G.A. Minutes 6-27-17
Weather wise, it’s going to be another perfect summer evening at People’s Plaza. The sky is clear and the temperature is in the upper 70s. It would be almost too warm if it wasn’t for the variable, moderately strong wind blowing and creating the ideal conditions. We decide to wait to start up the fire until the sun goes behind the buildings.
Yesterday a few Occupiers attended the Socialist Action monthly gathering. A man from New Jersey who, over a year ago, had come to one of our Occupy meetings at the old Coney Island was also in attendance. He let everyone know he and some friends were planning to hold a peaceful protest about police accountability. The protest was scheduled to take place on the sidewalk outside of the Plaza, Tuesday evening at 5pm. The Occupiers informed him that we would be starting our fire circle at about 6pm and that he and the other participants would be welcome to join us.
When we roll up tonight we are pleasantly surprised to see so many folks holding signs and chanting. Some are from Socialist Action, a few from Anonymous but most are people we don’t know. Most of the cars driving by are beeping support. When they are finished they come to the fire circle.
They want to hold a short meeting in order to plan future strategy. As they discuss where they should go in order to not co-opt the Occupy meeting, an Occupier tells them, “Our meetings at People’s Plaza are different from what most people think of when they think about a meeting. The fire circle is open to everyone. We just sit around it and talk about whatever comes to mind. We wait to see who joins the circle and whatever happens just happens. You guys are welcome to hold your meeting right here”.
So that’s what they do. They discuss possible next steps and form a few working groups. The Occupiers participate in the Police Accountability meeting too. They plan to meet again at our circle on Tuesday July 11th at 6pm.
As things are winding down, the male from the couple who used to help us at the taco sales says, “Well, I just wanna know who will help the Indian people. The Indian people need help you know”. Some of the cop watching folks say, “We want to help but we’re not sure what we should do”. The Occupiers already know the taco helping man. They realize he is talking about the problems with alcoholism and substance abuse that he and most of his friends struggle with. Again, they encourage him to put down his tobacco and to pray.
The Native couple from the neighborhood arrives. They bring a big pot of very well-made manoomin (wild rice). The Occupiers have brought at least twice as much food as they normally do. We wonder how long everything will last tonight.
Menagerie Woman rides up on her bike. She’s returning from her regular Tuesday night plasma donation and on her way to her regular Tuesday night movie. She’s just stopping in to say hello. Bush Man has stayed at home.
Many street folks arrive and begin getting things to eat. A middle aged street woman who we know from our previous homeless camp appears. We haven’t seen her in years; a short hugging festival ensues.
The cop watching folks have gone; more Anons have landed. As they head out to the street corner and crank up their music, the Fire Magician lights the fire.
The Occupier who lives in Superior spent a couple of days in the hospital recently. He tells a story about his hospital roommate. The roommate is a career military veteran who is in the hospital for a possible leg amputation. He is also the primary care giver for his wife who has Alzheimer’s. Social workers come to his room to discuss what will happen if he can no longer care for his wife. They tell him he will have to come up with $37,000 in order to put his wife in a nursing home. They want him to put himself in a nursing home too. That will cost him another $37,000. The story telling Occupier says, “What is going on with our medical system? Can’t they just help people?”
Someone introduces the subject of the new healthcare plan that the Republicans are trying to push through the legislature. The plan is so draconian that even some of the Republican senators are refusing to back it. An Occupier comments, “Apparently, the most conservative senators are refusing to support the plan because women are not being required to pay more for the healthcare that woman need for their special woman’s necessities. The senators don’t think men should have to pay for anything extra that women need”. An Occupier responds, “If those senators succeed in forcing women to pay more, then those same senators should be allowed to only have sex with each other”.
Spiritual Man comes up the stairs; he’s pushing his girlfriend’s bicycle. He looks tired and more brown than usual. He tells us he’s been out on the beach in the hot sun looking for agates all day and shows us what he found. He has a couple of handfuls of really beautiful rocks and gives a heart shaped one to an Occupier. He gets coffee and plunks down in a chair. He says, “Man, my back hurts. I’m finding this getting old thing to be kinda rough”. Several of the Occupiers agree, “Yeah, us too”.
A middle aged chronically homeless man who frequently visits our fires joins the circle. He and Spiritual Man have been friends for many years. They converse about their lives.
A youngish African American man with a noticeable southern type accent sits down. He tells us he has recently come to Duluth from Chicago. He’s grieving for his partner of 8 years who died recently. He says he needs to be somewhere more peaceful than Chicago.
Another small group of young men we haven’t met before arrive. They consist of an African American, a Native and a Caucasian. They are lifelong friends and were attracted by the smell of the burning sage. All the chairs in the circle are now full; many other folks are standing or sitting nearby.
The man from Chicago begins a conversation about spirituality. The newly arrived group of men, Spiritual Man, the Occupiers and many others join in. After a while an Occupier opines, “In my opinion, it’s all the same God. There are many different names and many different cultures but all are actually worshipping the same God”. Everyone agrees with her analysis.
