We’ve all been through a lot of drama this week. Most of it hasn’t been very productive to the goals we all share…fighting the BushCo agenda.
It’s been a roller coaster for me, and I can’t even itemize the crises that I have had to navigate.
But whether it was the Pie Wars, or the controversy over Soj’s business, or hate mail from women that were angry that I wrote a defense of Markos, or hate mail that I had from people outraged by the criticism of Daily Kos going on on this site, or a variety of other things…
…None of it compares to this: Susan’s mother is ill, her brother is ill, Catnip is suffering, Military Tracy is still trying to fight her way through. People have real problems, people are sick, in pain, their marriages are in trouble, their husbands or wives are in Iraq… on and on.
This community is about more than just politics, it’s about empowerment. Collectively, we have power, and every skill under the sun. We can flood a congressional office with phone calls, or a PAC with funds. If I need advice on computers, someone can give it to me. If you want to know where to educate your gifted child, or your challenged child, someone will have advice.
That’s what I’m trying to build, for all of you. And when someone needs help, we’re here to offer it. I’ve got to spend some time with my wife. And Susan is off to see her mother. Wish them the best. And have a great weekend.
…
You said it, BooMan. You said it — what really matters.
Thank you for everything.
I wish every single one of you the best.
Thank You for your (and everyone else’s) hard work
for creating this wonderfully supportive site. It breaks my heart to hear that you’ve been getting hate mail. Hope you get some well deserved rest.
I’m sending light to you, Susan, and all the others who are walking through such tough places in their lives.
Peace.
for the site, the content, the tone, and finally, the reality check. It’s Friday afternoon. I’m going to close out the week on an up tick, if I may.
My thanks to all who have welcomed me here. The Welcome Wagon is an awesome group of people.
To those of you walking thru a valley at this time in your life, I extend my most heart-felt, sincere, warm thoughts, blessings, energy, and prayers.
We are stronger standing together than when we stand apart.
Wishing everyone well, and again a huge THANK YOU EVERYONE!
It’s going to take quite some time for me to get through those diaries. That was a wonderful idea. I want cheesecake in my basket. 🙂 Please?? Yeah, I know – I actually signed on back in March, but still…cheesecake…please??
You can have cheesecake, I’ll ask for a bottle of champagne…..and we can have one hecka good party.
Catnip, I missed the C&J regulars. I’m glad you’re here. I know many do both sites, but if you still C&J, tell everyone I send my best, and here’s where I’ll be found. Hey, it really is time…….rum and coke Friday night!
out of me not to grab a piece. Buen Provecho!
Thanks! mmmmm…cheesecake
The priority here is community, not particular issues.
(I know that’s not news, but I do love hearing the person in charge say it. The last time I assumed it as patently obvious I was mildly surprised *grin*)
maybe what some of us need is another cutiepatootie The Real Booman picture (of that big black lovepuppy)
Sending out some love vibes to Susan, Tracy, Catnip and anyone else who needs it.
RFK jr is under attack here for using the word
“emasculate.” That’s extreme in my estimation.
RFK jr is my hero.
Kos is a young entrepreneur, a good person.
SusanHu is true blue. BooMan is doing a great public
service. So too Catnip and M.Tracy.
Contention is not the life blood of this site.
It’s compassion and community.
My best to everyone.
Have a good week-end.
Sybil,
I have responded to your response on my thread. As I stated in the diary, I would have deleted the entire diary, but the opportunity that presented itself for dialogue seemed valuable to me. As I said, I’m sorry you were offended, and I hope that you will take the opportunity to write about RFK jr and why he is your hero.
Lorraine
Whenever I’m asked who I’d really like to see get the Democratic nomination for the Presidency – my answer is always the same: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
He’s in a class by himself.
As of a couple of minutes ago by the green numerals on the VCR, the spouse began a 10-day vacation (at least he did if he got relieved in time).
We’re hanging local this time: got a few doctor’s appointments scheduled, need to pick up some new uniform slacks for him (hope they don’t hem this batch too short!), will probably take the train up to SF to hang out a couple of the days…oh, and we’re seeing Margaret Cho LIVE next Friday. 🙂 The spouse has another vacation week end of August, and we’re hoping to make a trip to SoCal if my sister gets the okay from the lawyer to make a preliminary distribution from my mom’s house sale (mom died in January, and the house sold in April).
So, I might not be around too much for the next week and a half — I’ll be spending time recharging the marital batteries. I’ll be back in full force on the 22nd, though…
I can’t even begin to imagine what this week has been like for you, Booman! Hope you enjoy your weekend!
