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of course the television folks have the story completely wrong, and are feeding the public a heaping helping of misinformation.
Entering Liberty Park on Sunday night protesters were subjected to body pats and bag checks conducted by private security as the NYPD stood outside the park and watched as some private guards pushed back on protesters for moving to fast. December 4, 2011.
An exciting visitor to Glasgow for this weekends GVVT Open Weekend was former Scottish Omnibuses AA620 OWS 620 a 1957 Bristol Lodekka LD6G/ ECW fully restored to SMT's green and cream livery.
AA620 is seen on George Street in Glasgow this afternoon on the free service from the Riverside Museum back to the Bridgeton Bus Garage.
©eb2010
Please do not Use, Copy or Sell this image without my permission.
Scottish Omnibuses AA620.
Bristol Lodekka LD6G/ECW.
Scottish Vintage Bus Museum,Fife - 21.8.22.
From my late brothers collection.
Note: this photo was published in a Nov 1, 2011 issue of Everyblock NYC zipcodes blog titled "90012."
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After visiting the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protest gathering in Zuccotti Park last week (which you can see in this Flickr site), I thought I would have a good idea of what to expect when I decided to visit the Occupy Los Angeles gathering outside City Hall in Los Angeles early Saturday morning. And to some extent, I was right: the protest was still focused on the excesses of the richest and most powerful 1% of the population, as well as corruption and paralysis in Washington.
But New York and Los Angeles are obviously on opposite sides of the country -- and in some respects, the two protests were completely different. It was already pleasantly warm when I showed up at 8:30 in the morning, and the previous evening had been seasonably mild; by contrast, it wet and freezing cold in New York City, with the earliest snow-fall in over 150 years making life somewhat miserable for the hundreds of shivering protesters who squatted under a long blue tarp that had been stretched over the food kitchen.
The mild weather may explain the first visible difference that I saw between the two "occupy" gatherings: there were many more tents in Los Angeles, each one seeming to hold three or four people who were just beginning to poke their heads out, sniffing the air for the presence of coffee or food that they could use to break their overnight fast. There was no need for heavy coats or hats or mittens; all I saw in Los Angeles was a few sweaters and light jackets. A visitor to my Flickr site jokingly asked why I had not photographed one of the (female) protesters in a topless outfit, and why none of the people were nude. Well, if that was going to happen, it would have happened in Los Angeles, not New York; and as for Los Angeles, the most extreme clothing I saw was one woman wearing a fairly un-revealing bikini top. Hardly the stuff of Woodstock; so much for the idea of sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll at these gatherings.
Speaking of rock-n-roll: there was none. But in Los Angeles, there were a lot more people with guitars. And mandolins, and fiddles, and even someone with a flute. Some of them played quietly, for their own amusement; but several of them drifted together beneath a statue that led up the stairs to the front entrance of City Hall, and jammed extemporaneously, with several simple, but enjoyable songs. I video-recorded several of these musical efforts, and I'll combine all of them together into a "composite" music-video on YouTube.
Another difference between Los Angeles and New YOrk involved the presence of cameras. Quite simply, there were many more in New York, and while I did not see any major-media journalists or reporters, there did seem to be a number of quasi-professional independent journalists who were not only photographing and recording everything they could see, but also interviewing everyone who looked interesting. Not so, in Los Angeles; yes, there were a few people with video cameras and DSLR still cameras (including me), but I only saw one or two interviews taking place. Ironically, I was one of the people interviewed: an earnest young man told me he was taking a class that required him to interview photographers at the protest gathering, and he wanted to know what I thought of the whole scene.
So I told him, in a summary fashion, what I had already written in the notes accompanying my OWS Flickr set, and I told him that I thought the Los Angeles gathering was quieter, with less energy, and more people just wandering around somewhat aimlessly. There were no speeches, there was no shouting, and there was almost no police presence. I did see two cops standing at the top of the stairs leading to the front entrance of of City Hall, but they vanished about half an hour after I arrived.