The food and drinks are all gone now. The only thing left is a big jug of water. The Snoozy Man who used to run the biggest spare changing group outside of the liquor store up on First St shows up. He was a regular at our fires at the Clayton Jackson MGhie Memorial. No one can remember seeing him ever eat anything so we think he won’t mind that the food is all gone.
The liquor store has gone out of business so we assume the Snoozy Man has found a different gig. He tells us he has an apartment of his own now. He announces his new address to all within earshot and says if anyone needs a place to crash for a night they will be welcome.
We notice that a cop with all his lights flashing has pulled over a motorist directly in front of People’s Plaza. He talks with the person in the car but keeps standing up, blatantly staring at us. An Occupier thinks the cop is trying to intimidate the Anons.
One of the men from the group of lifelong friends states, “Oh no, he’s staring at us. Pulling that car over was just a ruse. Trust me, I’m black. I know about these things”. Someone says, “You know, the only people who are harassed by the police more than black people are Native American people”. The Native guy from the group of friends remarks, “Yeah, that’s probably true”. The man from Chicago adds, “Try being black and also a woman living in a man’s body”. We all say, “Whoa!!!” The discussion ends there. Eventually the cop leaves.
The city official and another Occupier roll in. They are returning from having dinner on a train. The city man has a knee injury so must walk with a cane for a while. An Occupier asks the city man, “Hey, would you be willing to interview a few people from the Homeless Person’s Bill of Rights Coalition on your radio show?” The city man replies, “Most certainly; I would love for that to happen”.
The city man asks the Occupiers, “So how did the big Neighborhood Youth Services event turn out?” An Occupier responds, “It was very successful. Several hundred people attended. We helped Idle No More/Northwoods Wolf Alliance make and give away 108 fry bread tacos. After we finished and cleaned up everything I had to go home and take a nap. Someone comments, “In our Central Hillside, if you want lots of people to show up somewhere, just announce there will be free food”. Everyone laughs.
It’s now well after 10pm. Even the Anons are ready to pack it in. An Occupier says, “Well, next Tuesday is the 4th of July. Do you think we should have a fire?” Everyone answers, “Yes!”
With all the people still in the Plaza helping, we get things packed up and into the vehicles in no time. One of the Occupiers loads all the Anon signs, sound stuff and a few of the Anons into her car for a ride up the hill. We’ll be back next Tuesday to celebrate the 4th in our own way.

G.A. Minutes 6-20-17
One could not ask for a more beautiful evening before the first day of summer than the one we are about to enjoy at People’s Plaza. The sky is partly cloudy, the temperature is in the mid-70s; the gentle breeze from the west creates an atmosphere of perfection.
We find quite a few people waiting for us when we arrive. A few are friends of the Anonymous crew; most are various folks from the street. Apparently the word has gone out that the Occupiers are bringing their fire pit to the Plaza tonight. Everyone begins helping set up the circle and the supplies.
An Occupier jumps in one of the supply vehicles, planning to take it out to the street to park it. He drives just a few feet when……BOOM!!!…… we hear a loud explosion. The driver slams on the brakes; we all stop what we’re doing and look around. No worries, the driving Occupier ran over the bottom end of an unopened bag of veggie chips. Who woulda thought the air being forced from a bag of chips could make such a big noise?
Among the people who have been waiting is a young homeless couple that we haven’t seen in a while. They used to stop by and help out at the Idle No More/Northwoods Wolf Alliance NDN Taco Sales when the sales were held at the former All Nations office.
We think both members of this couple may be developmentally disabled but we don’t really know. They are both pretty deep into alcohol and drug abuse so their general behavior may be a byproduct of their addictions. We think they are in their early 20s; the female has never appeared to be interested in political things or anything at all other than where to find her next meal or her next substance to abuse. However, the male is interested in all kinds of things but he has a tendency to get his information all mixed up.
He begins to give a lecture about recent American history or something like that. As he talks, he keeps referring to Barack Obama as our second black president. We tell him that Obama was our first black president; he responds, “Oh no, there was another black president, I just can’t think of his name”. We start throwing out the names of every famous recent black person that we can think of. When an Occupier says, “Martin Luther King?” the young man responds, “Yes, that’s it! He was our first our first black president”. Someone gently informs the young man that MLK never was actually the president but seeing as the fact is not particularly germane to his lecture we just let it slide. The big Native Anon jokes, “If I was president, the first thing I’d do would be to order all the American flags in the country to be turned upside down cuz’ the USA is definitely in distress”.
At some point the young man stops lecturing, turns to an Occupier who he’s well acquainted with and exclaims, “I know that alcohol and drugs are very bad for me but I just can’t seem to find a way to stop. Many of the elders in my family are spiritual people and healers. My grandmother, who passed away some years ago, was a very skilled healer. She comes to me sometimes; she tries to talk to me but I can’t understand what she is saying. I know she has passed on but she’s here in this life too. One time I was sitting by the lake and some elders appeared and were standing on the water. They wanted to talk with me; they said they had information that would help native people. I became afraid and ran away”.
His Occupier acquaintance invites him to attend the monthly Duluth Sobriety Feast. She also suggests, “Man, if you’re looking for the way just put out your tobacco every day and pray. The answer will come to you”. The man’s girlfriend calls him to come over to a back bench and sit with her. We ask the man to be sure and visit us another time.