And Susan, I don’t know how you manage to do everything as well as you do, and still have family crises to deal with. I’m sending some positive thoughts your way.
And to everyone else, I’m glad you’re all here. Now, doess anyone know what to do with bok choy? I got some in my CSA share this week, and haven’t a clue how to prepare it…
Cooks.com has about 168 recipes for bok choy!
Let us know how it comes out…
Stir-fried with ginger, soy, and sesame oil sounds good to me! Now to tear myself away from the ‘puter to make dinner.
I just broke down and ordered a pizza. But stir-fry sounds awfully tasty. Bon Appetit!
The bok choy was lovely, and a big hit with my 10-year-old!
SusanHu, SusanG and apparently all women named Susan are outstanding people! My heart goes out to SusanHu right now. I feel so helpless and wish I could do more for her as she deals with such difficult personal struggles. One thing I know about her though is that she is a woman of great strength. Sometimes, that’s a curse because it seems the more you can handle, the more life piles on. But, she is a shining example of someone who uses her passion and experience in an effort to help so many who are suffering. That is true compassion. She is truly remarkable.
So true.
Susan, the stronger we are, the more we’re tested.
But remember, it’s not about getting a grade. It’s just . . . getting through. So you don’t have to be the strongest. Just one of the ones who get through.
Catnip, you too.
Good to see you again Catnip 🙂
(I was Tathorwen on the dailykos irc channel .. i left soon after the election because I was down for a bit..but back up and swinging now!)
Hi! I dropped off the IRC channel back then too – can’t remember when. We sure had a lot of fun there. I should check it out again one of these days. Glad to hear you’re back on your feet!
(Authentic prairie gibberish for “You go!”)
I concur.
Please…all BT welcoming folks and leaders.
This has been an historic week, for sure!
Please engage heartily in self-care in your brick-n-mortar lives, etc.
As you all know by now–we’re a tad “older,” and there’s no need to babysit or adjust adhesive on anyone’s virtual Pampers(TM).
:::wink:::
Thank you again!
And all the other people who make this such a warm and wonderful community.
I hope you all have a peaceful and fulfilling weekend.
And all who are in pain or who suffer — may it all ease off. Special kudos to Susan, who finds the strength to work so hard during all the difficult personal times.
of the week for me has been my failure to find a way to get this hilarious picture of my dog off the cell phone camera via infrared to my Linux laptop, so I can post it to the Thursday Dog Blog diary. Some geek I am.
The Welcome Wagon set the friendly tone for my first week at BooTrib. This is great. Hang in there, BooMan. I can’t imagine why you’re getting hate mail, but hey–it’s Friday!
It’s about time to head home, walk the dog, open a good beer and dust off the banjo. Peace and love to you all.
Oops, I see SusanG is watching above. I meant to say: go home, upgrade the ePluribus site to a current version of drupal, then walk dog, drink beer, play banjo. 🙂
you meant to say! LOL.
Dude, you are saving us. We owe you. Go play with your dog pics and have a blast.
andy(nospam) @ a2hd.com
Our poor server is battling along valiantly. But if you encounter sustained problems tonight, please email andy and let him know.
There may not be any other eyeballs on the site to make sure things are running smoothly.
And a special hug to those of you who are fighting your life battles privately – away from the spotlight, as it were. May you find the courage and care you need as well. So many people are going through very trying times. Just remember – even if you aren’t posting about it – you are not alone.
That goes double for you, Catnip. I’m sending you strengthening thoughts and good vibes. Take care of yourself…
I wish peace to all those who neeed it during trying times. A friend of mine just had his closest companion die and once again, I’m reminded of just how fragile we all are. So, community is important. Thank you for letting me be part of it, and strong wishes for health and healing to those in need.
Wild Geese
by Mary Oliver
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting —
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
Are you a David Whyte fan, by any chance? That’s where I first heard that poem.
I concur – a community like this is much more than the sum of its (magnificent) parts. I’m a newbie, fresh off the pie wagon, but I already feel at home here. Have a killer weekend, everyone – I’ll see you Monday morning for some coffee, some sleepiness and some progressivism.
Boo!
and all hell breaks loose. : )
Perastika (get well, lit. “may it pass”) to Susan’s folks and to Catnip.
Thanks BooMan.
