From the diaries. Joel Silberman is the man responsible for getting Markos ready to handle Meet the Press. Here's his take on what it meant to be a Kos Fellow. --mcjoan
When I met Markos Moulitsas on January 15, 2006, he was the keynote speaker for the Young People for the American Way Summit at the National Education Association in DC and I was the summit’s media trainer. Iara Peng, the visionary leader who created Young People For, introduced us. Most generously she suggested that media training with me was transformational and that perhaps Markos could avail himself of my media training technique for his upcoming book tour. That afternoon from 3:30-6 p.m. Markos began media training with me.... And my life changed forever.
Let me be clear. From the beginning Markos possessed genuine media talent. He is authentic, charismatic, wickedly funny and most importantly, passionately committed to empowering the progressive movement. His example continues to inspire me. As I taught him media technique, he taught me how each one of us can truly make a difference.
But it took a bit of time to get there. 2005 was a transitional year for me. Those days most of my work was performing, writing, composing and directing in the New York theatre. The musical that I had co-authored and directed was brought from its successful production in Ventura, CA and mounted off-Broadway.
On a beautiful October night, the opening night party for the show was held on a private yacht moored at Chelsea Pier on the Hudson River. We sailed into the New York Harbor where we found ourselves at the base of the Statue of Liberty. Say what you want about the French, they sure know how to give a present. And I looked at the base of Lady Liberty and remember reading the poem that we all learned as children:
Give me your tired your poor / your huddled masses yearning to breathe free / the wretched refuse of your teeming shore / send these the homeless tempest tossed to me...
Suddenly I envisioned my grandparents at the beginning of the 20th century seeing this statue for the first time from the deck of a ship coming to America. And here I was at the beginning of the 21st century on the deck of a yacht in the shadow of that same statue, living their dream. Tears of gratitude overwhelmed me.
At the same time I felt enormous rage at what 6 years of disgraceful, corrupt conservative government had done to our country. Could we even say the words of that poem in the dark days of the last administration?
Well . . . my show closed quickly from bad notices. But the vision from the night with Lady Liberty remained etched in my consciousness. And I knew that I had to do what I could do best: put my artistic sensibility in service to getting better progressive spokespeople into the media, elected and governing. But how was I going to do it?
Flash forward three months to the January 2006 meeting/training with Markos.
Markos’ belief in my media training was what really jumpstarted my new activist career. And he didn’t just encourage me. Through his recommendation, seven weeks later Working Assets hired me to media train twelve top-tier bloggers in San Francisco. That training introduced me to a universe of people who have become cherished progressive family and some of my best friends.
After that training Markos offered me a Kos Fellowship to develop my media training method and continue to train him and many other talented progressives. He wanted to develop talent for the media from progressive bloggers and other non-traditional media types. The time had come for me to crash the gates and Markos was kicking me through them. For the next year of my fellowship Markos went on to many media appearances and we continually honed his amazing talent. It was an honor to be a part of that process.
But it was the Kos Fellowship that really put me on the path to what I am doing today. The Fellowship support enabled me to expand my programmatic ideas.
Being a Kos Fellow brought me in contact with some of the brightest minds in our progressive community. And from my Kos Fellowship I became a communications consultant/strategist for Media Matters for America, GLAAD, National Women’s Law Center, People for the American Way, Young People For, the Young Elected Officials Network, DemocraciaUSA and have trained countless progressive candidates, many of whom are now in office.
None of this would have happened without the Kos Fellowship and for that I am truly grateful.
But the purpose of this post isn't just to thank Markos for his vision and generosity. It is to invite each of you to join this vision by contributing your money right now. The miracle of Daily Kos happened not only because Markos started it. It was the community that stepped up and participated; a community that said, we have a voice and we demand to be heard.
Today we need to empower new progressives more than ever and here is our opportunity to do it. Step up. Be a part of this vision. Put skin in the game. Do it right now. Contribute to the Kos Fellowship Program. Help give more people the kind of opportunity I've had.
Markos wrote in Crashing the Gate that we don’t have to wait for gatekeepers to tell us what to do or how to do it. It is up to us each of us individually. Take this moment. Support this program and put our progressive values into action. Thank you.
