The Motor City Kossacks had a fabulous time at our last meetup, at the Brighton Bar and Grill in (where else?) Brighton, MI. We were among the six Kossack groups to meet on Saturday, July 20th, and I apologize abjectly to everyone (meaning especially navajo) who may have been awaiting the full report on our delightful meet-up.
Though the infrastructure of DKos doesn’t easily permit jointly-authored diaries, I’d like to offer special thanks to tgypsy, our guest of honor for the event and the source of most of our photos from that afternoon. She is not only a native Michigander and bird photographer par excellence, but she’s willing to start getting ready for NN14, as she indicated here. I’m delighted to have made her acquaintance in San Jose and look forward to many more collaborations online and off.
Here’s the restaurant where we met.
Brighton Bar and Grill (remodeled 2000)
And here, to give a little context, is the pond that was just down the street from the restaurant.
Duck pond in Brighton
I’d never been to downtown Brighton myself, despite living less than twenty miles away for over fifteen years; for those of you familiar with the general area, think of a more upscale and whiter Ypsilanti (a city which would, in fact, be a terrific location for another west-side meet-up one of these days). If you look closely, you will see a few mallards adorning the pond—no doubt a salute to tgypsy.
It was a relatively small group, but that was all to the good. A group of nine meant we were able not only to chat amongst ourselves but also have the start of a longer-term discussion about what the Motor City Kossacks might be willing to undertake during the next year or so.
Please join me after the jump for more discussion and more photos, including food pr0n!
In case everyone hasn’t heard about it yet, Netroots Nation ’14 will be held in Detroit, at the Cobo Center. (Registration information may be found here.) It behooves those of us living in or near the city to consider what we can do to help pave the way for a really powerful convention, whether through helping with onsite hosting duties, providing background information about Detroit’s history to contextualize our current predicament, seeking out extra-curricular activities that conventioneers might want to undertake (educational and cultural, that is) or some combination of the above. The nine of us in attendance were all pretty enthusiastic about the prospect and willing to take part as personal energy and resources permit. Tgypsy is already thinking about the possibility of a group dinner at the Cadieux Café, a venerable Detroit landmark.
All right, enough text for now. Here’s what you’ve all been waiting for: food pr0n!
There was a tempting variety of soups and salads on the menu...
Lobster Crab Bisque for dov12348
Bosc pear salad with MI cherries for tgypsy
Fortunately for Michigan cherry farmers, this year's crop appears to have been an excellent one. Our local sour cherry source had them for over a month this season, ending only last week.
Maurice Salad for peregrine kate
Maurice Salad, for those who aren't Michiganders, was a staple of the restaurants at Hudson's, our homegrown department store way-back-when. As a little girl, I would always turn up my nose when my mother would order it. Pickles in a salad!? This version was pretty good but not quite authentic: it had tomatoes, and it didn't have green olives. The dressing could have had more kick, too. But I still enjoyed it.
Along with some pretty yummy sandwiches...
Georgia Reuben for cheerio2
Tuna Avocado Grill for mideedah
Large portions of traditional bar food...
Giant Burrito and Burger for Maya and MichiganChet
Plus desserts, including this chocolate and ice cream treat:
Dessert for ArchTeryx
More important than NN14, if such a thing is possible, is the goal of sweeping Republicans out of office in Michigan in 2014. Governor Snyder promises to be a “one-term nerd,” particularly because the apparent Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Mark Schauer, is a strong one with solid credentials and early popularity. The prospect of overturning the GOP-dominated House is not an easy one, and yet we only have to flip 5 seats, IIRC, and that may well be feasible. The other early declarants for state-wide office, including Mark Totten for AG, are promising, and we have an exceptionally good candidate, Pam Byrnes, to run against the despicable Mark Walberg in MI-07. (Now if we could only find another live one for MI-08 against Mike Rogers….)
The recent change in Democratic Party leadership and administration is reason for hope, but it, and we, have a long way to go to make up for ground lost in the past few election cycles. Thanks in part to some serious groundwork being laid by Chris Savage (our own Eclectablog) and Tad Wysor, Washtenaw County appears to be in the forefront of devising a solid replacement for the kind of GOTV effort that OFA accomplished in 2008 and 2012. Michigan is at base a blue state; when we have turnout, we win. And that’s going to require a lot of hours of calling and door-knocking between now and 11/4/2014.
Again, the MCKs couldn’t have been more enthusiastic to share information and strategies across the state. We agree that we’re willing to work hard, but we also would like to have more training and more support for the task of outreach to voters. We also agree that it would be strategic for us to start by going out to ask questions of our neighbors and fellow MI citizens about the issues that concern them the most, rather than starting the conversation by asserting what it is that we think they ought to want. By my estimate, we had five counties represented (Genesee, Ingham, Washtenaw, Wayne, and Midland), which is pretty darn good coverage for eight state residents. No doubt we can pull in more from the greater SE MI area as the election approaches.
MichiganChet and ArchTeryx
the diarist and the photographer, peregrine kate and tgypsy respectively, enjoying each other's company
(
I appreciate the soft focus, at least! ;)
Motor City Kossacks at the Brighton Bar and Grill, July 20, 2013: MichiganChet, Maya, peregrine kate, tgypsy, ProvokingMeaning, mideedah, cheerio2 in disguise, dov12348 (l to r) Not pictured: ArchTeryx
However—though I hate to say it, given the logistical task this represents—group Kosmail in this regard leaves a great deal to be desired, which means an alternate mode of communication must be developed. In the next few weeks, I hope to send individual Kosmails to all Motor City Kossacks to invite you to participate in a regular email group, perhaps a Google group. I’ll be investigating possibilities between now and Labor Day, so please feel free to offer suggestions. As everyone in my household already knows, I’m no longer an early adopter of social networking software, and so all help in this regard would be gratefully accepted
Now, since I have your attention, let’s please give some thought to our next meet-up before the summer gets away from us.
Earlier I had suggested a rendezvous at the Detroit Jazz Festival (free, over Labor Day weekend, with an incredible lineup of performers). I heard some interest, but several people said they’d be busy or away. I’m still willing to arrange an informal meet-up, my own schedule permitting (a caveat I add since it looks like I’ll have at least two out-of-town visitors that weekend myself). But the main meet-up for September might be something else entirely.
How about a Tigers game? They’re in town from Fri 9/13 through Sun 9/22 (schedule here). A few dates in that series would be out for me, but not all. Or how about meeting for a picnic on Belle Isle? Or a rendezvous at the beloved but imperiled DIA? They haven't yet announced a Brunch with Bach series this year, but there are other special events and exhibitions galore--the second Sunday in September being just one example. The floor is open for suggestions, including dates, times, and venues, from Labor Day weekend forward.
Clearly a meet-up of this sort would be a more social one—though our experience at the luncheon meet-up would indicate that it’s still possible to accomplish some “business” too. Still, there’s also room for a more pragmatically focused meet-up of Michigan Kossacks, SE-based or more, and I’m open to hearing ideas about such a gathering during the next quarter.
Beer with orange boa
Just think of the opportunities that await us!
Thanks again to everyone who attended the last meet-up, including tgypsy, and to everyone who couldn’t make it but sent regrets. I hope to see everyone (again, or for the first time) soon!