Well said Booman.
i do it for the joy it brings
because i’m a joyful girl
because the world owes me nothing
and we owe each other the world
i do it because it’s the least i can do
i do it because i learned it from you
and i do it just because i want to
because i want to
~Ani Difranco, “Joyful Girl”
This sums up my attitude about progressivism and the home I’ve found on the blogs.
xxoo everyone and once again, have a great weekend!
86 years ago today — history — also always restores my sense of proportion.
On June, 1919, after their “century of struggle,” woman suffragists witnessed the first ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment.
It was in my state, Wisconsin — one of the worst states for women’s rights, then and now. That didn’t stop them then, it doesn’t stop us now.
Their leader was a woman literally born in a log cabin here during the Civil War, who grew up in a little crossroads community and could remember the day when rural free delivery began, because it meant the stagecoach brought mail three times a week to her father’s store and post office. And it meant she could revel in reading material, in English — she could have been a DAR, descended from pre-Revolutionary New Englanders — and in German from the foreign-language newspapers ordered by the new immigrants to the farms around.
She became an incredible reader — and writer, one of the first woman journalists to get a byline, and the first at her paper, the “mouthpiece of the Progressive movement” born in her state. She got her own “women’s page,” later married the editor — and took him to task on her page for anything on his editorial page that was anything less than all-out for women’s rights.
She became famous statewide, then nationwide when she took on a second career to lead the suffrage movement in its last decade . . . in one of the last states, by the end, where women still did not vote. But she had kept them organized against the odds, and she especially could do so because of her ability to communicate with immigrant women in their language during a bitter war that divided Wisconsin and its women with anti-German attacks including on one of her friends and sister suffrage leaders, whose husband was refused his elected seat in and censured by the House of Representatives because he had taken a stand for neutrality rather than gung-ho going to war in Europe.
That stand also cost that Congressman and his wife their newspaper when seized by the federal government, in a case that only after the war upheld him, a case that became a cause celebre for the First Amendment. Years earlier, even before America joined that war, the suffragists led by the woman who had grown up bilingual also stood for neutrality — and they were castigated widely by the media, by many of the men who were her colleagues and had called her one of their own in the “brethren of the press.”
Bitter times — but through it all, the women in the most backward and discouraging state for suffrage stayed organized for the final step required of women in every state: the ratification fight after Congressional passage of the “Susan B. Anthony Amendment,” named for its author when first introduced in Congress more than forty years before . . . until it finally got its number in 1919.
So from Washington, where she had lobbied her state’s Congressmen, she somehow got back to Wisconsin and to the state capitol within four days — never missing a column to her weekly paper throughout — and won the first ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment.
And then she got back to work as women did everywhere, renaming their state organizations as well — as they became the League of Women Voters. They turned to the task of educating not men to vote for woman suffrage but of educating women to vote at all . . . although almost a year and a half to see if the last required ratification would come in time for all women in the country, with full federal suffrage at last, would vote in the presidential election in 1920.
And they did, little more than two months after that last ratification was won — by one vote, from a man in his first term in his state legislature, who changed his vote at the last minute because his mother asked him to do so . . . and for which he would be defeated for re-election and never win office again.
That was the work of millions of great women for many decades who needed then and at the end, like the Marines, a few good men — and their mothers.
And they did it without the Internet. Without, for many of them, the telephone or even indoor plumbing and central heating. And with, for many of them for many decades, the knowledge that they would not ever vote themselves . . . but they did it for, as one of their many wonderful songs says, their “daughters’ daughters.”
Perspective — on the great women and good men around us, on the great and good ones who went before us — really helps me in hard times.
Happy First Ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment Day to all!
Oops, a bad typo already at the top — on June 10, 1919. . . .
is recommends — thanks! I hope that means a bit of history helped others, too.
Okay, more than a bit . . . it’s hard for me to stop when typing those stories of the past.
It’s so hard to stop that here I was, still going with this story after all-nighters all week to finish page proofs today, tah dah!, four years of work on a 500-page book on women’s history.
So now I’m heading out to celebrate with my husband — since it’s also, tah dah! our wedding anniversary. (Yes, I picked the day carefully . . . and for other reasons, too; it’s the day I got tenure after being turned down because I do women’s history — and it’s the day I got divorced and began my new life:-).
But I’ll be back later, if Booman’s server allows, to bestow recommends like the bouquets I got today.
I wish I could send you the scent of a dozen roses, I really do . . . so we could all stop and smell them.
But that’s what this thread is like — stopping and smelling the roses in our lives . . . and remembering those to whom we can only send cyberbouquets. . . .
Thanks, Booman, and all of you.
