A daily series, Connect! Unite! Act! seeks to create face-to-face networks in each congressional district. Groups regularly socialize but also get out the vote, support candidates and engage in other local political actions that help our progressive movement grow and exert influence on the powers-that-be. Visit us every morning at 7:30 A.M. Pacific Time to see how you can get involved. The comment thread is fun and light-hearted, but we're serious about moving the progressive political agenda forward.
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The orange pinpoints are the location of each organized group of Daily Kos readers.
If you'd like to join a group, click on a point and a box will pop up showing contact links.
If you'd like to start a group, contact navajo for instructions.
View Interactive Map of Daily Kos Regional Communities in a full screen version.
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Happy Humpday!
Who was YOUR childhood Best Friend?
Is that person STILL your Best Friend?
I have had in my life, three people whom I would call my "best friend".
The first was from 1st grade until my junior year in high school.
Number two I met the summer after I graduated high school.
Number three, I met that same summer, but he didn't become my best friend until years later.
Sadly, I am close to none of them today.
First was my childhood Best Friend. Celeste. She, her brother Jack and their mom, Leona, lived around the corner from me. We met the summer my family moved into the house my mother would occupy for the next 40some years, for me, that was the year between kindergarten and 1st grade. Our back yards looked across to each other, and we met by hollering "Hi!" and waving. Soon enough, we were in the same 1st grade class and walking home together from school.
Yes, I'm that old, that two kids 6 years old were allowed to walk home ALONE together from school 13 blocks. No one thought anything of that. I can't image anyone today thinking that it was safe to let kids that age walk 13 blocks alone anywhere.
We went trick or treating in matching costumes. We worked out song and dance routines for the school talent contest. We spent overnighters most weekends at each others houses.
In the 3rd grade, we took ballet classes together, but that ended when we did a routine in silky kimono-style costumes of electric green and black, and I ended up on my "taped X marks the spot" which was somehow IN FRONT of the closed curtains which my fellow Ballerinas were behind. I was bent over at the waist, hands sweeping the ground, waiting for the applause to start - but instead, what I heard was the tittering of semi-suppressed laughter from the audience, which once I raised my head I found was because I WAS TRAPPED out front of the closed curtain ALL ALONE.
Before that incident, I was an outgoing child, but after it? I became shy and introverted, which lasted for well over a decade. It was a traumatizing event.
My friend Celeste? She was a sweet, bubbly child. She didn't have any such events to send her down a sad or lonely path to the best of my knowledge. But during the summer of sixth grade, she and her brother elected to live with their Dad (their parents were divorced before I ever met her), which was hundreds of miles away, up in Port Orchard, WA. I never learned what, but something happened while she lived with her Dad, because she eventually came back to live with her mother in our freshman year in high school, and during our Junior year? She had a nervous breakdown. Our friendship was never the same after that hiatus though, and during our 20s, after she got married and started to have kids, we drifted apart. I haven't talked with her in nearly 30 years, although I do think of her from time to time.
My 2nd Best Friend was Marie, who was actually the spitting image of Halle Berry (although she was half-Mexican and not half-black). She was the girlfriend of my boyfriend's Best Friend. The four of us were all close for nearly a decade. We had dinners and went camping and had 4th of July parties. It was a great. Until she left her husband for her boss - a guy with millions, which was apparently what she needed out of life. Ugliness ensued, and our friendship became just one more casualty of their Divorce War. Her 2nd marriage to the millionaire (who owned 7 companies)? It ended in divorce, too. Her youngest sister told me years later that he had given her too much of everything, including access to cocaine and other drugs, which, as you might imagine, turned the once beautiful Marie into a hideous and broken version of the girl I had once known. We haven't spoken since before the turn of the century.
