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'Occupy Detroit' tarps bigger than I thought ...

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John A. Joslin
Post Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2011 9:37 am

Joined: 02 Apr 2006
Posts: 83
Location: Detroit, Michigan U.S.A. IBEW #58 		Saved by Homeless Guys

.... another dispatch from the 'Detroit Occupation'

Turned out that the 30'x30' tarps were 40'x50' and the "turtle soup " woven rope suspension system took another 1,000 or so feet of various kinds of rope before all was said , done, and hung up under the sky.

And , yeah, ... oh yeah... a lot was definitely said. We could sometimes hear the 'Occupy Detroit ' General Assembly droning in the background discussing things in the now familiar all-chime-in at once method. I innocently thought they were churning out the chin-wagging at a record pace. BUT, our startling array of ex-rock climbers, self-styled riggers , eager volunteers, experienced pup-tent owners, the 3-time Michigan tree -climbing champ ( one helluva' rigger ...wow ... Kevin Bingham, damn, son you are one rope -savvy ace in the sky !!) , woods-hippie roughnecks, stubborn building trades types who wanted to put a clove -hitch on anything that wasn't tied down, and one actual kindly IATSE stagehand out of Florida who never said a cruel word about anything we were doing but finally was moved to go to his truck to get a few "things"... he had said he wasn't going to get involved , just wanted to make sure we weren't going to endanger anybody... and by that he meant the public, bless his heart , cuz' he knew we were too far gone to be 'protected' by any power save the divine.

Point being this motley gang of yellers & yackers mouthed off more at each other and muttered to themselves to such an extent they surged right past all known General Assemblies in the chatter-boxing department . First place with a ribbon!

Oh... and lest I forget, the wiry Vietnamese homeless guy who showed up out of nowhere from amongst one tough-assed crew of a dozen or more homeless and hard-boiled Detroit grommet -installers trying to make our tarps usable for roping ... expertly installing grommets every 30 inches in the freezing rain , this Montagnard S. Vietnamese guy who strolled into the mix. Grew up in the mountainous regions of Vietnam, picked up a lot of useful rope lore there, topping that off with a long stint in the South Vietnamese Marines... where he learned a whole lot more, including a gorgeous flowing assortment of ingeniously practical knots & multiple-rope management techniques verging on extremely magical , basically... no other way to say it. I basically thought I was good before this human spider started spinning . (Handy little illusion smacked down right there on the spot , I'll tell you !)

Our basic skyward borne structures were executed in a 'web -sprung woven perimeter' system ( according to the rigger)... also called a 'Turtle-Soup ' system ( according to the straw -boss bush -hippy ) depending on who you asked . They are beautiful, really , and they take shock loading from the wind well, also.

But it was hell on many of our new grommets , and hellish to try to repair them in the air. In the long last night , the homeless Montagnard guy, speaking to us doubters in heavy accent- limited but sufficient English ... welded us into a thoroughly skeptical , disbelieving & dog-tired team, and constructed , with us dumbly following his cryptic instructions, an unimaginably sweet hexagonal interior flexible skeleton directly underneath our high -strung tarp system.

A completely adjustable, whole tent shock absorber snugged -in right under the existing sky-lofted tarp network. No poles , no vertical supports anywhere... no more busted out grommets. Threw in a handy built-in rain draining rig , too ! Yank on one of the dinky little 1/4 " lines , strategically located around the perimeter and PRESTO ... instant rain-draining valley high above you... no more heavy pools collecting on the tarp !. Little bit of monsoon experience showing ... do ya' think ?

And , as he said, " I will make for you with $50 dollars worth of rope what you do with many hundreds dollars expensive rope ... "

Double True that !!! ( can you see me wincing .... )Embarassed

Passers-by were falling all over themselves with 'attaboys'... complimenting 'our' work . Saying how outright beautiful it was .

I didn't climb any mountain to get there but I think I glimpsed a 'master'. We learned a lot , and not just about ropes, I know that for certain.

I'm gonna' sneak back in there today with a sketchbook to try to capture one or two of the Montagnard's knots. Knots doesn't seem like a good enough word for what went on there, but will have to do.


- John A. Joslin ( Detroit , IBEW Local # 58 )
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SharynS
Post Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2011 4:39 pm

Joined: 28 Jan 2006
Posts: 2939
Location: the 'puter 		I feel the love, the bond, the respect, the humanity. I hope they all did too, you cannot buy that stuff. Thanks for the lift John.

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John A. Joslin
Post Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2011 7:31 pm

Joined: 02 Apr 2006
Posts: 83
Location: Detroit, Michigan U.S.A. IBEW #58 		So Ya' Think Your Sh*t Doesn't Stink ??


