So I went to Netroots Nation last week, as I have every year for the past ten years. I usually try to post a write-up of my experience, and this year I even made sure to get more pictures than I usually do! Please take your badge and lanyard, grab your program and your swag bag, and follow me below the orange swirl of progressive politics after a word from our sponsor...
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I'll state at the outset if you're looking for a diary on the #BlackLivesMatter action at Saturday's Presidential Town Hall, this is not the diary you're looking for. I've always brought a cross-section of my experience at NN/YK, and this is that diary. WARNING: this is a very photo-intensive diary. Apologies in advance to your graphics card.
It was very, very hot. OTOH, 75° in New England today felt a LOT more uncomfortable. Dry heat really is different!
Took the shoe bus express and
spedwybabs indoctrinated us all into the ways of shopping at
Last Chance. Yes, I got a pair of shoes :)
There was swag bag packing, a ritual of community building and one of the reasons Casa Brillig shows up early.
We had our annual C&J Dinner Wednesday night courtesy of
navajo (who stopped in on her way to a family event),
Mother Mags and local Kossacks. I cannot stress how important it is to gather as family to kick off our time at NN.
New this year to Town Hall was an entire stage and program devoted to music. I ran into a singer I had seen several years prior and had dinner with at a mutual friend's house, helped him find who he needed to get set up, and that's how I got to introduce Roy Zimmerman to the stage!
Pub Quiz. Ahhh, Pub Quiz. Where trivia matters and the aim of the game is to have fun! We assembled a stellar all-Kossack team,
Moar Orange Than Boehner, and came in a stunning (and somewhat surprising) #10! However, the night belonged to the fantastic
Volunteens, an all-teen team responsible both for much of the setup of Town Hall, furniture building, table setting at keynotes and all-around grunt work for every aspect of Netroots Nation, and for the Netroots Nation Pub Quiz policy of All-Ages-Appropriate prizes :-). They had the best answer possible for one difficult question: "We Weren't Born Yet!"
Monsoon has a whole new meaning for me, and drove home the reality that Dry Heat is preferable to Humid Heat.
Did you know
bruinkid does a mean karaoke version of "Piano Man"? Well, now you do!
Elizabeth Warren gave a spectacular keynote Friday Morning and fired up the room!
We left immediately from that session to the March on the 4th Street Jail. Words cannot describe adequately how absolutely horrific conditions are for those who attempt to traverse the desert, and for those detained. Please, please, in the midst of all the discussion about the Saturday #BlackLivesMatter action, do NOT forget
#AZDispatch.
Go watch those videos. Seeing them made the 100 degree heat of the march seem insignificant. I will carry the passion and intensity of my fellow marchers forever.
I will say, however, I have never gotten this message before. It WAS hot!
I did go to panels, too!! This is the fantastic slate at the "America Awakens: Activism and Action Restoring Trust Between Community and Police" session I attended Saturday morning, before the Presidential Town Hall.
The Town Hall. Yes,
that session. As I and many others have said earlier, it was a deeply emotional issue and one that has caused everyone in attendance and elsewhere to reflect on. I admit that I was at first upset that "the session" was disrupted. I also will say I've never talked to as many people- friend and stranger, ten-timer and first-timer, staff and attendee, as I did in the 24 hours after. I may never agree that there wasn't a better way, but I absolutely have come to believe that events happened because it was necessary. I worry what will happen as NN16 contacts people for speaking slots next year; whether candidates will put themselves into a space where it's known at the outset we give voice to those who speak up. I'm conflicted even now and know my thoughts are churning and evolving, but I DO know this: I had to confront my privilege, and make the choice to LISTEN to those who needed to be heard. I don't for a moment regret this transformative occurrence and know it will shape my future activism. I do NOT have pictures of that session; I was too busy living it to focus on a screen. I hope you understand.
This NN brought home the stark reality that there are two groups attending... the Professional Left (organizers, lobby/focus groups, etc) and the Amateur Left. Malacandra said (and I am paraphrasing) that the difference he saw is that ten years ago, people asked who you are. Now they ask what you do. I don't know what to make of this as a member of the Amateur Left, except to say the people who need to be fired up are ME and my peers. The ones that don't chair groups, but are the target of their emails. We don't need more panels on Effective Tools for Multi-analytic Social Media Analysis (I made that one up, but you get the idea). We need to be inspired, energized and armed with information to take home to our friends and neighbors.
