Occupy the Highway Reaches Baltimore

My wife is staying with her mother, and I had thought about visiting Occupy DC this weekend, but I decided to work instead. On weekends the office is quiet enough that I can fully concentrate on my cad draughting chores. A fellow called Weasel used to deejay for WHFS, 102.3 FM in Bethesda, when it was a progressive rock station in the 1970s and 80s, and is now doing a Saturday show for WTMD, a public alt rock station broadcast from Towson University. So I grooved and got quite a bit done. 

Over lunch I checked out Occupy Baltimore's website. They were planning to support a SleepOut in front of City Hall, and planned a solidarity march to welcome fifty Occupy the Highway (OtH) marchers, shown in the video above, who had been interviewed en route by WBAL, as shown in this video. 

It was a busy Saturday evening at Baltimore's Inner Harbor. Two large party tents, full of partiers, were set up on the lawn and a group of people in what looked like Mardi Gras costumes were assembling next to the visitor's center. I had a feeling they weren't there to welcome the OtH marchers. The Statsraad Lehmkuhl from Bergen, Norway, a stunning three-masted barque, was moored just past the visitor's center. Some faux-mariachi musicians told me they were part of a city parade to bring Santa Claus to his throne. 


Santa's Place is a small glass building between the two Inner Harbor shopping buildings, and right across Light Street from McKeldin Square.  Lots of families with small children were waiting for the parade. Everyone looked prosperous and happy.

Across the street, Occupy Baltimore looked even more settled in with two large green canvas campaign tents replacing some open tables. Some women were painting signs like, Welcome to the Occupioneers, on pieces of cloth. A handsome young woman named Joy, with nice dreadlocks, was answering questions for a man, boy and transgendered woman. I listened and then asked her what she thought about the Spokes Council - she liked the idea, but it hadn't affected OB yet. We talked on and off about the usual Occupy issues as people came by. I told her that a lot of people like me with jobs and kids weren't sure how to fit in with Occupy since we didn't have the time to live in McKeldin. She said that having people show up in solidarity when they were threatened with eviction was always appreciated. An older lady named Geraldine came over and showed us a drawing of her profile from the City Paper. Joy told me that some MICA students had recently sketched Occupiers. 

Two guys were doing dance steps on pointed toes. I was somehow reminded of parkour, and Joy told me it was an offshoot. A homeless alcoholic fellow came over to chat. Joy asked if he had picked a phone number at the resource station, and he good-naturedly complained that so many people at Occupy were trying to help him. A large black man with bumper stickers on his clothing was threatening to harass Mayor Rawlings-Blake at the Santa ceremony. Joy told him that was a bad idea, but he didn't seem to be a listener. [I think he was Darrick, mentioned in this tweet.] A woman popped out of a tent and mic checked a report about when the marchers were expected at Patterson Park. The plan was to meet them at the Pagoda and march in solidarity together to McKeldin.

I saw a young black woman pushing a really woozy-looking young black man on a three wheeled office chair. She brought him to a tent, then took his arm and guided him to a cot. A few minutes later an ambulance arrived and the man was being taken away on a stretcher. Joy left, and I found myself talking to AD, a young fellow that had shown up a few days before. A few early OtH marchers came in, one named Turtle, from Occupy Philly, I think. He's wearing a pale blue flat cap in the video at the top. A short, bearded man was explaining the difference between Occupy DC and Occupy McPherson Square. Turtle was tired and found a place to sit. There were lots of new people showing up. Another mic check suggested that Occupy DC had been cleared. People were upset, but insisted they would march there anyway.

A few people started banging out a drumbeat. I saw a fellow that looked like a coworker, but wasn't. John began telling me all about his writing, a dystopian story set after a worldwide depression in 2040. I told him about some of the stories submitted to Greer's site. AD came over and they spoke a little French together. Fireworks shot up around Santa's Place, and the big fellow came back bragging about dropping two Occupy bombs on the Mayor. 

A young woman near Turtle was being interviewed and filmed, and there was a friendly group sitting with them, a smiling black man that reminded me of Hines Ward, a girlish young woman named Daniela from DC, and a fellow who said he was originally raised in France. Turtle went into the tent to have his feet tended. They talked about one marcher, Owen, that had insisted on marching barefoot. AD was playing at soccer moves with an agile young boy.

Lisa, a marcher from Occupy Philadelphia, was cold and tired. I asked her brief questions and she tended to rant at length. Some of what she was saying reminded me of a recent Dan Kervick comment. She didn't want to tear down the system, she just wanted fairness. She had gotten As in college and had been making almost $50K when she was suddenly laid off two years ago, so she felt that she hadn't done anything wrong to deserve her situation. She still lives with her diabetic Dad. She wants to get married and raise a family, but the guys she meets aren't prosperous enough to consider marriage. She's afraid she'll be too old by the time the economy is fixed. Another cameraman asked to interview her. I hope she found someplace warm. Yet another mic check clarified that eight or nine people from Occupy DC had been arrested for trespassing after trying to occupy an old homeless shelter, but DC was still occupied. 

The combined Occupy hosts came marching in to cheers of We Are The 99%! The bumper sticker man led mic check cheers for them. There may have been 150 people in the square, and there was a lot of energy. Dinner was served soon afterwards, and occupiers were asked to let marchers eat first. General Assembly was to follow. A pretty Asian reporter from WJZ came in with a cameraman. They took video footage of Owen's bare feet.

It was almost 8:30, and I thought about leaving. A guy was giving a young woman a ride on his bike trailer. Another woman was walking a flashy white bike. She put her bike down to take a picture, so I watched her stuff. She took a photo of a really cute young woman, who came over and showed us a Philly t-shirt showing Ben Franklin wearing a bandit's mask. The woman on the bike introduced herself as Penny, and I realized she ran Light Street Cycles, which is right down the street from my office, and she realized I was a customer. We talked bikes for a bit, and about good relations with the local police. She wanted to go home, but didn't want to miss a General Assembly with such a diverse group. I didn't expect much from the GA, myself, so I sidled on out.