Brett (@PoweredByCats)
… 5 months earlier …
I was in Oakland, CA, in my friend’s living room. It was the last night of a 10-day trip—a reconnaissance mission—to San Francisco, Berkeley, and Oakland. After 10 years, I had decided that my time in New York City was coming to a close. It had become a question not of when I would be moving, but where.
As I was waiting for Mo to get home, I putzed around on the Internet and watched my Twitter feed tick by.
It was October 15, just another day for me, but the four-week anniversary for Occupy Wall Street. To celebrate, OWS took to the streets and held a rally in Times Square.
At that point, I only followed two folks who regularly posted about OWS—@somebadideas and @newyorkist. I don’t remember if they were both in Times Square or retweeting others who were, including people linking to livestreams.
According to the tweets, the crowd was swelling and the situation between Occupy and the cops was heating up, so I decided to watch one of the streams, my first time actively engaging with Occupy Wall Street.
Almost as soon as the stream loaded, I saw swarms of people and rows of police. I don’t remember exactly what was happening visually, but what I heard I will probably never forget:
“OVERWORKED AND UNDERPAID, WE’RE DOING THIS FOR YOU.”
Something clicked.
I hadn’t yet visited Liberty Square, or marched, or been to a working group meeting, but I knew there was something special about Occupy Wall Street. And I needed to be a part of it.
Three nights later—Tuesday, October 18—I attended my first General Assembly.
And then everything changed.
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