First Person: A Protester's 24-hour Diary of a Day at Occupy Atlanta., Part 1

It's Diary Time where No Sleep Street meets Memory Lane: Let's get started.
It's October 13th, 2011, it's 6:19 am, and my feet are sore. I have charley horses all up and down my legs from 24 hours straight on my feet. About 16 hours of that was spent out in the rain. But I'm excited and can't sleep, because the largest civil and human rights movement since the 1930s is happening several miles away. It's here, it's not going away, and it's already called into question the very legitimacy of the City of Atlanta's ability to govern. It's time to put this awesome event in print, in first person.

I had decided to check out Occupy Atlanta out of simple curiosity and ended up remaining to stand ground against over a hundred police officers, risking arrest and jail time, and the City of Atlanta's Mayor Kasim Reed ordered his police force to stand down after over two thousand people from all over the world promoted our Right to Assemble and Freedom of Expression.

Welcome to the story of Occupy Atlanta, as we go through the group's efforts to change the course of history in one of the largest solidarity movements in the world right now.

In the Beginning: Nobody's hiring - Time for a break!
On Monday, (October 10th) I decided to take a day-long break from trolling business parks and seeking employment. Last week, six businesses said "sorry, not you" on follow-up. One sympathetic manager told me to apply for disability, more on why that is so not right later. I managed to get three Avon orders and handed out about a dozen catalogs to interested people. I earned $25 helping someone fix a computer problem. Then I spotted what appeared to be the Best Bank robber in Marietta. Wow. Sour week, little success. SO - on to the protest!

Pressure washing is a Dire Emergency on a Rainy Day: Let the Harassment begin!
I arrived at Woodruff Park at around 3am after spending the entire weekend nursing my VERY ill husband off his deathbed from what the dentist described as "a massive infection of the tooth and jaw that could have resulted in death if left alone for another day." A very powerful antibiotic seems to be working great. Given that stress, I was both wired and very tired. No matter - the people there were amazingly nice! We had a fantastic time sharing stories about what led us there. We ate food at HQ, located a block away.

Then the sprinkler system came on. Buckets were pulled from Logistics, and the sprinkler heads covered. It was a comical moment: "SPRINKLER HUNT!" We ran all over the place, lights came on, and the media went nuts trying to find out what was bleeding or dying. It was Whack-A-Mole minus the structure, but was very much a fun thing inspite of the annoyances involved. Drinking too much became the running joke - we were forced by the powerful sprinklers to keep the search for new buckets alive as buckets cracked, spraying water all over our pants. The water won, tents were moved, and people started searching for dry clothes. Sprinklers weren't newsy enough, so later reports came out on the news that the police would be arresting all who stayed beyond 11pm.

Ode to Parking: Paying attention is cheaper than paying crooks
Parking in Atlanta is an absolute nightmare - some lots many blocks away from Woodruff Park charge $3-5 a day but are at severe risk of theft. I parked two blocks away, at the college lot. Most lots there were charging $8-14 per hour. The one I picked charged $6 for 3 hours. 24 hours was $14. Not too bad. Expensive, but it could have been worse - there is a lot by the Federal Courthouse is so bad that even when you pay they still boot your car and try to bully you into paying $75 or more if you fail to prove to them that you paid the fee. So you should always document your payments and keep receipts and witnesses handy.

Oddyssey of the Tent: An all-day affair with plenty of hot air
The forum was supposed to start early in the day, but we were about to be rained out. Solution? TENT! Half a dozen of us left for Home Depot and got the supplies - twelve PVC pipes, several buckets, twelve bags of QuickCrete, and two packs of rope. The goal was to sink the poles into buckets of concrete and stake out the tent, which used to be a hot air baloon. Donations from the entire group funded the effort.

It took about an hour to solidify the plan and pass through Group Consensus the votes needed to build a tent big enough to hold about 100 people. Our first lessons in Government: Not everyone agrees!

About three people had differing design plans, but my suggestion to get about twelve poles worked great. Fund raising wasn't hard - there was enough donations on hand from the group to easily make the nearly $200 purchase a breeze. A large van owned by a group leader was used to haul the supplies on-site to the park. Passers-by started taking pictures and watching to see if we would actually achieve what we had set out to do. It was already starting to rain.

