{"id":232,"date":"2011-11-13T15:10:30","date_gmt":"2011-11-13T20:40:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stephaniegolden.net\/writing_blog\/?p=232"},"modified":"2011-11-15T10:04:13","modified_gmt":"2011-11-15T15:34:13","slug":"occupy-wall-street-a-spiritual-movement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/stephaniegolden.net\/writing_blog\/occupy-wall-street-a-spiritual-movement\/","title":{"rendered":"Occupy Wall Street: a spiritual movement?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The other day I visited Occupy Wall Street in Zucotti \u201cPark,\u201d essentially a paved strip one block long between tall buildings. What struck me first was how dense <\/em>it is. Little<\/p>\n

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Tents at OWS, photo by Atomische \u2022 Tom Giebel<\/p><\/div>\n

bubble tents are close-packed, with narrow aisles here and there so you can thread your way through. Almost all the square footage is taken up by these tents and by various organizational\/ administrative booths: the \u201cThink Tank\u201d where seminars and lectures are held, the Library (writers, note: lots of real books), Information, Community Affairs, and Legal. A large hand-lettered sign listed a full schedule of activities for the day: seminars, speakers, actions.<\/p>\n

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Sanitation department, photo by David Shankbone<\/p><\/div>\n

Not everyone was young. Middle aged and elderly people staffed booths, held signs, played guitars and banjos, wandered around in costume talking to visitors.<\/p>\n

The low wall surrounding the park marks a marginal area where occupiers engage the outside world. Sign holders, musicians, people offering flyers present themselves to a lineup of onlookers wielding video and still cameras\u2014many press people and lots of tourists. The site is only a couple of blocks from the WTC memorial, so the tourists make this another stop.<\/p>\n

At the west end, on Church Street, I encountered a group of about 10 nattily outfitted senior citizens from Westchester, who had driven down to Fort Lee in New Jersey, then cycled into Manhattan. \u201cWe do this every year,\u201d one man told me, so this year they picked OWS as their destination. He reminisced about the 60s, when construction workers beat up anyone with long hair. His group smiled quite kindly on the occupiers.<\/p>\n

The level of organization and community structure in the park is remarkable. Signs hang from the wall:<\/p>\n