A large group of Anons arrive; they have lots of signs and a sound system. They’re planning on going out to the street corner to wake up the drivers but first they want to sit around the fire for a while.
A street woman who lives in a Board and Lodge walks up. We’ve know her for many years; she says, “Oh good, you guys have food. I missed dinner tonight, can I have some?” We answer, “Of course, eat all that you need”. She does, says thank you and goes off down the street.
The Anons begin chalking the Plaza stairs; some of them are really talented artists. Others go out on the corner; they hold up various anti-capitalist signs and crank up the music. Soon car horns are beeping their support.
The Occupier who reports things gives a quick report, “There’s going to be a big block party sponsored by Neighborhood Youth Services up on 4th St between Lake Ave and W 1st St 1pm-5pm on Sunday. INM/NWA has been contracted to make NDN tacos for the event; of course they will need our help. Then across the street at the Central Hillside Community Center the main CHUM staff person is sponsoring a Chili Feed Fundraiser to raise money to increase the reward for information about the disappearance of the Woman Who Tells Good Stories. It will also happen from 1pm-5pm. That area of the Hillside is sure to be thumping on Sunday. I just hope we can finish making tacos in time to get over to the fundraiser. Also, Socialist Pizza will happen on Monday, June 26th, 6:30pm at Luce’.”
Another Occupier comments, “Hey, it sure was great to hear the city official give a shout out to Occupy Duluth when he gave his speech at the Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial Day of Remembrance last Thursday. I liked how he said we are true to our word and don’t let people down”. An Occupier adds, “For real. Most of the time when anybody talks about Occupy they say we’re real dangerous because we make bombs and stuff. Or else they think we’re real cool because we make bombs and stuff. Occupy is not or ever was about making bombs and stuff. It still amazes me how most people sucked up all the bs that the major media put out about us. Remember how the former CJMM BOD co-chair used to publicly accuse us of doing the work we do to help the community so as to make ourselves look important? Damn….”
A kinda hippie looking white dude who we haven’t met before joins the circle. He has a back pack and tells us he’s homeless. He starts talking about He Who Shall Not Be Named and says, “I’m really excited about all the jobs and stuff that he’s gonna bring to the people”. An Occupier replies, “You’ll be waiting for the rest of your life. HWSNBN is definitely a 1% ‘er who only cares about himself. He is one lying motherfucker”.
The hippie looking dude answers, “Well, I’m a conservative person myself but I bet you guys really liked Obama. An Anon who is still at the fire tells him, “No, we didn’t like Obama but we like HWSNBN even less”. The conservative dude then attempts to explain how climate change is a hoax; it’s something about how before 150 or so years ago people were unable to take accurate measurements of the temperature of the air.
One of the Occupiers is an actual scientist and another is well versed in scientific stuff. They go a few rounds with Conservative Man but it quickly becomes apparent that the guy doesn’t have any actual knowledge of his own. He’s just sprouting stuff he’s heard on Fox News and wherever. BORING……. If Conservative Man doesn’t become too rude or violent, we’ll let him stay in the circle.
A Native couple who live in the neighborhood appear; they bring a case of sodas and lots of hot dogs and buns to share. An Occupier goes to his car to get the roasting sticks and people start roasting the dogs. As we look around we notice there are people everywhere in the Plaza. A guy is teaching a couple of young girls in the back how to ride a skate board. Many people are chalking the stairs; all the benches in the entire People’s Plaza have various street folks on them. Maybe they’re too shy to join us but they feel safe to sit on the benches because as long as we are here, the cops probably won’t bother them?
The food that we brought disappeared during the first hour. Now that there are hot dogs, it looks like everyone is hungry. All shyness evaporates; people politely share the roasting sticks and chow down.
Some people ride up on their bikes; when they stop we see they are Menagerie Woman and Bush Man. We’re rather surprised but attempt to conceal it. We haven’t seen either one of them since last autumn. We know that Bush Man had become violent with Menagerie Woman. The police came and hauled him off to jail and then he was sent to the Twin Cities because of some pending charges there. We thought that was the end of it but obviously we were wrong. They seem to be getting along well enough tonight; we hope things will stay that way.
And then…….will wonders never cease…. Someone steps out of the shadows. It’s Mississippi Woman. She’s a longtime resident of the Skinner Apartments so we see her frequently on the street but she hasn’t been to one of our fires since we moved to People’s Plaza. It looks like she’s hungry too. She’d been out on the corner reading the Anon signs and smelled the fire.
When she finishes eating she gets ready to start her usual rant. We’re all pretty familiar it. Much of her rant sounds like the words of a southern black preacher but some of it has truth to it. She hollers, “They out there sayin’ the system is broken. Ain’t nothin’ wrong with the system, it’s wrong with the people! They don’t put God in their life”.
For some unknown reason, Conservative Man decides to challenge her. He stands next to her and loudly proclaims, “The problem with the black community is the lack of fathers in the home!” Mississippi Woman responds, “My mama and my daddy wasn’t married but they raised all us kids real good”. Conservative Man repeats, “The problem is lack of fathers in the home!” An Occupier taps the Man on the shoulder and says, “Excuse me but how long have you been black?”