Hello Mr. Fire Marshall, our name is No One.
Let the frustration begin for the poor man trying to assign responsibility to No One - we asserted our freedom to protest while explaining that nobody was in charge of what every person was helping to build - a huge tent. Because it wasn't attached to anything, the Fire Marshall was concerned about safety. "Sir, we are taking safety responsibility here. Everything is freely accessible to the disabled, tents are placed far apart, and the trash is all picked up." Yep, bases covered. The fire marshall tried argue with us about fire safety. Um? It's raining. So Captain Obvious (me) spoke up.

"Sir? It's raining. How exactly can this thin baloon fabric set aflame when soaked and leaking?" People laughed. The fire marshall sighed. "Okay. Uh.. I will just WARN you not do that - the tent needs to be 200 square feet or less. You have to have a permit for anything larger." I turned to someone else and revealed an obvious point not said by the man: "He's saying that we haven't paid off the right people." More laughter, another sigh from the Fire Marshall. Someone else in the group stepped forward and spoke up: "I'm in Labor - we can bypass you. I can get this approved without ANY problems."

As the fire marshall left, angry business owners started complaining that none of us were customers. They demanded that Park Management kick us out. It was time for some action...

$1 Million says the Occupation needs to leave: Big Biz Speaks Out
"You're bending the grass. Over a million dollars in private donations pays for the upkeep of the park." The older man was white, with light tan London Fog coat and a fedora hat the same color. He was well-dressed but NOT happy talking down to the group. After he was done trying to order us to leave, someone asked if the sprinklers could stop at night, because the grounds were flooding in some areas. "We don't control that." I thought fast: "You seem to be in charge here. So, what is your name?" The man literally bolted away from us as he declared that yes, he was in charge - that's what he is.

Weird - he manages the park (allegedly) but won't give us a name. Government 101: what you say WILL be used against you - do the same to your opponents. I could have taken the man's name from another source and publicized it in this story, and possibly threw some political mud his way. And yes, if I had his name, I would have because of his condescending attitude. The group declared the park public land and a place for Free Assembly. Government 101: You can own what you can physically control - 90% of law is posession. He who posesses the item in question has a LOT more power than the other side. Lesson learned... "Whose park?!? OUR PARK!!!" Yep - we chanted that throughout the day.

Manning up for an Emergency Boondoggle: The Ambassadors try to be Landscapers.
I watched in horror as thousands of dollars in lush, healthy, beautiful greenery was ruthlessly ripped out of the plant pots at Woodruff Park by teams of Park Ambassadors called out for what appeared to be a make-work last minute landscaping project.

It was obvious that these workers do not do this regularly, because a foreman on hand was busy for the next few hours teaching the rainwear-clad people how to plant flowers. They worked hard at trying to get the flowers into the pots, and appeared to be asking for assistance or approval several times.

The flowers were eventually planted and we laughed at workers who were then "fluffing" the plants. Make Work Project completed, Make Imaginary Work Needed? Anyway - we had a good laugh.

"You are destroying the park." That stament wasn't lost on me. The "manager" who could not give out his name nor really prove his claim of authority then started roving across the park to all the tents and people, demanding that we get off the grass. I started snapping pictures of the perfectly fine plants being destroyed, to document the fact that we respected the plants more than we did even ourselves - many people there smoked, but cigarette butts were carefully picked off the grass by clean-up crews.

Hardened Concrete meets Hardened Resolve: We built a tent in the rain.
A project manager in construction discussed the tent with me, and I discovered that conversations with my husband have paid off: I was correct in suggesting a main load-bearing column of posts and my estimate in piping was correct. Twelve was the magic number. The project started with a team of ten.

We took buckets and held them as teams of two poured concrete and water under supervision of the project manager, who was very experienced. Another team stirred the concrete. We examined the laid-out fabric and estimated where the poles would go as a few people cut holes and tied rope to the fabric. Once the concrete started getting really hard to stir, we put the poles in the buckets. The rain made things difficult; we were forced to wait twice as long for the buckets to cure.

Our project manager helped us adjust the poles as several of us stood around with half-finished posts, waiting for the final cure to set in. Other team mates finished the construction on the remaining posts and by the time the first batch was done, the second batch was ready for people to hold and support. It took about three hours to get the supplies and build the posts. The concrete needed more time than estimated thanks to a downpour that started up as soon as the posts were ready to go. It had been sprinkling before, and people began running for tents, trees, and ponchos. Some of the passers-by stepped in with umbrellas.

