Gear: Lessons from my past on long-distance hiking. Note: this is the first in what will be a series of posts on equipment needs and related considerations for our walking occupation. Stephanie here. I had a nice long post about why I’m doing this written out, but I did a little research today into just what gear a walking occupation needs. I’m basing a lot of this on my experience years ago with a 10 day backpacking trip in the Virginia mountains, but there are several key lessons I will carry with me into this hike: For long distance travel by foot, it’s key to be LIGHT on gear. Take as little as possible, and what you do take, make sure it’s as light as possible. How much someone should carry depends on pace, difficulty of terrain, physical fitness, and their weight. 1/5th one’s body weight is a good, and commonly cited starting point, and that can be adjusted up as high as 1/3 or as low as 1/8th body weight. The idea is to find the weight where you are basically unburdened. You can carry more than that if you have to, but you should try to budget your pack weight so that you won’t do it regularly.

Access to clean water is a constant issue for any hike, and it’s not practical to carry as much as you need for very long.

Clothing is an important and neglected concern. There’s a reason that news articles about people who had to be rescued from wilderness areas almost always mention “when we found them they were wearing jeans and tennis shoes”. Jeans are comfy, but under the conditions of a hike, they are about the worst thing you can wear. Same for athletic shoes, they aren’t built for constant moisture.

A comfortable pack is also important, and backpacks that will handle a long distance hike are not one size fits all. Where the weight falls on your body is really the critical point, the pack needs be designed so that the weight is born across the hips, and the back straps hold the pack in line with your body to keep that weight stable. I’ll examine in more detail what exactly we’ll need to be carrying in a future blog post. 35.928301 -79.054889

Do Something. See Everything. My name is Jes. I know that this should be the beginning of an introduction. Typically, I’d tell you some things about myself: what I do for a living, how old I am, where I grew up etc. In my opinion, none of those soulless facts would tell you who I am. I choose instead to tell you about what I wish for, my hopes and what I’d like to accomplish on our journey. People tend to ask children, as they are growing up, what they would like to “be.” What they mean to ask is what profession they aspire to. I never could answer that question to anyone’s satisfaction. What I wanted was to go everywhere and see everything. Gypsies, tinkers, travelers, street kids and wandering tribes- These were my role models. They had lives that seemed to mean something. I couldn’t really tell anyone that, of course. It isn’t an “acceptable” answer for a little girl to give when asked what she’d like to do with her life. So I came up with pat answers and went on with the business of growing up. But really, when I answered the question “What do you want to do?” my heart was whispering “See everything.” I grew up and did a great many acceptable and expected things. Because I was not born to privilege (by North American standards) and was never a member of the acclaimed 1%, I never really went anywhere. I worked, I paid my bills and then I worked some more to pay more bills. Still I figured that one day, when I had money or time or an opportunity, I would drop all of my mundane habits and Do Something. Then one day I heard about Occupy Wall Street. A movement was born. It arrived in my city. Lo and behold, here were some other people who really wanted to Do Something. I had found my people. Amongst them were a small group who not only wanted to Do Something, they also wanted to See Everything. I could not have jumped on any idea faster than I did Occupation Nation. As we travel across the country, I hope to see everything. I want to see the beautiful and the wretched. I want to walk through street-lit cities and sleepy hamlets. I want to see the garbage in underserved neighborhoods and the sports cars in the driveways of the rich. I want to meet everyone- all kinds of people; all races, all religions, all incomes, all backgrounds, all creeds, all preferences. And along the way, I want to tell people what I’ve seen. I want to tell people who have never been anywhere what sort of world we’re living in together. I want to inform them about events in places far beyond their scope. I want to tell them about each other so that, though they may never meet, they know about their brothers and sisters on this planet and the circumstances of their lives. I’d like to make this huge country just a little smaller by knitting together stories, one person at a time. You can come too. Do Something. See everything.

