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Good morning kogs and kossacks in Dailykosland!
Merry Monday and welcome to the working week!
There is a lot of snow on the ground in Boston right now. This has felt like the winter of constant snow. Every time it melts we get more. We've had so many storms. It seems like one a week. The
Farmer's Almanac predicted last August this would be a snowier winter than usual for New England.
They were right.
A major Nor'easter was predicted for February 9, but it veered East and the intense snow and wind happened over the ocean. Ok, we missed that one. But more snow is predicted for Boston for this coming Friday.
Sigh.
I always used to say that snow is wonderful if you don't have to drive in it or shovel it. But this year I don't have to drive in it or shovel it, and I am still tired of it. I'm tired of dragging my rolling briefcase down the street with a pile of snow accumulating in front of it, and stopping every so often to clear the wheels. I'm tired of climbing precariously over snowplow created berms to get on buses. I'm tired of trudging through piles of slush with wet and cold toes. There's a hole in my right boot, and this is an impossible time of year to buy boots when you don't wear an ordinary size. (If anyone knows where I can get warm boots in women's size 12 wide, I'd be extremely grateful!)
But when I get the most exasperated, I think of what I say when we get frequent rain in spring and summer. "The reservoirs will be high." "We are luckier than the people suffering through drought." "The apples/leaves/corn/harvest crops will benefit from this later."
In the last few days, trying to psych myself out of winter malaise, I have been deliberately thinking back to the days when snow was exciting. I remember having a favorite tweed coat with matching leggings that I had to wear when it was cold. So I wasn't cold in the snow, at least not when I was a small child, but I was in DC where it doesn't snow as often and the weather doesn't get as cold as it does up here.
I didn't like snow days, because I loved school, but I did enjoy playing in the snow. I remember rolling around in the snow and making snow angels. I remember snowball fights that were playful rather than vicious. It was rare to get enough snow for a snowman, but I remember building some of those too. And my sistercousin and I had matching sleds! Flexible Flyers—the best! Later on I lived in Anacostia in a neighborhood where a lot of the kids were too poor to have sleds, so we would slide down the hill behind the apartment building on pieces of cardboard. We would take big cardboard boxes and open them up flat, so you had a part to hold on to and a part to slide on. They worked better than you might think!
I was living in Anacostia during the blizzard of 1966. A foot of snow doesn't seem like much to me now after almost 40 years in Boston, but back then it was a disaster. My mom was off from work since the federal government was shut down. The buses weren't running anyway, and she didn't have a car yet, so she couldn't get to work even if the offices had been open.
Our neighborhood was one of the very last to get cleared (you know how that is) so the roadways became a giant playground, with only the very infrequent interruption of a car braving the unplowed streets. There was plenty of warning when cars were coming, because they announced their presence with the loud clink clank clink clank of snow chains. Actual chains--not these plastic things people use now, or those thin strips that look like glorified yaktrax. The chains were probably put on wrong since people had so little experience using them. They flapped and slapped as cars rolled by. Then we kids went back to making tunnels and forts in the high snowdrifts and riding old tires and cardboard boxes down every available slope.
Such a pleasant memory of going outside and sliding down the hill for a while and then coming home to a warm apartment: steam radiators hissing, something hot to eat and drink, and a big hug from mom...
I also have a wonderful memory of being in my 20s in a mountain cabin around a wood burning stove with good friends while the snow fell gently outside. It was so pretty to watch it out the window while we were all cozy and warm together, drinking and getting high and listening to great music. That's a very special memory too.
So that's how I have been trying to distract myself from the challenges of the winter weather.
That, and the fact that the equipment truck left Fenway Park last Saturday, and pitchers and catchers report next Saturday...!
So whether you are in the polar vortex trudging through wintry mix with me, or lying on a beach someplace where a snowball would melt in under a minute, tell me:
Do you have any pleasant memories of snow?
Start up soundtrack
A Hazy Shade of Winter by Simon & Garfunkel on Grooveshark
Latest Updates on Kossack Regional Meet-Up News Below the New Day sunrise cloud
:: COMMUNITY BUILDING UPDATES ::
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Let's build communities!
Every region needs a meatspace community like SFKossacks.
We take care of each other in real life.
I urge YOU to take the lead and organize one in your region.
Please tell us about it if you do and we're here for advice.
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THINK GLOBALLY, ACT LOCALLY
>>>Instructions on HOW TO FORM A NEW DAILY KOS GROUP
NEW GROUPS IN THE PROCESS OF ORGANIZING:
Send a Kosmail to the organizers and ask for an invitation to the group.
