My Occupy Experience Day Five October 9th 2011 I woke up at 7:00 and was out of the tent by 8:00.

I went to the food tent and got a cup of coffee. I met a young kid named Derrick Mink, who was playing a guitar, that said he was on his way to North Carolina. He said that he had heard about Occupy D.C. and had stopped by the Plaza to see what was going on. He said he travels all over the country and makes expenses playing on the streets. I think they call that busking over in Europe. He played John Prines "Angel From Montgomery", and he sounded a lot like Bob Dylan. When he finished, I ask him if I could play a song on his guitar. He said, be my guess. I played another Prine song called "Paradise". He pulled out a harmonica and started playing with me. Some people started gathering around and when I got to the chorus, Derrick and another man that had walked up, started sanging with me. We sounded pretty good. Got a little three part harmony going. When I finished, the other fellow that was singing with us wanted to know if he could play a song. I later got to be friends with him and his name was Brad Blandon. I gave him the guitar and he did a Prine song " That's the Way the World Goes Round". I sang the chorus with him and Derrick was blowing on the Harmonica. It was my turn so I did a couple more Prine song. "Please Don't Bury Me" and "Spanish Pipedream". We had a regular John Prine cover concert. Brad said that Spanish pipe dream had been his theme song when he quit the hectic D.C. life and had bought some land down in Virginia and built a log cabin. Everytime he started to work on it he would start by playing "Spanish Pipedream". It was a fun time. I never saw Derrick after that. I guess he moved on. I went back to Verizon and recharged my phone. I got back and told Mark I was going down to the other Occupy group and see what was going on over there. He said they had another protest march to the Federal Reserve and he was going to just mess around until they got ready. I told him I would be back before they left. I walked down to "K" street to McPherson's Park. "K" street is where all the lobbyist have offices. They were having a General Assembly meeting and was finishing up when I got there. They were going to have an open mike for anybody that had a comment. There was no sound system to amplify your comments and if you didn't talk loud they would ask you if you wanted a mike check. That's when everybody up front would repeat what you said so the people in the back could hear. It was kinda weird hearing everything repeated. You would raise your hand if you had something to say. If they liked what you said, and agreed, they would wiggle their fingers up in the air. If they didn't like what you said they would wiggle their fingers down. After a few minutes I told them I would like a minute to say something. They wanted to know if I needed a mike check. I told them I would talk loud. I told them who I was and why I had come to D.C. They all started clapping. I told them that I knew they wanted to stay separate from Freedom Plaza, but if it got to the point where they had to join the other group they were surely welcome. I told them that before I had come to Washington, I had resigned to the fact that it was a hopeless situation we were in. But now I had a glimmer of hope. I told them that what changed my mind was the fact that the Occupy Movement was made up of all ages, from 18 to 80, and crossed all geological boundries. I told them that I had lived the Viet Nam era protest and what made that protest least effective is that it was made up of mostly kids who were in college that opposed the draft, and kids that were in danger of getting drafted. That is not the case with the Occupy Movement. They liked my speech. I talked to Mango for a while and headed back to the Plaza. It was close to the time they were going protesting. I didn't want to miss out on that. They were lining up ready to go when I got there. I headed for my tent to get my camcorded to document the march. That's when I discovered my camcorder was gone. It was nowhere to be found. I had the two batteries in my pocket, so I knew I hadn't taken it with me. By this time the crowd had disappeared out of sight. The fact the cancorder was gone was upsetting, but the fact all the footage I had recorded was gone was really upsetting. There had been several laptops gone missing, but I never imagined someone unzipping my tent, go in and stealing my camcorder. I ask around to see if anyone had seen anybody going in the tent but had no luck. It wasn't very valuable with no batteries or a charger. The funny thing was nothing else was missing. My walkman radio and my digital recorder were still there, along with all my clothes and backpack. Paranoia set in. Maybe it wasn't stolen but confiscated. Right before I went to McPherson park a man and a young lady with a kid stopped at my tent and wanted to know if they could take a picture. I thought he wanted to take a picture of the protest sign I had