Conservative Man tries again but soon realizes he is no match for Mississippi Woman. She is at least 30 years older than him and her game is down. He quietly leaves; if he had a tail it would be between his legs.
We had thought the Native couple from the neighborhood had gone home but no, they return with another load of sodas and hotdogs. The starving masses return and the feeding frenzy begins again.
It’s now 9:45pm and the sky is still light. An Occupier whispers to another, “We’d better pack up; I have things I have to do tomorrow”. The other Occupier responds, “I know, me too but there’s still food to be cooked. We’re gonna have to wait until everything is eaten”.
About a half an hour later all the food is gone and many are moving considerably slower. The Anons are still thumping on the corner and many folks are still in the space. We think the cops don’t know that there’s a 10pm curfew for city parks; or maybe they don’t care. We hope it’s the latter.
Anyway, we bring the vehicles up and apologize to all the remaining folks. An Occupier discovers a mislaid bag of veggie chips in her car and gives them to one of the Anons. We wish everyone a good night and a good time and plan to be back here next Tuesday.

G.A. Minutes 6-13-17
There was very heavy rain and strong wind during much of the day; the weather people predict more for this evening, night and tomorrow. We conferred with each other a couple of hours before our meeting time. The weather map showed many big storms coming from the west and heading straight for our neck of the woods.
One of the Occupiers who normally brings much of the food for the fire circle stated, “You know, there’s a certain amount of preparation that goes into feeding everyone. If we get rained out as soon as we get there, what am I supposed to do with 2 dozen hard boiled eggs?” We decided to hold tonight’s meeting at the Coney Island up on W. 1st St.
This new (to us anyway) Coney Island is a little different than the old one that we used to meet at before it closed. For one thing, it’s 3 or 4 times larger; the décor isn’t old fashioned and cool and there’s no music playing. We expect the clientele will be different too.
This eatery is located very close to the CHUM and to Life House so we imagine some street folks will be around but the big downtown Holiday Inn is only a block up the street. Tourists frequently step out to tour the neighborhood. Oh well, we’ll just have to make due for now.
The place can probably seat at least 100 customers but when we arrive we see there are only 3. The 2 young people who are working the large front counter are quite friendly. When we explain that we expect more people and may need to push some tables together, the young man responds, “No problem. Just make yourselves at home”.
The city official is the first to arrive; he’s a bit out of sorts this evening. He tells his story, “Now you know I’m not the sort of person who ever gets violent but today I really had the urge to smack somebody. I know 2 twin sisters who were adopted from Africa and brought to live here in Duluth when they were just little babies. Their adoptive parents are well respected community members. The girls are very sweet and innocent; they’re 12 years old or so now; just entering their teenage years”. Most of the Occupiers know these girls and their parents and agree that they are good people.
“So anyway, these 2 young girls go into a recently opened sandwich type shop in our downtown area. They order and pay for their lunch and sit down to eat it. Suddenly the owner of the new shop comes stomping out and accuses the girls of stealing. Because nothing like this has ever happened to the girls before, they’re rather confused. The owner growls, ‘Show me what you took!’ The girls still don’t understand so they show him what they are eating.
“Their mother comes in to join them and she’s just flabbergasted when she realizes what is going on. She hasn’t had this type of experience related to her daughters either. She didn’t know what to do. When she asked me for advice later, I told her to hire a lawyer. I hope she does.
“I posted about the incident on my blog. Later on when I was at my job I expressed my frustration and my anger about the event. One of my co-workers had seen my post on my blog. He told me he thought I was over reacting, should not be displaying so much emotion in front of the general public and that the incident was really no big deal after all. When I told him that the adoptive parents of the African girls were white people he appeared to change his tune. He seemed to think that maybe the girls HAD been mistreated. I had to leave in order to refrain from choking him. You know, statistically, the junior high and high school students in this country who experience the highest level of mistreatment from adults are black girls”.
An Occupier has just returned from the public hearing about the Enbridge Line 3 that was held today at Fond du Lac College. He tells us, “It was wonderful. The place was full; mainly of FDL tribal members speaking against the pipeline. They had a round dance and beautiful drumming and singing. FDL just owned that hearing”.
Another Occupier shows us a flyer she received today from one of our Native organizer friends. The flyer tells about an Expungement Clinic hosted by the Legal Service of NE MN. It’s free of charge and will be held in the Ordean Building every first Tuesday of the month starting on August 1st and continuing until August of 2018. She says, “I’m guessing that none of us have any records that we need expunged but it’s still good information to have in case we run across someone in need of the service”.
The Occupier who reports things gives her report. She tells us, “Do you all remember that very popular band from about 10 or 15 years ago called Azure Du Jour?” Many of us do remember. The reporting Occupier continues, “Well they’re doing a reunion performance on Saturday, June 17th, 6pm-10pm at the Red Herring”. We say, “Wonderful!” Many of us were big fans of the band.