• Northern Indiana Area: Kosmail Tim Delaney
• Long Island: Kosmail grannycarol
• Northern Michigan: Kosmail JillS
• Nebraska: Kosmail Nebraska68847Dem
• Westburbia Chicago Kossacks: Kosmail Majordomo
• Caprock Kossacks (Panhandle/Caprock/Lubbock/Amarillo area) : Kosmail shesaid
• West Texas Kossacks (including Big Bend Region and El Paso) : Kosmail Yo Bubba
• Vermont Kossacks: Kosmail 4Freedom
• California Central Coast Kossacks: (San Luis Obispo & Pismo Beach area) Kosmail CentralCoaster
Note to the above new leaders: Feel free to leave a comment any day reminding readers about your new group. Also, tell us about your progress in gathering members. Kosmail me when you've chosen a good name for your group and have created a the group. Then I'll move you to the NEW GROUPS LIST. When you've planned a date for your first event I'll make a banner for you to highlight your event in our diaries and your diaries.
These are the groups that have started since * NEW DAY * began. Please Kosmail navajo if you have started a group before that.
NEW GROUPS LIST:
• California Central Valley Kossacks - Formed: Jul 29, 2012, Organizer: tgypsy
• New England Kossacks - Formed: Aug 6, 2012, Organizers:
Clytemnestra for Lower New England (Conneticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island)
nhox42 for Upper New England (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont)
• Houston Area Kossacks - Formed: Aug 7, 2012, Organizer: Chrislove
• Kossacks in India - Formed: Aug 14, 2012, Organizer: chandu
• CenTex Kossacks - Formed: Sep 9, 2012, Organizer: papa monzano
• Central Ohio Kossacks - Formed: Sep 26, 2012, Organizer: VetGrl
• Kansas City Kossacks - Formed Oct 15, 2012, Organizer: [Founder stepped down]
• Phoenix Kossacks - Formed Oct 16, 2012, Organizer: arizonablue
• Chicago Kossacks - Formed: Oct 31, 2012, Organizer: figbash
• Koscadia the Pacific Northwest coast from Northern California to Alaska
- Formed Oct 17, 2012, Oganizer: Horace Boothroyd III based in Portland, OR
• Boston Kossacks - Formed: Nov 7, 2012, Organizer: GreyHawk
• Motor City Kossacks South East Michigan (Detroit) Area - Formed: Nov 10, 2012, Organizer: peregrine kate
• Pittsburgh Area Kossacks - Formed: Nov 12, 2012, Organizer: dweb8231
• Salt Lake City Kossacks - Formed: Nov 17, 2012, Organizer: War on Error
• Twin Cities Kossacks - Formed: Nov 17, 2012, Organizer: imonlylurking
• Dallas Kossacks North Texas - Formed: Nov 21, 2012, Admins: Catte Nappe and dalfireplug. Please contact them to join the group. An Event Organizer needed.
• The Southern California Inland Empire Kossacks - Formed: Dec 3, 2012, Organizer: SoCaliana
• Los Angeles Kossacks - Formed: Dec 17, 2012, Organizer: Dave in Northridge
• Northeast Ohio Kossacks - Formed: Jan 16, 2013, Organizer: GenXangster
• Kansas & Missouri Kossacks - Formed: Jan 17, 2013, Organizer: tmservo433
• I-77 Carolina Kossacks who live from Columbia, SC to north of Winston-Salem, NC. - Formed: Jan 30, 2013, Organizers: gulfgal98 and eeff
• Indianapolis Kossacks - Formed: Feb 6, 2013, Organizer: CityLightsLover
• Southwest Ohio Kossacks - Formed: May 10, 2013, Organizer: Dr Erich Bloodaxe RN
• Northern Arizona Kossacks - Formed: Jul 5, 2013, Organizer: Sam Sara
• Mexican Kossacks - Formed: Apr 14, 2013, Organizer: roberb7
• New York Hudson Valley Kossacks - Formed: Oct 27, 2012, Organizer: boran2
• North Carolina Triangle Kosmopolitans - Formed: Aug 2, 2013, Organizer: highacidity
• Silicon Valley Kossacks - Formed: Oct 31, 2013, Organizer: Glen The Plumber
• Seattle and Puget Sound Kossacks - Formed: Dec 17, 2013, Organizer: EagleOfFreedom
• Las Vegas NV Kossacks - Formed: Oct 22, 2013, Organizer: miracle11
ESTABLISHED GROUPS LIST: (List will grow as we discover them)
• SFKossacks Founded by navajo, Formed: May 2, 2005
• Maryland Kos Founded by timmyc, Formed: Feb 23, 2011. Contact: JamieG from Md for a group invite.
