It seems to me these days, that Occupy is everywhere. Scribbles on hats worn backwards by skater teenagers in town, small snippets popping up in Obama's economic speeches, special editions on the nightly news.
In every city that I have visited over the past week- Occupy is there.
In Santa Cruz, the Occupiers have erected a 20' dome to keep out the rain. This is not burning man: this is is Occupy- and what would have seemed unlikely a month back-- a geodesic structure inhabited by anarchists, retired peace activists, and homeless folks alike plopping itself down in the middle of the front entrance to the county Courthouse-- is now common day.
In Davis- the most benign suburban valley town-- a whole encampment has sprung up in the park that usually houses the Farmers Market, behind a sign that reads 'All Together Everywhere'. A perfect, seemingly non-political, kum-ba-ya Davis version of Occupy.
Our friends in Oakland were at the protests that shut down the Port. They had great stories of blockading banks, marching thousands strong down the main streets of Oakland, of banding together against hostile hummer drivers.
Occupy exists both in the concrete- the visible, and in the ethereal- through tales like these. In conversation it comes up often. A close friend's 19 year old daughter, I was told, vacated the studio she's been subletting in San Francisco and moved into Occupy San Francisco- as if that was a place to move into. My friend mused first as she spoke about it- proud of her kids' choice to be politically engaged- then she mentioned that it seems, rather coincidently, that all of her house hold sleeping bags have gone missing.
So it is. The movement many of us have been waiting for has finally arrived. People are talking about it, the message is clear-
Join Us-
Occupy is Everywhere.