“Also, this weekend is Juneteenth weekend. The celebrations will be held in Duluth on this Saturday afternoon and in Superior on this upcoming Sunday afternoon. Another thing that will be going on Saturday, June 17th is Reclaiming Our Socialist Heritage sponsored by the Twin Ports Democratic Socialists of America and happening at 6pm at Norway Hall”.
The Occupier who lives in Superior asks, “I’ve been hearing a lot about something called the alt-right over the last few months. Does anybody know what it is? Another Occupier answers, “Oh that just means the white supremacists. Some right wing pundit came up with that term when He Who Shall Not Be Named started getting a lot of attention for his presidential campaign. I think the pundit was trying to make the white supremacists look not as dangerous or evil as they really are. I think we all need to make a conscious effort to always use the term white supremacist instead of alt-right. We need to call them what they really are”.
The city official opines, “When someone says white supremacist I believe most people think of the KKK. That’s one type of white supremacist thinking but there are other more subtle manifestations of the same thing. You know, like when white folks who are not necessarily really hateful but they still subconsciously see a person of color as less intelligent, less educated, less honest, less competent or what have you than a white person. Then there’s institutional white supremacy such as the slightly hidden ways the educational system, banking system, housing system, judicial system and all the other systems making life more difficult for people of color”. We say, “Ain’t that the truth”.
On that note, the city man has to leave. We say our goodbyes and as he heads out the door an Occupier reminds us, “He’s going to be the keynote speaker at the Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial Day of Remembrance on Thursday at noon”.
Another Occupier goes on a rant about how totally wacked the entire world is. When he comes up for air someone else adds, “It took me a long time to admit it but I believe we are living during a very important time in the history of the world. Things are very precarious and we need to pay careful attention and try to help things in a good way”.
An Occupier agrees, “Remember the indigenous prophecy that says now is the time for the spark that lights the 8th fire. If the 8th fire is lit then all the good teachings and good ways of being will come back. If not, it will mean the destruction of the earth. I think it means that the people living now are the ones who are responsible for bringing about the change in the hearts and minds of the people of the earth that will cause them to remember that the earth and all the living things in it are sacred. I know the prophecy is meant primarily for indigenous folks; our job is mainly to assist the carriers of the spark in whatever way they ask us to. Personally, I’m down with that”. The rest of us are down with that too.
Changing the subject, an Occupier says, “Want to hear something really weird?” We do. He continues, “HWSNBN’s wife Melania is from Slovenia, a formerly communist country. Her father was a fairly important dude in the Communist Party. So now Melania is moving into the White House. I was watching a news report that showed some of the move in. Melania’s father was there; he was just hanging out and wandering around.
“So all the politicians in DC are worrying themselves to death about Russia and communists but no one bats an eye at the communist in the so called First Family. I thought that was funny”. We all crack up; we think it’s funny too.
It’s about 8:30pm. The place is empty and the 2 staff people (they do not appear to be hipsters) are washing everything. They keep looking over at us. The hipsters from the now defunct Coney Island taught us what that means. We pack up, leave tips and head out.
It has not rained yet but it looks like it wants to. However, the east wind is super strong. Strong enough to have blown over our fire pit. We think we made the right decision. If the weather gods allow it, we’ll be back at People’s Plaza next Tuesday.

G.A. Minutes 6-6-17
It looks like we’re going to get some good almost summer weather at People’s Plaza this evening. The sky is clear; the temperature is in the mid-60s with a very light northwesterly breeze.
When the Occupiers who bring the fire and food supplies roll onto the Plaza they spot a couple of guys from a local TV station setting up in the back of the space. It appears they are getting ready to broadcast something.
One of the Occupiers walks over to them to see what’s up. She just wants to make sure that we don’t get in each other’s way. The TV guys tell her, “No worries. We’re just using the foliage here as a backdrop for a short news report. We’ll be done and out of here in just a few minutes”. They ask what we are up to and the Occupier explains a bit about the weekly recreational fires.
Once the broadcast is finished, the camera person comes over to the fire and postulates, “Hey, if you folks do this every week I could ask my boss if it was o.k. for me to show up and do a short story about your group. What do you think?” An Occupier replies, “Well, I’m not too sure. I’d have to ask the rest of our people”.
As more Occupiers arrive, the supply bringing Occupiers relay the TV proposal. A consensus is easily reached; we think it would not be a good idea. Too much publicity would not be a good thing. The police and fire departments are well aware of our fires and appear to have chosen not to bother us.
Although everything we are doing is completely legal, if some of the control freak, stuffed shirts who attempt to run the City get wind of our group getting publicity they may force the DPD and/or the FPD to harass us. We’ve already been there and done that and it was decided that having a weekly fire was more important than fighting with the so called City leaders.
Also, the fire is supposed to be for other local grassroots activists, organizers and people from the neighborhood. We’re not interested in becoming entertainment for well off folks who want to go “slumming”. An Occupier comments, “We’ve already been featured in all the local newspapers, that’s enough”.
A large group of Anonymous young bloods roll up. They are wearing all their Anon gear and carrying lots of signs and their sound system. Most head right out to the street corner and begin “kicking it”.
