Monday Night Cancer Club is a Daily Kos group focused on dealing with cancer, primarily for cancer survivors and caregivers, though clinicians, researchers, and others with a special interest are also welcome. Volunteer diarists post Monday evenings between 7-8 PM ET on topics related to living with cancer, which is very broadly defined to include physical, spiritual, emotional and cognitive aspects. Mindful of the controversies endemic to cancer prevention and treatment, we ask that both diarists and commenters keep an open mind regarding strategies for surviving cancer, whether based in traditional, Eastern, Western, allopathic or other medical practices. This is a club no one wants to join, in truth, and compassion will help us make it through the challenge together.
What do the following items have in common?
Arts & Culture
Criminal Justice
Economy
Education
Elections
Environment
Foreign Policy & National Security
Immigration
Labor
LGBT
Local
Media / Journalism / Blogging
Organizing & Movement Building
OWS
SCOTUS
Technology / Data / Innovation
Women
Youth
That’s right – they’re the items in the “filter by tag” menu, a utility that allows you to slice and dice (sort and select) the multitude of events slated for Netroots Nation 12, organizing them around a category of particular personalized interest. You can think of it as a TripTik for conference-going progressives.
But did you notice anything missing? Yeah, I thought so. Me too. Join me below the Kossified Wingding d’Orange to consider what we’re gonna do about it, won’t you?
What’s missing, of course, is any explicit mention of healthcare. It’s there in the background, of course, but it’s lurking. And as anyone paying attention (note: our adversaries are!) over the past year can tell you, healthcare isn’t lurking behind the scenes in the real world. It’s an issue that’s already come up before SCOTUS just this year. It’s a topic that directly impacts the economy, and plays a significant role in how labor issues get framed and discussed. It’s a concern that affects women and youth (and men, the old, and immigrants too), and it’s one of the priorities that our colleagues in OWS are fighting for.
It’s the real deal, but it’s nowhere to be found – or even seen – on the NN12 Agenda. Hell, it doesn’t even make it to the pull-down filter menu list.
That needs to change. And it’s about to. You’ve made it possible for Peregrine Kate to attend NN12 by voting for her in round two of the DFA Scholarship Competition. Now it’s time to leverage her presence in Providence to make the concerns of the MNCC community and the larger issue of healthcare, visible and unavoidable.
So let’s set the agenda for her tonight.
What do we want her to find out? What do we want her to say? Who do we want her to talk about? Who should she be talking to, and talking with? Where are the most important places for her to be seen and to be heard? What do we need do differently, or better, or both, in order to ensure that healthcare in general – and cancer issues in particular – find a seat at the grown-ups’ table.
The floor is open.