I certainly hope to see as many of you as possible at
YearlyKos. I don't just mean the addicts that post here every day; I mean the lurkers, too, and the quiet voices, and those from other sites that just slip in and out of here as they will.
Because you're all a part of Daily Kos. There's no way this place would be successful without you. You are our strength. A political community is only as strong as its collective members; the obsessive, the casual, the professional, and most especially those not entirely sure what their place in politics is, but who know, simply from the tenor of the times, that they cannot simply do nothing: at the very least, they have to lend a small voice, and do one small thing to speak out, and let the rest of it fall where it must.
You are, every one of you, the reason Daily Kos exists and is what it is. And for the same reasons, I hope, you're all a part of YearlyKos too. If not to speak, at least to hear others. If not to meet the big names, then to meet the small names, the people here that you've come to know. To learn from experts, and to watch some of the big questions finally get asked, and simply to absorb the notion that there is a layer of politics not relegated to the halls of Washington or state capitol buildings, but a layer that includes us, the people.
I'm going to YearlyKos. I'm not going simply to meet Harry Reid, or Barbara Boxer, or Wes Clark or Joseph Wilson or David Sirota or Atrios or any of the others. I'm going to meet the people from here, from Daily Kos, whom I know. Over the past few years, we have heard, here, the voices of those about to ship out to Afghanistan and Iraq, and those who have returned. We've heard about births, and deaths, and frustrations, and laughter, and silent agonies. We've had stories break on this site, and we've been the story ourselves, on occasion.
We are, in very small ways, the history of these times. That includes me, and that includes you.
We've got another big announcement about YearlyKos. Thanks to the initiative of some brilliant photographers, designers and organizers, we have launched an effort to document the event, through words and pictures, as it happens. The result will be a an e-Book, and possibly a published work, about the guests, the speeches, the seminars, the social life, and the people of YearlyKos.
It's going to be vibrant, it's going to be gritty, and it's going to be unique. Based on who's involved, we can expect the documentary photography to be excellent. I've volunteered to do some of the writing, and we'll hopefully be getting some of you to do some of the writing as well -- because a major aspect of the book is what's currently tentatively called The Portrait Project. And it's going to document not the glitz of Vegas or the sweat and vigor of the panels, seminars or training sessions, but the community itself.
What does it mean, to be a progressive, or a liberal? What paths through our lives have we each taken? Who are we?
This ain't no yearbook. This is a snapshot of a particular moment in time -- a moment in history when the netroots became something more than the netroots. It may be a blip of history, or it may be the first pinprick of something that, fifty years from now, will be looked upon as one of the first visible stepping stones to something bigger. We just don't know, and let's face it -- that's half the fun.
A good part of this project will focus on our community -- specifically, The Portrait Project (that's the current working title), which will involve combining a short essays that a handful of Kos community members will be asked to write, entitled, "When I Became A Liberal," with some special portraits. At the convention, we'll ask the participants in this project to sit for a photographer, holding up a picture of him or herself at a young age. The portrait could be anything: with family; exploring a national park; outside a parent's workplace; sitting nervously for a school portrait, or maybe just trying to keep your hair out of your eyes and smile in the one way, out of the twenty you've practiced, that you thought would stand the best chance of making you not look like a goof.
We'll combine the portraits with the essays, in the book, and it will be a time capsule, or a time capsule within a time capsule, as the case may be -- a snapshot of liberalism, and of the people who make it up, and are damn proud to make it up.
We are proud to be who we are. The sparks of progressivism, and populism, and liberalism are the guiding lights of history. There has not been a stick of positive, lasting progress -- social, scientific, governmental -- in the entirety of humankind except that someone willed it to be so, out of a vision of a tomorrow better than today.
That's not something that the Tom DeLays or the Grover Norquists or the Bill O'Reillys or the Rush Limbaughs of the world can say. It belongs to us, and it is an unstoppable force. No matter how long progress is blocked by the bitter, the greedy, the xenophobic or the oligarchical of the world, the waters will continue to rise, and the dam will always break. That is the lesson of history. It is ours.
YearlyKos itself is something new, and something different. It is part political convention, and part blogosphere brought to life, and the point of it all, the reason it was formed and the reason it exists, is to focus on raising the impact of online efforts in real-world political circles, for real-world political issues. It's not going to be a simple meet-and-greet. There will be training sessions, and hard questions put to politicians and strategists, and a healthy dose of self-reflection on what the coming few years is going to hold, and how we can impact what happens next.
You may have attended political conventions before. This one will be different. You may think you know what the online community is all about. Now it's time to get out of your chair, and take it to the next level.
I am not a fan of blog triumphalism, but there is something small but historic, here. YearlyKos is the first time the online political community has put together an event of this magnitude, and make no mistake, it is the online community putting it together. Not a political party, not unions, not think tanks, not corporations. It's just us, on this one, and whatever earth, water and fire the volunteers can muster.
I haven't asked anyone here for anything, these past few years, but I'm asking for this. Come and be a part of this, if you at all can manage it. Get on a plane, if you can't get on a plane take a bus. If you can't stay in a glittering Vegas hotel, stay for a few days in a crappy one -- you won't be in your room much anyway. If you can't stay for all the days, come for one. Make your numbers known, show your dedication and your sense of purpose, and people will know they have to pay attention to you.
And for those of you we're going to be asking for essays, and pictures: please help us out on this one. We want to show what liberalism really is, and who makes it up, and we want to tell the hundred small stories that show that the power of the movement, the light that guides it, is reflected in a million eyes.
And always has been.
Contributors
Mona Brooks - Lead Photographer
Co-owner of Mona T. Brooks Photography. In the past three years, Mona has been published in San Francisco Magazine, In-Room Cityguide, Professional Photographers of America and in the U.K. for Intersection Magazine. She was recently published in her first annual report for the San Francisco District Attorney's department. View her work at http://www.monabrooks.com.
Raven Brooks (aka terminal3) - Coordinator
Co-owner and business manager of Mona T. Brooks Photography. Raven's more widely known as a co-founder of BuyBlue.org, serving as the organization's President and Chair.
Mary Rickles - Designer/Art Director
Marketing manager/designer for San Francisco magazine and art director of In-Room Cityguide. Mary also does freelance design, writing, and brand consulting for both nonprofit and corporate clients.
Stephanie Block - Editor
Editor-In-Chieftanship at Tango Diva (www.tangodiva.com), the premier online women's solo travel magazine, affords Stephanie lots of opportunities to see the world and get paid to mention it! She also works as a freelance writer, editor, and frequenter of her happy place whenever her fiction length novel receives yet another rejection.
Michael Adolph (aka wvillmike) - Producer/Project Manager
A freelance producer and art director for profit and non-profit creative ventures, Michael's currently developing a rights-managed and royalty-free image collection which will focus on several progressive causes.
Hunter - Lead Editorial Contributor
A pseudonymous guest poster emeritus at Daily Kos, the largest political blog on the internet, Hunter lives in Northern California.
Many dedicated people from YearlyKos are involved with this project as well, providing much time, brain-power, energy, support and encouragement. Thanks go out especially to Gina Cooper, Andy Ternay, Nolan Treadway and Shawn Linderman.