Let me start by saying that Meteor Blades' writing was one of the factors that got me hooked on this site initially. I started reading and lurking in 2004, while deeply involved with the Kerry campaign, running it actually at my deeply pro-Dean New Hampshire college. Coming back to my dorm and avoiding reading Hegel in order to read Meteor Blades was deeply satisfying. It took me a long time to work up the temerity to actually start posting myself, but that happened because Meteor Blades inspired me.
As pretty much everyone on this site knows, MB is taking a personal and likely permanent absence. I wish him all the best and hope sincerely he keeps writing, as that's definitely a talent he has. This is not, however, the end of DailyKos. We're losing a titan, yes, but that's less a call for mourning than a call to arms. I'm certain MB wouldn't see it any other way. The time, friends and colleagues, demands a new cadre of dedicated progressives who can articulate our position as eloquently as MB did. Not a time for retreat, but for dedicated retrenchment.
The world is on fire right now, from the Midwest to the Maghreb to East Asia. Here in the United States, we're entering a period of upheaval unrivalled by anything since the 1960s. It's the time for vocal progressives to get more vocal, to act more, to write better, to remind people that we fight for them. I'm certain MB would have it no other way.
Wish him well, and yes, be sad about the fact that he won't be writing here anymore, but do not get passive. Young people like myself, LGBTs like myself, disenfranchised and laid-off people like my father, people of color like one of my best friends, people who care about our planet like most people I know, civil libertarians like my lawyer friend who does pro bono work with the ACLU -- let's step up! And see how universal progressivism is -- it affects us all, and more importantly, exhorts us all to action. So let's step up folks who haven't written here. That was me for a very long time, and I regret that time. What we have here is an amazing, compassionate, engaged, intelligent community that comprises the vanguard of progressivism in the US. Our voices and our action are desperately needed.
Donate to The Native American Rights Fund (and read this terrific diary by Onomastic http://www.dailykos.com/...). But to really honor MB, let's do what he's been telling us to do for years. Act! And write to the best of your ability.