December 20, 2011

Missed opportunity in Denver

Coordinating a cross-country occutour is trickier than you might think. Especially when you’ve got nothing but an Amtrak ticket and the good graces of old friends to help you get around. Thus, sometimes travel decisions I make mean I’m going to miss some pretty critical coverage.

And so it was yesterday when I jumped on a train heading west out of Denver about 12 hours before Occupy activists there lit there make-shift sidewalk shanties ablaze before the police had a chance to remove them. Here’s the video from the Denver Post:

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December 20, 2011

Denver to Grand Junction, in tweet pics

The train trek from Denver to Grand Junction is certainly one of the most beautiful stretches of rail track in the country. It switchbacks up into the Rocky Mountains before literally burrowing right underneath the Continental Divide in a six-mile tunnel before following the Colorado River through the mountains for the better part of the day before reaching the other side of the state.

It’s about a 250 mile trip and it took more than seven hours to traverse it via Amtrak. During that time, I saw snow squalls, bald eagles, frozen waterfalls and enough mountain passes to last the…

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December 19, 2011

Why Occupy: Boulder

The Occupation here in this affluent college town is the most polarized that I have seen yet in my travels. Some Occupiers here are calling for a full-scale revolution while others are lauding good that the movement has already brought about. Watch these six videos to get a sense of the wide disparity of opinions among Occupy Boulder.

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December 18, 2011

Occupy Boulder deals with division in its ranks

There’s a division among the 99 percent movement here in this ultra hip, liberal, and very economically diverse western mountain town.  Some of the homeless activists here, as well as others, are critical of some of the more well-to-do protesters refusal to camp with them. While some protesters on the other end of the economic spectrum say the campers are giving the group a bad name.

“If you people want to occupy Boulder, then get out there and occupy with us,” said Ian Murdock at a visioning session at a local church on Saturday afternoon. “We’ve been out there for…

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December 18, 2011

Occupy Boulder puts Wells Fargo on trial

In one of the most entertaining and imaginative actions I’ve seen yet from Occupy activists, Occupy Boulder put Wells Fargo on trial in front of the local bank branch on the Pearl Street walking mall in the center of downtown on Saturday.

The play is called “Miracle on Wall Street: The People vs. WellsFargo” and activists here plan on making the script available for other Occupy groups to use in front of their own Wells Fargo bank branches. It’ll be interesting to see if it becomes a holiday tradition…

After the performance, Occupy Boulder stormed into the bank, chanting…

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December 17, 2011

Back Out West in Boulder

After my Amtrak station all-nighter, my train finally rolled into Denver at about 11:30, four hours later than I thought, and then I caught a bus to what locals like to call The People’s Republic of Boulder, the leftist capital of the Rocky Mountain West (and home to Mork and Mindy!).

Occupy Boulder maintains a camp here, but I haven’t seen it yet. They are holding a series of actions tomorrow – including holding a mock trial for Wells Fargo at a local bank branch and a special general assembly meeting to discuss “What’s Our Vision for Occupy Wall…

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