My last Best Friend was Norman. I actually met him before I met Marie. But at 17, no girl had a boy for a Best Friend, at least not in my youth. Our friendship grew into Best Friend territory after I lost Marie to her millionaire dream life. He played Pool, and taught me. After my own marriage ended in divorce, our pool playing became our income - because we teamed up and sharked pool here in town for about three years. It wasn't The Color of Money pool sharking, he wasn't Tom Cruise and I'm no Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio; but we made enough money, on a regular basis, for me to pay my rent and bills, for about three years. We actually made a pact after a number of years (and after he had a number of depressingly bad (psycho) girlfriends, that if we both weren't married by the time we turned 50 (which, at the time, seemed like the impossibly far-off future) we'd marry each other. That friendship, sadly, did not last the test of time, either, as he moved out of town and we lost touch sometime in my late 30s.
My kids were in grade school then, and I was a single mom. I simply didn't have the time or inclination to find myself a new Best Friend after that. I had a group of friends, from my pool playing of over a decade, and being the Captain of three teams. But most of those people are gone now, alcoholism is apparently rife in the pool world (which makes sense, as pool halls are by their nature in bars and taverns).
Plus, I've made many online friends during my years here at Daily Kos, and those friendships have given me the affirmation and interaction on a mental level which my Best Friends in my younger years never really did.
So how about all of you? Did you have a childhood Best Friend? Is that friend STILL your Best Friend? Or have you, like me, had a series of Best Friends?
Tell me all about it in the comments.
Please remember there is an election this coming Tuesday.
There is STILL time for you to help GOTV.
Phone banking to states which may help keep the Democratic Majority in the US Senate can be done via MoveOn.org's VOTERS RISING campaign.
Door knocking for a local, state or national office is still ongoing EVERYWHERE, just call your local Democratic Party, which you can find by starting here: www.Democrats.org Just use the drop down for your state and go from there.
Me? I'll be canvassing at my local retail shopping outlets, as I usually do. You just have to be willing and able to strike up a conversation with a total stranger whilst perusing the vegetables, or meat department. Just ask them, "Hey, are you a registered voter?" They might look at you as if you've lost your mind. But they almost always say, "Yes or No." The Yes answers always get the same response from me this close to an election, "Great, I hope you are voting Democratic. Our Party may not be great, but at least it's not full of LUNATICS who won't do anything but JUST SAY NO anymore, and our country needs a government of people willing to work on the problems we have!"
#StrongerTogether for a better future for OUR posterity |
Latest Updates on Regional Meet-Up News Can Be Found Below the Orange Group Hug.
Let's Build Communities!
Our team is here to provide support and guidance to new and existing volunteer leaders of each regional and state group, helping them with recruiting, organizing and executing social and action events.
We invite you to join in this effort to build our community. There are many ways to pitch in.
If there isn't a group to join near you, please start one.
Instructions on HOW TO FORM A NEW DAILY KOS GROUP
List of All Existing Meatspace Groups
Where the Kogs Are: Index/Directory of the 130+ Localized Daily Kos Groups
THINK GLOBALLY, ACT LOCALLY
by cooper888 ♥ for Sacramento Kossacks
We heard from navajo and Meteor Blades about the initiative by Daily Kos to have active Kossack groups in each of the state capitals. DK is looking for engaged Kossack's ready to roll up their sleeves and participate in many different types of activism/advocacy. For example, delivering petitions to the state capitol, participating in various protests, marches, rally's at the capitol, etc. As Meteor Blades pointed out this won't happen over night and is a long term strategy but I think if we all take the lead in our respective states we can make this dream happen sooner than DK leadership expects.
L-R: Front row: Sychotic1, tgypsy, tb92, trevizolga, Mrs. side pocket. Second row: Arundsdel (sp?), Laurel in CA, Kestrel, Meteor Blades. Third row: Kestrel's two friends, smileycreek, paradise50, Dave. Back row: Clif, Mr. Arundsdel, Neil, cooper888, side pocket, Left foot forward, got mooned & Nate
Please visit cooper888's diary for many MORE photos! Enjoy! You can still REC it. You can join Sacramento Kossacks by sending a Kosmail to cooper888.
by John Crapper ♥ for Seattle and Puget Sound Kossacks
On Saturday 10/4/14, the Seattle and Puget Sound Kossacks had the chance to have lunch with Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant.
