Monthly Archives: November 2016

General Assembly Minutes

G.A. Minutes 11-29-16

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G.A. Minutes 11-29-16
So we’ll be doing weekly Tuesday night meetings at Coney Island during the winter months.  Except it doesn’t seem to be winter right now.  It was winter at this time last week but it has rained for the last four days.  All the snow has washed away and temperatures are in the upper 30s.  We may have been able to have a fire tonight.  Who knows?
An Occupier comments, “I called the National Weather Forecast this morning to find out what the weather would be like this evening.  The recording said a 50% chance of…… that’s all; it just said chance of….. Then it went on to tomorrow’s forecast.  Climate change is getting scarier by the day.  Nobody knows what is going on”.
Things look a little different at Coney Island tonight.  The regular hipster is not present.  The newest hipster, who was trained in a month or two ago, seems to be supervising a tall not very hipster looking guy who appears to have never worked in a food serving type job before this. 
Both of these guys appear quite flustered and confused.  Two of the small booths have a couple of people in them and they have ordered food.  The guys are both frantically looking in all the drawers behind the counter.  They appear to be having a hard time getting even the coffee maker to work.
Our back booth is empty so we put our stuff in it and go back to the counter to order food.  Eventually the tall non-hipster dude arrives.  An Occupier asks, “Is there chicken salad tonight?”  The dude gets a real panicked look on his face and runs to a booth where the supervising hipster is serving folks. The Occupier jokes, “I wish he hadn’t run away so fast.  I coulda showed him where in the refrigerator to look for it”.
Our orders are always pretty simple.  Basically we just need something with fruit or vegetables that won’t kill us but will calm our not having had dinner yet hunger pangs.  We joke with the staff guys, they relax a little; we figure they’ll be o.k. now.
We are many this evening so squeeze in tight and start a conversation about the really horrible and highly illegal things the cops are doing to the water protectors out at Standing Rock.  An Occupier remarks, “If the water protectors could all change their names to Bundy they’d be treated really well”.
The staff hipster brings our food to us.  Our orders have been seriously mixed up.  We politely explain what it was that we actually ordered and he takes our food back so as to get things straight.  When he returns, everything is still wrong but….Whatever. 
We don’t come here for the exquisite food anyway.  We come here because we can comfortably talk and relax in a neighborhood space.  No one harasses us or acts like they’re afraid of us.  Sometimes a few of our street friends stop by. We thank the hipster dude and eat what he has given us.  No problem.
A friend of one of the Occupiers comes through the door.  She brings some things for the folks at Standing Rock.  She has owned and worked a produce farm out in the country for many years.  She knows what people need for survival in harsh winter conditions. 
Several of our friends and maybe an Occupier are planning to drive out to SR this upcoming weekend.  They will be able to take the farm woman’s gifts along with them.  We thank her for helping to protect the water.
An Occupier inquires, “So everyone knows about the Support Standing Rock – Defund the Big Banks rally this Thursday, December 1st, 11am-3pm at People’s Plaza, right?”  We all say, “Right”.  The Occupier continues, “The elders are asking that we make the entire month of December a No DAPL month of action.  So far, here in Duluth, we’ve got the first day covered”.  We laugh.
An Occupier adds, “Our friend the Native CHUM worker and a lot of our other friends from the local Native community were out at the SR camps for the Thankful Feast and a few days more.  Our CHUM friend said everything was real peaceful there.  He also said not all the cops out there mistreat the water protectors.  Many of the police from outside of the area are respectful and accommodating.  It’s the Morton County Sheriff’s Department who are the main abusers”.
Another Occupier reports, “The first reading of the Homeless Bill of Rights Ordinance is going to be Monday, December 5that City Hall.  At 4:15pm people are going to march from CHUM to City Hall for a rally on the front steps.  At 5:15pm we’ll go up to the council chambers for the reading of the proposed ordinance.  We need as many bodies as we can possibly get. The City Council needs to see that there are a lot of citizens who support the Homeless Bill of Rights.
