Good news

Occupy Portland continues to flourish and grow. Last night there was a rally against police brutality, and the police, in their usual riot gear, arrested eight people. I'm not yet well enough to do marches and night rallies, so I wasn't there. Today those of us who didn't have to be at work agreed to meet at the County Courthouse early in the morning to attend the trial for Angelah Hill. The bank is trying to foreclose on her home and evict her because after she was laid off (that's American-speak for "made redundant," and charges of racism are involved), she has been unable to keep up with the payments, although she is constantly making an effort to pay all she can.

About fifty of us showed up to support her, and before we could even get into the courthouse, the case was dismissed. Was it their fear of public scrutiny? Are we being successful? Are they going to do this in some sneakier, less public fashion? We don't know. But for today, it was good news. She's not safe. They will come again. But for today, she was greatly relieved. A press conference and rally was held in the park where Occupy used to live, and I took masses of photographs, some of which are here. The man standing behind her in this picture is Ahjamu Umi, who wrote the article about her which I linked to her name above.

I'm continuing to enjoy Annie Leibovitz's Pilgrimage, though I feel it is one of the worst-designed books I've ever tried to read. The pictures are superb. The writing is fascinating. But the layout is absolutely awful--pictures of Martha Graham's belongings appear in the middle of the writing about Lincoln; pictures of Elvis Presley's motorcycle appear with the writing about Georgia O'Keeffe, and it goes on that way. It's as if they tried to save money by not using any white space or divisions in the book. Most irritating. But worth the trouble.