Occupy Chicago?

Ok, so I went down to the Chicago protests. It has been a very interesting day. First, I rode the brown line down to the library, where I got off and walked down to 500 S. Michigan Avenue on the advice of the occupychi.org website. There wasn't anyone there. So I made a right turn and headed down the road toward the stock exchange. And when I got there it looked like this:

Not a whole lot to see. But, it's a big place, so I made another right turn and wandered down the street. And it looked like this:

Not what I would call a good turnout. It doesn't even look like the people that go there every day went there today. Now bear in mind that the website said that I should go down to 500 S Michigan because of the overwhelming numbers that they had, but I haven't seen anything yet. I thought maybe it was a revolving door thing and that they had marched down the street one block away, and maybe I was just behind them. So I kept walking.

And still no protest. Now at this point I am actually right around the corner from them, but there isn't any indication of anything going on to the people eating out here. But at the end of this courtyard, there they were. Here is a short piece of video I filmed just to give the idea of what it is like. Sorry it's so shaky, I'm a shaky guy. Hosana.

So that's what it really was. I couldn't count how many people there were, but it wasn't a lot. Not even enough to block the sidewalks. Now, I got back on the website, and saw that they were moving to 500 S Michigan to shout out about their demands at 7pm this evening, so maybe there will be more people around for that. Please notice that the police in my video are far from what I had heard about when I went looking for some news, These guys (maybe three?) are hanging about and chatting with the kids. As for the protest itself, just a bunch of noise. If you're so angry you need to drum, this is the place to be, otherwise I am not sure what it might accomplish. I really would have thought that two weeks in there would be something more organized. The website makes it seem like there is a lot going on, but I would say there isn't.

So i left. They weren't even chanting together most of the time, and reflecting off of the stone walls made everything loud and a little unbearable. And as long as I was downtown, I figured I would catch some photos of good things happening in the city today.

First, let me say it was uncommonly nice out. The kids were in the park playing in the water. I would have told you one week ago that was finished this time of year, but it's just not so. The leaves are starting to change, and the weather has been crappy, but today stood out. Yesterday wasn't so bad either, I guess.

Over at the Art Institute of Chicago's Gardens Fall has been coming in fast.

And that's about that. I wandered around for a few hours, taking photos of all kinds of stuff that wasn't Cloud Gate, because I can't stand that thing. And then I circled back around and climbed aboard the mighty brown line again to go back home. There is a chance that i get back out tonight, but Kelly has asked me to come and hang with her up North, and I probably will.

Hosana. Praise Hosana. Praise Rang Dipkin.