“December 5th is also the day that the Army Corp of Engineers has asked the Standing Rock Oceti Sakowin youth camp to move from its current location to a so called “free speech zone” away from the DAPL construction sight.  The folks in the youth camp have no intention of leaving.
“There are several things wrong with the AC of E’s request. For one thing, the land the youth camp is on is the property of the Standing Rock tribe.  It does not belong to the AC of E despite their claim that it does.  Also, there is no such thing as a “free speech zone”.  Freedom of speech is a right belonging to citizens no matter where in the USA they happen to be. Lastly, the water protectors absolutely have to live where they can keep an eye on the DAPL construction sight.  Morton County cops and construction workers can’t be trusted even as far as one can spit.
“There will be a really lot of people coming from across the country to watch the backs of the water protectors on December 5th.  It may be a day of action across the country too; I don’t know.  If there’s an action here, we may have to split into groups in order to cover everything.  We’ll have to wait and see”.
An Occupier changes the subject, “I’m going to the Citizens Review Board meeting tomorrow.  If anyone wants to come along, please do”.  We all groan.  Someone replies, “I thought some of the Review BOD members said they were gonna fight for more control over the CRB”.  The first Occupier answers, “Yeah, I know they did.  I haven’t seen any evidence of anything changing yet except for all the upper echelon cops playing musical job changing.  I just go to the monthly meetings to keep an eye on the cops and to goad the Commissioners into taking a stand on anything that helps poor people.  I’m usually the only person from the Duluth citizenry in attendance”
One of our group had a recent encounter with a police officer; he asks, “What exactly is the policy concerning a citizen who would wish to view the film from a police officer’s body camera?”  An Occupier explains, “In Duluth a citizen may view the film from an officer’s body camera when the film is of an encounter in which the said citizen participated.  Even then, the film can only be viewed after it is finished being held as part of an investigation.
“The citizen must submit a request to view the film and then wait to be told when and where to go in order to view it.  Of course, the citizen can’t have a copy of the film”.  We all say, “Of course”. 
The Occupier resumes, “Each cop has to turn in their camera after their shift.  Theoretically, the cops are unable to tamper with the film on their body cameras.  Of course, the upper echelon cops or the D.A. would never tamper with the film”. Again we say, “Of course”.
Another Occupier opines, “That’s why it’s so important that regular people continue to film cop/citizen incidents no matter how many cops are wearing body cameras”.  Someone adds, “Once Trump and his cronies take the reins, I’m betting the laws about citizens filming cops are going to change drastically”.
On an optimistic note, someone responds, “Yabut, what about the vote recall that will go on in at least three states.  Maybe they will find enough irregularities to change the winner of the election”.
An Occupier replies, “Yeah, they probably will.  They’ll probably find a lot more than just irregularities.  Even so, they’ll just sweep it all under the rug, the same as they did in 2000. When it comes right down to the wire, the 1% doesn’t even try to maintain the illusion of a democracy”.
A member of one of the Occupier couples tells us, “We’re going to have our usual Christmas Day thing again this year. Except we’re going to use the Occupy fire pit and hold the fire in the back yard of our artist co-op.  When the sun goes down we will go into the house and have our usual simple Christmas feast.  It should be fun”.  We all agree, it should be fun and we all plan to attend.
We are now the only customers.  The non-hipster guy has gone out for a smoke.  The hipster guy is cleaning the counter.  We take the hint.
With so many of us in the booth, we’ve made quite a mess. We clean it up, settle the bill and leave some good tips.  As we say goodnight, the hipster dude calls out, “When you return next Tuesday, we’ll do a much better job.  I promise”.