Much to our pleasant surprise, the next person to arrive is Spiritual Man. We have not seen him for 8 or 9 months. He tells us that he was working out of state. He gives us tobacco and we give him hugs. A middle aged African American man who we haven’t met in the past is with him. Spiritual Man gets coffee and takes a seat around the fire circle. His friend, who appears to be rather drunk, takes a seat on a bench.
An elderly white man wearing a motorcycle jacket sits down. We have not met him previously. He’s very talkative and states he is a veteran. One of the Occupiers is also a veteran; they carry on a conversation about their service. When the visiting veteran suddenly gets up and leaves, the Occupier veteran says, “I told him we were Occupy Duluth; I guess that didn’t sit too well with him”.
An Anon arrives with his little dog. The dog is very cute and friendly; she jumps softly into fire watcher’s laps. We always carry a water dish for visiting animals; we give her some water.
The city official reminds us, “I’m going to be the featured speaker at the Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial Day of Remembrance this year; June 15th at noon. I hope you all will be there to support me”. We will all be there.
A long line of street cleaning and street painting vehicles have been going up and down the street for at least an hour. They’re very noisy and look kinda like a parade. Someone remarks, “They’re probably fixing things up for Grandma’s Marathon. That’s gonna happen on June 17th you know”. An Occupier adds, “Whenever Grandma’s Marathon happens I make sure to stay up on the hill. No way do I want to become part of that mess. This year the Duluth NAACP will be celebrating Juneteenth on June 17th in the Central Hillside Community Center Park. I plan on joining them”.
The Occupier who has recently begun working at the Mission feeding center sighs, “I received some very disappointing news recently. I took the job at the Mission because my social security retirement benefit is not enough to actually survive on. I’m only being paid $360 a month at the job but it sure does help. Now I’m told the housing authority will be increasing my rent by $120 a month because I have that little job. They just refuse to let poor people get ahead at all”.
The city official says to the Occupier with the new job, “I know you were at the local DFL convention last week; tell us about it. The Occupier answers, “It was just terrible. I really don’t want to talk about it”. Another Occupier chimes in, “I hear that the local DFL is so divided between the Clinton and Bernie supporters that they were unable to come to any consensus about endorsing any of the City Council candidates except for Joel Sipress”. Someone else agrees, “Yeah, that’s what I heard too”.
The Occupier who reports stuff reports, “There’s gonna be 2 somewhat local public comment hearings about Enbridge’s Line 3 soon. One is in Floodwood on Thursday, June 8th and the other is at FDL College on Tuesday, June 13th. Both will begin at 10am. She says to the big Native Anon dude, “By the way, I did a little research about He Who Shall Not Be Named signing that executive order allowing hunting of bald eagles. Turns out it’s just a hoax; HWSNBN didn’t actually do that. It wouldn’t be surprising if he did though”.
The big Anon replies, “Oh, miigwitch for doing that. I’ll be going to both the public comment hearings. Water really is life you know. I’m so pissed about how the 1% always wants to rip off the Natives. For 500 years they’ve been trying to genocide us but we’re still here. We may be crippled but we are still some strong people”.
An Occupier concurs, “It appears to me that Native people are no longer accepting the rip offs”. The Native Anon exclaims, “You’ve got that right! We’re taking back our traditions and our languages; we’re standing up and fighting for our rights as human beings and as indigenous peoples. The 1% is totally freaked out by that and they’re coming down hard. As you saw at Standing Rock, they tried their hardest to break us but we stood and will continue standing”.
The Occupier who is a single parent to 3 children changes the subject, “Being a poor person in this world is so difficult. Just trying to survive feels like slavery”. The city man answers, “If you want to see slavery, just look at our prison system. Now that’s slavery”. Another Occupier adds, “It is; I think that work stoppages are where prisoners have the most power and are most effective. Of course, I know they pay real heavy for doing that”.
All the sandwiches, cookies and coffee have been gone for a while. There’s still a bit of apple juice. Many people have been at the table and the fire circle tonight. As the sun sets completely we feel the full effect of the fire.
An Occupier opines, “I notice that CJMM is empty of street folks since the Bottle Shop Liquor Store closed. The street is empty too, even on good weather days. She says to Spiritual Man, “Do you know where all the street folks who are drinkers go for their liquor now that Kenny’s Bottle Shop has closed?” The Spirit Man replies, “I think they go up to the store on 4th St”.
Another Occupier adds, “Oh yeah, Loiselles. I thought that’s where they might go. I wonder where they’ll go after they get their alcohol. I know they don’t like to go too far from the store. I guess CHCC Park is the closest place to hang out. They’re gonna have a hard time asking for spare change in that 4th St neighborhood. None of the residents have much money. They’ll have to target people visiting Essentia Health. I don’t think that will go over very well”.
Spiritual Man’s friend has been quietly sitting on the bench in the shadows all evening. Apparently, he’s also been sipping on something. He suddenly jumps up and begins staggering around and yelling. He looks at a small group of Anons who are now sitting at the fire. “What’s wrong with you!?!” he hollers, “Are you all gay? How come you ain’t got no wimens?” He sits in the circle and continues, “If I had a fire like that I’d bring it into the house and sit with my arm around my woman. I’d rap and make love to her all night long”. An Occupier laughs, “If you brought that fire into your house, you’d burn the place down. That would not be very romantic”.
