OccupyVictoria - VIHippieChick's account (Part 2)

I'll do my best to recap my experience of Day 3 and 4 of OccupyVictoria. It's been a busy time and a bit overwhelming as well. To start I want to just recap some of the highlights of the past couple days.

Day 3

• Mayor Dean Fortin came down and visited OccupyVictoria and chatted with campers.
• Victoria Police stated in a press release they are " trying to strike a balance between people's right to protest and the local by-law"

Day 4

• Camosun College Student Society (CCSSLocal75) supports OccupyVictoria

Here are some photos of the signs down at Centennial Square. They pretty much speak for themselves. These are some of the individual messages that are being delivered.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Truly this whole experience for me is overwhelming. I love to help however I can but am torn between the needs of the movement and my personal limitations. Honestly I have been debating all day about stepping away from the Process work group due to the time demand such a role takes. The participants in this group are either in planning meetings or facilitating the general assemblies six days a week. Many of us either work full time or go to school. Some of us are mothers. The mutual dedication to this aspect of the movement was demonstrated by a very smooth flowing meeting tonight.

When I'm not in a Process meeting or General Assembly or working I am watching the media. Trying to stay on top of what's being said, who wants more info and helping to bridge communication between the online world and the campers who have extremely limited access to online media.

However, despite all the demands of my time I have managed to meet a growing number of the campers. They are from all walks of life, all ages, families, a really vast community. Occupying to them is a starting point, they want people to visit, to discuss, to share ideas, to brainstorm new ideas on how we can make a difference. As one camper said, "Just start by introducing yourself."

So today I did. On my lunch I went down, chatted with a couple people I had already met and also introduced myself to a few more. In the evening it was a bit easier to meet people as many were drawn to me by my lovely side kick known as B (a very energetic 3 year old).

But it was during the General Assembly tonight that something really struck a cord with me. We had a bit of an ice breaker/team building type exercise and discussed what we want to see come out of OccupyVictoria and one person in my group said "The ability to talk to one's neighbour." Something so simple. Something that shouldn't need a protest to start. Something lost so long ago but is tangible to reclaim. While I do talk with some of my neighbours, the ones I do know, the ones in the houses next door, have made the last year of my life wonderful. I know I'm blessed by to have relationships with my neighbours, now I know I'm not alone in having wanted this for so long.

The mentality of community and ability to simply walk up to one another, say "Hi, my name is..." needs to be reclaimed. If we all knew each other better, maybe we would be more tolerant of each other simply because we understood each other better.

The need and desire for community is why I get overly emotional about this movement. And why, believe it or not, I'm often lost for words and feel far from eloquent in my feeble attempts at trying to share my experience with you.