      
General Assembly Minutes

G.A. Minutes 11-22-16

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G.A. Minutes 11-22-16
It’s beginning to snow as we arrive at Coney Island this evening.  The weather people say it’s going to keep on snowing until tomorrow afternoon.  You just can’t win with winter.  When there’s a lot of snow, driving and walking are treacherous. Slippery streets can cause a driver to uncontrollably slide sideways and or spin out while simply attempting to get from one place to another.  When walking, slippery sidewalks and paths can cause broken bones and such.
When winter temperatures are super cold it doesn’t snow but getting one’s car started may be problematic.  Walking or just being outside in way below freezing weather can kill you.  In fact, Duluth has already had its first cold weather death of the year.  A street person, who was vaguely familiar to the Occupiers, was found dead from hypothermia last Sunday morning.   
Everything appears to be unchanged as we cruise into our winter headquarters.  There is only one customer, the same friendly hipster is behind the counter and best DJ in the Twin Ports area is casting his spell from up at KUMD.  The back booth is empty; it has probably been waiting for us.
We’re just settling in as the city official arrives.  We haven’t seen him in over a week.  He’s been busy with his various regular responsibilities and also with managing the itinerary for the visiting scholar, Dr. Mamoud El Kanti.
The official asks, “So what did you all think of the speech that Dr. El Kanti gave in Duluth last Thursday?”  We all thought the professor’s presentation was fantastic.  The city man continues, “I thought so too.  Dr. El Kanti spoke on several occasions in the Twin Ports; each of the events was standing room only.  I’m so proud.  I think that much of the information he presented was entirely new to most of the audiences”.
An Occupier responds, “I was blessed with having several excellent college teachers in African history classes that I took in Oakland, CA.  They taught the same things that Dr. El Kanti teaches.  This was in the mid-80s.
“I know the concept about the four races of human beings on the earth is really ingrained in our culture.  Even so, I’m surprised at how long it took for the true information to reach the Northland”.
An Occupier changes the subject, “Clinton won the popular vote but Trump won the Electoral College so Trump is in line to be president.  That kind of stands things on end, doesn’t it?”  The city official replies, “It does.  The privileged, white guys who created our constitution were afraid that if the general public was allowed to directly elect our countries government officials, this general public in its ignorance could elect a despot.  That’s why they invented the Electoral College.  Now, thanks to the Electoral College, a despot has been elected”.  We laugh at the absurdity of it all.
Another Occupier says, “I think things are going to be very difficult for these next four years.  We are going to have to work even harder than we do already.  However, we know that Trump is a bully and bullies will back down.  Nationwide, we will all have to keep up the pressure”.
The city man states, “I believe we are involved in sort of a spiritual war.  The most important thing will be to keep one’s spirit intact”.  An Occupier exclaims, “That’s the same thing the Indigenous people all over the world are telling us!  They have variations on the same theme about fighting a spiritual battle between those who use love and non-violence to bring about a new way of living and those who want to maintain the old way of greed and destruction”.
An Occupier comments, “Speaking of Indigenous peoples, some of our folks from All Nations, the Indigenous Commission and our local community will be heading out to Standing Rock tomorrow.  The sewing people are going to come to my place early in the morning and put the final stiches on the biggest tipi cover so they can take it with them”.
Someone asks, “Did you see the videos of what the cops did to the young water protectors at Standing Rock on Sunday night? If I didn’t know any better, I would hardly believe it.  Using rubber bullets, tear gas and pepper spray and water cannons in freezing weather?  On innocent young people who are only trying to protect the water supply of a million people?  WTF?”
Somebody else inquires, “How did the chili feed fundraiser for Standing Rock go on Sunday?”  An Occupier tells him, “It was slower than the pasta feed but it was still successful.  Actually, it’s a good thing it was slower.  One of the main organizers was ill that day so most of the work fell on the shoulders of the other main organizer.  I stopped by around 7:30pm, saw the situation, rolled up my sleeves and started washing dishes”.
