There’s something surreal about lying in a camping tent and feeling the rumble of the Market-Frankford subway shake the concrete beneath you, as a homeless man – either drunk, high, mentally ill, or a combination of the three – yells at himself at 2 in the morning.

A colony of tents, wooden structures and hammocks now occupied the Dilworth Plaza at City Hall in Philadelphia. Angered by corporate greed and their implied power over political structures, members of the 99 percent have taken to the streets of New York, Atlanta, Washington D.C., Boston and across the nation to make themselves seen by the world.

On day nine of the Occupy Philly demonstration I arrived at 4 p.m., right before the Freedom March to Rittenhouse Square. For the next three days, my home would be the concrete slabs outside of City Hall, to discover how this community was structured and how it functioned.

With just enough time to find an open space on the west side of City Hall and set up my tent, I joined a large group forming near Market Street in the center of camp. It was cloudy and had just stopped raining.

The immediately noticeable police presence was moderate at the actual camp site – about six or so detectives with dark, long coats and red arm bands that said police. The majority of uniformed police officers kept watch on the north-eastern, east, and south-eastern sides of City Hall. Some officers had begun to block off traffic on Fifteenth Street.
The crowd of protesters at Market Street was preparing to march. Someone in the crowd was yelling –

“Mic check!”

“Mic check!” The crowd responded.

“If you are arrested” the man said.

“If you are arrested” the crowd yelled back.

This method of echoing was known as the people’s mic – an easy solution to a fundamental problem when dealing with a large group. In order to make sure that everyone hears what is being said, a person will speak three to four words at a time and then everyone within earshot, repeats it back in unison; creating a much louder voice.

The man told the crowd the new number for legal counsel if they are arrested or see someone being arrested. Protesters were told to evoke their Fifth Amendment right and ask to speak to their attorney.

With a team of police officers leading the way to stop traffic, the march started down Fifteenth Street. Pedestrians stopped in their tracks to watch the mass flow by. Some were clapping or cheering. Every Smartphone became a camera – adding to the already numerous amount of D-SLR’s and news cams.

A bullhorn was passed around to start chants.

“Tell me what democracy looks like!” The bull horn screeched.

“This is what democracy looks like!” The crowd replied, their voices echoed off the concrete walls of Staples and Del Frisco’s.

Turning right onto Walnut Street, the march funneled between the storefronts of the Gap and Diesel and a PNC bank. They came to a rest in front of the Apple store. A group of employees in blue polo’s were standing outside taking pictures and videos with their iPhones. The bull horn was handed to a girl in a black bandana.

“Mic check!” she yelled.

She told the crowd that the Apple store has many “nice” products, but that the people who make those products work in other countries for very little money. The Apple store employees listened, but said nothing.

A few stores down, at Urban Outfitters, the mood was slightly less understanding. No employees were outside to greet the protesters, but instead a lone security guard kept watch at the door. The woman with the bull horn told the crowd that Urban Outfitters does not have to pay taxes, because of a loop-hole. Their “boo’s” rumbled the air between the buildings on the congested city street.

The march continued to Rittenhouse Square, passing by onlookers who leaned out of high-rise windows and restaurants where conversations stopped and the wait staff stood outside watching the crowd.

They eventually reached Market Street and headed back towards City Hall. It had begun raining again. Large tarps thrown over tents would provide protection back at camp, but out on the street people were defenseless.

As they passed a TD Bank they chanted “We got sold out, banks got bailed out.” The bank looked empty of customers and some of the tellers peered out the large glass windows with tired faces.

When the crowd returned to City Hall, it was almost 5; almost dinner time.

All meals are served from either the Food Tent or the neighboring Snack Tent located on the north-western side of City Hall.
The Food Tent distributes three meals a day which are composed of donated items from supporters. Friday night’s dinner was vegetable soup, salad, a piece of Italian bread, white rice and fruit cocktail.

The line formed at the right end of the Food Tent where hand sanitizers and sanitizing towelettes sat on a long table. Most people opted to use them.

Eric, 22, has been occupying Philly since day one but can only attend about four days out of the week, because of his class schedule at Temple University.

