The orange pinpoints are the location of each organized group of Daily Kos readers. If you'd like to join a group, click on a point and a box will pop up showing contact links. If you'd like to start a group, contact navajo for instructions.
A daily series, Connect! Unite! Act! seeks to create face-to-face networks in each congressional district. Groups regularly socialize but also get out the vote, support candidates and engage in other local political actions that help our progressive movement grow and exert influence on the powers-that-be. Visit us at Daily Kos every morning at 7:30 A.M. Pacific Time to see how you can get involved. The comment thread is fun and light-hearted, but we're serious about moving the progressive political agenda forward. |
Even though I was living on my own when I moved from my home state of Illinois to Denver, my grandparents were still taking care of me to some extent. I took a lot of meals with them and washed my clothes at their house. They often slipped me pocket money. It had always been like this, though. When my parents divorced when I was 11, my father went his way and eventually my mother wanted to go hers. At 14, my mother and stepfather moved to Indianapolis and I moved in with my grandparents until I got my own apartment my senior year of high school.
They took it hard when I told them I was finally leaving home for good. Even though I was 21, they both seemed convinced a wider world would swallow me whole. I wasn’t frightened at all. I was excited to finally have the opportunity to stand on my own two feet and begin my life. So my boyfriend and our best friend, Karen, packed up our meager belongings and headed to the promise of big city life.
We arrived at the apartment my boyfriend had rented sight unseen and found it infested with cockroaches. It was off to a bumpy start. But we all landed jobs soon enough, made our apartment livable, charming even. We established ourselves quickly. Money was tight, but not so tight we didn’t manage to have our fun.
Early the following February I got a letter in the mail from the IRS. I opened it to discover that I had screwed up my withholdings and owed $631 bucks. Yeah, it sucked and I harped about it to anyone who would listen. Unfortunately, I made the terrible mistake of harping about it to my grandmother.
“OOOOOh honey, what ever are you going to do?” she lamented in her most dramatic Kentucky drawl. “You know you will always have a place to come back to.” Now shouting to grandpa at the top of her voice “Stevie is in deep trouble with the IRS!” to which I heard my grandpa bark loudly, “Goddamn Sonsabitches!”
I came to the sickening realization that I had put these two dear old people on red alert for nothing. I told them that the IRS would be willing to work with me to make payment arrangements, but that flew past their deaf ears. There was nothing I could do at that point to calm these two depression-era people who never carried more than a long-ago paid off little mortgage their entire lives.
About a week later, a box arrived at our door. I could barely lift the damned thing. I recognized my grandfather’s handwriting immediately, wrestled it in and ripped it open. It was a box full of russet potatoes, exactly as the box indicated on the outside. Well, hell, I was glad to get the potatoes, but this was strange even for these people.
I pushed the box in the closet to get it out of the way. It wasn’t until a couple of hours later when laughing about the absurdity with Karen and Alan that it dawned on me. I went back to the box and uncovered a couple of layers of the potatoes. Sure enough, the rest of the potatoes were lovingly wrapped with $5, $10 and $20 dollar bills. And one single. The harvest total came to exactly $631 bucks.
My question: Has a potato ever tasted so sweet to you?
As always, this is an open thread
Community Building Updates
LET'S BUILD COMMUNITIES!
Our team is here to provide support and guidance to new and existing volunteer leaders of each regional and state group, helping them with recruiting, organizing and executing social and action events. We invite you to join in this effort to build our community. There are many ways to pitch in. If there isn't a group to join near you, please start one.
State Open Threads
Colorado: Wednesdays, 6:00 PM Mountain
Michigan: Wednesdays, 6:00 PM Eastern
North Carolina: Sundays, 1:00 PM Eastern
Washington: Sundays, 3:30 PM Pacific
Missouri: Wednesday Evenings
Kansas: Monday Evenings
Events Currently Scheduled
SFKossacks welcome peregrine kate to San Francisco!
Sunday, May, 15th at High NOON < NOTE TIME CHANGE!
Battery Wallace picnic area in the Marin Headlands
Potluck and BYOB, sunscreen and lawn chairs, let us know if you need a ride
Please send navajo a kosmail if you’d like to attend.
“High in the hills of the Marin Headlands, well past the throngs of tourists along Conzelman Drive, Battery Wallace picnic area is a crown jewel of the region. Located close to the Point Bonita Lighthouse, the four tables and grills in this wide-open spot overlook the Golden Gate Bridge, with sea-to-sky views of the Pacific, San Francisco in the background, and beach coves sculpting the coastal landscape. Battery Wallace is exposed, so the best time to ‘cue it up is…now! Park your buns here for a few hours or a full day. Ladies and gentlemen, start your briquettes!” ~ from Weekend Sherpa
From Hwy. 101 take Alexander Ave. exit. Turn left on the Marin Headlands Tunnel Route (aka Bunker Rd.). Follow Bunker Rd. nearly to the end; make a left on Field Rd. going up to the Visitor Center. Go past the Nike Site and make your first left. This takes you to one-way Conzelman Rd., where you’ll turn right and reach Battery Wallace. No dogs.
