What I Saw at Occupy Wall Street

FINALLY, I had a couple of hours to go down to the FiDi yesterday where I joined the hundreds of people who formed the messy, glorious, thoroughly inspiring be-in called Occupy Wall Street. I saw drummers and dancers. I saw Native Americans and Hasidic Jews. I saw an impromptu lending library. I saw crates of freshly-picked apples provided by a local farms. I saw filthy, tattooed young people. I saw elderly folks. I heard poets. I was cursed out for several minutes for refusing to give a guy my email address; his chorus of "F#$% You"s became part of the soundscape of the gathering, illuminated his bitterness.


I read placards and bios and signs and slogans. I saw America in tatters, I saw America refusing to be down for the count. I felt the spirit of Emma Lazarus, Ben Franklin, Susan B. Anthony and the agitators across the centuries, toiling for a cause.


At Zuccotti Park, I saw the future of America. Here is some of what I saw: