Very proud of Mabel. Nine years old and activist, she has become very interested in the Occupy New Haven tent community on New Haven Green. We’ve visited it a number of times, donated food and had conversations about the movement, though we have yet to attend a meeting or get more directly involved.
Tonight Mabel finished a project she’s been talking about for weeks. She took it upon herself to dress up 50 candy canes with eyes and pipe-cleaner antlers, then carried them to the Green and selflessly, shyly, presented them to the chilled tenants of Occupy. Kathleen, Sally and I came along with homemade cookies and apple cake. Then our whole family trooped off to the Christmas Eve service just a few feet away at United Church on the Green. That church has been deeply supportive of Occupy New Haven; Rev. John Gage has even slept in a tent in solidarity, and allowed the Occupy members to hold meetings in the church.
Occupy New Haven is one of the few remaining encampments of its kind. Its members, who have maintained excellent relations with local police and government, have stated that to last through the winter on the Green would make a grand statement, and there they remain, while the rest of us sleep tight in our beds, visions of sugarplums etc.