Dewy and groggy, I awoke on the ground this morning, staring up at the few towering buildings in downtown Baltimore. It had rained several times that night, but not since I finally laid down about 3 hours previous. Sleeping on my bag to protect my valuables, I did in some ways envy those with a tent, as I probably could've slept heavier and awoken drier inside of a structure. Still, since I can't be there every night, don't have a car for easy transport, and don't have a tent in my direct possession, sleeping on the ground was simpler. In the event of rain, a recently erected makeshift tent was covering the comfort supplies, providing a backup place to move to should the rain pick up again.
The first tent!
It is remarkable how much the occupy site has changed in the 10 days we have been here. While I have only missed 2 days total and attended most General Assembly meetings, I missed the last 2 GA's, and have felt slightly detached because of it. Some have suggested a plan to add online interaction to the GA, but others have balked at this, feeling people should be present to interact. I think both positions have merit, since sustained presence is key to getting our message across, but I'm sympathetic to the fact that many people can't make every meeting.
Tents now fill space that was once cordoned off, and a new fence separates us from the fountain we had been hanging banners and parking bikes on (its a strange structure, I'll take some pictures tonight to demonstrate). This is an amazing development, but I can't help but feel the tents will need more organization going forward, to ensure the space is attractive. While that is a superficial issue, it does affect how people perceive what we do, and winning as many people over as possible is our goal.
Tents, Tents, Tents!
This weekend is the Baltimore Marathon, which is using the Occpy Baltimore space as one of the stations on the run for hydration. The Marathon organizers have been extremely gracious and don't mind sharing the space, but the city has enforced some of the rules for the space, which I think is related to why we have to move off the fountain. Everything has to be on one side of a series of dividers by this morning. I'm not sure when we were told, but we are abiding, as we seem to have won the larger victory by erecting structures.
There is a certain poetry to our location.
So, we have permanence, now is the time for the big work to start. There are people working on bringing unions down, with the United Workers already making an appearance yesterday. We have a representative going to pitch our effort to the SEIU next week. We have a school teacher bringing her class down to the site to see us in action. We have churches and nonprofits interested in helping out, but we need to focus on the big actions. Marches are what have brought crowds to all the occupy protests so far. One of the cooler ideas I have heard is going into neighborhoods and taking over abandoned lots as a beautification program. We wont necessarily camp out there for the time being, but if we were to be pushed off this space, we would have numerous backup locations to disperse to. This is something I'm hoping to get directly involved in. We'll see how it goes this weekend.
Signing off now. I plan to update a few times a week here, as long as #occupybaltimore keeps going!