I'm over the moon at receiving a Democracy for America scholarship to attend Netroots Nation '09 in Pittsburgh in six weeks. w00t!!! When Jay from DFA called to notify me, I all but accused the poor guy of being a malicious, lying prankster. (I'm really sorry about that, Jay.)
If you've met me or seen photos of me, you probably aren't going to believe this, but until a fairly recent resurgence of chronic leukemia, I was a marathon walker and walking coach for Team in Training, a program of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society that trains endurance athletes who raise funds to fight blood-related cancer.
One of the principles of avocational marathoners such as myself is that once we cross the finish line, we go back for our teammates and join them across the finish line, too.
So join me in lending well-earned camaraderie and support for the finish line dash of 10 more DFA Netroots Nation scholars.
DFA's training and support in the past few years provided incredible foundation for the Democratic renaissance we're now taking forward. DFA particpants' training, motivation, and resource knowledge were germinal to the historic electoral successes we experienced in North Carolina in November. It made a huge difference to have volunteers walk in the door knowing how to take charge of the tasks -- particularly in the early days when there were few (if any) official campaign staff available because North Carolina was assumed to be relegated to the LOSE column. (Gosh, that sounds kind of silly now, doesn't it?)
The DFA folks brought forth everything they learned to make the impossible happen and turn a diehard red state blue. North Carolina would never have been worth the time of Democratic campaigners if it weren't for the efforts, vision, guidance, and support of Dr. Howard Dean and the DFA.
DFA's support of the Netroots Nations scholarships is as critical to our Democratic efforts as many of its other programs. Without these scholarships, many influential and hard-working bloggers wouldn't gain access to the incredible energy and synergy of the NN conferences and be able to bring that back to their communities and their blogging efforts.
As someone who's attended past conferences, I can't begin to tell you how motivating they've been to sparking and sustaining my involvement in myriad community efforts despite some pretty statistically existential vortex-of-improbability odds in my life. (Including -- and I'm not making this up -- cancer, heart surgery, a brain-injured veteran daughter, caring for daughter of aforementioned daughter, home break-ins, attacks by a crazed parks-and-recreation maintenance worker, ground-nesting hornets, and stigmata.) (All of which we will explain in another diary sometime.) (Or perhaps a Lifetime Channel Original Series.)
We have one last chance to empower some incredible DailyKos colleagues through a DFA scholarship for this year's Netroots Nation. Please visit the DFA Web site and support some amazing bloggers and maybe pitch in a few bucks.
Thanks again to DFA and everyone who supported my application and this scholars program!