Eric said that he feels that “The food served is enough,” but admitted that he usually goes somewhere else to get food and eat. He said he had been drawn to the demonstration for several reasons.

“It’s the first time I’ve ever had access to this many people coming together and demonstrating their commitment to democracy,” Eric said.

More honestly, Eric said that his father had been laid off last year from his job at the M&M/Mars factory in New Jersey.

After dinner, it was time to find a bathroom.

The Information Tent was located in the heart of the encampment, near the main protest stage and march-starting-line, at Fifteenth and Market Street. Here a person can find a plethora of information about the occupation including resident-friendly bathrooms. One was listed to be at Suburban Station.

The description said to enter at Fifteenth and JFK Boulevard. It did not say however, that you’d walk through a concrete corridor that reekeding-line, at Fifteenth and Market Street. Here a person can find a plethora of information about the occupation including resident-friendly bathrooms. One was listed to be at Suburban Station.

The description said to enter at Fifteenth and JFK Boulevard. It did not say however, that you’d walk through a concrete corridor that reeked of urine and was filled with sleeping homeless persons.

The actual bathrooms inside of Suburban Station weren’t much cleaner, but did offer an increased feeling of comfort and overall safety.

At around 8 p.m. Friday, the daily General Assembly (GA) was held directly next to the arched-entrance to City Hall’s courtyard.

GA is a town-hall type meeting where the occupying community gathers to discuss announcements and issues. Because the occupation does not have specific leaders or a particular person in charge, the person running GA can be – and usually is – different every time.

Tonight’s big issue was if the community should respond to a letter sent from the office of Managing Director and Deputy Mayor Richard Negrin.

In the letter, Negrin “Used sympathetic language to express various issues which concerned the public’s health, safety and welfare” said an Occupy Philly spokesperson at GA.

After sending a number of city officials to City Hall for a tour of the facility on Oct. 11, Negrin came up with a list of suggestions, which were outlined in the letter.

First and foremost was the moving of all wooden structures built against the west wall of City Hall to at least 20 feet away. The stairs, landing and walkways should be completely cleared. All tents should be self supporting and not attached to any rails, trees, etc.

The letter also recommended the use of portable toilets.

At Friday night’s GA, a spokesperson announced that two such toilets had been donated and were now positioned behind the Food Tent.

The letter from Negrin also reminded the occupation that a construction project to build a park and skating rink at Dilworth Plaza will affect their relocation in November. The permit obtained by Occupy Philly says that they will vacate the premises on the start date of construction, according to the letter from Negrin.

Mary Catherine Roper, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), addressed the GA with one particular part of the letter in which Negrin requested a weekly meeting between representatives of Occupy Philly and senior city representatives.

She suggested the occupants hold a listening meeting to hear the city’s concerns.

“This occupation needs to stay cooperative with the city” Roper said, “If not, [what the community is able to do at City Hall] will change.”

The decision making process then began.

To decide on any matter, the GA goes through a structured process to come out with a majority-ruled conclusion.
First is the proposal. Proposed was to have weekly listening meetings with the city to hear their concerns.

Then “stack” is opened up for clarifying questions. Two stack people walk around and take names of people with their hands up, then read the names alternately to give them the chance to speak.

The people’s mic was in full effect throughout GA and to make sure that no voice was competing with other noises, a series of hand gestures had been agreed upon.

Spirit fingers stood for applause or agreement, but shaking hands down as if drying them off meant disagreement; twiddling the pointer fingers in an exaggeration motion told the speaker to wrap it up, while pointing up to the sky meant to speak louder. After clarifying questions, stack is then opened to take concerns. After concerns are heard, the proposal is opened to friendly amendments.

For this proposal there were two amendments. One was to record the meeting with the city and either stream it live or publish it at a later date for the sake of “complete transparency.”

The other amendment was to only hold the listening meetings at GA.

Once a proposal is amended a straw poll decides which form of the proposal to use for voting.

A straw poll has two possible outcomes – a strong majority which leads to an official vote or no clear majority in the event of which the GA breaks into small groups and discusses. Then, after 15 minutes, stack would open again for concerns and clarifying questions.

