The intersection couldn't have been better: bright lighting and a festive atmosphere, shops and restaurants lining the street, crowds of pedestrians and diners walking casually and talking, and no parking near the corners for maximum visibility while cars wait out the light. The best part: DIAGONAL CROSSING! It's one of the only 4-way crosswalks in downtown San Diego and we took full advantage of it signing and dancing our way across the intersection for all to see!
It was amazing to just watch all of the Occupiers work their signs on those corners! Talking with passer-by about their topics; reaching out and informing citizens about their dwindling rights. Many Occupiers found themselves in deep conversations and missed many intersection crossings as they were busy awakening fellow 99%ers. Waving at cars as they honked, running up and handing out flyers before the light goes green, making sure someone Googles something about these topics after their dinner on the town. Many happy cheers of "OCCUPY!" would come from the peddie cab drivers as they whizzed by with their customers, and we even gave a down-on-his-luck guy named Dwayne a sign for a while as he took a break from panhandling!
Again and again, I would hear pedestrians read our signs out loud, confirm they they are in full support, give smiles and waves from cars, or—most interestingly— I would hear someone walking in a group lightly change their conversation with their friends about the horrible things they heard about banking, Wall Street, current politics, and the like. It is amazing to know that someone will be going home, seeing something related in the media relating to these topics, and begin to allow it all to sink in and connect.
Some notes from the night:
- Any sign that has the word "Honk" on it works!
- When doing a full-scale Corner Occupation like this (with 8 or more), a mixture of large and handheld signs works wonderfully: The larger signs get the attention of cars far away, but the handheld signs are small and un-intrusive enough to facilitate on-sidewalk approaches by pedestrians. Also, the smaller ones are fun to hold close to cars for passengers to see.
- Night time photography, especially with all of the cars and lights, necessitates a professional photog. Our camera phones were to no avail.
- It was fun when the police drove by because we were within our rights (in San Diego) to stand on the sidewalk and hold a sign. For extra safety, rotations and mindfully staying near the curb edge and out of the way of foot traffic solidified our right to do what we were doing.
- We had two sign dancers on two corners and a homeless guy on the third. So what did we do? We avoided the sign dancers who eventually left and gave the homeless guy a sign to hold! (For his donation of his time, we all donated to his meal that night. Thank you, everyone!)
And that was that! Ana amazing time, as promised! We all discussed while disbanding after an hour and a half Corner Occupation our next event: Wednesday, December 14th - Hillcrest. 5th and University in support of the Occupy San Diego benefit concert at the Ruby Room!
Also, we have been getting positive feedback and connections with Occupy Phoenix, Occupy Sante Fe, Occupy Vista, Occupy Philadelphia, and the big Occupy Wall Street group itself! We're spreading!
Finally, check out some of the other stuff we've been up to...
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