I am so glad that you posted two replies to your own comments so that I could give you three 4’s for that story.
“I told them that I was opposed to this war. They said `but now we are in it, now we can’t help ourselves.’ Whereupon I replied, `yes you can. If you gave voice to the things that are in your heart and in every body’s heart, popular opinion would soon turn the tide.’ The trouble is, all are afraid that they will be considered unpatriotic.” –Meta Berger, 1917
“You may rest assured that I shall do nothing but what is right and honorable–and for the best of all people, as I see it. Therefore, even, if I should have to go to prison for my principles–you must not consider that a disgrace.”–Victor Berger, 1917
The Family Letters of Victor and Meta Berger
Meta Schlichting Berger, yep, was the suffrage officer defended by the leader, who was Theodora Winton Youmans, the state leader in my little story.
Did you know that Meta Schlichting Berger’s long-unpublished autobiography, a treat for historians of women who had to trek to archives to find the account by one of the few women in Socialist leadership, at last was published a couple of years ago by the state historical society here in Wisconsin?
It’s at wisconsinhistory.org 🙂
And the published autobiography has incredible insights and footnotes with yet more.
The great hero of Socialism and free speech, Meta’s Congressman husband, tried early in their marriage to keep her barefoot, pregnant, and in the kuchen. Her account of standing up to him — and getting around him — is classic.
And she did so after facing that he was having affairs . . . and then we find in a footnote that long later, she told one of her daughters — one of two children they had — that she, Meta, had practice birth control, and Victor never knew.
Another reality check from history. Many great men — and women — had their blind spots. And we just move on. . . .
When we forget about the personal relationships, we can never build a humane greater society, not matter how good our plans.
My best to everyone who is taking the time to deal with those who matter to them most.
As we Quakers say, I will hold you all in the light.
Just send those hate mailers to me! I’m caring for 13 hungry orphaned baby owls and hawks, and they’re not picky about their food as long as it’s meat. Some sliced or chopped hate mailer meat with a little seasoning – they’d love it.
Just kidding, of course.
I want to express my thanks as well for the warm welcome. To those who are having difficulty, you are in my thoughts. I am looking forward to many good conversations and learning from all of you, and sharing ideas.
Peace
You have hit on all the things that make sites like this powerful and important. We (I say we, even as someone who is relatively new to being here) are a community. I tried to make the same point about dKos in my diary on Tuesday and was quickly shown how wrong I was…
I feel the real community here. It is evident by the quality of people who have been drawn here, by the quality of the works written here.
Your recognition of that fact has sold me on your site, Booman. I am going to stay here, to help build this community, to grow with the community.
Peace.
the holy handgrenade
Thanks Booman. Yes, despite the firestorms of this week, there are more important things that we each need to attend to. In my case, my wife is still dealing with all the after-effects of her breast cancer. She’s ok now, but each test, and there are many, produces new fears. The emotional effects will likely never end. I need to be there with her and steal entirely too much time being here (and other sites). Thank goodness my 6 year old seems to have sustained no lasting impact.
Thanks BooMan and the welcoming commmittee.
We should probably all take a few days and do whatever it takes to heal and regain our strength.
I send strong thoughts of good will to all.
and a little hate mail to Booman… just because. There. Content-free, easy to ignore and treat as appropriate.
…for making this site the unique, warm and witty place it is.
Best wishes for good health to those with medical problems (I’ve got a broken finger right now that I got in Toronto on vacation, but that’s nothing compared to what other folks have – the cast only affects my typing! LOL)
Just had a reality check of my own: the spouse just came home and told me that a work colleague of his, a man that we both really liked (I especially enjoyed riding the bus with him) was killed in a single-motorcycle crash last weekend. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Last I’d talked to him, he was looking forward to retirement.
When you’re passing around good thoughts, keep a few in mind for his kids and his girlfriend Jill (they’d recently bought a house together).
Damn, life sucks…
Thank you Booman for providing a warm and sheltering place.
Thinking good thoughts for those who are suffering or taking care of those who are suffering.
Meredith
Well, I guess this week has been a real “growth” experience for Booman’s. I’m sorry I’ve been so wrapped up in work and such that I didn’t have time to jump in and support the philosophy of the site and welcome newbies. I’m actually a newbie myself, but a lurker for a long time – but this is a wonderful place to visit and participate in for many reasons, as you all have now witnessed.