My hope. My heart is a blaze at the idea of walking across the country. As Kurt continues to pose the idea to some from Occupy Raleigh my mind inquires is he even going to ask me if I wanna go? Later he and Jes brought the idea up and I jumped on the idea before the question was completed. Months later I lay on a queen size mattress inside a tent at the occupation talking to Zan. He had shared his concerns and fears about walking to me. I began to rant about all the things I had come to look forward to. My hopes. My dreams. I decided tonight I would share some of what I said that night. Imagine an expansive sky as far as your eyes can see. I wanna meet new people and hear their stories. I want to see twenty one states in a way only someone walking through them can. Just a chance to see cities I otherwise wouldn’t see is worth the walk. We will see others reactions as we tell them what we are doing and why! I already leap at any opportunity to share about things I stand for this is a way to share it and spead it across this country. Decolonization. Equality, finacial and otherwise. Resistance to ‘GMO’ foods. FREEDOM. Overturning of citizens united. Ecological awareness. Marijuana legalization. Unions. The power within anyone to rise up and change the world. Etc. I want to share teach-ins wherever I can. I want to make connections across the path. I want to learn regional customs as we go from south to north to Canada to the deep south to Mexico to southwest to northwest. Most of all I don’t want to look back years from now and realize I missed out on an amazing opportunity. Now I pose each of you a question. What are your plans for the next year or so? Charles ‘Big Stock’ Hancock

Agenda Items – 1/25/12 Proposal: To post a needs list on the website. Notes: We already have a link to donate money, but we should have a place for things we need as well. Discussion Point: Declaration of Occupation Nation Notes: I have begun work on the declaration of Occupation Nation. In its current form I am typing up a list of grievances by corporations, another by our government, and then listing what it is we aim to do. More info, and the existing text of the document will be read at GA. Discussion Point: 11pm Sunday GA Do we want to move the 11pm GA on Sunday to a different time/day/place? Think Tank: Innovative protesting What are some new, innovative ways we can protest? Announcements: The Sparrow Project is an activist group that has been helping OWS. They are sending us 300 free copies of the declaration of occupation of NYC, found here: http://www.sparrowmedia.net/declaration/

Nick has found a way to implement a hydrogen based system into a car that will improve gas mileage 30-50%

Stephanie is bringing solar and wind power to the OR encampment. She would be a good person to collaborate with in finding our what sort of renewable energy system would be ideal for our travel.

I sent an email to Occupy Mexico today to find out what the best way to get into Mexico would be

Points of Consensus – 1/22/12 Library: To bring a mobile, Occupation Nation library with us

Funding: Top seek 3000 USD from OWS to help with funding our trip

Continental Travel: Barring nothing has changed, to travel into Mexico as well.