taped to my walking staff that said, "I will believe corporations are people when Texas executes one". He didn't take a picture of the sign, but took a head shot of me. I started watching him as he walked around and every picture he took was of a person. Not of their tent or signs. The man was probably in his mid-thirties, clean cut, with a crewcut hair cut. He just looked military to me. The lady might have been his girl friend, but neither one had on wedding bands. About that time Brad came up and started talking and I said, Brad watch that young man over there. He watched him take a few pictures and said, he's an infiltrator. He's here to get information and pictures. I said, well he got a head shot of me. Brad kinda laughed and said, you're probably gonna end up on a terrorist watch list. Chuck Nasmith, one of the peace keepers I had met, came up and was talking and I told him my camcorder was missing. I told him I didn't know whether it was stolen or confiscated. I told him about the young couple I had seen before I went to McPherson Park. He kinda shook his head and said, it was probably confiscated. Paranoia set in again. If they did confiscate my camcorder I might just end up in Gitmo. Well maybe not. I just hope whoever views what I recorded has a southern sense of humor, because I narrated my footage with some pretty derrogatory statements about our illustrous leader and the politicians we elected to represent us. I hope Obama can see I was just being funny. There is a hugh statue of a man on a big horse on the south end of the Plaza. I did a commentary saying the word was out that Obama was going to come to the Plaza and address the Occupiers. I said, I hear a roar from the crowd and I think Obama is on the Plaza. Yes, he's here, I can see him clearly. I then recorded the big horse's ass and said, there he is, President Obama. If you were the President and you saw that, wouldn't you think it was just a joke? Like I said, I hope they have a sense of humor. Mark and the bunch that had gone down to the Federal Reserve came back and I told him what had happened. The bad part was I had gotten videos of all the people I had met. Their names and addresses and told them I would burn them a dvd when I got back home. That's no longer in the picture. I found Chuck and told him I would like to address the crowd after the General Assembly meeting this evening. He said he would put my name on the board and when it came my time I could have the floor. There was no more marches scheduled, so Mark and I just walked around visiting and enjoying the moment. Everybody we talk with seem to think there might be some trouble with the Park personnel tonight after the permit expires. I told them that I don't think there would be a problem. I said, this isn't New York City, this is the Capital of the United States. the very heart of our government, and that they will do everything in their power to make sure it don't turn into New York City. The last thing they want to do is arrest everybody on the Plaza. Occupy Wall Street didn't get any coverage by the controlled media until seven hundred were arrested. They had to print that news, they had no choice. The general assembly started at 7:00. The discussion was mainly about the permit expiring tonight and the course of action that would be taken. They said they had been in contact with the Park Service and it was still undecided as to what would happen. They said that if they did come in, that they would arrest anyone camping and would confiscate all tents and everything in them and they would impound your stuff to be claimed when they let you out of jail. I though, damn, I got a train to catch tomorrow at three. I don't want to lose all my gear. We've been through to much together. We went all the way to Maine together. I've got to think about this. The meeting went pretty fast and it came my time to address the crowd. I told them who I was and where I was from. I told them on the first day that I had to leave on Monday, and that if I was lucky enough not to get arrested I would leave $100.00 to pay somebody's fine if they got arrested. I said it is will a heavy heart that I am going to have to go back on my word. I said I had borrowed a camcorder to document this occasion but now I was going to have to use the fine money to replace the camcorder because this evening somebody stole it. The crowd was moaning and saying oh, no. I said no, it's my fault, I should have known better. You see where I come from you don't worry about things like that. I said the camera is not very valuable like it is because I have both the batteries and the charger still in my tent. I said I would like to have the cassette back because I really had some good footage. I said, I would like to say one more thing. I know it's Sunday so I will try to be as nice as I can. If the person that stole my camcorder is still around, and can hear me, I would like to make them an offer. If you return the Cassette, I will give you the recorder, the two batteries, and the charger, plus $100.00. No questions ask. However, if you can hear me and choose not to return my tape, I have one more thing to say, I hope in the near future, you fall into a raging river, and while you are drowning, your Mama is unsuccessful getting you help as she runs up and down the bank barking. Thank you and God Bless America. The whole place

went crazy. A couple of colored fellows setting up front said, we'll get you tape back man! One woman came up and hugged my neck and Chuck came up and said, I love you man, that was cool as shit. I do wish I had got the tape back. I had decided not to risk getting arrested tonight. I told Mark that I was going to break camp and would probably sleep over at Wells Fargo on the sidewalk. He said he might pack up his backpack and hide it over in Pershing Park. He said he was going to stay on the Plaza even if it meant getting arrested. I told him I would give him bail money if he didn't have it. He said he appreciated the offer but he had enough for bail. I took down my tent and packed everything up. There wasn't but a couple more tents that came down. Everybody else was staying. Brad came up and said he had a guitar at his camp if I wanted to come down and play a little. We played till we got tired of playing. Brad sang a song he had written and it was really good. He said to look him up on his web site Radical Honesty. I didn't know it at the time,but the man is world reknown. The Occupy Freedom Plaza had extended an invitation to the Occupy McPherson bunch for a dance to start at 10:00 in definance of the permit exspiring. They all marched in right at 10:00. While we were singing and playing, a group of people had gathered around and we all sit and talked till after midnight. The permit expired and nothing happened, but who knows what the night would bring. I told them I hated to leave good company but I needed to get some sleep because I would be up all night on my train ride home. I went across the street and claimed my home on the side walk in front of Wells Fargo. About the time I got settled in, a homeless man came and laid down right below me. Two security personnel came up and I got up and started talking to them. I asked them if they thought I would be safe sleeping there. The lady said, look around you. There was about a dozen police cars around the Plaza, four on the street I had claimed. She said, at this moment in time, this is probably the safest place in Washington D.C.. She said, besides that, you see that parking place right in front of you? I said I did. She said I am going to pull my squad car around and will be parked there all night. I said that was good to know. I spent my first night in D.C. sleeping on a park bench, and I will spend my last night sleeping on the sidewalk. How fitting is That?