I arrived at the Charter Oak Community Center in Hartford Sunday evening at 5 PM. There was a circle of chairs in the downstairs room, which was being expanded as I arrived. There were about thirty five people there and more were arriving. People were scurrying around to find more chairs, and some people started bringing cushions to put on the floor for people to sit on. I chatted with a couple people and looked around to see who else was there.

It was a mixed crowd, with kids still in college to people who had been in Haight Ashbury in the sixties. One person took the lead to act as facilitator. A note taker was selected as well as a person to keep track of whose turn it was to speak.

One of the first people to speak was from Tunisia. He was very excited to be there and was warmly welcomed. Others had been down at the demonstrations in New York and brought back various reports. There was some discussion about the goals and the near term plans.

As a very broad based group, there were many ideas expressed, from universal health care and bringing the troops home, to challenging corporate personhood and the detrimental effect it is having on our political process.

There was strong support voiced for some sort of direct action, such as occupying Bushnell Park, an abandoned building, and various other locations.

In terms of messaging, the key idea of representing the 99% that hasn't prospered while the richest 1% have received strong support.

I tweeted various parts of the meeting, and shared one picture, although from where I was sitting, the lighting wasn't all that good. I had to leave early to call into Fiona's Radio Show and to get home to wrap up the day. The meeting was only half over, so I look forward to receiving an email with additional notes from the meeting.

There was a lot of support and energy behind the meeting and it will be interesting to see how Occupy Together comes together in Hartford, and the rest of Connecticut.