This is an Open Thread / Coffee Hour and all topics of conversation are welcome. Today's suggested topic is NN13 and Fire Trucks.
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This fire truck was the center peace of the expo hall at NN13 in San Jose
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What is for dinner? How are you doing? What is on your mind. If you are new to Street Prophets please introduce yourself beyond the fold in a comment. This is an Open Thread / Coffee Hour and all topics of conversation are welcome.
I got home from NN13 and the first thing I did was take a nap. Over the last 4 days it has been non stop between 6 am to 1 am. The only session I attended was the Native American Caucus. I spent all my time interacting with the wonderful people I met and interviewing a few of the community quilt recipients.
The highlight of the event for me was meeting Susan C. Strong founder of the Metaphor Project. We talked about the theories of George Lakoff. And, most importantly she has agreed to conduct some workshops in Vallejo for me.
This may be the most important work I ever do. We are going to try and bring the Vallejo gay community and the evangelical community together to create our own local story. (stories are extended metaphor)
I apologize for not doing better on content in my past Monday diaries, but being an local Democratic Club president and my other local political projects takes so much time that often I do not get around to my coffee hour diary until it is due.
But my work in the community has allowed me to met and create shared stories with all the key players in my city of Vallejo. From the mayor down to the least of us. From my learning and belief in tolerance and understanding of those of differing faith over the last 4 years of my activism I have not burned my bridges by offending anyone. I owe a debt of gratitude to Street Prophets and all the wonderful comments and diary authors that have educated me in issues of faith and politics.
Starting next Monday I'm going to start writing about my experiences trying to bridge the divide in our community using extended metaphor. The division in our community started over a gay candidate running for mayor and losing by 3 votes. The current mayor was backed by about 1000 to 1500 votes from the communities of faith. The gay candidate was backed by our large LBGT community and the general public. The voter turn out is small in Vallejo and I'm finding my self constantly calculating voter block tallies.
I will be involved with the of vetting the candidates for the next city council. And the mayor is trying to run candidates of faith against the more progressive candidates. The next four months will be very busy and I'm going to force my self to share my adventure with everyone.
My goal is elect progressive candidates with out vilifying the candidates of faith. Next weeks story will be about my last Democratic Club meeting where an Democrat that is also a member of the New Apostolic Reformation showed up unexpectedly and asked for my clubs support in seeking the Southern Solano County Democratic Central Committee endorsement.
Everyone please feel free to talk about fire trucks, your experience at NN13, or faith and politics. I'm going to be away from computer for a while to go and take pictures at Glen Cove for the NN13 Native American Caucus video I'm making. But, because I planned to take today off I will be back later to reply to comments and take questions about my new goal of applying Lakoff's theories.
"I love it when a plan comes together." - Hannibal Smith
Jonathan