The drunk man doesn’t seem to have cared for that comment. He says, “You guys ain’t shit! I’m gonna go find me some white boys who like to shoot pool” and staggers off. Spiritual Man just shakes his head. The drunken man is not really a friend of his; just someone he met on the street that followed him over to our fire.
It’s well past 9pm and we are planning on packing up but the Anons keep putting more wood on the fire. Just as we start to gather up the wood we see the Stylish Native Woman and her partner coming across the street. This is great! We haven’t seen them since last fall. Nevermind….. We put more wood on the fire.
The couple has come for coffee but have to settle for apple juice. We’d heard that the partner was forced to have a couple of his fingers amputated during the winter but that’s all we know. He shows us his left hand; the first 2 fingers have been amputated. He wants to tell his story; we listen.
We’d forgotten how soft his voice is; the traffic drowns out some of his words. From what we can gather the story is, he was sleeping outside all winter. At some point his fingers became frostbitten and he went to Essentia ER. They bandaged him and gave him some medicine and sent him on his way. Seeing as he had no place else to go, he continued to sleep outside. His fingers became frostbitten again and the police forced him to go back to the ER.
In the ER he was given a large dose of morphine and then asked to sign a paper. He doesn’t remember signing anything but his signature was on the paper. They then put him into an induced coma. When he eventually woke up he found that his fingers had been amputated. He wasn’t real happy about that.
They then refused to allow his visitors, even the Stylish Woman and his parents, to visit him. They tried to make him take his medication for his schizophrenia but he refused. He absolutely hates to take it. They called some lawyers and a judge and said he was incompetent. He says, “I know they were trying to have me committed to St. Peters. They’ve tried before. I just kept arguing with them and refusing to go along with their program. Finally they just let me go so now I’m missing 2 fingers, can’t even roll my own cigarettes and still don’t have a place to live.
“I must have got their attention though. Now I have an ARHMS worker and a couple of social workers. They say they will find me an apartment that I can rent. If I don’t find a place by next winter I guess I’ll have to sue all concerned”.
We know it will be hard to find a place for the partner to live. He has 2 old felonies on his record and his schizophrenia causes him to have fits of yelling. However, he always tries to go off by himself to yell; he’s considerate of others. We think the mental health people get really pissed off at a guy with his illness who still manages to see the game they’re playing and to stand up for himself. He seems to always land on his feet. We admire the Stylish Native Woman who has stood by his side for many, many years.
So now its’s after 10pm and we really must go. We say, “Now that the fire’s back you’ll know where to find us on Tuesdays, at least”. We will also look for them on the street.
So……… Good lord willin’ and the creek don’t rise….. We’ll be back here next Tuesday.

G.A. Minutes 5-30-17
The sky is covered with rain clouds this evening as we roll up to People’s Plaza. We know it’s not going to rain though; we checked the weather map before we drove down here. The map showed us that a string of rain clouds would pass over the area but Duluth was on the tail end of it. The temperature is in the low 50s with occasional gusts of south wind. Everything will be just fine.
As we begin setting up, a large group of young bloods from Anonymous arrive. It looks like the entire crew is here. They help with the set up; then some of them take their signs and sound system and go out to the street corner to preach to the cars.
The rest of the Anons sit around the fire circle. The city official asks, “What do people think about the idea of a guaranteed annual income?” The Occupiers think it’s a good idea; some of the Anons are unsure about what it is. We explain the concept. An Occupier tells them, “Some people believe if our country had a guaranteed annual income most people would quit their jobs and lie around drinking and taking drugs all day. However, in European countries that are currently experimenting with giving out the income, that’s not what they’re finding.
“They find that people are using the funds to meet their basic necessities, pay off their debts, access education and training and to try to start their own businesses. They find that people are no longer homeless and/or starving anymore”.
An Anon inquires, “Did you guys see that He Who Shall Not Be Named signed an executive order making it legal to hunt bald eagles?” No one has heard about this; most say “What!?! Or WTF!?!” An Occupier remarks, “An order like that will certainly be struck down by the court system. Bald eagles are on the endangered species list. HWSNBN cannot just make pronouncements about anything he damned well pleases and supersede any law he wants. I wonder if he’ll ever be able to figure that out”.
A stylishly dressed, very pretty young woman walks up. She says hello to one of the Occupier couples and asks if they remember her. The couple does not recognize her but they don’t say so. After chatting a little they’re able to determine that the young woman is a regular at the monthly Indigenous Commission Sobriety Feast.
The Feast is open to all people but is generally attended by young Native families from the Central Hillside neighborhood who are struggling with various types substance abuse and addiction. The Occupier couple also attends the monthly feast; they always make a big healthy hotdish to share. Most of the attendees are struggling financially too, so a good free meal is appreciated.
The stylish young woman takes a seat, looks around at all the people in the circle and out on the sidewalk and says, “So what do you guys all believe?” An Occupier tells her, “I think we’re all on similar versions of the same page. I’d say the one thing we all are is anti-capitalists”. The woman responds, “What does that mean?”