...In 2012, Kshama ran as a Socialist Alternative candidate for WA State Legislature and surprised everyone by winning 29% of the vote. The momentum continued in her campaign for Seattle City Council where she boldly ran on a platform of fighting for a $15/hr minimum wage, rent control and taxing the super-rich to fund mass transit and education. In November she defeated a 16-year incumbent Democrat to become the first socialist elected in a major US city in decades.
Kshama Sawant now chairs Seattle City Council's Energy Committee which covers Seattle City Light, alternative energy sources, energy policies and air pollution regulations.
bleeding blue videotaped the address and the Q&A session that followed:
Please visit John Crapper's diary for more details and photos of the event. You can still REC it. You can join Seattle and Puget Sound Kossacks by sending a Kosmail to John Crapper.
by randallt ♥ for DKos Asheville
The Dkos Ashevillites got together again to take a break from registering people to vote. A special thanks to Gordon20024, who drove in from Roanke, for providing all the food!
All the attendees went around the table and talked about what they're involved in at Daily Kos. Details about this on each attendee can be read at randallt's diary. Out-of-state special guests were Land of Enchantment and jnhobbs from Nashville! Love that kind of support!
Dkos Asheville is setting a great example of how to Connect, Unite and Act! Kudos to the whole group that is making this team strong!
Please visit randallt's diary for photos! Enjoy! You can still REC it. You can join DKos Asheville by sending a Kosmail to randallt.
by susans ♥ for Los Angeles Kossacks
At the monthly meeting of the Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners, SEIU, airport workers and Daily Kos (represented by susans and Joshua Bloxom) presented them with a 48,000 signature petition demanding safer working conditions. Also present were representatives of CLUE, Clergy & Laity United for Economic Justice, who submitted a letter of support to the board.
[...]
The SEIU organizers led a short rally outside of the building at One World Way after the meeting. SEIU represents people who do a lot of different jobs at LAX: they work in the terminals as wheelchair pushers, door openers, janitors, various other positions and on the ramp (outside). Some of them spoke at the rally, again in English and Spanish. They asked me to speak, something I was totally unprepared for. I briefly told them about DK and that I would be writing about the event and posting it online.
A special thank you to Josh, who took multiple trains up from Orange County to support airport workers and represent Daily Kos. It was great talking to you and I look forward to another opportunity to spend some time together.
Please visit
susans's diary for more details. You can still REC it. You can join
Los Angeles Kossacks by sending a Kosmail to
susans.
by Sara R ♥ for Koscadia
Koscadians got together one more time to Stamp Money Out of Politics
L-R: also mom of 5, loggersbrat, Quill, pdxteacher, J Orygun, KitRMP, HRM & Arenosa
Please visit Sara R's diary for more photos! Enjoy! You can still REC it. You can join Koscadia by sending a Kosmail to Sara R.
by mimi ♥ for New York City
Here's a great photo recap of all the Kossacks marching in NYC at the People's Climate March on September 21, 2014.
L-R: Raines and Tool holding the banner
L-R: ?, mole jr., Mrs. Mole333, boatsie, The Poet Deploreate, WarrenS, ? mole333 and kathny
Please visit mimi's diary for many MORE photos! Enjoy! You can still REC it. You can join New York City by sending a Kosmail to kathny.
Event Organizers! Please contact wink from Netrootsradio.com by KosMail to schedule airtime with them to live broadcast the date of your Event. Wink & Justice will then promote it on The After Show radio program!
Silicon Valley Kos: GOTV for Mike Honda Nov. 1-4
Mike Honda running for Congress
For Rep. Honda to defeat his "Fat Cat" opponent, he needs volunteers willing to canvass and phone bank. He has the needed voter support to win this hotly contested race, but he needs us to make sure they get to the polls.
