So Long, Occupy Philadelphia

Last night I went to Philidelphia to check out one of the last remaining public Tent Cities in America, Occupy Philly. With rumors of eviction going around, it seemed like one of my last chances to physically view the Occupy City Hall remnants. I entered from the side of the park, walking through mounds of trashed beds, makeshift garbage bag tents, and other houses. Stale urine and whatever crack smells like permeated the air. The protestors were huddled together in one group, off to the side, reading books aloud to one another on the steps. About five civil cops were hanging out in the street, monitoring the activity, and one who they called Lieutenant Asshole would enter from time to time, telling the occupiers, "You do realize we are not coming in here, right?" I would soon learn that the only remaining tents were the safety and the medical, while all original members of the leadership had abandoned the site. Nine kids had been sent to jail throughout the last few weeks.

I began to chat with a few locals. They mentioned a lot of weird offers they got from the city in order to return the park. One was to occupy an entire church, as long as they could call it an art installation. One guy broke the movement down: "We were trying to do something here and it got ruined. That's why I took my tent down."

After a few hours of singing, dancing, organizing of signs, and an occasional cleaning attempt, all attention shifted towards a toothless drunk screaming about how much God hates gay marriage. Next to him, his sidekick removed his pants in front of everyone for no apparent reason. Apparently drinking outside directly in front of police is not big deal in Philly. However, Lieutenant Asshole was scoping out the two men pretty hard.

Towards the end of my stay, around 5 AM, a musician named Bruce Mays came out of his tent to yell at me and my friend Cheney for photographing his tent. Bruce then took a piss in the fountain in front of us and came back over to rant to us for our last hour in the park. He told us that the leaders were staying in hotels surrounding the park, called out the kid who just asked us for stomach medicine money as the same kid who got ripped off buying heroin the other night, and explained how every inch of the park was under surveillance. He also told us what a beautiful thing Occupy Philly was. He would wake up and read the paper, drink a beer, and go to therapy. They even had a kids area. However, that soon was converted into a crack and alcohol tent. He said, "Things got too crazy for the kids to be here."

All in all, regardless of the sticky substances that covered just about every inch of the ground and the possibility of getting robbed towards the back of the park, I had a great time at Occupy Philly. I strongly encourage you all to go there and help support the movement as they relocate into a far more bougie space that is being offered to them across the street.