The Occupier continues, “Well, you know how some people are born with access to more money and material things than the rest of us? Those people then get to have agencies, companies or whatever where they hire some of the rest of us to do the work. They pay their workers very little and keep most of the profits for themselves. Basically they’re allowed to get rich from the labor of others”. We see a look of recognition on the young woman’s face. She understands a lot; she just doesn’t know the current terminology.
She says to us, “I have a really hard time focusing on just one thing. I’m always aware of and watching everything in my surroundings. A therapist told me that I’m hypervigilant. I guess it’s because I have been hurt and kicked around so many times; you have no idea what I have been through. I’ve even been hurt by churches”. When some of the Anons return from the sidewalk we notice the young woman is already acquainted with them.
A middle aged, chronically homeless man who has been attending our fires for several years sits down. He has a bus pass that he is trying to sell. No one in the circle is interested but the man has always really liked our coffee; he gets a cup and takes a seat. He fills us in on this week’s street gossip.
The man asks an Occupier, “Don’t I see you up at the Mission?” The Occupier has recently accepted a job as a greeter for the evening meal at the Mission feeding center. He answers the man, “Yup, that’s me. I’ve only been there a few weeks. The most people we’ve served so far were 160 within 45 minutes. I think I’m doing o.k.; no one has physically or verbally attacked me anyway”.
Two young men who are vaguely familiar to us arrive. Their appearance suggests they are some of our neighborhood’s homeless and living on the street folks. The Native guy smudges and they both sit down. The Native guy gestures toward a bush at the back of the Plaza. He says, “That’s where I’m living these days. I need to go check and see if my stuff is still there. When he returns, he is carrying a jar that is about half filled with coins. He sits to count it out then puts all the pennies in a cup on the table. He and his friend wander off, presumably to spend the rest of the coins somewhere.
An Occupier asks, “Did you all see where a bunch of inside information has been leaked that shows there was coordination between the security company hired by Energy Transfer, the local cops, several other police departments and the U.S. military during the water protector camps at Standing Rock? They called the water protectors terrorists and treated them as such. Another Occupier adds that she was appalled by the extreme racist attitudes displayed by people from the dominant culture of North and South Dakota.
The big Native Anon exclaims, “It’s been over 500 years since we came into contact with Europeans and many of them still don’t see us as human beings!”
Someone remarks, “With all the wars that HWSNBN is trying to start, I wonder if they’ll bring back the draft”. An Occupier answers, “I don’t think that would work anymore. Too many people are aware of the bullshit”.
An Anon opines, “Yeah, we’re not stupid anymore. We’ve learned about Vietnam. We know the real story about Iraq and Afghanistan. The wars are never for the reasons the so called rulers say that they are. We know that it’s not a coincidence that opium poppies are the major crop in Afghanistan and the United States is in the midst of a major heroin epidemic”.
Another Anon states, “Hey did you know that those little denture cleansing tablets can be used as a detoxifier to allow a person to pass a drug test? A while back I got a call from my P.O. She said I had to come to her office in two days to take a piss test. I thought, ‘Shit, I’ve been smoking weed all weekend. What am I gonna do now?’ My uncle showed me how to use those denture tablets. I passed my test”. The Anon explains the denture cleanser process.
An Occupier exclaims, “I sure wish I had known about that when I was still working. I spent a lot of money on those detoxifier kits from Last Place On Earth in order to keep my job. Denture tablets would have been a lot cheaper”. We all laugh.
Another Occupier reports, “The documentary First Daughter and The Black Snake is going to be shown free of charge at the Zinema on Thursday at 7pm and at AICHO on Saturday at 5pm. I think Winona LaDuke expects to be at the Thursday showing”. We all plan to attend one of the showings.
The partner of Ms. Community Cleanup arrives. We’re surprised at how good he looks. He tells us, “I’ve got 100 days sober”. We see that most of the Anons also know him. One of them comments, “You look really healthy dude”. He does; he’s put on weight and is speaking coherently. Everyone congratulates him.
A woman from the Skinner Apartments comes up. She has attended our fires at the Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial in the past. She gets coffee and observes, “So you guys are still kickin’ it, huh?” We reply, “Yup”.
It’s now 8:45pm and still light out. An Anon points to a cloud coming down from hill and says, “That one looks like a real rain cloud”. An Occupier disagrees, “Nah, it’s gonna pass”. Everyone sits quietly just watching the roaring fire.
The big clock strikes 9pm and…….SWOOSH!!! Rain comes pouring down. Everyone jumps up; the Fire Magician runs to get the vehicles. We throw a sheet of plastic over the table and stack up all the chairs. The fire and the sage are still burning brightly in spite of the downpour. The street folks all run for cover.
The Occupiers and Anons just stand around the fire and laugh. We’re getting drenched but it’s not very cold. Someone comments, “This feels kinda good”. Eventually, the vehicles arrive and we load everything up. We pack up the Anon sound equipment too; fortunately, it’s water proof. Once we are done and the fire is put out………. The rain stops.
Oh well, time to go home and dry off. We’ll be back next Tuesday.