Here are photos from this morning in Zuccotti Park. The crowd is sparse now.Cat guy is still there, however.
Archive for the ‘news’ category
Update on Zuccotti Park (Occupy Wall Street) – 11/21/11
November 21, 2011More Pix of OWS (Zuccotti Park)- 11/18/11 – A Whole Lot of Chatting Going On
November 19, 2011
Sorry to those who are not interested, but I walk by Zuccotti Park frequently, and find the changing dynamic kind of fascinating (though my iPhone pix don’t really convey it.)
Yesterday (Friday, November 18), was a much calmer day–a whole lot of chatting going on: Protesters or bystanders with the police (some of the younger protestors were kind of taunting, but most people seemed just to talk)==the police gabbing with each other–the Brooksfield people (I think they are the security guards in neon green vests) moaning with each other–the protestors chanting, and in the evening, singing soft songs.
The Daily Show had a piece by Samantha Bee talking about the divisions in the park before the break-up. I had not specifically focused on these before, but I think Bee’s piece was really accurate–the library, the speak and repeat crowd, the bicycle generators (all put together by the more “intellectual” types) were on the East Side by Broadway–the drum circle, the Sufi-garbed and yogic breathing, cat guy, tended to be at the West End (by Church.)
Protesters still seem to congregate at the tips of the Park , but it’s all a lot more sparse and mixed up. (Cat guy, for example, has moved East.)
One of the dark pictures at the bottom has what looks like someone’s head leaning against a police barricade. This is the head of the bronze sculpture (“Double Check”) of a man with a brief case; the lights are red white and blue glow sticks.
Cat Guy
Trying A Banner Run Up Broadway
"Double Checker"
Friday Flash 55–At the subway by Zuccotti Park
November 18, 2011On the subway by Zuccotti Park
I noticed her yesterday jammed among lines/signs/police I tried to avoid–tall, peaked cap, plastic calf brace.
Having trouble at turnstile today, I swiped for her, said awkward/friendly, “better watch out for that leg.”
Fumbling bills one-handed to repay, “no, stroke accident.”
About 28?
I fumbled now, “Don’t worry about it.”
The above is my offering for Friday Flash 55. Tell it to the G-man.
Below are some photos I took yesterday of Zuccotti Park. As followers of this blog know, I live in downtown Manhattan and so go by the park every day. Yesterday, I was mainly impressed by the cheek by jowl aspect of the protestors and the police, who seemed remarkably at ease with each other, despite obvious irritation. The police are tired of standing around there; the protesters are mad (and kind of confused. Many have always seemed pretty confused. But now, there’s a palpable sense of not knowing where to be/what comes next.) Please note that I am just posting the photos for information; I am not advocating the views in the signs.
Zuccotti Park – Morning After Clearing – 11/15/11
November 15, 2011Whew. Just walked by Zuccotti Park. And I take back a lot of this morning’s post. I don’t know what Bloomberg should have done–tents were probably not a great idea. I can understand the concern that in an age of “see something, say something,” a bunch of tents in a public square can pose genuine security threats.
But what’s happening this morning is very scary. The police presence is overwhelming. I’m talking hundreds of cops in riot gear, vans and vans. (My pictures really can’t convey the feeling of the park.)
The protesters left are gamely trying to march up Liberty Street, very hemmed in, chanting. (One girl with a prosthesis, older people, all kinds of people.)
They are surrounded in addition to the police by so many people with cameras, press, passers-by. Brokers have come out to watch. Tourists don’t quite know what they are doing in the middle of it. STreet is shaking with the chant of protesters and also, well, a sense of fear. Maybe Bloomberg’s idea is to avoid confrontation through a crushing police presence, I don’t know, but it is awful to see. I’m still shaking inside.
To be fair, my only personal confrontation with a policeman was his telling me to watch out for the red light stop sign–i.e. get out of the middle of Broadway till the light changed.
And the police, in general, seem disciplined, undaunted by picture taking. No one is trying to stop anyone from doing that, as you can see below.
The thing is that there are just so many of them. It’s hard to convey the scene in iPhone pictures, but here are some.
What Carries A Broom and Is Occupying NYC This Weekend?
November 13, 2011
Riddle
We have heard a lot about the tents of young people down at Occupy Wall Street in Zuccotti Park. We’ve heard about concerns over sanitation, cold, potential violence. Some have commented on the weird costumes worn by the protesters, and the sometimes silliness of their conduct–costumes and conduct that may make it difficult to take them seriously.
But this weekend, New York is hosting, in a different park, another congregation of tents, youth, well-contained violence, and silliness: the 2011 Quidditch World Cup! Held at Randall’s Island, in a huge green field (and also at Icahn Stadium), filled with pitches, tents, and players running around with brooms between their legs. (Talk about sanitation!)
Quidditch has been adapted, to the extent possible when not airborne, from J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books, and Harry’s world is in full evidence at the World Cup–refreshments include butter beer and golden snitchwiches. Participants have clever jerseys, often with mystical or nonsensical symbols, and, of course, there are those brooms. The game, however, while it is very silly, is also very serious. For one thing, it is amazingly physical–fast-paced and inherently violent (in terms of force needed to win, although hostility seemed to be kept well in check.)
The game combines dodge ball (the bludgers), basketball ball (the quaffle going through a silver hoop), field hocky (well–the broom is usually kept between the players’ legs), football (a lot of strong-arming) and hand to hand combat (getting the snitch). Players must be strong, fast, fearless, and also, it seems, have very good senses of humor.
It was a bit dark for my iPhone to get great photos (I went for the night games, below a full moon), but here are a few.
Occupy Wall Street-Changing Demographic? Hard Hat, Knitter, Baby–
November 7, 2011
FYI Occupy Wall Street- Zuccotti Park- Pix of November 7, 2011
November 7, 2011Here are some pix taken this A.M. at Zuccotti Park. It’s become a bit of a tent city, NYPD overlooking, bemused? Resigned? Also kind of cold and tired?
Scary Thought, Scary Number (7,000,000)
October 31, 2011
This Halloween (that is, today, October 31, 2011) is the estimated birthday, according to the U.N.‘s Population Fund, of the world’s 7 billionth person.
I love babies, and a lot of the news stories on this subject has shown some very cute ones (as well as some slightly less cute red squiggly ones.) Even so, the number is kind of frightening. It is a number that is significantly more than twice the world population in the year of my birth. (And, though I often feel antediluvian, I’m not truly.)
There are some (particular those who oppose birth control) who feel that those who are concerned about these escalating numbers are selfish, anti-human, anti-life.
In my view, the opposite is true. Yes, I admit that I do like the notion of a world that still contains empty spaces, that still allows people the possibility of moments of solitude, that does not use all its resources in energy and food production, that is not cut up into little tiny squares.
But I am also worried (as I think many are) that if humans don’t try to exert some kindly control over population, natural forces will exert more drastic controls–famine, disaster, war, disease.
It’s all just kind of scary.
Hunkering down in Zuccotti Park (“Occupy Wall Street”), a New/Old meaning of TARP
October 27, 2011Cold and very wet in downtown NYC today. Tarps over both the tented and tentless. One of the best signs I’ve seen.
Occupying Wall Street looks hard in the A.M.
October 26, 2011
Sorry–uploaded from iPhone so this is a bit manky and went out to subscribers too quickly. Fits the morning mood though perhaps.
ManicDDaily 
Recent Comments