With all the talk of front pagers, it got me to thinking a little bit about the Front Pager role and one of the things that, to me at least, has been lost a little bit, the community building aspect of the role.
When I was on the front page, we used to talk a lot about "walking the halls" - meaning engaging the community. And no I don't mean the way I did it, Gawd forbid, but we have had great role models in the past. I hope this is something that is taken into account in the selections this year.
More.
For my group in 2005, we had the greatest of community builders to look to - Meteor Blades. Moreover, my group of frontpagers initially included A Gilas Girl and Kid Oakland - very much dkos community activists.
The place was much smaller I grant you but the role was an important, even critical one.
I have been disconnected from the site for the past months and sort of lost my feel for the pulse of the place. So I can not suggest any member in particular, but I ask that some thought be given to this critical quality in considering front page candidates.
In my opinion, folks like MB and AGG made us remember ideas and values, not just the politics. AGG and I had a longrunning debate about parties vs. activism and in a significant way, she won the debate by my notable shift of focus to ideas and issues like racism, sexism, societal mores and structure and the like. 2005 was an offyear so there was more room for that. But so too will 2007 be an off year. We can't talk Presidential politics all the time next year.
As a result, I think we were more tolerant of non-conformist (for us partisan Dems I mean) discussions. No elections loomed, and folks like AGG and MB spoke to our hearts and values. In my view we need a little more of that here.
For your consideration.