Today marks the two month anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street movement, and I was the only guy there in Packers gear.  Or so I thought…

I started out the day with a little reading, and then grabbed a slice for lunch, where I also got some writing done (the script for the upcoming NLC graphic novel: Egyptian Shumba nears completion).  I left my hat and gloves in the bathroom at the pizza place, and thankfully six train stops later, they were still there! Phew.

(I remember making a deal with myself like “if your hat and gloves are still there you’ll…something”  I don’t remember. It was probably like “donate a million dollars to charity” but I forgot what it was the second I found my hat and gloves.  Sorry, charity.)

Anyways. 

I was gonna meet up with some friends for the rally at Foley Square around 5:00, but that wasn’t for another few hours so I took the train to Fulton to see if anything was going around there.

I walked right into an enormous OWS march heading north on Broadway so I jumped in, and then I was really in the thick of it.  That was at about 3:00, and for the next two and a half hours we marched around chanting, and doing ‘mic checks’, and holding signs.  So many signs. 

After going up Broadway we gathered at Union Square for a little bit. It was very cool, and pretty inspiring actually to see all these people.  And while I had no idea what was going on really, what came next was the coolest part.

So after we stationed at Union Square for a bit, it was time to take to streets and head to Foley Square. And I mean take to the streets literally!  You can see in the pics that we just marched down the streets, and there was nothing anyone could do! Like, the whole way from Union Square to Foley Square.

It ruled walking in between cars, cabs, and trucks who were just plain fucked, so long as the crowd kept coming.  By this point my phone was almost dead so I didn’t wanna take too many pics and drain the battery more, and that sucked because there would’ve been some really good ones.

A few people seemed annoyed, but for the most part, all these people —who were flat out trapped in their cars— were loving this actully!  Everyone was recording on their phones, honking their horns in rhythm to whatever chant was going on, giving thumbs-up and peace signs.  And the cops who where walking along the sides and stuff didn’t seem to give anyone a hard time really (for the record).

I wish I could remember the rout, or had been able to get my bearings better, but it was all pretty surreal and happened so quickly.

Eventually, we ended up making it to Foley, where a huge crowd and tons —TONS— of cops had already gathered.  It was intense.  And a little scary, but I felt pretty good about the whole thing. It seemed pretty civil.

Tired, a little hungry, and with a dead battery in my phone I decided to head home around 6:00.  Also, that was right around the time people started rapping and singing over the PA system, so I wasn’t too worried about “missing’” that.

And oh yeah, right towards the end some dude named Mitch came up and gave me a “Go Pack!” and pointed at his own Packers hat. We talked for a bit, but I lost him in the crowd eventually. Good guy, I’m sure.

All in all, this was one of the coolest experiences ever, and I’m glad I got to be a part of it.

Pics [here]

Video [here] Cool Horn Honker/Packers Fan OWS

Video [here] “Bloomberg Has Got to Go” walk

-Matt