Ever since I had the opportunity to spend some real life time with many of you at Netroots Nation in Pittsburgh I've had this diary swarming through my mind. It was written in bits and pieces, here and there as time, computer access and mental acuity allowed but at last I think I've got it where I want it to be.
What I want to talk about is community.
First, a definition from dictionary.com:
com⋅mu⋅ni⋅ty
/kəˈmyunɪti/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [kuh-myoo-ni-tee] Show IPA
Use community in a Sentence
See web results for community
See images of community
–noun, plural -ties.
- a social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality, share government, and often have a common cultural and historical heritage.
- a locality inhabited by such a group.
- a social, religious, occupational, or other group sharing common characteristics or interests and perceived or perceiving itself as distinct in some respect from the larger society within which it exists (usually prec. by the): the business community; the community of scholars.
Let's consider this as it regards Daily Kos specifically. This site is by definition a blog, but it is has grown into more...it is a community in every sense of the word. We socialize. While we don't geographically share a locality, in the intertubes we do. We are bound together by similar goals, though often with varying ideas on how to accomplish them, and more importantly we are bound together by a common ideology- which in and of itself reinforces the importance of community. In short, Daily Kos is a community unto itself.
So why is this important enough for today's meta? Sometimes in the minutiae of daily existence...in the daily fight for this cause or that cause we forget what binds us together- Community. We forget that it's OK to disagree, it's ok to not have the exact same interests as others and it's ok to talk about our differences. Some of us focus on the health care problems in our blogging, some on energy, the economy, the list goes on and on.
But sometimes we forget that behind the words are humans...members of our community, a community we CHOSE to be a member of. And just like a family, we aren't going to like everyone else but none the less they are still a member of our community, our extended online family as I often refer to it when speaking with my non kossack friends. Nobody was forced to come to Daily Kos, no one had a gun held to their head and told they had to register and post diaries or comment or just lurk or else. Community is about commonality, but it's also about choice.
So what made me choose to write about this topic? I've long felt that community is one of the most important lures of Daily Kos. That sense of belonging, that there ARE others who think like me out there. I grew up in a family that wasn't really politically active, and what little my parents did do was on the other side of the aisle (to this day Dad wonders how in the world he ended up with 2 Democratic daughters LOL). When in college, I was peripherally involved in campus politics through things like the Dorm Association and Student Union Government but always just in small ways. Post college, politics were a vague interest but nothing I focused on as I tried to make my way in a few different fields of work before I ended up where I am now.
All my life I've been more of an outsider. I was smart and not embarrassed by it as some of my other smart friends were. I've always battled the scale, and in elementary and junior high schools that set me apart. I always wanted to fit in, but somehow never quite did. And while it didn't torment me or send me running to lose myself in alcohol or drugs it did affect how I chose my friends...who I allowed close enough to really know me. That changed a bit in high school as I went to what we now affectionately call “nerd school”...a program of college prep for “gifted and talented education”...it was great and most of my classmates, like me, had often been outsiders and now found ourselves the insiders...it was COOL to be a brainiac. More change in college as I found some friends who saw past what made me different and instead embraced it, and even encouraged it. I was lucky. After college, I found myself wandering again...looking for an extended family of liked minded people who saw me for who I am as a person, not how I dressed or what I looked like or my chosen profession.
Then I moved to "Pennsyltucky". During the Kerry/Edwards campaign I got involved really by accident. The cafe I co-owned at the time became the unofficial Democratic headquarters by hosting meetings, catering events and offering Kerry/Edwards gear. We were a good location for that because Republicans for Kerry wouldn't be caught dead going to Dem HQ for bumper stickers etc, but they'd come have lunch or coffee and walk out with a bag of goodies. So through that involvement I found a new community to call home...the poor, oppressed Democrats in my neck of the woods. We even had a group that went to dinner every Sunday night and we called ourselves the “Blue Hat Ladies”. After Kerry/Edwards, I felt myself drifting again. I’ve worked 2 jobs at a time since moving here and outside of my involvement in politics really had (ok and still have LOL) no life to speak of. In 2006, I signed up to be the scheduler for the Lois Herr for Congress campaign.
Lois’ campaign brought me to Daily Kos. The Nickel Mines shooting had just happened and Foleygate was happening and in the midst of it all Rep. Pitts stepped in it, so Lois called him out. They asked all of the campaign staffers to register and there I was in this brave new world. For six months, I lurked. I read everything I could about PA, and a few diaries here and there about various issues of interest.