TIMES:
Nov. 1-3: 9am, 12pm, 3pm and 6pm
Nov. 4: 8am, 11am, 2pm, and 5pm
Canvassing and Phone Banking opportunities every day until election day, Tuesday November 4th.
>>>RSVP for all events here<<<
Daily Kos members and readers:
If you would like to meet-up, send Glen The Plumber a KosMail or tweet.
RSVPs:
1. Glen The Plumber
(11/1 @ 9am, 11/4 @ 5pm)
2. remembrance
(11/1 @ 9am, 11/4 @ 5pm)
3. TheLittleOne
(11/1 @ 9am, 11/4 @ 5pm)
4. Eric (the plumber)
(11/1 @ 9am)
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Maybees: |
Saturday, November 8th
Four Corners Kossacks Meet-up
TIME: 3:00 PM
LOCATION: Carver's Brewing Company
1022 Main Ave • Durango
ORGANIZER: Send Thinking Fella a kosmail to attend
RSVPs:
1. Thinking Fella
2. nzanne
3.
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Maybees: |
Latest diary: Spiking the Ball or Crying in our Beer: Time will Tell. Announcing a Four Corners Kossacks Meet-up!
Saturday, November 8th
Seattle & Puget Sound Kossacks - Meet Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon
Representative Joe Fitzgibbon, 34th Legislative District, Deputy Majority Whip and Chair of the Washington State House of Representatives Environment Committee will be our next guest speaker sharing his thoughts and plans for Washington State and the Seattle Puget Sound Area.
Cost with Set Menu: $25.00 per person (includes non-alcoholic beverage, gratuity, tax and your choice of food from a limited-choice menu)
TIME: 12:30 PM - No seating after 1:00 PM
LOCATION: Pyramid Alehouse, Brewery & Restaurant
1201 First Avenue South • Seattle
ORGANIZER: Send John Crapper a kosmail to attend
RSVPs:
1. John Crapper
2. John Crapper's SO
3. Cinnamon68
4. bleeding blue
5. momomia
6. Larissa W.
7. Ted
8. Heather
9. Marcee
10. Robin - Sierra Club
11. Mary - Seattle Environmental Activists
12. Weldon
13. Penny GC
14. TBoneAbollo
15. Piren
16. Eagle Keeper
17. Lefty Coaster
18. doingbusinessas
19. Nelson
20. Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon
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Maybees: |
Latest diary: Seattle & Puget Sound Kossacks - Meet Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon - Nov. 8th
Saturday, December 13th
SF Kossacks Holiday Party at Daily Kos HQ
The usual Pot Luck drill - sign-up list posted soon
TIME: 6:00 PM
LOCATION: Daily Kos HQ
Address given privately by kosmail • Berkeley
Near Ashby BART
ORGANIZER: Send navajo a kosmail to attend
RSVPs:
1. Markos
2. Will Rockafellow
3. Susan Gardner
4. Meteor Blades
5. Faith Gardner & Roxie!
6. navajo
7. side pocket
8. Mrs. side pocket
9. smileycreek
10. paradise50
11. remembrance
12. Glen The Plumber
13. TLO
14. jakedog42
15. edrie
16. dharmasyd
17. catilinus
18. boatsie
19. liberated spaces
20. citisven
21. kimoconnor
22. susans
23. maggiejean
24. 714day
25. Steven Payne
26. scaboni
27. skywriter
28. jpmassar
29. jotter
30. aha aha
31. jeremybloom
32. norm
33. Lorikeet
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Maybees:
Thinking Fella
high uintas
tmservo433
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navajo maintains the above event list. Kosmail her if you have any diaries
about your event or if you have changes or additions.
EVERYONE is welcome, tell us what you're working on,
share your show and tell, vent, whatever you want.
This is an open thread. Nothing is off topic.