With the straw poll showing a strong majority for the amended proposal, it was accepted to be voted upon and an official vote was taken.

The GA came to the conclusion not to hold any such meetings with the city after nearly 60 people voted against the proposal.

The occupancy would instead wait a week to respond with a written list of demands as was decided upon in the previous night’s GA.

GA came to a close and it was time to get some sleep. Sleeping on the hard city concrete as temperatures hovered in the upper 40s proved to be difficult. Conversations between people or with themselves were loud and lingered until the early hours of the morning. By breakfast at 8:30 a.m., I had slept for 5 hours.

According to a count done by occupation representatives, there were 310 tents occupying Dilworth Plaza by Saturday morning.

It was the United Global Day of Action, which involved demonstrations across the globe, and Occupy Philly had a full slate of events for the day.

All marches and rallies at the occupation are planned by the Direct Action Committee and are posted at their tent next to the Information Tent.

Michael, a philosophy, ethics and comparative religion professor at a local community college, was one of the volunteers who worked the Information Tent.

He said that the Occupy Philly community consisted of over 10 different institutions – also known as working groups or committees – many of which break into subgroups.

The Legal working group consists of volunteers from the ACLU. They are there to assist occupiers with legal matters such as working with the city as well as to inform the people of their First Amendment rights. Before every march, the arrest hotline is read aloud and protesters write it on papers, signs, or body parts.

The Food Committee is exactly what it says. All food comes in the form of donations or picked from the excess produce that the Reading Terminal Market throws out every night.

Accordingly, there is a Donation working group that handles all donations and distributes them to the proper working groups.

Rob, who has been helping run the donation table since day one of Occupy Philly, said that “Most donations actually come through this jar right here,” as he pointed to a large plastic container on the wooden table. “This whole thing works because of the dedication of volunteers coming together.”

The Comfort working group provides essentials such as blankets, clothes, and tents. At Saturday night’s GA, a spokesperson from the Comfort working group said that “We need tents. We will always need tents.”

The Medic committee has two tents set up on site. They provide basic first aid supplies and trained EMT officials.
Sanitation can be seen hard at work throughout the day, sweeping up trash and cleaning the sidewalks.

The Art working group is responsible for making just about every sign or banner. The tent is easy enough to find on account of the numerous large banners that surround it.

The Education committee concentrates on training people to work in certain working groups, but also to answer any other questions that a person might have – providing that the person on staff at the time can answer them.
If they can’t answer a question, your next stop might be the Library, which has large stacks of donated books.
The Tech and Media working groups are closely related and their tents sit side-by-side closest to the GA area. Tech support handles how energy is obtained and used, while Media uses that energy to reach out into the media-world for information or promotion.

The energy comes from two places. The permit obtained Occupy Philly allows the use of an outlet near one of the windows on City Hall however, the occupiers “want to be completely off the grid.”

To do this they used eight, large solar panels to charge giant batteries.

One of the batteries is used to power the two-way radios used by the Security and Safety working group. Allen, a member of the working group, said “Our main job is to clear up miscommunications based on different opinions and linguistic styles.”

Luckily, there hasn’t been too many of them, Allen said.

But problems are sure to arise eventually, especially as the unintentional cliques and “neighborhoods” start to spill into each other.

Cliques have formed and “Like-minded people tend to stay together,” Michael said.

Although the habitually homeless were scattered throughout the camp, a large majority of them congregated near the benches on the outskirts or near the pallet structures on the north-west side of City Hall.

A majority of the predominately white, “hippie” population was located on the opposite side of camp, near the Education tent.

Many people who brought their families and young children collected around the Kid Fun Zone – a section of camp with toys, chalk, and activities for young children.

There was also a collection of occupiers who wore all black, with pale skin and dyed hair that both camped near and volunteered at the Medic headquarters next to the food tent.

Not everyone can be so easily placed into such groups, however.

Michael, who lives in Philadelphia, had been drawn to the demonstration after being intrigued by Occupy Wall Street in New York City. After spending some time at Wall Street, Michael felt Philadelphia could use him, as it was growing quickly.

