For the record, let it be known that the Tenspeed Heroes were in Lower Manhattan on November 13. Also, let it be known that we were returning from the studio of Gage and Desoto in Red Hook and looking for a train to take us uptown when we happened upon the occupation of Zuccotti Park. While staring at the commune of tents, drum circles, libraries, curry pots and shiatsu parlors, we were welcomed to enter by a single voice that emanated from a crowd of voices. And so we did.
We descended into the tent village and walked single file with no destination in mind but the other side. Among the things we saw or heard that caught our attention was a chair made out of branches and nylon, a young man sleeping in a garbage can, a beautiful woman singing Sally, Don’t You Grieve by Woody Guthrie, the collected works of Noam Chomsky (in Spanish, French and English), and a bicycle being pedaled to generate power for one of the kitchens.
As the record indicates, the NYPD cleared Zuccotti Park of all occupiers, tents, libraries, drum circles, and curry pots sometime after midnight on November 15, two days after our visit. The protestors’ retort was simple: “You can’t evict an idea whose time has come;” or, in other words, “Its Not About the Tent.” One of the casualties of the clearing was the destruction of the Occupy Free Library, tossed in dumpsters, which prompted the American Library Association to issue a release condemning the loss of so many books. We Heroes of course also feared for the bike and generator.
The Tenspeed Heroes cannot offer much of a comment on the doings of the Occupy movement and solutions to promote equity and responsible banking but since our HQ is a stone’s throw from Chicago’s Haymarket Square and the Jane Addams Hull house we of course offer our support for peaceful protest in these heady days. One thing we can offer you is the Tenspeed Hero Zuccotti Interview, which was conducted with the cyclist generating the electricity for the Occupy kitchen:
Tenspeed Hero: How ya doing?
Occupier: Good! (With smiles)
Tenspeed Hero: Keep it up!
Occupier: Will do!