We have lined up yet another fantastic speaker for our kossack meetup in Austin on Saturday, February 28th! Longtime-kossack
Katherine Haenschen, editor and publisher of the
Burnt Orange Report, is joining us to share some of her insights regarding the current state of Texas politics. Known here as
kath25, she has quite an impressive
bio:
Katherine Haenschen is a PhD candidate at the University of Texas, where she studies political participation on digital media. She has previously managed successful candidate, issue, voter registration, and GOTV campaigns in Austin. In addition to serving as the president of Austin Young Democrats, she is also UCONN's #1 fan in Texas.
My personal favorite of Katherine's recent posts at
BOR is
In Which We Join The Blame Game and Criticize Democrats Who Tried In Texas. Here's how she begins:
There’s been a lot of Democratic finger-pointing in Texas over the past week. I open my newspaper or my newsfeed and I see a pretty aggressive effort to assign blame to a bunch of people that worked really hard over the last six months to two years to a lifetime to try and change this state.
Yep, this was posted one week after the November 2014 election, and she accurately sums up most of what I was seeing as well. And then she proceeds to recognize the efforts of so many organizations whose volunteers and staff tried to elect Democrats in Texas last year. I was literally cheering by the time I got to her conclusion:
Far too many people appear excessively eager to condemn the hard, sweaty work of others who left it all out on the field. It never fails to amuse me to see who magically appears for the circle-jerking firing squad pointed at people that busted their asses to do meaningful work.
Sure, there are some serious questions about the outcome of this cycle that need to be addressed — so that we can all learn and do better next time. But I fail to see the value in personal attacks on people who have probably not slept more than 5 consecutive hours since Labor Day.
Was there no way for individuals who are so critical now to contribute meaningfully to anything on the ballot anywhere in Texas or nationally? If the existing organizations fail to suit one’s fancy, there’s nothing stopping anyone from starting their own effort and making a difference at the precinct, district, or county level, before moving on from there.
[....]
Believing in a better world in which every Texan is given a chance to succeed is hard. We haven’t seen much of that from our state government in the last two decades. Doing the work to change that is hard. Tearing down those who do it is easy.
So thanks to everyone who left it out there on the field for progressives and Democrats. All of us at Burnt Orange Report respect and admire your courage and commitment to our candidates. You and your energy are what will keep this movement moving forward, and why we will — eventually — prevail.
Yes, we will. I am looking forward to hearing what Katherine has to say at our meetup.
In case you missed our previous Texas Meetup diaries, our other speakers are equally fantastic:
- Meteor Blades will speak about the power of precinct organizing to GOTV.
- Denise Oliver-Velez will talk about the importance of registering, and motivating and mobilizing young voters (especially young people of color) - and her experience with helping them understand how voting directly affects their lives.
- Egberto Willies will share what he has learned about blogging to attract the maximum number of eyeballs to your message.
- navajo will offer pointers for maximizing the DK forum and growing groups.
We hope you're able to join us in Austin on February 28. All Kossacks are welcome, including out-of-staters. And if you're in a part of Texas that does not currently have a Daily Kos group, this would be the perfect opportunity to meet with other Kossacks and maybe even develop a plan to start a group yourself!
Because Daily Kos is sponsoring the lunch and seminar room, there is no charge to attend the event itself. But space is limited, so you must RSVP to attend. Just post a comment or kosmail me to RSVP.
Saturday, February 28th
Texas All-State Meet-up with Meteor Blades, Denise Oliver-Velez, Egberto Willies, Katherine Haenschen, and navajo
Please come for an afternoon of camaraderie and progressive strategizing with Big Orange flavor! Out-of-state attendees welcome!
Lunch and Seminar c/o Daily Kos
TIME: Noon - 6:00 PM
LOCATION: Max's Wine Dive
"Fried Chicken and Champagne... Why the Hell Not?"
207 San Jacinto Blvd • Austin, 78701 (near convention center and state capital building)
Cocktail time First drink c/o Daily Kos
TIME: 6:00 PM
LOCATION: CRAVE
340 E. 2nd St (around the corner from seminar) • Austin
ORGANIZER: Send nomandates a kosmail to attend
RSVPs:
1. nomandates
2. Chrislove
3. Meteor Blades
4. Denise Oliver-Velez
5. Egberto Willies
6. Katherine Haenschen aka kath25
7. navajo
8. johnatx
9. mrs johnatx
10. Blood
11. cosette
12. anotherdemocrat - Vege*
13. bastrop
14. Warren Pease
15. Patience John
16. noteaforme
17. blue armadillo
18. RLMAC
19. TexMex
20. JC Dufresne
21. TexasLibertine
22. politik
23. Mr Pea
24. PDiddie
25. Mrs. Diddie
26. suesue
27. mr suesue
28. Sandia Blanca
29. Noisy Gong
30. Essephreak
31. laderrick - Vege*
32. getlost
33. TulsaGal
34. AndyT
35. Carol in San Antonio
36. blueisland
|
37. TX Unmuzzled
38. walkshills
39. MargaretPOA
40. rabel
41. on the cusp
42. freerad
43. freerad's guest
44. Wino
45. Mrs Wino
46. Red Tom Kidd
47. Tutone in Texas
48. Mrs Tutone in Texas
49. jfranks
50. 1toughlady
51. scott5js
52. tmc222
53. tmc222's daughter
Maybees:
BlueMississippi
BlackSheep1
Deja (+1-2)
boadicea
postmodernista
Texan001
Ignacio Magaloni
neverontheright
|
* Needs vegetarian meal
Transportation: For those who live in or near major cities,
Megabus may be an affordable option. Some groups have already organized carpools from Houston and San Antonio.
Update from comments: AndyT is offering a ride to Dallas Kossacks.
Lodging: As for hotel rooms, there's nothing inexpensive within walking distance of the meetup location, so many from out of town are making reservations on the outskirts of Austin.
Bonus Activity: Finally, we chose this date in part because the annual Zilker Park Kite Festival begins around 11:00am on Sunday 3/1 and was an enjoyable part of our last statewide meet-up. So keep that in mind if you will still be around on Sunday!