Good day and welcome to DKos Asheville. This is the weekly DKos Asheville open thread for Saturday, January 3rd. We try to 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. Please jump the squibble to join the fun.
First off, thank you Dave and SteelerGrrl for running the blog for the last few months while I was busy on the road. Love reading you both.
In Praise of Asheville Part II
As we move into this new year we have much to be thankful for in Asheville and Western North Carolina. And one of the things we are most grateful for is Asheville itself. SteelerGrrl focused last week on much of what makes Asheville such a special place for her and SteelerGuy and how it has enriched their lives from the moment they set foot here. She is certainly not alone.
I have an old friend at the Asheville Chamber of Commerce (which has a non-aligned relationship with the national btw) who described Asheville's special attraction this way:
Pull up a quick search of Asheville on your favorite search engine, and you’ll see everything from Asheville named one of the "Best Places to Go in 2015" by Frommer's to “Good Morning America” selecting Asheville as one of the ten prettiest places in the U.S. While the amount of accolades we receive is quite extensive, they fail to capture one signature aspect of this gorgeous city in the Blue Ridge Mountains—its authenticity. Asheville is a city of independent spirits stitched together by a true desire to share with our visiting guests the same genuine, invigorating, life enriching experience we get to live every day.
This is the Chamber's list of national press coverage and
this is a cool little two minute video that's pretty awesome. It will give you a glance about what makes this place so great.
And we are excited to have our lovely city host DKos Asheville's seventh meet up over the last few years on January 17 and 18. Over this time we have developed rich relationships, been inspired to register voters, have driven people to the polls, canvassed neighborhoods, and spent endless hours at phone banks. And we have built ourselves a network of like minded brothers and sisters who are in this fight for life. A place we can come to find inspiration, power, solace and community.
So please mark your calendars and plan on joining us for a wonderful weekend of camaraderie, inspiration, networking, fun, food and entertainment.
Have a great weekend everyone. Rainy and foggy but mild up in the mountains today. Also, it's mid 50's with light rain in Charlotte where the Carolina Panthers, NFC Champions two years in a row, play the St Louis Cardinals in the first game of the playoffs. Go Panthers, Keep Pounding!
What A DKos Asheville meet up in Asheville, North Carolina.
When Saturday and Sunday, January 17-18, 2015. 1:00 pm Saturday till 1:00 pm Sunday.
Where Crown Plaza Resort Asheville, One Resort Drive • Asheville, NC 28806. tel:800-733-3211, tel:828-254-3211.
Accommodations Pet friendly, Vegetarian and Vegan friendly, lunch, dinner and breakfast provided, five double rooms have been booked for attendees, extra rooms provided if we need them. Private patio or balcony, deluxe bathroom, complimentary high-speed wireless internet access, Cable / Satellite TV, much more. Excellent open meeting spaces. Easy access to downtown Asheville for fun and frivolity. From their website: Located in Asheville, North Carolina and only one mile from the stylish and eclectic downtown area, the Asheville Crowne Plaza features accommodations that offer more than just a good night’s sleep. Inside this hotel, you will find towering stone walls and a grand stone fireplace with a newly renovated lobby perfect for relaxing and commraderie.
Why After this election season we obviously need to regroup, get charged back up and start focusing our orange passion on how to turn this whole thing around. And we need some well deserved rest and relaxation with good friends. Grow our network, grow our community.
Promotion of this meet up in ongoing through local blogging, progressive radio, and recruitment of local Democratic movers and shakers to attend for speaking and discussion. We are building a schedule will update every Saturday as usual on DKos Asheville Open Thread.
Cost The gas it takes to get there and of course, the beer, wine and drinks. As one of our event organizers has noted - we are providing five double rooms with meals, etc, etc, etc at no cost to anyone who'd like to attend from out of town. If more rooms are needed we can add them to the package.
ROOMS Between sponsored and individually paid for rooms, we are blessed to still have two rooms available for anyone that needs one. They may not last long though, please let me know.
Details Please Kosmail me, randallt, if you would like to attend and whether or not you will need a room. Let's get local, build this community and help win this next election.
Even though we have to check out by 1:00 PM on Sunday, we will still be welcome to hang out and watch some playoff football!
RSVPs:
1. randallt
2. davehouck
3. Joieau
4. Gordon20024
5. SteelerGrrl
6. SteelerGuy
7. LamontCranston
8. Otteray Scribe
9. Joy of Fishes with five guests
10. Burns Lass
11. Mary Beth
12. NBBooks With guest
13. DawnN
Maybees:
IamGumby
smiley7
Saturday Program
We are pleased to announce that DKos Asheville and Progress NC have joined forces and will be hosting a bloggers conference as part of our January 17th myeet up. Following is information about Progress NC from their web site.
Progress NC is a 501-C3 organization dedicated to being a voice for forward-thinking North Carolinians who want to protect the balanced approach to government that made our state great.
We are proud of our legacy as a southern state capable of adapting to change and embracing new opportunities. We are also determined to retain our national status as a great place to work, live and raise a family. To that end, Progress NC raises the visibility of issues that affect the quality of life in our state. We monitor the statewide political landscape on your behalf, identifying extreme legislative actions and other policy changes that could affect your life. We tell you about them quickly and let you know what you can do about them.
http://www.progressncaction.org/....
Anyone can start a political blog, but not everyone can maintain a good one. On Saturday, January 17, Progress North Carolina and DKos Asheville will host an afternoon seminar to help established bloggers sharpen their skills and build their networks, and show prospective bloggers what they need to get started.
Guest speakers such as Asheville City Council Member Gordon Smith and hopefully, Scrutiny Hooligans and Hullabaloo blogger Tom Sullivan, will talk about what makes a political blog successful, and share some best practices for finding and following a good story. Look for addional speakers in the coming weeks.
Topics are developing but will include titles like these:
What Just Happened? The “short” session and election 2014
Building and maintaining a blog that will best reach your audience
A look at the other guys, from Civitas down to the Twitter trolls
Finding and Following a Good Story: Don’t just comment on the news cycle… Capture it!
Reaching your audience and driving home your message.