• New York City Founded by Eddie C - Contact the group organizer for meet-up events: sidnora
• Baja Arizona Kossacks, Event Organizer: Azazello
• Three Star Kossacks Tennessee, Founded by maryKK, Formed: Apr 8, 2011
• Nashville KosKats, Founded by ZenTrainer Formed: Jan 30, 2012
• Virginia Kos Founded by JamieG from Md, Formed: May 3, 2011
• Kos Georgia Founded by pat208, Formed: Feb 13, 2011
• Colorado COmmunity Founded by Leftcandid, Formed: Feb 13, 2011
• New Mexico Kossaks Founded by claude
• Philly Kos Founded by mconvente Formed: Aug 29, 2011
• DKos Florida Founded by ThirstyGator, Formed: Feb 14, 2011, Currently organizing: Kosmail Vetwife to be included in next event.
• Oklahoma Roundup Founded by BigOkie, Formed: Feb 13, 2011, Currently organizing: Kosmail peacearena to be included.
• DKos Asheville Founded by davehouck, Formed: Feb 13, 2011 - Organizing Assist by: randallt
• San Diego Kossacks Founded by La Gitane, Formed: Nov 18, 2011
• Massachusetts Kosmopolitans Founded by mem from somerville, Formed: Feb 13, 2011
by EagleOfFreedom ♥ for Seattle and Puget Sound Kossacks
I'm so impressed with the Seattle Kossacks, right now. EagleOfFreedom offered to take up the reins of collecting local Kossacks for camaraderie and action. In a very short time he started the group, communicated with me, set the event and got almost a dozen folks to join the ranks in person. Kudos!
So, you Seattle Kossacks, you've got a group now and John Crapper has offered to be an admin of the group. How swell is that?
SEATTLE KOSSACKS! Look for each other in the comments and gather together, invite one another and let's see more folk show up at the next event. AND the next action event.
To quote one of the attendees:
Once again Kossacks prove they are for real.
L-R: N in Seattle, Regina in a Sears Kit House, bleeding blue, doingbusinessas
L-R: ?, John Crapper, EagleOfFreedom, mlharges
All photos courtesy of mlharges
Please visit EagleOfFreedom's diary for MORE photos! Enjoy! You can join Seattle and Puget Sound Kossacks by sending a Kosmail to EagleOfFreedom.
SFKossacks Welcome Matching Mole and bwren
with a Birding Event Plus Dinner
by navajo ♥ for SFKossacks
Last Sunday, matching mole, who flew in from the East Coast, and bwren, who flew in from Seattle, were picked up and chaffeured by the founder of Dawn Chorus, lineatus. She drove them to meet with other SFKossacks and Central Valley Kossacks to do some bird watching in the Grizzly Island Wildlife Area on San Francisco Bay. I'll leave the telling of that story up to lineatus in her Sunday morning series.
I'll be covering the dinner we had that evening to welcome our out-of-towners.
Please visit navajo's diary for descriptions of above photos and access to MORE photos! Enjoy! You can join SFKossacks by sending a Kosmail to navajo.
by randallt ♥ for DKos Asheville
Wow, the standard setters for Daily Kos group organizing just one-upped the bar again! Not only do they meet for socializing, they get themselves on radio shows to advertise the event, they invite local candidates and progressive causes to speak to our Kossacks and then fully cater an event to reward all attendees. Wow. Just wow.
More than 30 Kossacks got together amping up and organizing the Asheville atmosphere for getting out the vote. Here's one photo:
L-R: DKos Asheville Kossacks
Please visit randallt's diary for many MORE photos! Enjoy! You can join DKos Asheville by sending a Kosmail to randallt.
by Dave in Northridge ♥ for Los Angeles Kossacks
LAKossacks at it again, please see diary for food pr0n details.
L-R: DuckTape, Dave in Northridge, joemarkowitz, Shockwave and SanFernandoValleyMom
L-R: susans, Kathy, otoelbc, Jerico, Joe Bacon, mr. gmats and gmats
Please visit Dave in Northridge's diary for many MORE photos! Enjoy! You can join Los Angeles Kossacks by sending a Kosmail to Dave in Northridge.
by ericlewis0 ♥ for New York City
Wow. Boom! ericlewis0 blew us all away on Sunday. He provided a LIVE BLOG of the NYC event complete with photos and bonafide commentary from the attendees. Amazing!
