Occupying Woodstock

Sparrow November 23, 2011

Last Tuesday, police attacked Zuccotti Park at 1 AM, destroying the Occupy Wall Street encampment. Two days later, protests took place in at least 30 cities around the world -- plus Woodstock! When I received an invitation from MoveOn.org, I decided to attend. Immediately, I begin obsessing about the proper sign to make for this "occupation" of the Town Green. At first, I thought of questions:

WHAT DOES BLOOMBERG FEAR?

DID THEY DESTROY 5000 BOOKS?

WHO GOES TO PRISON IN AMERICA?

Then I had the idea to write:

ARE

MANY

but began to worry there would be 7 of us on the green, and my sign would seem pathetic.

Here's one I didn't have the courage to carry:

HOMELAND SECURITY

CAN KISS MY ASS.

I finally settled on:

YOU CAN'T

KILL OUTRAGE.

At the Woodstock Occupation, I met lots of my friends: Paul McMahon, Judy Whitfield, Carey Harrison. It was fun! A bearded man came over, asking me to help block Tinker Street. "How long will you do it for?" I asked. "About three minutes," he answered. "I'll join you for 14 seconds," I decided. "Fine!" he agreed.

So I helped "shut down" Tinker Street -- actually for about 32 seconds. But I'm glad I did it, because now there's a photo of me on my Facebook page, with my fist raised righteously, in a white glove. I look fairly cool (in a middle-aged way).