I kind of thought the trains would be empty of cops with all the Occupying going on above ground – ha! Dream on Heidi. It appears they’ve hired more cops! I said to one of the officers after the eviction of Zuccotti Park; “You guys seem to multiply in front of our eyes. It’s like you’re breeding i real time. It’s nuts!” Luckily, he had a sense of humour.
Two days ago I went to 59th to do what I do, sing & make folks smile & dance & two rookie cops (you can tell they’re new ’cause they’re young, they always walk in pairs and their uniforms are all sparkly & shiny) spotted me from across the train tracks and changed their normal slow saunter up a few notches to a jog.
A ‘jog’? Seriously? I’m singing, not mugging someone.
I watched as the two rookies bounded up the stairs knowing they were excited to come and ticket me as it would show their supervisor that they were ‘on point’. Little did they know I knew what was up. I had seen them see me even though they didn’t know I’d seen them. (Get that? 🙂 And somehow I managed to pack up my guitar, amp, books, CD’s, patch cords, mic and guitar case onto my huge dolly all in under 30 seconds. Before the two cop’s feet hit my side of the platform I was sitting on the bench, blending in with all the other commuters, chatting away as if nothing was amiss.
I waited. Soon the two cops jogged over to where I’d been singing just moments before & watched as they turned around a few times, mumbled to each other, dawned a baffled look and went back to their slow saunter patrolling the 59th St Platform, I suppose trolling for more ‘terrorist musician’ types
I disliked having to stop making people happy but I really enjoyed outsmarting the NYPD 🙂
Then yesterday, we at Occupy Wall St took it up a few notches. Two nights before, Mayor Bloomberg (or Emperor Bloomberg as we often now call him here in NYC) let his dogs loose on us and raided Zuccotti Park between the hours of 1 & 3 AM – arresting and kicking everyone out & lining up blocks of Sanitation Trucks into which he had they trashed all the Occupier’s belongings, including the most coveted “People’s Library” full of fabulous donated books for anyone to read at any time. The timing, one day before our next big rally was not lost on anyone. Perhaps he believed it would squash the movement but, as history has shown many times throughout this movement, it accomplished the complete opposite. As the #OWS says “Arrest one and two more will come”
Fast forward 48 hours, the turn out at Foley Square was beyond huge. After a relatively bloody & violent morning with over 200 arrests and one protester having his head bashed into the sidewalk by the NYPD, knocking out his teeth, over 30,000 protesters rallied at Foley Square in Lower Manhattan then marched to the Brooklyn Bridge. the crowd was enormous. It was freezing out there as the wind whipped in and out of the tall office buildings of Lower Manhattan. However, being surrounded by so many eager, hopeful and light bearing souls was magical. I marched with elderly women with canes and walkers, parents with one, two, and three children in tow and Doctors supporting the 99%. There was every race, colour, age, language you can imagine represented last night.
People have their opinions of what the Occupy Movement looks like – let me tell you it’s all of us. No matter who you are. It’s everyone.
- 30K Marchers #OWS – Photo Frank Vacine
There was also a fabulous light show that entertained us on the side of the Verizon Building as we marched …Stay creative, stay peaceful, stay loving <3 #OWS
- #OWS 99% Projected on Verizon Building – Photo Nick Pinto
The Subway Diaries - Adventures of a Subway Musician | Heidi | 
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Busking, Heidi Kole, Musician, NYC, Subways, The Subway Diaries, Underground Author