Then one day I wandered into that illustrious place known as the "kiddie pool". Here were people like me...funny...smart (well most of them LOL)...caring...they had pets, jobs, boy/girlfriends/significant others/spouses etc. I lurked while I learned...who really had snark and who wanted to think they had snark...which pooties belonged to which poster...what the heck was a pootie to begin with. Then I figuratively closed my eyes and jumped in. And lo and behold, these people liked me!
For the last 3 years, I've wholeheartedly embraced the idea of Daily Kos as a community-I’ve been a semi regular in the pootie diaries, Sub Queen for the kiddie pool and I read just about anything with the community tag.
Fast forward to August, 2009- Pittsburgh. Everything I experienced at Netroots Nation validated that feeling. Walking around the lobby of the Westin Friday night, there were no strangers. There was family- people I've communicated with away from the Kos be it in email, on facebook or in a few cases on the phone and even in person. Then there were new family members- people maybe I've read their diaries or comments but I'd never really felt any connection with. Suddenly, in the flesh I couldn't get enough of talking to them, listening to them, and learning from them. Then there were people from other blogs that there was no way I'd have ever heard of them before, but suddenly there we were sharing a meal and debating the best way for my friend Lois to win her race for Congress in 2010. And the common factor was community. People as HUMANS, not just names on a page or voices in a crowd...but individuals coming together with their own backgrounds, problems and successes bound together into a community.
And out of that community, we’ve even begun to form a NEW community- the Blog Workers Industrial Union and Benevolent Society. You can read more about us at the link, but it really illustrates my point. We are about banding together as bloggers and uniting for a cause. To date we've been focused on organizing but we'd like to turn our attention to bigger issues and attack them as a union. We also now have a home on Facebook, so if you are on Facebook, please join us (and friend me if we aren't already friends!).
I've long said about Daily Kos- and seen it in others' sig lines- come for the politics, stay for the community. Whether your niche is hard core policy wonkdom, campaign strategy, community organizing or simply pooties- there's a place for you here. Whether you are a relative newbie or pre-Scoop days addict...we are all a part of this amazing community full of amazing people doing amazing things from leading the fight for healthcare for all to, for some, just getting out of bed every morning and reading C&J and going off to work their one or two or three jobs.
Next time you want to attack someone for something they said here, stop and think about community and what it means to be part of one. It means finding what we have in common and admiring it and it means finding where we differ and capitalizing on it. There is the old cliché that there is strength in numbers...well here at DK we have numbers, now we need to draw on the strength of our community and live our lives as best we can.
Thanks for letting me ramble...for those of you looking for pooties, I'll put em in the comments where appropriate but today I was feeling a bit more pensive than usual :).
And speaking of our favorite lifeguard...this morning in Cheers & Jeers Bill kicked off our annual "re hire Bill" to keep the kiddie pool open drive. We need to raise enough to keep Bill enslaved for another year. Now we know times are tough for everyone, but even if it's only a one time pitch in for a few bucks it all helps. To make a payment via paypal, you can find the links here in Kos' diary from 2 years ago- the links are still valid To get the links go this diary by Kos from a year ago:
Linky goodnesss
LINKY UPDATE: Apparently the link from Kos's diary for the ONE TIME contribution is totally broken, I've emailed Kos asking for a fix but in the meantime what I did myself just no was I used one of the other links and after the payment goes thru I will go back to Paypal and cancel just that one "recurring" so it ends up being just one time. Best suggestion I can do at the moment
To donate via snail mail (check or money order): Bill Harnsberger, 16 Pitt Street, Portland, ME, 04103.
And keep an eye out the rest of this week for more diaries about keeping the kiddie pool open. We are also still looking for a few diarists, so if you'd like to participate reply in the comments below or email me (email is on my profile) or Facebook me..the current schedule is as follows:
Mon AM- Spedwybabs
Mon PM- Doggie
Tues AM Polisigh
Tues PM Triciawyse
Wed AM Predictor
Wed PM (let's actually skip this...we'd get drowned out by Obama's speech anyway)
Thurs AM Polisigh
Thurs PM Irish Patti
Fri AM Spedwybabs (annual employee review)
Fri PM Vicki
Sat AM
Sat PM
Sun AM Cali Scribe
Sun PM CityLightsLover
Mon Am Spedwybabs (sub for Cheers and Jeers)
::: scoops everyone a scoop of their favorite ice cream::: What does community mean to you?