Good day and welcome to DKos Asheville. This is the weekly DKos Asheville open thread where we get together every weekend to share with everyone what we're all up to in Western North Carolina and beyond. We hope this group serves to invigorate us locally and regionally here on Daily Kos, building on the sense of community that's grown through our online engagement. DKos Asheville can give us all a better sense of connection, a better understanding of who we stand with, work with, and share with. We hope this community can help leverage our orange passion for progressive politics to elect more and better Democrats.
Asheville and all of Western North Carolina are wonderful places to visit. We have a powerful progressive presence, both cultural and political, and for the most part everyone is really nice. And the views are breathtaking. If you've never been here, we promise you'll love it.
This week's edition focuses on our upcoming Quarterly Meetup in Asheville on Saturday, October 4th at 1:00 pm.
Randall's on the road again, but asked that I report to you that he has spoken with the folks at the Bywater, and October 4th is a go. So mark your calendars and make your plane reservations.
For those of you who haven't yet made it to the Bywater, you can read about it here. Please let Randall know if you're planning to come, or even if you're a maybe.
This will be our, hmmm ... let me count, I think it's sixth, sixth quarterly meetup of DKos Asheville (and that's a rather liberal use of the word quarterly). It's always a wonderful afternoon eating, talking, listening, and sharing. So do try to make it if you can; you still have time to clear your schedule.
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Randall wrote a nice diary with lots of great pictures about this past Monday's big Mountain Moral Monday rally and our DKos Asheville mini-meetup. There's also some pics, and links to still more pics, in the comments. Randall asked me to say a few words about the event.
It was, for me, an absolutely wonderful gathering of thousands of the folks that make Asheville a special place to live; and I think all of the DKos group felt the same way. The smiles on the faces of everyone there, the feeling of community, the spirit of compassion, just a pervasive joyous feeling throughout.
And of course, Reverend Barber's speech was moving and inspirational, firing up the crowd and searing his message into our being. He seemed to me to be giving everything he had, and I'm guessing that perhaps we were inspiring him just a bit as well.
There are good people all over this state, and the more people hear Reverend Barber's message, the greater our chances of winning back seats in the legislature and building momentum to get North Carolina headed toward a brighter future. This great coalition that Reverend Barber has gathered around him have built an amazing momentum, which makes it important that we carry that momentum through to election day in November, and then beyond to 2016.
Wherever you are in North Carolina, if you get an opportunity to attend a Moral Monday rally, you should make every effort to do so. Just standing in the crowd with all those wonderful people is a healing and joyous experience; and the Reverend's inclusive, progressive, and inspirational message is just an amazing experience in itself.
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Have a wonderful day!