Good morning!
This is the weekly DKos Asheville open thread where we try to get together every Saturday morning around eleven, and then drift in and out throughout the day. We hope this group serves to reinvigorate us locally and regionally here on Daily Kos, building on the sense of community that's grown through our online engagement. DKos Asheville can give us all a better sense of connection, a better understanding of who these people are that we stand with, work with, and share with in the political process. We hope, through this community, that we can do a better job of leveraging our orange passion for progressive politics to help elect more and better Democrats.
If you would like to host a weekly open thread, please let us know.
Santa Claus has released RandallT from his annual seasonal service, and after a few minutes rest he's been hard at work trying to get the DKos Asheville January Meetup organized. He and Gordon20024 spent untold hours researching venues and have put together a plan. Our meetup is scheduled for 1:00 Saturday, January 25, at Cantina Biltmore.
Randall will be providing additional details, but I wanted to mention that Cantina Biltmore is locally owned and supports local farmers; so it looks to be a great choice! So take a moment to mark your calendars; we're looking forward to getting together once again.
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As announced last week, we now have a google group for DKos Asheville, setup for the purpose of making it easier for us to send messages to group members. We'll use it to send reminders of the Saturday open threads, meetups, voter registration events, etc. If you would like to be added to the google group, kosmail me an email address and I will send you an invite. Note, this is a private group and your email address will not be public.
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And a reminder that there is a Moral Monday event scheduled for Raleigh on Saturday, February 8th. Asheville PARC is planning to have buses going to the event. More information can be found in the event announcement on the NAACPNC's facebook page.
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There is an excellent article in Mountain Xpress this week called Sacred Activism; highly recommended. There is mention of WNC Green Congregations - "an interfaith coalition composed of clergy and lay members committed to fighting climate change and environmental degradation", the Campaign for Southern Equality, Ananda Marga, and others. Another example of why we are fortunate to have this wonderful Asheville community here in Western North Carolina.
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Today should be a relatively warm day here in WNC, ahead of some wet and cold weather. Enjoy your day; and mark your calendars!
3:07 PM PT: Randall tells me he has heard back from Gordon Smith, and that Gordon plans to speak to our group at the meetup! If you haven't met Gordon or heard him speak, this is a great opportunity; he is one of Asheville's great progressive leaders.