And he got noticed. Greg Mitchell of lefty standard-bearer The Nation frequently linked to "our travelin' man Bob Plain" on his OccupyUSA blog and the two remain friendly.
The work was a bit of a revelation. Plain had crossed paths with plenty of radical leftists in the past — this is a man who has lived in a Vermont cabin powered only by a solar array, wintered on a beach in Maui, and consorted with organic farmers.
But this was the first time he'd reported on them full-time. And it was exhilarating. "It was the hardest I've ever worked in journalism," Plain says, "by far."
Back in Rhode Island, life is not quite so intense. Plain is living in his hometown — no small surprise to the travelin' man, himself. And he's marching up to the State House nearly every day.
Meetings of the Rhode Island Senate Judiciary Committee don't sing quite like Occupy Oakland's fevered protest. But they're important. And Plain, grinning, seems happy to be there.
Topics:
News Features
, Brown University, AS220, Jeremy Radtke