Semi-Weekly GA: To have GA every Wednesday at 9pm at the Occupy Raleigh Library

Open Letter to the Raleigh Police Department Dear Raleigh Police Department, My name is Derek Cronmiller. I am a proud member of Occupy Raleigh. Earlier today, Sunday, January 22, 2012, I yelled at several of you in anger. There is a part of me that was raised to respect and obey law enforcement officers that wants me to apologize for my rudeness. But I am not going to do that. I feel fully justified in that anger, and I yelled some things I think you needed to hear. I yelled at you because you arrested demonstrators in a peaceful protest for walking down Fayetteville Street. I yelled at you because I was out there on that street today for you. You may think that your actions were protecting the city, that you were serving the populace. You would be incorrect. If you would have liked to truly serve your city, your state, your country, and your brothers and sisters in the Raleigh Police Department, you should have been at the front of that peaceful march. You should have been in your vehicle with lights flashing, leading the way. Not just because it would have assured that those in our peaceful protest stayed safe, but because you will be one of the first to feel the effects of the austerity measures that we as a nation have suffered from. Austerity measures that will come again due to the rampant dis-assembly of our economic system. It will come again by the hand of robber-barons and their bought politicians with no respect for law and order that cannot be turned to their advantage. They have no respect for law and order, because they make the laws. They force order to work for them. And by their hands, with their wretched, greedy minds, it will be your force that is cut. Your friends will lose their jobs. You will be forced to do more work with less resources. Your pensions will be slashed due to their negligence and deliberate deceitfulness when providing you financial advice. And while they do this to you, you human beings with thoughts, with feelings, with emotions, you, who suffer through trials and tribulations at home and on the job, while they incrementally take away your ability to live, to provide for your families, to rest comfortably in your old age, while they subject you to these humiliations, they use you. They have turned you into a weapon against me. They have turned you into a weapon against my brothers and sisters who stand up to them. They have turned you into a weapon against the very values that you sought to uphold when you first put on that badge. I invite you to not be a weapon. I invite you to regain your humanity. I invite you to be my sisters and brothers. As I type this, two of my brothers are held in custody due to your weaponization. Here is one way that you can earn back your humanity: When my family members of Occupy Raleigh (each and every one of them are my family) are to appear in court, when you are asked to testify against them, find something else to do. Take some time to spend with your family. Go love your wives, your children, your own brothers and sisters that you hold dear. Find a way to be busy. Find a reason not to be there. Because if you testify against my brothers, you are actively rejecting your humanity, and choosing to be nothing but a weapon. I invite you to restore your humanity. Sincerely, and in Hopeful Solidarity, Derek Cronmiller

Agenda Items – 1/22/12 Proposal: To bring a mobile Occupation Nation Library with us. (Kurt) Notes: I have talked to the OWS Library Working Group and they are really excited by this idea. I have spoken to two people about it; one is willing to ship us books before we leave, the other will let us pick some up when we get there. The idea right now is that we would store the books in milk crates or something similar and bring it in the back of our van. We would use milk crates because they make for a very modular design and would allow for easier transport and assembly. Proposal: To draft a proposal for the NYCGA requesting $3000 in funding for our trip. (Kurt) Notes: Walkupy asked them for a $1000 donation which passed NYCGA. Walkupy’s proposed trek is 700 miles. Ours is 6400 and I think it would be easy to justify a larger donation. Also, Occupy Tour is being planned by an OWS Working Group and they are also seeking support from the NYCGA. I don’t know if it’s financial support, but they are bringing a proposal very soon, so it’s not like this sort of thing is unprecedented. Proposal: To add a portion to our trip to travel into Mexico. (Jes) Notes: Will be discussed at GA. Discussion Point: When to have our twice weekly GA’s. (Kurt) Notes: Currently we have one GA a week – Sunday’s at 11pm. We passed a proposal to have another one each week, but we need to decide when and where. Discussion Point: TED: How to implement a collection of ideas? (Kurt) Notes: TED is an organization that is dedicated to the spreading of ideas. I feel like this is something this that we can find a way to use to our advantage and I have no idea how to implement it, but it certainly merits discussion. Discussion Point: Declaration of Occupation Nation Notes: I think we should draft an official Declaration and say what we’re doing, why, etc. I think it would be good to talk about this within the group to see if you guys like the idea and if so, what to put in it. Introductory wordpress teach-in after general assembly. If you have anymore agenda items, please get them to me (Kurt), or email them to 1occupationnation@gmail.com. 35.911229 -78.774925

Points of Consensus – 1/15/12 Logo: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=117303841723394&set=a.117303838390061.19341.109659689154476&type=3&theater

Bank Account: set up a joint credit union account if organization doesn’t work out

City to city route: https://1occupationnation.wordpress.com/route/

Next meeting (GA): Sunday at 11pm

Increase meetings: After Occupy Congress, meet twice weekly

Points of Consensus – 1/8/12 Group Name: Occupation Nation

Basic Route: North, South, West, then North

Team Roles: Each person will have a specific role

Funding: Seek funding from OWS

Website: Occupationnation.org

Livestream: Make a Ustream account

Bank Account: Try to set up an organization account

Flag: Carry an American flag the whole way

Next meeting