On Tuesday, October 17, 2010, I am sweeping the main quad when a young man comes up to me and invites me to come up and get some good food at the media tent. I gather this is a reward for my sweeping and I accept as I have intended to visit the media tent but have not been up the hill to do so.
There has been evidence that things are not quite what they seem or that there are definitely different factions appearing. That is because the GA meetings have been moved back and forth from one side of the City Hall to the other. This is because power to the microphones has not been available.
Power literally and figuratively has become a big thing. Who has the generators and who has the money to buy and supply generators?
In the beginning of my residency there was a big deal made about how self sufficient we were because we had a major benefactor who was donating and supplying all the power by solar panels etc. Flanking the side of each stairway to the main quad was two big solar panels. I am impressed that technology has so improved that these four panels are now producing that much electricity.
A week later I am shown how behind the scenes there are about 30 to 40 panels. I have been encouraged to buy at a seminar a movable and portable system for personal power generation at the half price sale of about 500 dollars. I have always wanted to do this so I am really considering this. However, when asked exactly how much wattage is produced, I have never been given a concrete answer.
I also had a strange encounter with older white haired man in my peer group on Friday night--the first time the GA was denied the solar powered media. This man stated that he was not part of the OWS but was part of Occuply LA and he was occupying it. This man put up a big screen on the memorial fountain and black plastic bags on the street lamps he considered interferring. I began to listen to many people who started saying that Occupy LA was the main deal and the only deal that mattered.
There has appeared to be splits between the media sources. After a few days some kind of resolution takes place and then the split occurs again. As of this moment, I do not understand the real issues and the coming and goings. I can only report my observations.
Back to my personal first encounter on the media hill. I meet this woman who is definitely in my peer group but has blonde hair. I have no idea who she is. Even though I have been invited, she treats me like a retard because I am walking with a cane and being very careful where I put my feet etc. She begins yelling about her 50,000 dollars worth of equipment etc. Eventually, she indicates I can take a seat.
I do not gossip nor do I repeat rumors. I listen and then ask direct questions to the person most able to answer them. It has been observed to some degree that I function this way. This woman begins with who are you and what are you doing here? There is nothing gentle or welcoming about her manner. This is an interrogation.
So I answer I have been an activist all my life but as an adult in the American Association of University Women, Business and Professional Women, and the National Women's Political Caucus. She backs off to some degree. She tells me that she is nationally and internationally known and that she has many charities and foundations and she is furnishing the power. She tells me she knows the white haired guy I have observed and he is a drunk and she has a body guard to keep him out of her tent. I accept all her statements at face value and think we should have no problems.
But then in further conversation, she says she has a big empty building in downtown LA which Occupy LA wants and she may give it to them. This sets off a little bell in my head.
Big empty buildings are common in downtown LA. I had already considered the possibility of someone letting us use one if we could get our act together. I think you have to build towards success.
It has now become obvious that there is some kind of group that thinks they will turn into another official non profit and become part of the system of considerations that push and pull the various functions of LA. That is part of the discussion of the c3 versus the c4 non profits. The c3's must provide education, be transparent and accountable. The c4's are political non profits that do not have disclose lots of stuff. The lady is all c4. When a nonprofit is collapsed, it can only give its funds to the same kind of nonprofit.
My personal view is that a building would be nice but nothing would be worth getting into bed with this particular lady as I have watched her interactions with her own staff. How long will it take people to understand that the end never justifies the mean. The means are the end. You are what you do now.
I have now resolved that I will stay but I will have to empower an affinity group. One without a particular agenda. One that will observe, report, and follow the action. One that will stand back and seek the big picture. One that recognizes and prepares for opportunity if it arrives. One that will work for success of this movement in all ways possible but one that will record the why and how of its failure, if that is what we do to it.