Eventually, we were tasked with raising the tent and tying it down to the trees. An hour of work later, we had an unstable tent that stood only if enough people were sitting by poles.

A Non-Arborist Manager speaks: The trees are off limits - Leaf Them Alone.
Okay - so trees are sensitive? "Yes, and so is my job." This message was clear by the way a park management employee in charge of the trees spoke - "That rope on the trees needs to be taken off - you will strip the bark, and pressure on the trunk of a tree can KILL the tree!" The man seemed to know everything about these trees (he was a differant person from the park's alleged manager. I asked if he was an arborist hired by park managers and he said no. "My job is to take care of the trees." The man's job was on the line. So I set out to convince a few people to take the ropes down. No dice.

He wasn't satisfied when a series of conversations between me and others produced no efforts to remove the ropes. Eventually, it was agreed that we would put stakes in the ground to support the tent. Some amazing tricks with the ropes had been achieved, and a lot of hard work was applied in getting the tent up with stakes, not trees. Eventally the tent was finished and stabilized for use.

Story-Time on TV brings the reporters out in droves: Let the Spinning begin.
I have never had a microphone shoved in my face, much less produced halting answers for an antagonistic series of questions designed to discredit the group. Government 101: Discredit the competition using their own words by asking the "right" questions. I had wanted to say that not all corporations are evil, and that some corporations are really just one clever person who is both a marketing and a sales whiz with someone else making a product in high demand. I had wanted to say that some corporations' governors actually DO spread the wealth fairly. The large corporations are being protested mainly because there are plenty of non-sharing, exploitative people in charge who have decided to loot the labor value of the workers through oppressive treatment and too-low wages. Not everybody is responsible for the economic meltdown. Instead, I was asked merely if it was wrong to make a million dollars, and was asked to put a number on what a corporate executive "should" earn.

Some of the reporters had developed reputations as spinmeisters, so they were stonewalled by the group. Steady protesters pointed them out to newcomers and demanded silence. We agreed, and very few people spoke or gave quotes. Some reporters resorted to harassing protesters sleeping in tents.

I gave my story about my nearly year-old unemployment status, the fight to save my upside-down mortgage on a severely devalued home, and the frustration that anti-disability bias from hiring managers brings. My savings is being used up by living costs, and I was forced to start selling Avon as my own business due to the low start-up costs (only $10.) At least I can try to put a human face onto this nasty story of how the People have been cheated out of the American Dream and many thousands are now angry enough to camp out in public parks for weeks on end, and into wintertime.

The students out there actually went to classes and protested between classes and study time or work. The argument that students are skipping classes was not verified by me, yet.

We made our stand to APD by sitting down: Welcome to the Peace Circle
The General Assembly was focused on the preparing for the upcoming eviction and threats of arrest by Atlanta's Police Department. One man spent a few minutes detailing the beatings, abuses, and ways that APD was accused of giving out pain to nonviolent protesters. Some of us were scared of getting hurt.

There was a legal team and a medic team ready to assist us. We split up into smaller groups to develop a plan of action at a small group level, and to develop ways to mentally prepare protesters for the APD interrogation tactics that were used to develop huge stacks of criminal charges against protesters in the past. One man at General Assembly produced a copy of the Atlanta City law cited by APD eviction notices. I took the time to contact legal assistance available in my own family: "The law is unconstitutional." I was getting Consultation by Text Message. Wow. How modern. "Alex Jones was arrested and was paid 80,000$" I spent my time using the bathroom and making sure I was well-fed before I walked out to join the protesters. I had left my laptop and camera at the HQ building to avoid seizure by the police and stashed my cards, cash, ID, and important info written on receipts in a pouch that I stashed inside my shirt, along with my phone. Protesters in the peace circle stashed their stuff away and headed to the park to sit down. The police were supposed to arrive between 9pm and 11pm. CopWatch trained activists with specially marked clothing and ID were outside the fence waiting. It was show-time. My husband cleared me for involvement and prepared to help me get out of jail.

The decision was clear-cut; those willing to get arrested were to sit together and lock arms in nonviolent protest. The others standing in the park would leave on command. CopWatch members would record everything. Legal Witnesses and on-call attorneys stood by. A helper gathered names and asked if we would need to get released in less than 72 hours, and collected family contact info. Bail was $200 for each person, estimated. It was pretty clear to me that we had a top-notch set of people in Logistics working hard, backing us all up. A call for body counts began. Names were tallied, and counts compared. "We don't want to accidentally miss someone and leave them in jail." The crowd around us started a thundering chant as police marched up to the park.