... another dispatch from the 'Detroit Occupation'



Meanwhile, here in Detroit ... the city that normally makes Oakland look like Paris, ( not the one in Tennessee... ) or Portland, some of us started wondering what Building Trades union folks could do , if anything , to lend more of a hand to people trying to exercise their guaranteed rights to peacefully assemble in public & demand redress of their grievances, so one thing led to another.

The vicious attacks in Oakland & elsewhere mean time is getting shorter for people to be able to survive the fury of the corrupt system journalist Chris Hedges calls," glued together by fraud and force...". Important, now, for people to publicly support 'Occupations ' in any way they possibly can.

A brand -new , and as yet , unopened nightclub across the street from the 'Occupy Detroit ' encampment had joined some other nearby businesses in allowing any & all comers to use the facilities 24/7 with the bad result that they have been calling plumbers a lot due to clogged waste lines etc. So a couple of rank n' file IBEW Local # 58-ers got on the horn with the Detroit area Plumbers'Local # 98 Union Hall to call for expert volunteers.

Definitely helped that one of their current elected leaders was badly beaten a few years ago on a strike picket line by crazed cops . Made a lasting impact. Anyway, not yer normal carefully clueless union bureaucrat. (As I recall , one of the charming last lines from a cop commander at that police riot was , " Fuck the Constitution, I'm the only Law here ... ")

The sympathetic Local # 98 office immediately dispatched a Business Agent to survey the scene ... and a couple of expert mechanics were there half an hour later from the Plumbers' Union. We borrowed a coring machine ( large drilling machine able to make 6 " diameter holes in concrete ) from a big union electrical contractor down the street and presto..... about 5 hours and a few cups of official 'Occupation Detroit' *camp coffee later , after smacking and boring our way thru 4 floors in a 200 year old building with gigantic nearly 4" x 20" floor joists in the lately stinking basement and piping in 3 new clean-outs into the main waste pipe, we made a big dent in the 'sanitation situation'.

A bunch of artistic occupiers living in the improvised tent community made a large poster sized card thanking the Building Trades and were passing it around for signatures as night fell on the 'Detroit Occupation' zone yesterday.

They were seemingly amazed at the generosity and professionalism of the union guys n' gal ... and damn if they didn't actually get to see all that in person, not just read about it in some dusty old Labor History book !!


After all the shit was cleared... we were all smiles too.


( * 'camp coffee' recipe : carefully dump proportionally measured regular grind coffee into 10 gallons of boiling water. Wait until grounds reach the bottom of the pot. Serve immediately.
Very Happy
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Scott Schroeder
Post Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 3:18 am

Joined: 20 Dec 2007
Posts: 403
Location: Some where on the mountain 		JJ what an awesome heart felt story. Just more proof that we don't need the Wall St clan to survive! We are working people and we know what it takes to survive everyday.

You wouldn't believe the behind the scenes stories coming out of Oakland right now. The city is energized with people working 24/7 getting the message out for Wed GENERAL STRIKE! It's truly amazing how this occupy movement is bringing people together .

I hear the Depends sales in DC are are ski rocketing lately! Might be a good stock to invest in, no? Wink

Taking about surviving without Wall St, been reading a book lately by David C. Korten, "Agenda For A New Economy". I can't put the book down! If you get a chance I'd say pick up the book, might make for some great reading during the slow times at the occupy camp.

Send the Occupy Detroit camp a warm solidarity hello from California, and JJ if there is any way we can help the Occupy Detroit camp please don't hesitate to ask! We'd love to help out and the postal workers could use the work. Wink

PS: Any tips on keeping warm & dry in the winter elements? The California dictators are betting once the winter weather hits the occupy camps will diminish.

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John A. Joslin
Post Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 3:47 pm

Joined: 02 Apr 2006
Posts: 83
Location: Detroit, Michigan U.S.A. IBEW #58 		- Well, I was just talking this morning with a Detroit occupier... and she mentioned the general uselessness of cotton sleeping bags. Warmth is one thing but all that goes right out the window when the cotton gets wet.

And that seems to be regularly around here , lately. Cold raining like crazy.

Cotton does not dry out well under these conditions, so one cold weather tip would be to ditch cotton sleeping bags and go with the nylon or similar type fabrics. Yup, they will cost more.

Of course, another thing is to try to rig tarps over as many of the small tents as possible to keep them from being constantly soaked.

Here , our gigantic tarps are rigged over the 'kitchen'/ food service area.

( ...and speaking of kitchens, last night we installed a couple of large 'energy efficient' lights over the kitchen area. Idea )

The entire 'Detroit Occupation" zone has only one 'burn barrel'... and that is constantly going but we are going to have to get a couple more of them. They are particularly nice because , as you know, the fire is inside them & is thus kind of intrinsically 'safe' which is good plus it keeps the city authorities from having one more way too e-z excuse to bring the hammer down on the occupation.

- thanks for the offer of support, J.Joslin
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