In two months time, Occupy Wall Street has already made a significant impact in moving the national dialogue towards the needs of people rather than the needs of the elite.

The Occupation, about 70 ‘sleepers’ strong, has been there since October 6^th. Some sleepers are currently being forced to Occupy the Island in the intersection of Cesar Chavez St. and S. 1^st St. This is directly across the street from the Occupation. These Occupiers, or ‘Exiles’, are stuck on the Island due to a 1 year ban from City Hall property levied by the City after their arrests on October 30^th. The National Lawyers Guild is working with the Exiles to contest this ban. The solidarity they’ve shown by continuing to Occupy the Island is amazing.

This was our 2^nd trip in our capacity as #OccupySupply liaisons and the goal was to drop off our first large shipment for distribution. Armed with hats, socks, long johns, sweaters, face masks and more, we waited for the arrival of our primary contact, who we’ll call Kate.

Monday night, KrisA and I met at the occupation in Austin to deliver OccupySupply’s first shipment of 8 hats and 10 pairs of socks to our occupation. We were accompanied by CBL and nonplussed of firedoglake. Since I’m afraid to be in the parking garage below City Hall where we occupy, nonplussed and I caught a ride with a friend of his who hadn’t been to the occupation yet.

Visiting an Occupation, even a relatively small one like ours, is a little surreal. The energy is so heated. There’s so much passion, energy, even anger. Then you step away and realize the world continues as normal. Despite the global nature of this movement, people everywhere are living life; Re-entry is jarring when one steps from any temporary encampment to the bright lights of a grocery store.

Much has been said about the protests and whether those involved have valid reasons. Though the protesters have many diverse issues they have come together over, to me at this point the most important reason is to stand up for our right to assemble. In childhood, teachers taught me that the right for the people to speak up and assemble to demand a redress of grievances is one of the most fundamental things that defines being an American citizen. And yet now these 38 peaceful activists — along with a small but notable number of arrests since — are banned from City Hall for one year.

I’m headed down to join Occupy Austin in a few hours. The protest was very well attended yesterday and the media coverage was extremely positive, despite the fact that the crowd was filled with a bunch of lazy, entitled, dope-smoking college drop-outs like these.