Another Occupier reports, “I’ll be holding the first meeting of the Bathroom Committee for the Homeless Bill of Rights at my house this upcoming Wednesday evening at 7pm.  You all are welcome to attend.  My partner made a map of the area from West End to the beginning of East Hillside.  It covers the hill from Superior Street to 4th Street.  Maybe people will want to take a look at it and get an idea of what we’re working with.  Of course, the best thing to do is to ask local homeless people for their opinions. We can probably get going on that after Thanksgiving.
“Speaking of Thanksgiving, what are you guys planning on doing that day?  My partner and I are going to the DECC for their pretty decent free meal.  Anybody else want to join us?  Many of our friends will be there”.  Everyone agrees; they would also like to go to the DECC.  We make plans as to where and when we will meet up.
There are no other customers in the café; the hipster dude is rolling out the mop bucket.  We know what this means.  As we begin to get ready to leave, someone reminds us we were going to decide whether we should meet just once a week during the winter months.
An Occupier opines, “I think it would be good if we just met every Tuesday.  There are usually things to do on Saturdays and we frequently have to cancel our Saturday meeting in order to do them.  We need to check out what the others who are not here tonight have to say.  Then we can decide for sure.  For right now, let’s just plan to meet back here next Tuesday”.
So that’s what we’ll do.
General Assembly Minutes

G.A. Minutes 11-19-16

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General Assembly Minutes

G.A. Minutes 11-8-16

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G.A. Minutes 11-8-16
The Anonymous crew is out on the sidewalk again this evening as the Occupiers roll up on People’s Plaza.  Their numbers are smaller than they were on Saturday but they’re still making a lot of noise and attracting attention. 
The City has this year’s formerly live tree up in the Plaza now.  It’s an annual thing; sometime shortly before so called Thanksgiving they have a tree lighting ceremony followed by a so called Christmas City of the North Parade.  After that, the Christmas shopping season is in full swing.
We feel only sadness upon seeing a glorious, approximately 60 foot high spruce tree that, until recently, graced the forest providing warmth and shelter for the animals and nourishment and water for the land.  Now, after business people have exchanged money, the beautiful tree will preside over the Christmas Season.  A time when ‘Mericans scurry around driving themselves crazy and acting meaner and meaner each day until Christmas arrives.  This is in an attempt to find the happiness that is the promise of Christmas Day.
The problem is that ‘Merican capitalist Christmas is a lie. The original idea around Christmas had nothing to do with buying and selling.  Peace on Earth, Good Will to All got lost in the translation somewhere.  In some places it’s at least practiced on that one special day.  Then it’s back to bombing, killing and destroying the gifts of Mother Earth. Same ol’ same ol’. 
Anyway, the sun is down, temperatures are in the low 50s and there are medium strength gusts of wind.   We get the fire going almost immediately as we know the Anonymous kids will be cold by now.  Some of them have been “working the corner” since 8am.  They tell us they had a pretty good day, but in the early afternoon, a homeless guy who said he was a veteran was screaming and throwing rocks at them.
An Occupier couple brings hot dogs with all the fixins. They even have a grill on a tripod contraption that works really well.  One can raise or lower the grill depending on how high the flames from the fire rise.  This means we don’t have to forego watching the beauty of the flames in order to cook our food.  Cool.  The hot dogs get eaten as fast as they come off the grill.
Menagerie Woman arrives.  She’s coming from her regular Tuesday night movie and pops in to say hello before going to catch her bus.  She tells us she’s in the process of moving into another house while her current home is being remodeled.  Her landlord is providing the substitute house.  It’s a pretty good deal except for the fact that her household consists of four humans, six dogs, a couple of cats and various other small animals.
Bushman is still living with her.  Menagerie Woman says that she’s asked him to leave several times.  He tells her, “I’m not leaving ‘cuz I got nowhere else to go”.  An Occupier comments, “Well, you can always file a restraining order.  Of course, we’ll trust your judgement on that.  You know him a lot better than we do”.
