besides the fact that I won a DFA scholarship to help pay my way, and a member of this community generously has paid for my transportation, etc.
Please note that last - a member of this community, because s/he thought I needed to be there.
I was given similar offers for Pittsburgh in 2009, with people offering to pay my expenses, or let me stay in their homes, even though they only knew me from my writing here.
This is about community. This is about connections. This is about more than that.
But let me back up. In 2006 and 2007 the event was called Yearly Kos. We can thank Pastor Dan Schultz for coming up with the idea originally, and the likes of Gina, and Nolan, and others for making it happen.
I want to explore my own participation in the past, before I explain why I am going this year.
Let me back up to the planning for Las Vegas in 2006 . . .
People were looking for ideas for panels. I suggested to Gina and the other organizers that given the times and the (still pending) reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, there really should be a panel on education. Her response was that since I was the person best known for writing about education at Daily Kos, why didn't I organize it? So I did, getting Jamie Vollmer of the famous Blueberry Story as the principal speaker and with then Gov. Tom Vilsack of Iowa joining me in response. That was the first of four panels over three years that I organized. In Chicago there were two panels on education, with the likes of Sherman Dorn of the U of South Florida, long-time writer/thinker about education Marion Brady, both members of this community, and Peter Henry, who teaches at a Native American community College and Doug Christensen, then Commissioner of Education in Nebraska.
As Doug, Sherman, Marion and I were having breakfast, Doug mentioned how he was impressed from what he had read from George Lakoff. I had met Lakoff before, and as Doug spoke, George was coming into the restaurant. I asked him over, he joined us, and we had a fascinating conversation that informed our presentation later that day. That is part of what happens at these events - we connect with people, we help one another connect with others.
For Austin, the first time the even had the broader name of Netroots Nation, I suggested that so often we talked about getting young people involved, why not have a panel with politically active young people? Gina told me to go for it - Thomas Senecal is now finishing his freshman year at Princeton, but in 2008 was finishing his sophomore year in high school, was already co-chair of the Maryland Youth Commission, and had organized the national Teens for Clinton organization. Mica Willis had just graduated from high school - like Thomas, my student - and was Vice President of Teens for Clinton - she had watched several elections from overseas where her mother was in the Diplomatic Corps. And Kenton Ngo was at 17 already one of the best known Virginia bloggers and had become Secretary of the Democratic Committee of the Springfield Magisterial District of Fairfax County (population more than 120,000) when only 16. These three young people had the additional delight of having our panel be one of only 4 events at the conference picked up by C-Span. And for Mica? Well, the highlight of her attendance was an interchange between her and Baratunde Thurston that had to be seen/heard to be appreciated!
When I first arrived in (not Chicago, sorry) Vegas in 2006 I did not know what to expect. When I got the Riviera late in the evening I got a big hug from Gina. Later in the casino area I met Kombiz Lavasany, who was with Elena Levin and Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post. I was able to begin to put faces and voices to names I knew only from online. I encountered famous people - there is that infamous picture where Navajo and I are with Joe Wilson (okay) and Larry Johnson (long since off the deep end). At various events I have been fortunate - perhaps - to get to talk with the likes of Wes Clark, Bill Richardson, Jack Carter, John Dean, Richard Clarke, and too many well-known journalists to count.
But the real thrill was simply being with others who were bloggers/activists. There was Heather Parton - Digby. I got to meet DevilsTower - Mark Sumner. I have a picture from Vegas with Hunter and MC Joan. I went to a late night dinner at the Bellagio with emptywhell - Marci Wheeler - and among the others at that table were Jane Hamsher, Glenn Greenwald, and others.
But the real fun was simply getting to know people. Some of that came through my participation in the Sunday worship services - my friends from those include Pastor Dan, Blue Jersey Mom, Timroff, Jnhobbs, Virgo Music, Brillig, and others.
Perhaps it was putting together the goodie bags, getting to know Chun Yang and her son.
Or it was packing boxes for Netroots for the Troops - there were Meteor Blades and I in Pittsburgh, two aging hippies were are anti-war, but viewed what we were doing as an important commitment to those who serve, because we are not anti-troop.
Or maybe it was just conversations, fellowship, friendship. Bill in Portland Maine and Common Sense Mainer. Paradox. Shockwave. Sitting on a terrace in Chicago with OPOL and his son, Claude, and the late Ben Masel.
Ben - one of several whom we have lost. Kris Foland (exmearden) and others.
Seeing the community actualized - actually signing one of Sara R's quilts.
Or buying books written by fellow members of the community - Ilona Meagher, Brandon Friedman, Jill Richardson.
It was experiencing our interconnectedness. Which is international - seeing for example Jerome a Paris trying to find a charger for his cell phone.
There is wonderful content to many of the panels - if you can find time for them with everything else that is going on. There are events with nationally known politicians. There are those aspiring to political office, some of whom succeed and some of whom do not, but improve our society for their trying.
No, I did not meet the love of my life at one of these events - we had already been together for 30+ years by the time of the first Yearly Kos. Yet even Leaves on the Current, occasional participant here, admits the importance of my attending, although she agreed with my decision last year to instead volunteer at the free medical and dental event in Wise VA to which I have committed myself so long as I am able.
I will be on no panels. I am attending as an individual member of this community. I will listen to the words of others. I will meet some I as of yet know only through their online words. I will encounter others for the first time in any context.
I will probably be embarrassed because don't fully understand why what I write has such a powerful impact upon others, but when they tell me they remind me why I keep at it, even in dark times such as November 2010.
Why attend Netroots Nation? Because I will again be able to connect with those committed to making this nation a better, more progressive place. Because I will learn from others. Because together we will forge bonds that can sustain us in the difficult times ahead. Because we will celebrate together our successes. Because we will lift glasses to those we have lost - Ben, Kris, others.
If you have not yet decided to attend, it is not too late. Think of the possible experiences. Think of the personal connections. Think of the inspiration that is possible
It is fun. Pub quizzes conceived from the diabolical mind of Adam B. Parties that are simply fun - imagine traveling down an Austin Street from the hotel to a bar, let by a Mariachi band, only to be greeted by a looped image on a huge screen of Bill O'Reilly's famous "F*&k it! We'll do it live! Or taking batting practice in a major league stadium.
Or perhaps you will have the experience of nationally known journalists, or those from other nations, wanting to talk with YOU.
I will be there. I look forward to seeing old friends and making new ones.
Perhaps you will be there as well?
I hope so.
I want to get to know you if I don't already, or to renew our friendship if we do.
Netroots Nation.
Minneapolis.
June 16-19 - and yes, we plan to have a Sunday worship service.
See you there?