Good morning!
This is the weekly DKos Asheville open thread where we try to get together every Saturday morning around eleven, and then drift in and out throughout the day. We hope this group serves to reinvigorate 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 these people are that we stand with, work with, and share with in the political process. We hope, through this community, that we can do a better job of leveraging our orange passion for progressive politics to help elect more and better Democrats.
If you would like to host a weekly open thread, please let us know.
There have been a series of diaries recently, many making the rec list, that deal with why we are here on Daily Kos. These diaries and the comment threads in response seem to reflect the frustrations that can arise in response to a political system that is, at best, somewhat lacking in fairness, reasonableness, and competent representation. It is understandable that we get frustrated, angry, annoyed, irritated, disappointed, etc.
One thing that, for me, all of this points to is the importance of community, the importance of building personal relationships, of building a supportive, nurturing space both online and in person. Another thing that, for me, this seems to point to is the importance of pausing when we become frustrated, angry, etc; to pause, breathe, and remember that the people who post here at Daily Kos are human beings just like us; and that they are deserving of respect, understanding, and compassion.
Progressive values are, in my view, about working for social, economic, and environmental justice. This work is informed by a worldview that is "selfless" in that we seek what is fair and equitable for all; it is a worldview that is in opposition to a "selfish" view in which one's political values are based on what is perceived as best for "me". When we see inequality in the world, when we see suffering, when we see injustice, we feel this deep within ourselves, in the core of our being, because those who suffer injustice are our very selves; they are our sisters and brothers in the global community, they are human beings just like us; they are in need of respect, understanding, and compassion.
This is, in my view, the difference between conservatives and progressives regarding food stamps, a livable wage, LGBT rights, immigration, etc.
But these same values also apply within the Daily Kos community as well, for each of us is a member of that same global human family.
We get frustrated, impatient, angry; and that's understandable. And when we do, we can, if we remember to do so, pause; we can push the keyboard away or set the tablet down for a moment. We can pause and look out the window at the trees, the sky, this earth we call home; we can pause and breathe. We can close our eyes and feel how our body is reacting when we are angry, noticing that our body suffers when we are stressed. We can breathe; we can reconnect with our core being. We can pause, and breathe, and remember that those we communicate with here at Daily Kos, with whom we share these diaries and threads, are all just like us, all our sisters and brothers, all deserving of respect, understanding, and compassion.
And we can be respectful, understanding, and compassionate towards ourselves as well. We are all in this together; we all wish to contribute in some way to making our world better for everyone. We are amazing human beings, each and every one of us. And we are a community.
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I met with LC this week at Rosetta's (highly recommended) where we had a wonderful dinner and talked a bit more about locations for the voter registration project. He's going to contact the folks that run the North Asheville farmers market to see if getting space there would be a possibility.
Still no word back from Earthfare. Interestingly, another group I work with also tried to contact the scheduling person at Earthfare about using the community room for a meeting but never heard back either. So it's not just us; it's just an interesting twist in the way the universe manifests.
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Our fifth quarterly DKos Asheville Meetup is scheduled for Saturday, May 3rd, at 1:00. We'll once again be back at the Bywater on the French Broad River in Asheville. If you plan to attend, or if you're thinking about it, send a kosmail to Randy, randallt, and he'll put you on the list in the Connect*Unite*Act community diaries. We already have ten folks signed up plus two maybe's.
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And as a reminder, we now have a google group for DKos Asheville, setup for the purpose of making it easier for us to send messages to group members. We'll use it to send reminders of the Saturday open threads, meetups, voter registration events, etc. If you would like to be added to the google group, kosmail me an email address and I will send you an invite. Note, this is a private group and your email address will not be public. Remember to check your email for the google invite.
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Enjoy your day!
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