I arrived early, shortly after two pm.
Parked down the street from the scheduled occupation. Gotta move the car in two hours.
There are probably a hundred folk gathered around in little circles, each with their own discussions ...especially when they're silent.
Father Nathan just passed by. Johnny is here: knew he would be. Met and chatted with some guy named Gordon.
More are arriving. Bunch of tables so far up and down the plaza, and I'm sure more to come. They're all here for the same occasion, but what's their reason? Why are teens with gauged piercings sharing space with older gentlemen and ladies, some with trinkets, instruments, signs and shirts? Three generations ...with a common thread that is not blood, yet pulsing through their veins providing the aliment for the cause.
I'm sitting across from Winston Arnow, enjoying a brilliantly welcoming, something, something day.
Conversations -- ADEP, social services, politics, greed, corporations, Rick Scott health care. We'll leave the opinions to themselves ...maybe.
"You gave my sign away, that I made this morning!?" Gordon jokingly pokes at his friend.
Johnny has bumper stickers ...$2; newsletters and mags for free. Cameras all over ...and sunglasses, hats, chairs, balloons ...even some bongos, an accordion and guitars.
"The bottom line is greed. You can't regulate greed. We can only regulate actions."
"This is where all the angry debate is going to happen!" says a white guy in sunglasses, motioning loose circles with both hands generalizing an area on the plaza steps where over a half dozen men with opinions stand and sit telling each other the facts with devout sincerity in their tones. This is also the part of the plaza where the soapbox will 'occupy.' How's that gonna go?
I hear music. Down the walk, I think someone has set up a small band. Eventually, I'll make my way back down the walk and check it out. For now, I'll watch and listen as well over a hundred (maybe two) have chosen to occupy.
Time to move the car from the '2 Hour Parking' spot. Good time to grab a bite to eat.
___________
WUWF 88.1 FM keeps me company as I drive around looking for a safe parking space within walking distance from the occupation. Even during the pledge drives I prefer listening to NPR. "Ah, here we go."
But, I digress ...
"This is not capitalism. This is not socialism. This is corporatism ...[We need to] stop looting and start prosecuting!" rallies one man on the soapbox.
"Silent no more!" another man iterates a few times, each time louder prompting the crowd to chant.
A few hundred by now, many encircling the soapbox in front of the MLK Jr. bust. It's almost 5pm.
"We have a problem with the system ...it's not working for the 99%!"
"Solidarity!"
A solidarity kaleidoscope.
Hearing conversations of varying agendas and opinions. Twice now, I've signed petitions for county commissioner ballot names. Both 'no party affiliation' which is definitely a plus, and probably intentional; Are they claiming 'no party' to appeal for numbers in a crowd emphatically fed-up with the established political arena, or are they genuinely grass-rooting and have a plan to make a difference -- that WOULD make a difference? We could only hope and wait.
Besides the obvious personal discussions people have as they find friends and meet strangers, the overwhelming congruous spirit is one of change - something all here heard a couple of years ago, but most are still waiting for. I get the feeling that they're tired of waiting ...and sick of the rhetoric. The issues of change, that at least this spirit in America has been propagating for decades, in corporatism, politics, healthcare, environmental influences and the polygamist marriages of.
"Read the Constitution. Read the Declaration of Independence ..."
I've been reading a copy of the Federalist Papers (it's a long, deep read). The same spirit, although quite muddled from over two centuries of socio-political interests and ills, that fought for a land of freedom and seceded from tyranny is here: to pursue life, liberty and happiness: to promote a protected freedom, foreign and domestic. Remembering history and engraving a platform for personal, communal, spiritual, political and economic freedom that is based on the lessons learned.
From the foundation of this nation, future generations were advised of what can come -- what WILL come if we don't protect that freedom; What to expect in opposition; Where the line between security and freedom lies. We were warned about those that thrive off of the deprivation and enslavement of the populous. Those leeches who religiously suck life from those who have little choice but to succumb to the ever-deepening avarice pool. Some of those warnings even came from slave owners.
Seeking more solid ground, and hopefully not willing to settle for just a 'less-filthy pond,' the occupiers demand a fair shake; Demand that one percent does not make a majority; Demand that corporations do not govern through their pocketbooks, but rather the people govern the institutions; Demand that those elected into office understand 'We the people' not 'I, the fat pig.'
Well, at least that's what I came away with.
It's 6:15pm ...the crowd is thinning.