The Anonymous folks have been sitting, relaxing and getting refreshments.  They’re ready to go marching around town again.  They gather up their flags, signs and bullhorn.  Off they go.
An Occupier reports, “Idle No More/Northwoods Wolf Alliance isn’t going to have an NDN Taco Sale in December.  Too many of their people are going to be gone next month.  Also, I don’t know if we’ll be able to have a fire next Tuesday or not.  Many cities across the country are calling for a day of rallies in support of Standing Rock. We may be having a rally here too, or so I’m told.  We should know in a day or so”.
An Occupier says to another, “You volunteered to be on the Human Rights Commission, didn’t you?”  The other Occupier replies, “Yeah, I did.  It was last April and I haven’t heard anything since.  I know the mayor said she wanted to wait to appoint new Commissioners until a new Human Rights Officer was hired but he’s been hired since last August.  I wonder what’s up with that”.
The first Occupier responds, “Well, remember that I told you most of the current Commissioners were belatedly informed that their commissions had expired and they needed to reapply?  That meant technically there was no Human Rights Commission.  Some of the current Commissioners were pretty upset about that.  I’m told the dust has finally settled, they’re getting their ducks in a row and the next official Human Rights Commission meeting will be in December.  If we go to that meeting we might get an answer as to when they’ll be appointing more people”.
The marchers return. They’re not chanting and tell us they were stopped by a police officer.  He was very nice to them and asked that they not march in the street or block traffic.  An Occupier mumbles, “It wouldn’t have gone down that way if you weren’t white”.  The marchers agree.
Our friend the Anarchist rides up on his bike.  He doesn’t “Surf the Net” so was unaware we had moved our meetings to People’s Plaza.  Now that he knows, we expect to be seeing more of him.
A big dude with his hoodie over his head walks up.  He asks if we remember him.  When he smiles, we do remember him.  He’s the same man we met at our first few fires here back in April.  He was friendly and said he’d been sleeping on a particular Plaza bench nightly for almost a month.  He really liked our coffee.  Shortly after that time, we heard the cops had come and run him off.
He sits down, asking if we have anything hot to drink.  We give him coffee; he takes a drink and exclaims, “Damn this is good!”  We exchange a few words in the Anishinaabe language.  The man comments, “I know you guys aren’t Native but I’ve always felt comfortable around your fire”. 
We talk more about Native friends we have in common. The big guy becomes introspective, he sighs, “I’m from Red Lake but I’m basically a City Indian.  I spent many years studying traditional medicine.  I was a drummer and host drummer for many years too.  Somewhere along the line I lost my culture.  I just don’t care anymore.  I’ve seen so much suffering and death.  I don’t believe anymore.  It’s been a long time since I’ve said that out loud”.
We chat about this and that.  As he gets ready to leave, we assure him he will be welcome again anytime he chooses to visit.  Once the Red Laker is gone, an Occupier shakes his head, “Amazing…. That is the same dude who was throwing rocks at the Anonymous kids earlier today!”
Another Occupier opines, “He was probably so drunk he doesn’t even remember he was there.  I’ve seen people behave one way, get drunk and turn into someone completely different. So sad….”
Anonymous has gone off marching again.  As we pack up we notice they have left many of their things, including their sound equipment behind.  Some of the Occupiers stay, waiting until the marchers return. 
We stand around the fire for a while, watching the coals die.  When the kids return they say, “We’ve decided to extend this action to a fifth day.  We’ll be here tomorrow, this is fun”.
As we say our goodbyes we wonder if they’ll still be here upon our return on Saturday.  We smile as we remember the words…..We’re Anonymous.  Expect us.    
General Assembly Minutes

G.A. Minutes 11-5-16

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G.A. Minutes 11-5-16
We’re about to have a fire circle at People’s Plaza for the first time in 2 weeks.  Meetings related to the proposed Homeless Bill of Rights Ordinance and fundraising events for Standing Rock have taken up the time that is usually reserved for our fires.  We’re happy to finally be back here again.
