Dear Anonymous Benefactor,
I've been watching the subscription drive on Daily Kos pretty avidly, thinking how cool it was that people have been buying each other subscriptions and wondering whether I'd be able to scrape together the money to get a lifetime subscription before the end of the month.
I'm not poor, but I have 2 chronically ill cats and my other half's job has been bringing in less and less income over the past 2 years, and money is tight... sometimes very tight. But I have a job and a roof over my head and I'm not in any danger of going hungry (and not just because I know how to forage), so I couldn't add myself to any of the lists of people who can't afford subscriptions.
I started reading Daily Kos as the 2008 Democratic primaries were winding down. I was content to lurk for a while, but eventually it wasn't enough to simply listen in on the amazingly smart and witty people here-- I wanted to join in the fun. I wracked my brain for a good screen name and took the plunge on February 25, 2009.
I've long been a fan of crowd-sourcing. When people pool their intellectual knowledge, you quickly get an unbeatable resource for information about all kinds of things. For me it was never enough to simply draw from the well of knowledge that is Daily Kos; I needed to add to the water supply in whatever way I could.
But figuring out how to do that was hard. What did I know that the amazing people at Daily Kos didn't? I'm pretty widely read and I like following politics, but I despaired ever finding something that I could add to the conversation.
And then one Sunday, after going for a walk and gathering a few edible plants, I logged onto Daily Kos and saw a bunch of "off-topic" diaries.... diaries about cats and painting and gardening and birds. It was amazing to see those community diaries and realize that Daily Kos had a much broader focus than I ever realized. Then I thought, "I wonder if anyone writes diaries about foraging?" So I searched for a few likely tags and found nothing.
Could it really be true that no one on Daily Kos had ever written about foraging? Well... not quite, but close enough. And then I knew what my little niche could be.
I never dreamed that my sporadic foraging diaries would touch someone enough to give me such an amazing gift. I really am very grateful, not just for the subscription, but also for your kind words in the giving of it:
Your diaries have given me a great deal of pleasure.
Even before receiving this amazing gift, I've always known that I draw a lot more from this well than I could ever put back into it. Even in my foraging diaries I learn more than I teach. Just being a part of this community is a tremendous blessing that I am grateful for every day.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart, anonymous benefactor. You are just one of many reasons Daily Kos will be my cyber home for many years to come.
Love,
wide eyed lib