We Came, We Conversed, We Blanketed:
Small gestures of kindness are not worthless. Around the nation, rude readers used Black Friday (or other Thanksgiving weekend days) to avoid the pepper-spraying rioters at Wal-Mart and instead brought blankets and sweaters and hoodies and food to their local occupations in an effort called "Blanket the Earth." Here's a few of the activities and sites:


From the tireless Denise Wirtz, who organized people for Occupy Atlanta.



From Becki in Austin with Bonnie and Karen, fellow BtE activists. Don't laugh. It gets cold at night.



From Sylvia Martin, who was one of several people who dropped off items in Boston.



The Rude Pundit, Nielsen Hayden, and others dropped off clothes and more in Zuccotti Park, NYC, where we were thanked by the human mike. The items were being handed out before we even left the metal barricaded area, more a hippie zoo than a protest site now. The action is elsewhere. The city is the occupation site now.

Other people showed up throughout the weekend in DC, Sacramento, Des Moines, and elsewhere, literally coast to coast, and in Vancouver, BC. It was an international effort to give aid and comfort to the occupiers.

Thanks to everyone who brought stuff and everyone who engaged with the occupiers, even as we enter what might become a post-encampment strategy.