When we roll up, we find a fairly good sized group of people wearing Anonymous masks while holding signs and waving an Anonymous flag and having a rally out on the sidewalk outside of the Plaza.  A squad car is parked close on the street and a single cop appears to be watching them. When we drive the fire supplies up into the space and begin unloading, the squad drives off.
The leaders of the Anonymous group are friends of ours.  One of them says, “That cop has been sitting there watching us since we arrived around 1pm”.  We’re impressed that the group of primarily very young folks has a canopy covered table with literature and food.  They have a small sound system too. 
The leaders had informed us they would be here tonight; we even loaned them some of our signs. We just hadn’t expected they would be so well organized.  Basically they’re a bunch of well-meaning kids who are beginning to form their personal world views.  Wearing the masks and marching around is fun for them.
The sky is already dark with a barely noticeable breeze.  Temperatures are in the low 50s.  No one can remember when the weather has stayed this warm this late in the year.
The Fire Magician gets the fire going.  Once the sun went down the kids started to feel cold. They’re grateful for the flames and the hot coffee. We think that few homeless folks will visit us tonight.  It’s the first days of the month; also the kids and their masks will keep the folks away too. Many unhoused people are quite conservative in an odd sort of way.
An Occupier asks, “So are we gonna have a fire on Tuesday?  It will be election night you know”. Another Occupier responds, “Damn, I sure hope so.  I’m so sick of the election circus!  I won’t want to be anywhere where I’ll be forced to hear any more about it”.  We all agree; unless there is a major blizzard, we’ll have a fire on election night.
Our friend, who we call The Anarchist, rides up on his bike.  Now that he’s retired he spends a lot of time helping older Veterans for Peace.    We haven’t seen him in a while.
An Occupier wants to know, “How did the Idle No More/Northwoods Wolf Alliance taco sale go yesterday?”  Another Occupier tells him, “Things were slower than usual but they still made a profit to add to their war chest.  The most interesting thing that happened was that 2 of our All Nations friends who have been spending a good amount of time at Standing Rock dropped in.  They gave us the latest news as to what’s going on there.
“They told us the cops are starting to send a lot of Native informant types into the camps.  Many of these informants are actually people who are from the Standing Rock reservation.  They’re mostly people who are addicted to various types of hard drugs.  Of course, this creeps out all the real people.  The informants are relatively easy to spot though because they can’t hang with the spiritual stuff.
“I tried to explain to our friends that sending informants is the next stage of the game that The Man plays.  I don’t think they heard me though. The water protectors have a lot of good stuff going on but they don’t have the experience in protesting The Man that we do.  There are things that we could teach them.  However, I sure don’t want to be pushing my white privilege on anybody.  I just go with the flow”.
Someone adds, “I think it’s the prayers and ceremonies that will be the most effective in the end.  Real spirituality has the most power”.
Someone else changes the subject saying, “You’ll never believe the latest law they’ve just passed in Wisconsin.  It says that a landlord no longer has to hold on to tenants’ personal belongings for any period of time after the landlord evicts them.  They can do whatever they want to with the belongings right away”.
An Occupier exclaims, “Talk about kicking a person when they’re down!  There are many people who are just one paycheck or misfortune away from being evicted from their home.  So they should be dispossessed of their belongings too? Walker and his sorry assed government are seriously sick”.
Another Occupier changes the subject again. She says, “Weather permitting, it looks like we’ll be able to have at least a couple more fire circles on Tuesdays.  The next Homeless Bill of Rights meeting will be Sunday, November 13th, 1pm at Dorothy Day House.  We expect to bring the ordinance before the City Council during the first weeks of December”.
The Occupier goes on, “I don’t know how to tell you all this but I have it on good authority that we have had an informant of our own visiting this group for the last several months”.  The Occupier gives the group various bits of information that back up her suspicions.  It turns out that each Occupier has information of their own that had been putting a question in their mind too.  As we all share our information, the picture becomes clearer.
