/book store in Central Hillside or the West End. We could use it as our headquarters and allow other likeminded groups, neighbors and homeless folks a safe haven. It would be kind of like the neighborhood store the property owner of the Paul Robeson Ballroom and our former homeless camp had wanted us to create. The problem then was that the property owner wouldn’t provide us with the most basic necessities like electricity and running water. We tried improvising but were unable to turn the concept into a reality. Everyone wanted the storefront idea to materialize, so again, we start discussing the practicalities. First off, we need to check around and see what is available and what the rental price of empty storefront space is these days. We think rent is cheaper in West End but we have become comfortable in the Central Hillside. There is much to be investigated however, the rest of the Occupiers have arrived and the meeting begins.

An Occupier gives us a report about the first May Day event planning session. Many progressives are interested in participating. Another suggestion for a suitable space is the grounds of the Hillside Community Center. Some of the other Occupiers think this is a good idea as it is a large park and also close to the downtown area. One of the members of another group offered to request a permit from the City for use of this space. We don’t have a problem with him getting a permit; we just aren’t willing to request one in the name of Occupy. There’s the issue of having to request permission for use of a public space. Requesting permission from the government for use of public land seems ridiculous as public space is just what it says, space that can be used by the public. Also, we know the government response to an Occupy request for anything is to slap the cuffs on. We hope the choice of the place to hold the May Day event will be finalized at the next planning meeting. That meeting will be held on Friday, March 29th, 10am at the Central Labor Body.

An Occupier who wasn’t at the last meeting requests an update on the current status of PSOH. He is given an update (PSOH details can be found in the 3-23-13 minutes).

We go back to talking about our visions of the May Day event. Many people would like to see a parade that marches out of the park and down the hill or through the neighborhood. We discuss signs and banners and decide to make our Saturday G.A. a working one. We will meet at an Occupier couple’s home. They have a large space for making art. People begin conversing about musical instruments and songs that could be played. A few Occupiers disappear and return with instruments. They bring an accordion, a trumpet and a banjo and start jamming. I guess the meeting is over.

G.A. Minutes 3-23-13

All the chairs are in use but there’s still sitting room on the floor so it’s not quite a full house tonight (3 of a kind?). We have a few Occupiers who haven’t been with us in a while so will have to give them updates during the various discussions.

Everybody wants to know how plans for the May Day event are coming along. The Occupier tasked with heading up the event is not with us tonight so another Occupier attempts to give a report off the top of her head. Several music and dance people have agreed to participate and most people contacted have been very enthusiastic about the idea. A request has been made for use of the same canopy tent we used last year and some Occupiers have agreed to provide some food. We’ve studied the city ordinances for city parks and realize we will need to make a few accommodations to keep the DPD under control. Last year their behavior was way out of line. We hope to keep them in check this time. We won’t have amplified sound as it was their main reason for harassing us last time and there actually is a city ordinance that requires a permit for amplification. Of course, we won’t be getting a permit. We will also make sure not to tie anything to any structure in the park. At our previous May Day event the five-o had a great time cutting all our ropes. The city ordinance about tie downs relates to animals but we don’t intend on challenging the police this time as we are intent on providing a worker and pagan celebration. There are times when challenging the DPD is appropriate and times when it’s better to all get along. The next planning meeting is Friday, March 29th, 10am at the Central Labor Body.

Our newest Occupier asks if anyone is planning on attending the People’s Plaza rally about the USPS and the plan to halt Saturday mail delivery. A discussion ensues concerning the obvious plan by the 1% to destroy the USPS and force everyone to use the more expensive and inefficient corporate delivery companies. Congress has made a law requiring the USPS to have the funds to finance its pension plans for 75 years in advance. The corporate mail services don’t have this burden. Someone says, “You know, our entire economic system is based on the concept of debt”. Another responds, “During the beginning of civilization all the major religions forbid the affixing of interest to a debt. It was called usury and was a really big deal. Now we have the super wealthy making tons of money while not providing anything of benefit to society. The 1% won’t stop until they have sucked every drop of life out of the entire planet”. All the more reason to focus our lives on thwarting their plans.

An Occupier reports our most loved and respected County Commissioner and homeless advocate has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. We are shocked and extremely saddened to hear this. Everyone wants to know what to do and the Occupier directs them to a special website where they can offer their thoughts.

The Occupier tasked with working on the movies gives the latest report. The discount offered by the corporation that owns “Milk” is $25. That means the fee would be $125 which is still way out of our price range. It also turns out that “Paris Is Burning” is owned by a corporation even bigger that the one that owns “Milk” so we won’t even bother to find out what their fee would be. When it comes to finding a good LGBT flick, we’re back to square one again. The newest Occupier has some contacts he can ask for advice so will see if they can help. The tasked Occupier says if the LGBT thing doesn’t work out soon we may have to go back to regular revolutionary movies. Someone suggests we find a way to view possible films together and an Occupy couple offer their home for this purpose as soon as we can get things together.

An Occupier states she has finally been contacted by an Occupier from the Twin Cities. The T.C. Occupier has asked if one of us would like to become an admin of their website and use this as a way to open a line of communication. Everybody thinks this is an excellent idea. Another Occupier volunteers to take this job.

A few Occupiers tell about the last PSOH meeting. The initial plans were made re: housing is a human right. The first step will be to introduce a series of resolutions before the City Council. One of our government allies is on board with the plan. The resolutions were decided upon and people took on tasks related to creating the specific wording of each resolution. The next meeting will be Wednesday April 10th in Peter’s office.

We’ve covered a lot of territory this evening and we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us. We’ll be back here next Tuesday.