Whoosh – day one is over

Posted on by caitmac

And I’ve blogged and reblogged a bunch of photos on my Tumblr here – but day one is over, and I think can be called a success. The police were cordial, the march itself went well, and in general, things seemed to go pretty smoothly. The two GAs went okay, although there was some hijacking apparently by ISO (International Socialist Org) over whether or not smoking was allowed in the GA. (Not cool, guys- also not cool is taking over as moderator of the stacks and hten only calling on your friends.)  There was a rumor this evening about a riot, but at least report from Michael at 11:35 (@Presto_od) everything was totally calm- people were sleeping and there was some drumming going on.

I blogged today from the satellite media center- first at Starbucks, then Panera, then at Buzzbrew Cafe in Deep Ellum. Thanks guys!

Posted on by caitmac

Checked in at Pike Park and met up with folks for the #OccupyDallas march on the Fed at 10. Signed up with the transport committee in case I can help with that, and headed out to blog. I am at the nearest Starbucks (the Crescent – totally the ritzy-est (pun intended) Starbucks ever- to blog from their wifi.

It was looking like it was getting pretty busy as I left around 8:40. There was a fair amount of police presence- they were just rolling out from their staging area on the north side of Harry Hines when I left.

(In other news, god, I miss my iPhone. The camera in my Galaxy is better, but that unfortunately has required a learning curve that resulted in me deleting all the pictures I took this morning, so you guys get a boring text post.Guys, if you have photos, send ’em to me -and I’ll post ’em.

-Cait

Parking for #OccupyDallas

Posted on by caitmac

Today I went down and investigated the options for parking for anyone who is NOT taking DART into downtown for OccupyDallas tomorrow. It’s honestly a mess.

This is a cap from google maps. It *should* biggify if you click it.

The green tree icon at the top center is Pike Park. The orange line leads to the nearest public parking garage (max of $10/day). The red X is for a private lot with no business to ask for acess. The Green O is the AA center parking. It says for fan shop/box office use only. I don’t think it’d be a good thing to try it, but no clue.  At least on Saturday, when the Texas OU game is being broadcast on the outdoor screens on the far side of the AA center, they will likely open it up.

Victory Ave does not have any parking meters and is one way (headed South).  Victory Park Ln, which is one way north and runs behind the AAC, DOES have metered parking, with a 2 hour max.

The closest public parking, free, is… I’m not even SURE where. There’s a public parking garage on Museum at Victory (google map here – just to the left of the indicator.) It’s $5/all day or all evening. I’m not sure about closing hours- there wasn’t anyone in the booth when I drove in to ask. I would BET it is not overnight but it’s hard to tell. With the W Hotel right there, they may allow overnight parking? There *are* a few other parking garages over closer to the JFK memorial (including a comparatively cheap lot behind the 6th Floor Museum with a very sweet parking attendent who helped me get un-lost). The lot at the edge of “West End Historic District” is $9/day.

 

A lot of the street parking appears to be limited to 2 hours.

Taking the Dart Rail to Victory station (or West End, which would be a trek but not at all un-doable- it’s got more trains coming and going than Victory does, especially over the weekend and during mid-day) is by far the best option.

More google maps to be added as I draw them out.

don’t cross the streams!

Posted on by caitmac

I said I wasn’t going to cross my blog topics over, but well.. yeah.

Like I’ve said in the occupydallas tinychat, I’m disabled and have, in the past, used a service dog to mitigate my disability. Kaylee, my service dog, passed away in January after a brief but hard-fought battle against cancer, and while I’m not quite housebound, busy places with lots of crowds have become very nearly unmanageable for me since then unless I’m with people I know- and preferably a dog or two, even if they’re only a pet.

So my help is going to have to be off-site, someplace quiet. I’m hoping to help some with transportation, maybe, and blogging or doing media/social media work, especially now that I’ve got the tethering set up on the new phone and a good long life on my netbook battery.

Why “Standing Up For Myself?”

Posted on by caitmac

Why? I can stand. My mobility limitations are all related for pain and fatigue. I can stand- if not for as long as people think I “should’ be able to. It’s meant to be ironic.

For most people, disability refers to people in wheelchairs, people with Downs or mental retardation. It occurs to veterans with battle injuries, amuptees, Jerry Lee multiple dystrophy kids.

My experience with disability is different. I didn’t identify as disabled for almost 5 years after being granted SSDI and the LEGAL status as disabled. My mental illness and Asperger’s were always things I could overcome ‘if I worked hard enough’, if I ‘arranged my life right’, if I ‘could get out of X’s control’. And it’s not. It’s honestly a disability, and it’s not going to stop being such. My anxiety does not go away simply because I ‘should know’ that things are okay.

My family is not supportive of my identifying as disabled. The stereotype of ‘grateful incompetant’ makes me incredibly angry, but as part of my ASD, communicating this effectively is difficult.

I want to do a better job for standing up for myself and for my ethics with my family, friends, co-workers, and people in my life.