PhilosopherCrip

First, let me apologize for any grammatical/spelling mistakes of these “on site” posts. I don’t have much down time for rest and so I need to squeeze some writing in as I go along. There certainly isn’t time for editing, if I want to have the opportunity to sleep at all.

Today started early. That is, we wanted to surprise our target (National Headquarters of HUD) an so we got there before any of the staff or administration. I went to bed at around 10:30pm Sunday night, and was up at 2:15am Monday morning, so the march from the hotel could begin at 4am sharp! Many of my friends and family who mock me for not being an early riser will find that amusing. We arrived at HUD and began to erect tents on their patio, labeling it DUHCity (get it, HUD and DUH?). Security guards scrambled around, and there is even a rumor that we woke one up with our 4am chanting, but we weren’t there to “take” HUD. We were merely using it as a staging ground for other actions throughout the city.

At around 6am, my friend Amber, in charge of media relations asked me to help make calls to newspaper/radio/tv stations and invite them to our tent speckled DUH City. I was a telemarketer throughout my high school and college summer vacations and so I was ready and willing to deploy these skills under a streetlamp in the service of ADAPT. Surprised that so many news types don’t come in until 9am or so, I ended up leaving quite a few messages on voice mail. We hadn’t seen any major news outlets poking around at the time that I left DUH City about an hour ago, but we are in it for the long hall and so it’s possible they will show up, enticed by my salesmanship.

Talking about the long hall, it should be noted that DUHCity is a 24 hour operation. It should also be noted that I have been assigned to the overnight group responsible for making sure that it stays in tact until the daylight returns. I am naturally a pretty nocturnal person, so this won’t be too bad. I am about to take a 5 or so hour nap and I will buy some of my famous sugar free red bull being heading back out this evening. I need to be ready for an eventful night though, because it’s possible that the police, seeing that we are not leaving, may try to sweep through and remove us overnight. I know this is not what my family wants to hear, btu I knew about this risk going into non-violent direct action organizing. I have thought about this a lot. I have read about it and discussed it with a wide range of folks (see earlier post “Why non-violent direct action?”). It has been over 3 years since when I first heard about what ADAPT does and now made this decision to be involved in a direct and meaningful way.

I have some pics from my camera phone that I may post later, but I just don’t have it in me right now. I need to find my bed and rest before I need to shower and get ready for tonight’s possible test of will.

For more info about the action, including our platform, see www.DUHCity.org.

FREE OUR PEOPLE!!!!!!!!