When I first drafted this article, the Mean Young Liberal, age 4, was busy constructing “Occupy Wall Street” out of Lego figures. I guess he was impressed with the display of Occupy Lego Land. As I finished it two days later, the NYPD had evicted Occupy Wall Street from Zuccotti Park and were, at that moment, apparently being directed to defy a court order that had permitted the Occupiers back into the park with their equipment.
This past Sunday, I brought the MYL (my nickname for my four-and-a-half year old son) to visit Occupy Wall Street. You see, my husband and I had decided to raise our son in the Religious Society of Friends. (“Hicksite” version). Due to some logistic oddities, we travel from Westchester County to the East Village to attend Meeting and First Day (what Quakers call Sunday) School. Typically, I try to make those days into adventures for the MYL and that Sunday would not be an exception, at least I hadn’t planned it to be. It turned out to be a fairly exceptional day indeed. Continue reading