What I Saw At the Revolution, Part 1

On Friday, October 7th 2011 I visited the protesters at Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan. I wanted to get some sense of what day-to-day living was like for them, and get a perspective on the size of the event. This first batch of photos and recordings is from my cell phone.

 Arriving early in the morning (about 10 A.M.) many of the protesters were still asleep,and it was rather quiet. I walked around and checked out some of the signs.

I met a man dressed in a Fox News costume. Seeing me walking around, taking pictures, and not quite dressed like everyone else he joked that they all knew I was with the FBI. As we spoke more, he started to explain some things about the nature of the protest, specifically the day-to-day organization.

Apologies for the sideways orientation. I don't know if that can be fixed. 

To give you an idea of the size of things, I walked around the perimeter of the entire park once and filmed my walk. 

I started at the western-most corner, the intersection of Trinity and Cedar, and walked around clockwise. 

I left to have lunch with a friend and returned after noon and the crowd - observers and participants - had swelled. Here is a short video scanning the length of the park from across Liberty Street.

Entertainment was in full swing: drumming and hula-hoops:

In order for one person to communicate something to the whole crowd, a protester does something called a "mic check" or uses the "people's mic"; you stand up, yell, "mic check!" and the crowd nearby repeats, "mic check!" Then you state your message or announcement a sentence at a time, and they repeat each sentence to  you as you say it. When you're done, you say, "Thank you!"

I only managed to capture one of these, but I saw an entire speech by Naomi Klein delivered in this manner, by the woman herself, on their live feed.  It reminds me of other logistics I observed at Woodstock 1994 such as calling the medic. In that manouevre, if you see a person requiring medical attention in a thick crowd you tap the shoulder of the nearest person between you and the medics at the front of the stage, point backwards, and yell, "MEDIC!" The next person does the same, and when the message reaches the EMTs, the crowd parts like the Red Sea, and the medics rush down to where the injured person is.

To sum up my impressions:

• The protest site is not a cesspool of human waste and trash, as some want to imply (I have seen that story repeated several times in the past few days, with no change and no useful observations reported). 
• The protest site and the participants are is organized, if not pretty. 

I have a shitload of pictures from my digital SLR that I will punch up later today. 

NICHE Lighting Sample Sale

Today in Beacon a local business was selling hand-made blown glass globes. They were rather expensive, even at 50% off, but they are beautiful. 

Another artist was selling bowls.

Here are the glassblowers themselves:

More Rocketry

It was a fine day to break out one of last Christmas' presents, a model rocket, and go to Beacon Memorial Park to launch it. 

The first picture is of one we've had since last year. This was the last one we fired off, and I put too strong of an engine in it. It sailed over 1000 feet then drifted far away to the southwest. 

You can see the exhaust gasses starting to flare out.

Gone.

This yellow one, below, is the one I gave Finn for Christmas last year. In the nose there are three blades that fan out and cause the nose cone to drift to the ground like a helicopter. The fuselage and fins drift with the typical parachute.

The problem was that the exhaust that is supposed to push the nose cone off and the parachute, too, was not strong enough or I packed the 'chute too tightly. The first time the nose cone came off and functioned just fine. But the 'chute failed to deploy and the fuselage fell straight into the dirt. The second time, neither deployed. The rocket is pretty beat up at the moment. But it was fun.

We only did these two launches before a concerned parent asked us to move. He was afraid that his little league game or whatever was going on would get hurt somehow. It was about 1000 ft from us, and the last rocket we fired drifted high over them, but the first two went in the opposite direction.

More Pictures From Lake Ontario

First day, just minutes after pulling in.

Finn enjoying the first day.

The first Lake Ontario Sunset I had seen in over ten years. 

The view before the rains of Irene hit.

Wide-angle shot of the upstairs.

After being cooped up inside all day, Finn enjoys the water after Irene abates.

The day after Irene.

Dee and Bill visit. We had not seen them in 27 years.

We convinced Dee and Bill to stay for dinner and sunset.

Finn is not sure what to do with the goats at Old MacDonald's Farm, a petting  zoo near Sacket's Harbor.

Jennifer loved the guinea hens.

Whence the expression, "happy as a pig."

That is a big cow.

One advantage of a telephoto lens - you can get in close and see stuff people don't think you are seeing....

...like Cara being visibly pissed off at Mike.

A little later she was overjoyed to fly a tiny kite.

Ken arrived and things got real exciting.

Finn found some way to have fun every day.

We have some weird rule that we have to take pictures of each other running, it seems.

Finn's light painting with a glowing stick.

Somehow a tiny island developed just a few feet from the water line. Finn and I build what I came to call  Mont. Saint. Michel.

Detail of that famous drip method that all kids seem to know.

Ken's castle

Detail of Ken's castle.

Castle with moat.

Mont Saint. Michel in the sun.

Detail of tunnel in Jenn's castle.

Jenn's castle.