The participants at DailyKos continue to amaze me. Day after day there is wit and wisdom and wordplay which keeps me thinking and giggling and digging deeper.
I recently was deeply honored to receive the status of trusted user. Today, I was reminded, again, just how new to these shenanigans I am. And somehow, I feel that I should at least take a stab at voicing the story that brought me to DailyKos and the reasons that keep me here.
Follow me over the jump...
I drifted here after following a variety of links posted on the blogs on the Obama campaign website late last summer and early fall. Of all the blogs I stumbled upon, this one seemed the most diverse and appealing.
The standards here are high (as they should be) but even for me, an academic always pursuing a high standard for myself, they seem daunting. I feel unworthy, paltry in my efforts to participate; in short, anything but memorable. My scantly read few diaries attest to this... not to mention my lack of understanding the strategy of when to post a diary to get it seen. I mostly lurk, reveling in the conversations of common sense, compassion and character... and in awe of the wealth of knowledge and passion expressed throughout the site.
I come here with my own passions for progressive principles, intelligent conversation, the deeper discourse with persons like yourselves. I admit, my political activity remains rather low, in comparison with the incredible sense of plugged-in-ness that a site like DKos espouses. I peruse a few webpages and newspapers, but not every day, and certainly not as intently and observantly as apparently most of the users here. I've only voted in one election. Though I grasp the importance of down ticket races, I'm not personally invested in those, as of yet. Most of this financial mumbo jumbo of recent weeks escapes me completely and I'm left to lurking.
But I'm learning. The learning curve of the verbage and vocabulary was certainly interesting. Having mastered most of that definitely makes me feel more like an insider. I talk about DailyKos to my roommate and my parents... and my increased political activity has my mom offering to volunteer with the local Obama office.
And even though I often leave the site feeling drowned with information I may or may not want to know, DailyKos is an amazing resource and outlet to flex my mental muscles and sarcasm skills (all good naturedly, of course) in ways my current life and peers do not. Thanks for keeping this once-was-and-wannabe grad student plugged into the greater conversation.
A round of pie for my friends!