Rainy days suck so bad for protests - let alone encampments! Urgh, I hate the cold! This was one of the reasons why I was hesitant about returning to Iowa after a ten year absence - because the cold SUCKS! So I wienied out for the majority of the day today because I didn't really want to take the babies out into the crappy, rainy weather (Heaven toughed it out for several hours after school though, so KUDOS on her dedication to the cause!)]\. I did drop off a table to the communications tent this morning and returned for the General Assembly (GA) at 6 PM though.
General Assembly is like nothing I have ever experienced. There are hand signals and lists of names for people who want to speak (which is everyone!) and something called, "Mic Check" that is quite an oddity where the crowd repeats and amplifies everything the speaker says. These procedures have taken some getting used to for an old school activist like me. If you agree with someone, you raise your hands in the air and wiggle your fingers - much like "Spirit Fingers" from the movie Bring it On. It smacks a little of hippie dippy dodo at first and kind of freaked me out on the first day. If you disagree, you wiggle your fingers in a downward motion - kind of like a - Booooo. Weird. Anyone can block a proposal by raising both arms and forming an "X". We had a LOT of that when debating whether to apply for a permit to occupy the space 24/7 and I was pretty close to killing my fellow Liberals if the debate didn't end soon! The Democratic process can be painful and since absolutely EVERYTHING in this group is decided by said procedure, the past four days have been a crash course in patience. I can only hope that the hundreds of other folks who believe in the 99% Movement have developed the same sensibility as well so that they don't run away screaming about all the freaks with the Spirit Fingers up at the Capitol Building!
So it only took an hour this evening to decide that there will be a mass march down to Bank of America on Saturday at 10 AM. Senator Dick Dearden's granddaughter is getting married on Saturday at the State Capitol building and we have agreed that we will not get in the way of her special day. So we will make a march/demonstration in the morning and plan a rally after the wedding at 6 PM where local bands will play and hopefully our numbers will grow by the zillions. Again, it will be interesting to see how it develops!
The same movements in Boston and New York are exploding with excitement and people power. I hope that the one in Des Moines has the same legs.
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