Photo 1 L-R: In the orange, thankgodforairamerica, ghchaucer2, sidnora, joanbrooker, dave g & kathny Photo 2 L-R: Plf515, Laura Clawson, mets102, son of broccoli, Communitygis, no exit, designthefuture & mattc129
Please visit ericlewis0's diary for the live blog commentary from the attendees! Enjoy! You can join NYC Kossacks by sending a Kosmail to sidnora.
sidnora promises her faithful follow-up diary and she could likely have food pr0n. I hope so. I live for explicit photos of the fries at Spitzer's Corner.
:: Events Currently on the Books for Kossacks ::
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California Central Coast Kossacks
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Wednesday, February 12th
California Central Coast Kossacks Attend CCC Hearing on Fracking
TIME: 9:00 AM
LOCATION: The Cliffs Resort Hotel
2757 Shell Beach Road • Pismo Beach
ORGANIZER: Send CentralCoaster a kosmail to attend.
RSVPs:
1. CentralCoaster
2.
3.
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Maybees: |
Latest diary: Stop Fracking In The Ocean Along California's Central Coast
Saturday, February 15th
Los Angeles Kossacks Meet-up
TIME: 2:00 PM
LOCATION: The Sidewalk Grill
1727 N. Vermont • Los Angeles
ORGANIZER: Send Dave in Northridge a kosmail to attend.
RSVPs:
1. Dave in Northridge
2. Shockwave
3. Ducktape
4. joemarkowitz
5. jakedog42
6. Joe Bacon
7. 714Day
8. SanFernandoValleyMom
9. Otoelbc
10. Chiwere
11. Floja Roja
12.
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Maybees: |
Latest diary: Los Angeles Kossacks - Saturday, February 15, 2 PM - The Sidewalk Grill, Los Feliz
Saturday, February 15th
Boston Kossacks Meet-up
TIME: Midday, TBD
LOCATION: The Barking Crab at Fort Point Landing
88 Sleeper Street • Boston
ORGANIZER: Send GreyHawk a kosmail to attend.
RSVPs:
1. GreyHawk
2. bjedward
3. thankgodforairamerica
4. Knockbally
5. AnotherMassachusettsLiberal
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Maybees: |
Afterward, a walking trip to the Design Museum Boston to see the free exhibit Green Patriot Posters.
Latest diary: Boston (and New England) Kossacks - Feb Meetup? And latest comment with updates.
February 15-17th
Mexican Kossacks & Democrats Abroad Annual Meeting in Puerto Vallarta
SCHEDULE
Saturday, Feb. 15, 6:00 PM-7:30 PM: Welcome Reception with Tom Hayden at private home.
Sunday, Feb. 16, 1:00 PM-4:30 PM: Annual Meeting at International Friendship Club - (to include business meeting, address by Tom Hayden, and presentations on Fundraising, Web-Ex training (replaces Calliflower), Get Out the Vote (GOTV), and Communications including Social Media
Monday, Feb. 17, 4:00 PM-6:00 PM: Presentation by Tom Hayden supporting the importance of voting in the 2014 election. Hosted at chapel across from Hacienda San Angel.
TICKET INFORMATION
Advanced Full Registration: $35 USD (450 pesos) Includes all events if you register before Feb 1st.
Tom Hayden Presentation (Monday only): $12 USD (150 pesos)
To Buy: Email GOTVfromAbroad AT yahoo DOT com with the quantity of tickets needed for either “Full Registration” or “Tom Hayden (Monday only)”. You will receive a PayPal bill and a written notification once your payment has been processed.
ORGANIZER: Send roberb7 kosmail to connect at the event.
KOSSACK RSVPs:
1. roberb7
2.
3.
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Maybees: |
Saturday, April 5th
Seattle & Puget Sound Kossacks Meet-up
TIME: Noon - 3:00 PM
LOCATION: Pyramid Alehouse, Brewery & Restaurant
1201 First Avenue South • Seattle
ORGANIZER: Send EagleOfFreedom a kosmail to attend.
RSVPs:
1. EagleOfFreedom
2. Reetz
3.
4.
5.
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Maybees: |
Latest diary: Seattle & Puget Sound Kossacks Arrive
Saturday, May 3rd
DKos Asheville Kossacks Meet-up
TIME: TBD
LOCATION: TBD
[Address] • [City]
ORGANIZER: Send randallt a kosmail to attend.
RSVPs:
1. randallt
2. davehouck
3.
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Maybees: |
Latest diary: [Waiting for linked diary]
Send navajo a kosmail if you post a diary about an event so we can update our round-up.
Okay. Floor's open.
Tell us what you are doing on this NEW DAY?