I had to work late today and almost despaired of finding parking, but finally made it to Burnside Park around 8pm. The weather is unusually mild, as if the Gods decided to give the occupiers a break. In the North corner of the park a drum circle is going, on the other side are booths– media, food, medical. In between are rows of tents. There’s more than yesterday, Occupy Providence facebook page says they set up sixty.

On the stone basin of the fountain are neat chalk words– ‘End the Federal Reserve’. Otherwise not a lot of Ron Paul action. Someone has put up a hand-drawn face of Bob Dobbs, founder of the Church of the Sub-Genius. The Socialist Workers have a book table with a sign- ‘Got Marx?’ Another sign says, ‘1000 Cows in 1 Cheesburger= Corporate Greed’.

I go to the media booth and ask for a word, but the woman running it says she just got out of work at 4 and hasn’t had time to get a word together, she recommends I go to the General Assembly. That Assembly is a crowd around General Burnside. This scene is starting to remind me of the Clamshell Alliance, and since consensus decision making is a lengthy process I don’t try to stick it out.

I talk to the 3 women volunteering at the medical table. They say so far just minor first aid. They are coordinating with public safety officials and say relations with the city and the police have been good. They had to move some tents this morning because the safety officials wanted them lined up instead of clumped together. The park is litter-free and full of people.

I heard on the radio that Occupy Providence is calling for people to pull their money out of Bank of America. But I don’t see any one agenda or theme here tonight. It feels strange to see people motivated enough to camp out here, or rush downtown after working all day to join the occupation.

Between work and coming here I stopped off at my parent’s house to make sure my father was okay– he’s fine tonight. We had the news on and there was a story about speculators buying up cancer drugs and selling them– like a $12 vial marked up to $900. Little kids with cancer and their anguished parents asked what they would do if they couldn’t get the drugs.

Maybe this kind of profiteering, expressed in countless raids on the necessities of daily life, explains why people are angry enough to take to the streets.

MORE: Rep. Elijah Cummings is asking Congress to act on the ‘grey market’ where speculators buy, hoard, and inflate the prices of life-saving drugs— perfectly legal for now.