RSVPS:
1. peregrine kate
2. navajo *4 bottles red wine
3. Meteor Blades *2 cans of spam
4. smileycreek *wine and beer
5. paradise50 *wine and beer
6. side pocket *strawberries & creme fraiche
7. maggiejean *something salad-like
8. Glen The Plumber *pasta dish
9. remembrance
10. TLO
11. kimoconnor
12. citisven *beet dip, plus baguette
13. dsb *chips, salsa & guacamole
14. jck *Alu Chat
15. Where4art
16. jakedog42 *sandwich fixin’s
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Maybees:
FogCityJohn
shanikka
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Sunday, May 22, 2016: Lunch to welcome asterkitty to Portland!
Meeting place: Siri Thai, 5234 SE POWELL BLVD PORTLAND, OR 97206
Time: 12:30 pm
Activities: Hugs, giving local advice, laughter, and eating large amounts of great food at reasonable prices!
RSVPS:
1. asterkitty
2. Sara R
3. winglion
4. loggersbrat
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Maybees:
llbear
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More information here and kosmail Sara R to RSVP
Daily Kos/Cheers & Jeers Welcoming Dinner
Wednesday, July 13, 2016
Time: 5:30 PM
Location: Mango
1001 Washington Ave, One block from Convention Center, 2 minute walk from the Marriott
Join us for a generous buffet of Peruvian appetizers that will be substantial for dinner. Vegetarians will be provided for well.
Peru is home to one of the most exquisite fusion cuisines in the world. Mango Peruvian Cuisine brings the taste of Peru to Saint Louis by combining the diversity of their culture through locally provided food. Mango's beverage menu mirrors the marriage of diversity and locally sourced products.
Roll call for the C&J Dinner in Connect! Unite! Act!
This will be headcount central for the C&J Dinner. Spread the word.
RSVPS:
1. navajo
2. Meteor Blades
3. Bill in Portland Maine
4. Common Sense Mainer
5. jotter
6. aha aha (Mrs. jotter)
7. side pocket
8. Mrs. side pocket
9. paradise50
10. smileycreek
11. Chris Reeves
12. Ramara
13. loggersbrat
14. Justice Putnam
15. theRoaringGirl
16. winkk
17. jakedog42
18. vicki
19. markm667
20. brillig (bday gurl that day!)
21. mik
22. K1
23. K2
24. Eddie in ME
25. moody in savannah
26. lulu
27. texasmom
28. texasdad
29. Ed Tracey
30. Raines
31. skohayes
32. 714day
33. gizmo59
34. gizmo59’s squeeze
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35. belinda ridgewood
36. evcoren
37. bfitzinAR
38. sidnora
39. peregrine kate
40. Spedwybabs
41. Malacandra
42. Will Rockafellow
43. Michael Langenmayr
44. tealbomb
45. Paul Hogarth
46. Chris Bowers
47. Mara Schechter
48. Faith Gardner
49. Jen Hayden
50. Elizabeth Strong
51. SnoKat
52. SnoKat’s guy
53. Irna Landrum
54. Carrisa Miller
55. Rachel Colyer
56. ArlissBunny
57. OllieGarkey
58.
Maybees:
norm winifred3
normAl1792
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There will also be a Daily Kos Caucus session during NN16.
Stay tuned for room location, date and time of our caucus.
Registration and hotels still available
Event Reporting
The Nashville KosKats brainstormed on April 30th at their meet-up and came up with the following places that might be good to register voters:
...farmers markets around town, YMCA’s, hipster coffee shops, college campuses, local book stores, craft and art fairs, city bus station, the VA, Senior Centers, clinic and hospitals, specialized street parties for all different kinds of groups of people, some that highlight pets.
This is what we all need to do now, before the general. REGISTER PEOPLE TO VOTE!
Silicon Valley Kos had a great event on April 30th. A representative from the Honda campaign attended and Jeevan Zutshi described a side of Mike Honda not well known in that Honda is always eager to help new candidates and encouraging involvement. They also discussed ways they could work as a team to increase SVKos’s impact on local politics. Exactly what all Daily Kos In-Real-Life groups should be doing.
The SFKossacks welcomed RLMiller to San Francisco on April 2nd. Photo diary here. Stay tuned. RLMiller is the President of Climate Hawks Vote Political Action. She is the elected chair of California Democratic Party’s environmental caucus. Our dinner lasted four hours!
The Houston Area Kossacks had a small meetup with lively conversation on Tuesday, March 29, 2016. Many more photos of the crew and ChrisLove’s great food pr0n can be seen here. Kosmail Chrislove if you’d like to join his group.
Northwestern Pennsylvania Kos
Northwestern Pennsylvania had dinner and lively political conversation on the evening of Thursday, March 17 at Latinos Restaurant in Erie, PA, in celebration of a visit from Chrislove who lives in Houston. Gizmo59’s recap can be read in full here, complete with succulent food pr0n.
The SFKossacks welcomed ColoTim on his recent business trip to the Bay Area. We met at the Beach Chalet for a great lunch overlooking the ocean. A zillion more photos here: Connect! Unite! Act! Ferguson, San Francisco & NN16 Event: SFKossacks Welcome ColoTim! Photos!
While we are awaiting the official recap photo diary by JoanBrooker of our New York City meet-up on Sunday, February 28, 2016 with navajo and Denise Oliver-Velez, please enjoy this place-marker group photo. Several attendees were taking photos and we can promise some excellent food pr0n. Stay tuned for Joan’s report. We had a great day that lasted from noon until 8:30 PM! AND HERE IS JOAN’S REPORT: Navajo @ 2/28/16 NYC Meet-up!
navajo maintains the above event list. Kosmail her if you have any diaries about your event or if you have changes or additions.
This is an open thread. Nothing is off topic.