I was one of the very lucky DFA scholarship winners in 2008. In all honesty - it changed my life.
Before Austin | After Austin |
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Not at all fooled by the visual evidence, are you? Ah well.
But it's true - my experience last year in Austin at NN08 did change me. It brought home to me the simple fact that our world is a small world. Even the little things we do and say - in our homes, in our communities, at our work, in our towns, counties, states, in our nation or through the blogosphere - well, little things matter.
And it's people. The people we reach and connect with, however we choose to connect - be they friends or perfect strangers - people matter most of all.
Perhaps a more convincing approach to encourage you to apply for a DFA scholarship so that you can attend this year's Netroots Nation 2009 , or go and vote for someone who has applied, or donate so that others may go, is to provide you with my on-the-spot reaction once I arrived in that hot, lovely Texas city called Austin for last year's great NN event...
Breathing in Austin
So I flew into Austin Wednesday night from Seattle. The air lifted me as I took off. And as I landed here, I found I haven't yet touched the ground. You think I’m describing that seriously fine feeling of power, force, and speed on takeoff? Or that thud, squeal, brake, screech, ping, you can unfasten your seatbelts, we have arrived adrenaline rush on landing, MD-80 style, Texas-style? Nah. I’m talking about the rarified atmosphere surrounding the person who can afford to fly. One who flies. I’m not referring to the departure from the airport, or the release of the plane from earth as it catapults into the sky. I’m remarking on buoyance of spirit. I just realized I have set anchor too long.
Each choice, each responsibility, each task we take on has a density, a weight. For me, it’s a mental weight – I procrastinate; that decision not made because of daily shifting priorities turns into the monster in the closet, under the bed, an adult night terror left unexamined because the minimum effort to kill the priority is overwhelming. Far, far more attractive things call out. Paying that bill instead of this one. Eating instead of car repair. You understand. The necessities are rattling cans on a string tacked to our asses. Release the noisiest debris and accumulate more.
I have been given a gift and through all the expressed frustration, sadness, near-despair, angst, anger (indeed), in the progressive blogosphere – here at Netroots Nation, and out there, where everyone else is, I‘ll confirm as an aside that there is no more generous a group of people than this community and those in Democracy for America. If not for this community and the offer of a funded plane ticket to Austin and back, I would easily have forgotten the world outside the continuously swirling snowglobe I inhabit. I might not have remembered there were like-minded folks who actually exist behind some of these more obscure usernames (this is a subtle and random reference to the fact that nobody knows what the f**k my username means).
With the naïve rapture of a baby, I assure you there is heart and soul and so much more behind UIDs such as claude, OPOL, Daniel, PaintyKat, asimbagirl, dadanation, Land of Enchantment, trashablanca, cedwyn, jotter, ben masel, ctliberal, Dreaming of Better Days, Got a Grip, srkp23, occams hatchet, paradox, Lithium Cola,...too many to list. Faces and bodies, too. Imagine that.
In this rarified air of Austin, my eyes open wider, I breath a bit deeper. I do have wings. I’d forgotten. And now, just this moment, I recall that action and progress often doesn’t happen in times when people believe they are wholly content with life.
Yes, Aunt G, you were right. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. In fact, it makes you progressive.
Buy some flowers – bypass the paper products aisle just for today. Rearrange those essential priorities, even if you think you cannot afford it. Donate to your compulsion for just a moment (and that may be a candidate or a cause.) The spirit is fed and the nourishment is so fine.
Thank you, Dailykos community and DFA, for the scholarship opportunity you’ve given me.
Well, yeah - this gets me off the hook a bit by providing you with something so last year. But make no mistake - this year, NN09 in Pittsburgh on August 13-16 will be spectacular!
CONTRIBUTE! If you can, give "thirty dollars to help 30 scholars" attend Netroots Nation this year - Donate here.
VOTE! Go make someone's day - go Vote for one or many scholarship applicants here.
APPLY! Flex your fingers and write that captivating profile for your own scholarship application and Apply here.
There are still two rounds left (and I applied with only a handful of days before the final deadline last year, so anything is possible - go apply now!):
Round 1 Ten winners announced
Application Deadline passed: May 11th
Announced: May 15th
Round 2 -- Ten recipients
Application Deadline: June 15th
Announcement: June 19th
Round 3 -- Ten recipients
Application Deadline: July 6th
Announcement: July 10th
No time like the present - and the present is in Pittsburgh this year, baby!
And here's a handful of previous NN09 posts that will thrill...
T Rex - Netroots Nation
Chacounne - Justice and Accountability: Why I Want to Go to NN 09
Muskegon Critic - I Have Applied for a Netroots Nation Scholarship
fonwonwon - Why You Should Apply for a Scholarship to Netroots Nation
slinkerwink - Get On Your Butts And Support Netroots Nation 2009!
ramara - Netroots Nation Scholarships: I need your vote
Lady Libertine for Something the Dog said - Show the dog some love