the guy by the door …

By second hand accounts, it was a fairly exciting evening in and around Harvard Yard.  I first suspected something was up when a second guard was assigned to Lamont Library on my shift at about 6PM.  Students started mentioning to me that there were a lot of police in the yard. Then the word – lockdown. No one without a Harvard ID was allowed in the Yard. Occupy Harvard had planned to rendezvous at the John Harvard statue. Occupy Cambridge rallied in front of the Holyoke Center outside the Yard. In order to have a General Assembly all could attend they moved to the Law School. There was the now standard Occupy Consensus Process based largely on anarchist tradition¹.

Democracy is messy.  – Donald Rumsfeld trying to justify the looting and pillage after the “allies” occupied Baghdad.

Consensus is messier. Rightly so. It is much closer to true direct democracy. – the guy by the door

Occupy Cambridge wanted to Occupy the Common, but Occupy Harvard had their hearts set on the Yard. This won out. With the Harvard Police still controlling access to the Yard. Occupy Harvard proceeded into the Yard, while Occupy Cambridge marched around just outside the wall. There was an attempt from OC to push into the Yard to join OH.   A young woman, got her leg caught in a gate as the Harvard University Police tried to close it. The crowd moved in and pushed back on the police hard enough to free her. One member of Occupy Boston vaulted over the gate, was immediately detained, but then released. Dean of Student Life Suzy Nelson appeared and spoke with about 100 students. She expressed support for them, but asked them to occupy somewhere else. The occupiers started putting up tents. Divinty students created a ring of protection around them.  The police chief paced about. There were no arrests. By the time I arrived on the scene more than 20 tents were erected, the police had retreated to the gates, and all seemed quiet.

¹My new friend Will showed my a pamphlet that I believe was from the Wobblies. I can’t find it right now. I will have a great deal more to say about it.  The central point is quite simple.  Consensus seeks to arrive at a decision that everyone owns. It seeks to avoid having to force anyone “go along”.

It’s in front of the Lamont Library in the South East corner of Harvard Yard,  is frocked all winter, …

… and has a floral accompaniment at the moment. John A. Collins tells me that the space in the middle is supposed to represent the space that the sculptor played in as an infant. A protected space formed by his mother with her body. The Lamont Librarian used to take a working lunch in that space. She was fair and wore pastel floral prints. She blended.

Harvard Magazine told us who figured out when and how to frock and that it is now waxed rather than lacquered. But who actually puts the frock on and takes it off. How often is the statue waxed and who does the waxing? Do they get a living wage? When I know, you’ll know.

Carrying tubs of used course packs.	for the Habitat for Humanity book sale.

The deals are not a steal, but they are better than new and the proceeds go to a place. A few pennies may even end up in New Orleans. Course packs are expensive. They were once [if not still] printed by Union labor – members of what was once the Graphic Communication International Union. It is now the Graphic Communication Conference of the Teamsters
which is in turn part of the Change to Win Coalition. But if my most favoritist reactionary string theorist, Lumidek claims that course packs are expensive because of the Unions, he will be wrong! Most of the cost is licensing that intervention in the ‘free market’ that the right-wingers love so much – copyrights. | Richard Stallman appeared briefly at the Wikipedia conference at Harvard Law this summer. Given the significant differences between copyrights and patents, he asked whether the concept of intellectual property has any ontological basis. It is, he asserts, merely a tool to legitimize business practices that benefit the few at the expense of the many.

———
Today is the last day of the sale.

As you might expect, Harvard labor is also in the picture…

…with Jim from FMO helping out…	…while the folks from HUDS get ready for their day.

Harvard members of Habitat for Humanity sell used course packs in front of the Tanner Fountain. The Science Center appears on the right and Memortial Hall on the left.

Recycling is a virtue in and of itself, but Habitat for Humantity @ Harvard adds a second level by selling used and useful items and applying the proceeds to the construction of low-income housing. The gentleman on the right above went to New Orleans last summer.

*I am grateful to Kim Bruning of J’s scratchpad and Wikipedia Netherlands for reminding me of this phrase.

Harvard First Years in FUP arrive at Canaday Hall Friday evening. The rest of the class arrives Saturday morning.

Actually I don’t know if the folks above are FUP’s. They could be FOP’s or FAP’s. I tried to ask, but they wanted get their stuff and find their rooms. No, I don’t at all take it to be rude. F ? P = First year ? Program. They occur the week before First Year Orientation. So these folks are moving within Harvard.
? = (Urban|Art|Outdoor)

I’m guessing the first aid class in front of Lionel last week was part of FOP.

I did talk to a young man unloading in front of Thayer. He is a FUP. Richard Kelley ’10 chose Harvard because the financial aid package made it cheaper than anything in his native Schwarzeneggerland. Encouraging. The final verdict on the late Larry Summers’ program requires, of course, a larger sample.