After three weeks of the Occupy Wall Street protests, we finally got down there over the weekend. Of course, we chose to go to Zuccotti Park the day the protesters were occupying Washington Square. Back at Zuccotti, it was pretty much just the campers and some musicians left. And lots of media.

The occupiers chose to camp at Zuccotti because it’s not a public park with city curfews. The privately owned plaza stays open 24 hours per day and although owners, Brookfield Properties, aren’t happy about it, there hasn’t been much they can do about it.

Right wing media outlets have been reporting that the protests are just a bunch of trust fund hippies. Left wing outlets point to the thousands of folks involved, including unions and churches. What we saw was something in between. Yeah, there are plenty of hippies! And there were older hippies too, those who protested back in the 60’s and just waiting for the day that this generation would wake up.

Lack of diversity? False. Perhaps it started out as a young white-kid thing, but it is now a racially mixed group.

Unsanitary conditions? Again, perhaps at first, but the campers have a janitorial crew and even a gray waste water system. It’s like a little sustainable village in that park.

No clear message? The original message has expanded to include the liberal dream. Peace. Feed the hungry. You know, make the world a better place for everyone. Looks like people have had enough of the Entitled throwing their weight around. Their hope-or should I say-“our” hope has faded since the President is weaker than we had anticipated.

Occupy Wall Street is a bunch of fed up folks who want to change their future. As Elvis Costello put it, there’s nothing funny about peace, love and understanding.