The people's mic

General assembly on the first night of Occupy Boston in Dewey Square, September 30, 2011

I had my first experience with the people's microphone today. If you aren't familiar with the #occupy movement (boy do I hate using hashtags outside of twitter), this was how the protestors down in Wall Street decided to communicate in a group without sound amplification. The speaker says a few words, and the rest of the people repeat that phrase back as one voice. When I first saw this phenomenon on the livestream when they were first starting out it struck me as surreal and cultish, pushing the words of the speaker into the minds of the group. Reading through the petulant comments in the stream's sidebar soon educated me about its utility, but I was still a little put off by it, even when I visited Dewey Square and stuck around for part of the general assembly.

Fast forward to today, after I joined about fifty others in a winding march through the Financial District with a Police escort clearing the way for us in a calm, professional manner. I found a circle of people in an open mic session, where anyone could step forward and speak. People were being shy, and facilitators tried to get them to talk about what they wanted to see form this movement and any questions they had. Before I had to leave, I stepped into the circle of twenty or thirty people with a few awkward words about others I know staying silent because their voice doesn't mean anything. This movement is about making every voice in this country matter again, no matter how small.

As I spoke, and now thinking back skipped a couple other points I would have liked to make, I had this strange feeling. I was positive these people were listening to me. The people's mic was repeating every word I said back to me in between phrases. There is no better way to understand someone else's words than to say them yourself. These quick breaks also allowed me a little time to figure out what to say next. I'm terrible a planning these things, even when I try. This microphone accomplished the very thing I was speaking about, making sure my miniscule voice was heard by a few sympathetic people in the middle of a loud, bustling city. I have never had that feeling before.