He plans to stay at City Hall until the occupancy in Trenton needs him.

Until then, Michael – the previous pastor of a church in Fish Town and the current pastor at one in New Jersey – will serve as the community’s only acting priest.

On Saturday, his services were called upon by two community members who decided, after a year of engagement, to get married at City Hall while they were occupying it together.

Bill and Kasey Tuttle were the first couple to get married at an occupation.
After being together for six years, Bill said that “This is the perfect place. People get married at City Hall all the time, so why shouldn’t we?”

Bill and Kasey’s family were in attendance at the lower level of Dilworth Plaza to watch the wedding. Michael was wearing a white clerical collar, a cowboy hat and sunglasses as he began the ceremony.

“I feel like Fryer Tuck” he said, “Marrying Robin Hood and Maid Marian at a medieval place in a medieval time.”
A man in a black hooded sweatshirt and caution tape wrapped like a suit tie around his neck read a passage from the bible about not accepting greed.

A small crowd gathered, including the detectives in their black trench coats and arm bands, to watch as Bill and Kasey exchanged their vows and rings made from twine.

After Michael declared the Tuttles husband and wife, some young men who had brought instruments to the occupation were arranged as the band and played a rendition of “Lean on Me.”

After lunch it was time to get ready for the day’s big march and rally.

Before the march, there was a short pre-demonstration meeting at which announcements were made, chants to be used were practiced, guidelines on how to respect the public, property, and police was explained and the arrest hotline number was given out which would connect the caller to the National Lawyers Guild.

First, the march went to Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey’s office on JFK Boulevard to drop off a petition to “Stop giving money to the rich, and start giving it to the rest of us” said Tim Brown, a spokesperson for the American Dream Movement.

Toomey had recently been selected to join the debt ‘super committee.’

Next, the march went to Independence Mall to join a rally already in progress held by Philadelphians Against War and other peace groups. A group of young men and women in blue military uniforms were on a field trip at the time, visiting the Independence National Historical Park.

About three hours later, the occupiers, joined by rally members, marched back to City Hall.

Combining forces with several similarly charged groups, dropping off the petition, and a day full of marches and rallies had left the demonstrators feeling accomplished. It was time to celebrate.

Live music from bands like The Bruce Mays Experiment & The Funk-A-Licious Horns was accompanied by food and dancing.

A drum circle started up on a couch at the center of the encampment. Like a Native American or African tribe celebrating a good-day’s hunt, the intricate beats and rhythms spawned dances – first solo dances and then challenges between two dancers, until finally everyone joined in. Loud cries of laughter were barely audible over the roar of the drum circle.

Other occupiers socialized in small circles while a few dedicated protesters held their signs up at the traffic, facing down Market Street, where the sun was beginning to set.

Sunday, day 11 of the occupation, was a relatively quiet day of resting. Many occupiers used this time to visit home, if they had one, and gather more supplies or take a hot shower. Michael had mentioned that The Friends Center on Cherry and Fifteenth Street was allowing occupiers to use their showers so I went there to check it out.

The receptionist said he had no idea what I was talking about and that “Showers are more for the employees. We can’t let people of the public use them. I’m really sorry.”

This came after Michael had gone there the day before to take a shower before the wedding.

Convinced that the man was just uninformed and not seeing a need to fight with a Quaker, I went outside and dumped a water bottle over my head and combed my hair in the window of a closed café.

Back at camp the portal toilets had signs that said “FULL” on them. Tech support had put out a “Charging Station” with three surge protectors that served as outlets to charges phones, computers, etc.

The schedule for the day at the Information tent had a list of yoga, worship, lunch, and an afternoon farm workers rally to Trader Joe’s.

However, it was time for me to leave. I took down my tent and found that underneath it, the concrete was still wet from Friday afternoon’s rain.

Some occupiers sat outside of their tents and talked about getting some beer to drink for later that night. Surely they’d be keeping awake whoever moved into my spot. Likely until the early morning as the Market-Frankford subway shook the cold concrete slabs beneath them.