November 19, 2011. When I visited Occupy Wall Street 11 days ago, there were over a hundred small tents and several large tents including a library, first aid station and a food tent. Two days ago, the 17th of November marked the two month anniversary of the movement. My interest in returning was too observe the activity of the protesters when they had no place to sleep and to see if their protest signs carried a more centralized theme.
Within view of the Empire State Building, Paddy and I met Morgan in Hoboken and had a delicious lunch at the Hudson Tavern.
We took a cab to the Path location and followed the crowd to the entrance. The pillars, marked with the letter E, were reminders of the old days when it was the Erie Railroad.
Inside the car, on the move, it was a relaxed atmosphere.
No sooner did we arrive in Manhattan, than we met Morgan's friend John.
Checking out today's visitors, it looked like everyone was heading toward Zuccotti Park, so the four of us followed the crowd.
My first observation was how un-crowded it was, half of the park was vacant and the police presence was quite small.
When I visited 11 days ago, the protests signs were about: war is not the answer, shutting down nuclear power plants, wall street, genocide in Armenia, Monsanto Corp, the dislike of Fox News and Ronald Regan and of course: please make a donation.
On this visit, most of the "protest" signs had no theme at all. One young lady had no particular beef about anything, she just wanted us to know she came all the way from Burlington, Vermont (and reading her face): that she was having fun "just hanging out".
Another young lady, clean cut, with perfect makeup, wanted us to know that she was "Occupying" with her parents. As I passed them, her mom looked like she was enjoying the visit, but her dad had a look of: "what am I doing here". In many cases, it was difficult to understand the protester's message, with the exception of the donation boxes.
Religious groups were well represented with their messages:
About this time, Paddy and I decided to have a cup of coffee at Charley's, which was across the street from Zuccotti Park. While seated, Paddy pointed to the people sitting behind her and whispered: "Buenos Aires!". I said: "NO WAY", you can't pin down a city from briefly hearing the accent. So I got up to ask and sure enough Paddy was right ! The friendly couple were from La Plata, a province of Buenos Aires, and coincidently, the town where Paddy was born. A few minutes later Morgan said farewell to his friend John and joined us in Charley's.
After coffee, we headed back to the park and everyone was shouting WEDDING. Was it because it was a day of protest, that on this occasion there was a GAY WEDDING? One of them, not sure if it was the "bride" or "groom", went all teary eyed when the vows were taken. The "wedding official" was apparently decked out in his finest "wedding official" apparel.
Click HERE to view the wedding video (I put it on youtube)
Shortly after the wedding another protest became vocal, it was the 1000 Architects and Engineers who have serious doubts that the Muslims brought down the World Trade Center on 911 and are demanding a "real" investigation.
An interesting cast of characters ever present.
Reading their sign, these two sit-ins somehow think Zuccottii Park was theirs and I'll bet that any Jew in Manhattan could explain the difference between Zuccotti Park and a concentration camp. Where do these protesters go to school?
At this camera angle, it would appear that Morgan was showing off his big model airplane, but not so, it's 10 feet behind him.
After an enjoyable time in the city, we headed back to the PATH and then to Hoboken. Morgan sure has a nice view of the Manhattan Skyline from his apartment. Paddy and I took another of our famous "mirror shots" at Morgan's place.
It was an interesting day at Zuccotti Park and it appears that the Occupy Wall Street movement was winding down: Fewer protesters, fewer police, no TV media trucks and the "protesters" that were present were just hanging out for something to do, or perhaps go down in their family history book as "yep, I was in the Occupy Wall Street Movement". It will be interesting to observe whether the movement will survive the cold weather and if not, will it emerge next year when the weather is warmer ?