Mr. Brillig and I got to speak with Donna Edwards after her keynote to a disappointingly empty hall Thursday evening. My take was that many people had taken off to get dinner (Moar Food next year, NN, please!) and others were off networking because a keynote wasn't what the Professional Left wanted to attend. We, however, thoroughly enjoyed her speech and left feeling very connected. Oh, and she thinks K2 is adorable.
The closing keynote at NN has been replaced by a series of Ignite talks. Was really fun to hear one of our own, who's risen from the ranks of amateur to Professional left without forgetting her roots. You did great
spedwybabs!
We closed the night at the Blue Party. Well, actually we stayed a bit then headed out to quieter spaces, because after ten years, the love of hot sweaty loud music has given way to the desire to sit quietly over good microbrew and talk. Because for me, that's what NN is every year- family reunion and a chance to meet new people.
I hope I haven't bored you to tears tonight, and I hope to have given you a taste of why I go back year after year. It's worth it to me, and I hope that if you're in St. Louis next year, you'll come a day early and be there on July 13th. Joel Silberman and I have birthdays to celebrate! :-)
Brillig's ObDisclaimer: The decision to publish each nomination lies with the evening's Diarist and/or Comment Formatter. My evenings at the helm, I try reeeeallllyy hard to publish everything without regard to content. I really do, even when I disagree personally with any given nomination. "TopCommentness" lies in the eyes of the nominator and of you, the reader - I leave the decision to you. I do not publish self-nominations (ie your own comments) and if I ruled the world, we'd all build community, supporting and uplifting instead of tearing our fellow Kossacks down.
From Alexandra Lynch (they didn't get properly linked last nite):
Because this one by MRN 8255000 made me laugh and nod, and this one from fladem because I inhaled my tea.
From pixxer:
This from We Shall Overcome in the diary by SottoVoce with news that at least Sandra Bland's murder is being investigated as one.
From Avilyn:
This comment by voracious perfectly explains why "all lives matter" is such a problematic response to the Black Lives Matter movement.
Top Mojo for yesterday, July 20th, first comments and tip jars excluded. Thank you
mik for the mojo magic! For those of you interested in How Top Mojo Works, please see his diary
FAQing Top Mojo.
1) Note the effusive praise of taking risk in by Inland +150
2) Back up the bus. This study is BS. by DocDawg +147
3) I almost tipped ya, till I got to the by One Pissed Off Liberal +146
4) Yes, McCain was stupid in picking Palin for a VP, by gooderservice +130
5) They love of those who served is phony. by TomP +127
6) heh. from soup to nuts. by bubbanomics +124
7) The "study" is bullshit by therealcervantes +105
8) If the Democratic Party doesn't stop him, he's by Greyhound +100
9) 'The Tex Wash bridge....built in 1967, was listed by skillet +99
10) Just FYI by NinetyWt +94
11) Just to be clear by jfromga +92
12) Here's a pic from MSNBC site. by Gordon20024 +88
13) Disgusting POS trash by Tuffie +85
14) I think some misunderstand by Betty Pinson +83
14) Functionally Obsolete doesn't mean what you think. by GeorgeXVIII +83
16) Parasites is a perfectly accurate description. by Greyhound +82
17) There are more where he came from by Brubs +80
18) It was decided by votes in Ohio by anastasia p +79
19) In case y'all missed this last night during the by LoneStarMike +77
19) Aside from the 5 years as a POW, by CwV +77
21) So you're saying by Armando +76
22) The outrage is so phony! by AmBushed +74
23) We Have a Democratic Pres and A-G TODAY. by Gooserock +73
23) I'd laugh--if it weren't for how utterly insane by bevenro +73
25) They were struggling on Today Show.... by murrayewv +69
25) You nailed it! by NYmama +69
27) but you can fool DailyKos.... by murrayewv +68
27) Well, I know the simulations are wrong because by Wee Mama +68
29) This is funny! by TomP +65
30) Another cold blooded murder by Shockwave +64
Top Pictures for yesterday, July 20th. Click any picture to be taken to the full comment. Thank you
jotter for the image magic!