OD: Duluth Autonomous District

In a way I sort of moved off campus. Starting this past Wednesday I will be living in a tent for about 6 nights a week in a tent city dubbed the Duluth Autonomous District aka DAD. DAD is the base of the Occupy Duluth movement where there is food, warmth, meetings, and community. Also with the food being free we have universal healthcare and a public library. It is located on the grounds of the civic center which is where the Federal Building, St. Louis County Courthouse, and the Duluth City Hall are located. 

An old postcard of the civic center.

The red zone is the current perimeter of DAD which is city property. Someday we want to occupy the other half of the loop as well, but that is more complicated since it is federal property. The other side has been dubbed something along the lines of "Cravaackastan" which is named after a GOP congressman named Chip Cravaack who the people here are not too fond of. 

This is my tent. 

Right before I went to bed on my first night at about 11:30 P.M. one of our occupiers came into our central tent(dubbed "The People's Living Room") and whispered how he was smoking a cigarette when a door opened on a mysterious van. Inside was a person laying on the floor on of the van who had a camera. A picture was taken, and the van was quickly closed. Some guys in our group investigated the van. They looked through the windshield(since it was the only non-tinted window) and said there was all kinds of "cool" sound equipment in it. My imagination ran wild about how the government is spying on us. It didn't help that at one time when I was checking out my wifi options one of locked ones was titled FBI_Investigation_Van_26.

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Otherwise I have been having a phenomenal time at DAD. Occasionally some of the members of the city council come visit us to show their support. We are really lucky because Duluth has a strong relationship with its government and its activists. The city allows us to do a lot from putting up structures, using electricity (for a one time fee), and using kerosine heaters. Since Duluth's winter really isn't tent-friendly there is talk of building better structures. The most popular idea at the moment is to build a yurt. I support this fully. 

Twice a day we have community meals. Since we get more food donated than we can eat we invite low-income individuals and the homeless to come to DAD for a meal. Along with that we have an over-donated amount of blankets and tents which we allow the homeless to have a warm and safe place to stay. At DAD I've met such a diverse group of people from all walks of life that I would have never had been able to meet by strictly living at UMD. Even though I have only been living there for three days, I already feel a sense of home.