Dan Patterson — #OccupyWallStreet - Tent City

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#OccupyWallStreet - Tent City - Update; Nov 2nd: For the first time in several weeks I returned to #OccupyWallStreet at Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan, accompanied by anthropologist and old friend Quentin Lewis.

#OccupyWallStreet has evolved over the past several weeks. When last I visited the encampment, the protest was still in the process of self-actualization. Many events have occurred since October, and#OWS movements have sprung up in cities across America, and the world.

The world is trying to make sense of #OccupyWallStreet. In the past few weeks, the movement has achieved main-stream press adoption, celebrities have visited - and funded - the movement, a part-time web producer for WNYC was let go for her participation in the movement, and a late-autumn snow storm struck the Northeast region.

Of course, the journalism hook is difficult to decipher. It’s important to note that much of the coverage of the movement is split along two lines: analysis of meaning, purpose, and identity (a tactic preferred by pundits), and ‘process journalism’ - reporting little more than the facts of events. While I’m constantly tempted to engage in analysis and punditry, I’m more comfortable - ethically and practically - with process journalism.

To that end, I simply attend, observe, and report (as heard on Soundcloud here, and in a set here). Now, the tarps and mattresses on the ground have been replaced by tents housing cozy sleeping bags. Human-powered bikes provide electricity and tarp-covered structures provide shelter to marked zones of ‘Comfort’ and ‘Sanitation.’ Quentin, the ever-insightful academic, noted that this infrastructure is necessary for both practical reasons like riding out a long winter, as well as fulfilling social needs like strengthening the community mission. No doubt, #OWS is changing, adapting, and evolving. Of course, the media narriative will evolve along with the protest. Through the cold months ahead I will continue to visit movement’s spiritual and physical headquarters and report on it’s evolution.

**Coverage Note: To help share individual #OccupyWallStreet stories - pro and con - I have created a Google Voice number to which individuals can call and share their personal feelings about the protest. The number is: (347) 422-6491.