One last note, which may strike some readers as biased or unfair -- but I saw what I saw: several people wandered down the various sidewalks leading out of City Hall Park ... and then returned via the same sidewalks, ten or fifteen minutes later, carrying a large cup of Starbucks coffee. The revolution, it seems, runs on Starbucks.
That's when I began focusing on the clothing worn by the protesters. As noted above, it was obviously much warmer than it was in New York City, so perhaps I should not have been surprised to see half a dozen or more people wandering around barefoot. But the other thing that struck me was how carefully several of the people were dressed, and how much attention they seemed to have spent to make their physical appearance look appropriately fashionable, while simultaneously being disheveled and hippy. Like I said, I might be biased: you can look at the pictures and judge for yourself.
I spent more time here than I did in New York -- roughly three hours before I decided that I had seen everything there was to see. But as a result, I got a lot more pictures - some 700+ still pictures, and a dozen video clips. I've winnowed it down, as best I could, to 200 keepers. Enjoy!
An exciting visitor to Glasgow for this weekends GVVT Open Weekend was former Scottish Omnibuses AA620 OWS 620 a 1957 Bristol Lodekka LD6G/ ECW fully restored to SMT's green and cream livery.
AA620 is seen on George Street in Glasgow this afternoon on the free service from the Riverside Museum back to the Bridgeton Bus Garage.
©eb2010
Please do not Use, Copy or Sell this image without my permission.
As usual with such media happenings, the story of Occupy Wall Street is splintering into “narratives.” One — the least interesting and relevant — is the media’s uneven coverage of the protests.
For instance, CNN business reporter Alison Kosik hung her vapidity out for all to see yesterday, tweeting that the movement is nothing more than a chance to “bang on the bongos” and “smoke weed” (only to delete these musings when others called her out on them). Not wishing to bogart that meme, her CNN colleague Erin Burnett tried to refute OWS’s cause by triumphantly noting that most banks have repaid U.S. taxpayers for the money they borrowed during the financial crisis. Whenever Wall Street needs a $2.5 trillion loan, in other words, we know bankers are good for the money. Let the good times roll.
Elsewhere around the echo chamber, pundits still furrow their brows and wonder what it’s all about. Others fixate on the precise number of protesters in Zuccotti Park — 100 or is it closer to 200? — as if guessing the number of jelly beans in a jar (I could be wrong here, but I’m pretty sure there’s no prize for being right). And while there is something to be gleaned from such estimates, social movements in the age of social media — the power lines of discord these days — can’t be measured strictly according to the number of boots on the ground in Liberty Plaza.
Well now we know the whole shebang has gone global and they cannot do a thing to stop it. So much for the naysayers and pea brain pundits in corporate media, who do not have a clue and are climbing on top of each other trying to protect the Wall Street crooks. Now we can confirm who are their Gods.
www.bnet.com/blog/financial-business/occupy-wall-street-m...
@freestyleeartist
Protesters are laid out on the carpet of a lobby of a building adjacent to Frank Ogawa Plaza in zip-tie handcuffs after police arrested 40-50 of them in the early morning hours of November 3, 2011. About 50 people were arrested in the swift police action, including at least 5 legal observers. Photo by Elijah Nouvelage.
First thing Monday morning just washing those men right out of my hair. See, I did comb my hair this week, with a cheap comb manufactured in China and inscribed with the words "Courtesy of Chuck Renslow." I really do feel like I need a haircut, and some life-cuts too, organizations, churches, etc. that I don't want to be part of anymore. My favorite television show is accepting applications for its next season right now, but since my favorite television show is Rupauls Drag Race then I need to schedule my full-body waxing before I make my audition tape.
I have been down to the Occupy Wall Street protest about 5 times now. Mostly shooting video for a short I'm working on. I passed by yesterday and decided I would take a couple shots. Every time I have been there I have seen this guy.
New York, NY - November 19, 2011. Demonstrators from Occupy Wall Street on a march on Wall St. are blocked by NYPD. Moments later they were let through.