I leaned in and asked for the volunteer to relay a message to the Legal team: If arrested, I would like to rename the City of Atlanta into "Lawsuit City," and explained that Alex Jones had sued over an arrest and won $80,000. At over 30 people, we could easily work toward draining the APD of its overtime budget through litigation. People who overheard me laughed bitterly. Litigation is war, and we were at a peaceful protest. I explained that, in litigation, no one is getting bombed or hurt physically. Se la vie.

As I looked out across the scene, several hundred people were with and around us, with signs and banners, as the media rushed to take last statements, tape interviews, and a constant flickering of camera flashes continued as some people started playing instruments and singing. We held a mini General Assembly, encouraging each other to make statements. Then we fell silent.

The police were coming. Or, at least, they were supposed to be in the park ordering us all out and making arrests. Then someone reported that they would wait a bit, as someone from Legal or Logistics was working to get the police to back off and respect our Freedom of Assembly rights. Every thirty minutes, the police were expected to order people out and start making arrests. The night wore on.

Someone asked me why I was fine with going to jail for a single night, and I told them that I could meet new people, spread the word about the protest, and maybe even sell some Avon! It's really about perspective - why should we see a punishment as a bad thing? If we're standing up for our beliefs, then we should have every right to turn the lemons into lemonade, and enjoy ourselves wherever we're at.

Eventually, it was announced that the Mayor Hakim Reed would arrive and the police would stand down until after he showed up. The media watched on as we planned out through Group Consensus what would happen, how the mayor would be greeted, and who would introduce the group to the mayor. We talked and planned for nearly an hour.

Worse than a Bad Date: Mayor Hakim Reed has "stood up" over 2,000 people.
Eventually we all figured out that Mr. Reed stood us up. Someone told me that he was at one of the park corners, appraising the scene while talking with the Chief of Police (APD) instead of walking in to greet and meet with us as promised. Several people in the group left to check on police activity.

The police presence died down and someone announced that no arrests would be made; the mayor would decide what to do the next day. There were about 1,700 people on LiveStream watching and waiting to see what would happen, so there were between 2,000 and 3,000 people on- and off- line waiting for the mayor to arrive on the scene and meet with us all.

"He just wants to tell us in a differant way to leave the park. When it was clear we would not leave, he did not want to waste his time showing up to speak to us." Some people had choice comments about local politics and Mayor Hakim Reed.

The Final Chapter: A story gets told to the world through Live Streaming
My last hour there was spent wondering if the police would perform a surprise attack on the camp, similar to the violence that Boston protestors suffered. I agreed to be interviewed live on streaming video and go through a Q and A session.

What I did not expect was a request for any blog or e-mail address, so I requested all communication to be sent to Occupy Atlanta for forwarding to me. Some people announced on the chat part that they liked me. Others commented on how cute the man beside me was. It was a short, fun exercise into the reality of the fact that people can communicate live across the whole planet now.

There were reasons why we were all there: Here are some topics that were discussed.
1. Joblessness - some blamed Corporate America, and rightfully so - companies are trimming salaries, shaving benefits and extra pay, and shedding workers to meet demands for gigantic bonuses to key executives at the top of these companies. It's just not right.
2. End the Fed - by retracting credit, businesses lost the ability to meet payrolls, workers were dropped from payrolls, unemployed people could not keep their houses, and the housing market collapsed.
3. Global Exploitation - wars, trade sanctions, bombings, drone attacks, slave labor, small wages.
4. Education reform - homeschooling advocates were there, too.
5. Unions - Trade union leaders were available to answer questions while promoting Union jobs.

So - What IS Government?
Government is where a part of the population controls the other parts. We effectively "governed" on Monday night when we took a stand against unlawful, unconstitutional arrest, because the Police recognized legitimacy in our arguments to remain living in the Park.

Last but not Least... my final paragraph.
I am so tired, I've been writing all night long and editing / rewriting into the late morning. It's 11.16am now, I have to get a bit of sleep. Standing ground on what you believe in is something that Steve Jobs though was worthy enough that he went out and helped start Apple.

Good luck, good night, and comment to let me know what you think.