I stopped by Occupy Wall Street yesterday. They were serving lunch so I had a plate of peas and rice, plantains and a slice of watermelon.
The Occupiers include folks who march to the beat of a different drummer.
At times, the drumming was deafening. Although one Occupier called the drum circle the “heart beat” of the encampment, few want to “give the drummer some.” Instead, they want to give them the boot. The Slatest reports:
Someday the Occupy Wall Street protests will end, and the only question is whether they will go out with a bang or a whimper—or a lot of loud banging followed by whimpers.At least one organizer fears it’s the latter. An anonymous activist wrote a letter to the literary magazine N+1 on Monday warning that drum circles are causing such an outcry that it could derail the whole movement. Really.
It seems a core group of beatniks in New York’s Zuccotti Park has been holding marathon jam sessions from mid-morning until late at night every day, punishing the eardrums of their fellow protesters and the surrounding neighborhood. Teachers at a school across the street have complained they can’t teach. And the local neighborhood community board is holding a meeting Tuesday night in which it could revoke its support of the protests if it’s not satisfied that the noise will subside.
Seward Johnson’s “Double Check” sits a few feet from the drum circle. Occupiers have renamed the iconic sculpture “Sitting Man.”
Sitting Man survived the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. I was a volunteer at Ground Zero. For both workers and volunteers, he was a talisman and symbol of hope.
Ten years later, nobody knows the trouble Sitting Man has seen. Nobody knows his sorrow.
