there were a LOT of parties. It wasn't necessary to spend money - there was enough free food between what AFSCME offered before the keynote sessions and at the various parties. Because most of us were in the main convention space for 3 hours, perhaps one bought one or two drinks at the VERY EXPENSIVE bars there, but at the parties that was not necessary.
By now I have caught up with many of the people I wanted to see, but not all. Saw a former student (Lee Fang) who is now a rising writer on progressive issues. Got invited to cross- post my work on education at another site. Spoke with Robert Borosage of the Campaign for America's Future. Time to chat with some old friends, with more of that scheduled for today, including I hope some private conversation with Meteor Blades.
There are still people I want to see. There are, we were told, around 2,400 of us. I think back to Vegas in 2006, when we had perhaps 1,300-1,400.
Today our hotel also is hosting the right-wing people who now seem to have a convention on the Right that follows us around. Next year we will have an exclusivity clause in the contract to limit that. There were sightings of Andrew Breitbart, and there was a happy hour with people from both groups - I saw no reason to attend that.
I decided to pack it in around midnight local time. After all, I am 65, and have not fully recovered from Monday night when I got perhaps 3 hours of sleep because I was reading all the final essay exams of my students.
Below the fold, a few general impressions so far, and to what I look forward today.
General impressions - there are a lot of new faces for me - how many were at NN10 I don't know since I was volunteering at a free health fair in Wise Virginia. There are ever more organizations with groups of people. I saw at least one person from the Center for American Progress at a party last night. There are a few new groups on the display floor, although my sense is it is not as many total as I remember from previous events.
The panel about which I have heard the most raves was Ari Berman, David Waldman and Darcy Burner. I had a conflict, but one of the beauties is that the video is apparently already available on line.
The two teachers' unions are both highly visible supporters of this event. Randi Weingarten was among those who keynoted last night - along with Howard Dean and Russ Feingold, the last introduced by Marci Wheeler. The first I attended last night was for and with Randi, although it got swamped. The person inviting me had suggested there would be only around 30 people, but there were more than twice that number, perhaps close to 3 times. I was told somebody put something up on a highly visible website (no, that never happens, does it) which brought a lot more people. There was plenty of food, but I suspect that the bar bill was larger than expected. A number of the FPers were there - David Waldman, Steve Singiser, Laura Clawson, Joan McCarter (there may have been others but my aging mind is fading out) - and there were people who were involved in education at least in writing about it. Yesterday Lily Eskelsen of NEA was interviewed by Markos and appeared on one panel, today she is on another panel and then in two additional events.
Randi of course spoke about teachers, but also about support staff. Others talked about the attacks on teachers.
One key part of last night was Adam Bonin's remarks near the beginning of the evening event. He remembered two key members of our community no longer with us - Kris Froland (exmearden) and Ben Masel. Having himself long experience, he did a funny thing including video about Conservatives in the wild - he attended U of Chicago law with a classmate in Con Law (taught by Obama) named Liz Cheney!.
There are a group of international bloggers who have been sponsored to be here - making it a bit like Netroots World, especially given the amount of foreign press. Two addressed us last night, both female, one from Africa, one from Pakistan. It was powerful, and ended with a standing ovation.
It is always a balancing act between what happens officially - panels, caucuses, keynote sessions - and the informal conversations. Always there are tons of people with laptops and increasingly with phones - blogging, posting to Twitter, posting on Face Book.
I have not spent much time on this site. Sorry if I missed your greatest diary ever, but the people here are my main focus, although I will continue to post brief diaries like this to provide a sense of the experience.
And now I have to head off to breakfast with Cliff Schechter. And then a VERY full, day, with a major focus on education.
Peace.