Occupy Glowing Tents Action
- What:
We will send five rafts onto Lake Merritt with mini tents on them. The tents are lit inside with battery-powered LEDs. We will sing “Nearer My God To Thee”, famous for being the hymn they sang on the Titanic. The tents will be our symbolic life rafts.
The action will be documented for Jonathan Harris’s Cowbird project.
- When:
Sunday Dec 11 at or soon after sunset.
- Where:
On Lake Merritt, in Downtown Oakland. Exact location to be determined depending on wind conditions. You will be Tweeted, texted or emailed if interested.
- But I’m not Christian:
One of the organizers of this action is a card-carrying atheist, and the other identifies as Lutheran Buddhist. The hymn is originally a Unitarian hymn. We’re not endorsing that church or any religion, we are using a beautiful old song as a symbol of struggle in hard times.
- But will it pollute the lake?
It may pollute a little. We will monitor the rafts and if they come ashore, we’ll pick them up. (We run around Lake Merritt regularly.)
- Do I need to bring something?
No, just yourself and warm enough clothes! You will get lyrics to the hymn. You can look it up on YouTube and practice if you want, but you don’t have to.
We’ll serve a hot beverage and some cookies, and hopefully we’ll enjoy some warm togetherness and nice conversation!