The first Occupier continues, “The informant became connected to a few other groups through us.  I believe she may be gone now.  I’m thinking she didn’t find what she was looking for.  She kept saying she was looking for a group that was really radical.  I guess none of us fit the bill”.
Another Occupier opines, “Well, being radical is not synonymous with building bombs in the basement.  If building bombs is what she wants, she needs to hook up with white supremacists”. 
A middle aged white homeless guy sits down.  He was in our circle a few months ago and we thought he was kinda cool.  He’s technically a white guy but was born and raised up north a ways in an area where there are a lot of Native reservations.  He spent most of his life hanging out with Native people and is respectful and well versed it their traditions.  We welcome him.
The male half of the multiracial couple has been sitting at the fire for a while.  He tells us that he’s quite happy with his new apartment.  He also says that his female partner is out drinking a little and hanging with her friends.  He says, “I’m just staying out so she’ll be able to find me when she’s done.  If I go home and go to sleep she’ll be left out on the street all night.  I don’t want for that to happen to her.
“She’ll be going into treatment soon.  That means she’ll be gone for a few months but I think it will be good for her.  I’ll hold down the fort for her until she gets back”.
One of the masked kids asks, “Where’s my phone?”  The male of the couple says, “Was it sitting on the chair next to the white/Native dude?”  The kid says yes it was and the male tells him, “The white/Native guy just picked it up and left.  I thought it was kinda weird because I saw it sitting next to him so I asked him if I could use it. He said he didn’t have a phone then he picked up the one next to him and left.  If I’d have known it was yours I would have said something”.
An Occupier says incredulously, “Wait a minute. The dude just smudged and then he stole your phone?”  One of the masked women is from the neighborhood and lives in the Skinner Building. She says, “Oh yeah, the white/Native guy is notorious for stealing.  He’s always hanging on First Street.  He has nothing so he’ll steal anything”.  We say, “WTF?”
The male of the couple stands up saying, “Look! There he is.  I can see him from here”.  A couple of the Anonymous guys go off to find the stealing dude.
We watch the fire for a bit; one of the Anonymous girls brings her phone over to the male saying, “The cops have the stealing guy but he doesn’t have a phone on his person.  They want to talk to you”.  The male takes her phone and tells the cops what he saw.  An Occupier comments, “If the dude is a chronic thief he will have stashed the phone as soon as he knew he was being followed”.
A heavy set guy carrying a small walking stick arrives.  He tells us that he is Native and from Louisiana.  He was attracted by the smell of the sage.  He wants to talk about how he is going to vote for Hilary Clinton because Donald Trump is the Anti-Christ.  No one in the circle is interested in his line of thought.  He soon leaves.
The Anonymous guys who went off hunting return.  They say the cops searched the alleged stealer and could find no phone.  We feel sorry that the young kid lost his phone.  All the Anonymous folks pick up their signs and flags and go off marching and chanting in the direction of Canal Park.
The woman who lives in the Skinner returns shortly.  She tells us she has a sprained ankle and just can’t hang.  She then tells us part of her life story.  It has to do with her and her husband both being disabled and forced to live off government benefits.  They have a 6 year old child.  They’ve lived in the Skinner for 7 years and have been trying to move somewhere else for a long time.
She states, “The Skinner Apartments are basically for people who are on their last chance of being housed.  If they can’t keep an apartment at the Skinner, they will be out in the street because no other landlord will rent to them.  My husband and I are not last chancers and really don’t belong there.  As you can imagine, there is lots of drinking, drugging and fighting going on there during all hours of the day and night.  A few of the people who live there are pretty cool but most of them are nuts”.
When the marchers return we decide it’s time to pack up.  It’s nearly 10pm.  As previously stated, barring a blizzard, we’ll be back at People’s Plaza on Tuesday.