On the ground: Reporting from Occupy Wall Street

     Upon arriving off the station at Wall Street, I was immediately confused by the empty streets lined with barricades and eerily silent atmosphere. There were cops lining the street motioning pedestrians to keep moving between the barricades that followed the entirety of Wall Street. After reaching the end of the street there was a faint drum noise that could be heard in the distance, but still no signs of protesters except the small clue of news crews parked all along a few streets over. Around the bend was a park filled with the participants of Occupy Wall Street.

     The park was filled with a variety of people, mostly sitting and waiting or sleeping in makeshift sleeping bags of tarps. The morning had been drizzling rain, but many of the people within the park seemed upbeat sharing thoughts within small groups or voicing their opinions to the numerous reporters and viewers who had wandered in.

     One of the first things you notice when entering the park are the long lines of protestors with handwritten signs on cardboard standing almost like a fence along the park. The trouble though is that you are unable to really stop and look at each sign because of the very large abundance of police officers mimicking the same fence directly opposite of the protestors who are rushing you to move. The park itself was relatively calm, there were few people yelling, and the only real loud aspect of the park was a drum line positioned on a set of stairs with people freely dancing to the beat.

      The protestors themselves looked at ease and calm, as if just being there, supporting in numbers was more than enough to make a difference. Many people were eager to share their opinions, while others simple stated their opinion on their sign and sat contently for the passersby. There were a few people who chose the route of the theatrics, positioning themselves higher above to have their message clearly seen by all.

     After experiencing the entirety of the Occupy I left with a neutral feeling of the situation. While the messages were both strong and hopeful the doubts of anything happening or changing from the event flattened any empowering emotion I may have had.