So, thank you Booman, Diane, Susan and all those on the welcoming committee. ask and I are kicking back with well deserved and sufficent imbibment for a Friday nite while listening to my new “Best of Allman Brothers” CD. My next CD hunt and purchase is Country Joe and the Fish but I forget which is the best album – any suggestions?(I guess you can tell I’m on a 60’s-70’s kick!)
my vinyl rich domestic partner says the album/CD with the song:
Well, it’s one-two-three
What are we fightin’ for
Don’t ask me I don’t give a damn
Next stop Iraq, then Iran ( ha, I crack myself up!)
Well, it’s five, six, seven
open up the pearly gates
Ain’t no time to wonder why
Whoopee, we’re all gonna die.
Tha album name is- I feel like I’m fixin to die. He also recommends Electric Music for the Mind and Body also by Country Joe and the Fish.
Hope that’s helpful. We are flower children of the 60’s so you’re singing our tune. Try Sons of Champlin album Black and Blue Rainbow as well.
That’s right! – thanks a lot – that’s the “I’m Fixin’ to Die Rag” – quintessential Country Joe. Who are the Sons of Champlin?? Never heard of them and I think I know some pretty obscure bands – how ’bout The Fugs, or Seigel-Schwall Band or The Blues Project? Have to see if any of them are on CD – doubtful. Maggiemae? Isn’t that from Rod Stewart?
Thanks again.
Oh, boy! Are we gonna have some fun!
Go on line and order a catalog from Music Direct. They have not only obscure vinyl and CD’s, but high end recordings from the master tapes. I need to pull a couple other catalogs to get the names for you. Also, go to Google and type in an artist name, album name, or song title. Wade through the gazillion hits to find wonderful eclectic music stores across the nation/world who have music listed on the internet for sale.
My friend, Russ Kirkpatrick, recorded a self-titled album with members of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band as studio musicians. I found it for sale in New York, using the above method. He got a good laugh over how much I had to pay for it.
Love the Fugs (I feel like homemade S#*t), and Blues Project. You listen to Alan Parson Project, right? Not familiar with Seigal-Schall Band. What type of music?
Sons of Champlin:
The Sons of Champlin are very much a part of the rich tapestry that was the San Francisco music scene of the Fillmore and Avalon Ballrooms.
Their funky Hammond B-3 and horns sound was utterly distinctive and quite unlike the rest of the Bay Area’s psychedelic guitar bands.
Celebrating the human spirit, philosophical themes driven by funk infused R&B and jazz based tempos continued to set the Sons apart. Often hard to define because of their eclectic mix of material, the Sons were playing acid jazz before it had a name.
Always known for their outstanding musicianship, they have become the benchmark against which other players have measured their chops.
The Sons released seven albums between 1968 and 1977. After a twenty year hiatus, the Sons reunited for a series of successful reunion gigs in 1997. In cooperation with Grateful Dead Records, the Sons recorded and released their first ever “live” CD in 1998. The earlier studio releases never quite captured the magic of their live shows. Quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle, the Grateful Dead’s Mickey Hart said of those earlier shows, “they were breathing fire… they were the most talented of all the bands.”
Check out Les Dudak- smoking guitarist, and Buddy Miles- blues/rock drummer CD’s too!
the tired travelers huddle in their tents, among the packs, carts and other baggage they have carried from that faraway place called the DailyKos. Some bind their wounds. Others gather around the campfires still muttering and expostulating about the events of the week past or telling heroic tales of battles from long ago. Gradually quiet descends. All you can hear is the sound of crickets. The Booman, emerging from the headman’s tent, surveys the disordered scene with his farseeing eyes, then sighs, and slips silently away to the tender welcome of his gentle, long-suffering wife.
(This is a joke, folks.)
And he’ll come back to a highly functioning site, self-regulated (with hopefully no need to do so on the part of anyone) – filled with a sense of direction for the days to come.
A final end of the week welcome to all. Blessings to all who are in pain, and continued joy for those of you in a spirit of happiness. And a combined blend of hopefulness for all members of the community, new and old, for a collaborative future.
Good night and all my best!
And frogs. Can’t forget the frogs. <g>
And if the frogs croak too loud, you can silence them by yelling:
“Campbell’s soup!”
(from Richard Brautigan’s novel “A Confederate General from Big Sur”)
Must have missed this. Not to take our eye off of what really matters — about which I 100% agree with our host — but what’s the deal?
For providing such a nice space for us.
point out the thread (or threads) where the Soj stuff was talked about? thanks.
I can’t point the thread out to you because I’m late to the show and don’t know what’s going on about that. There’s just too damn much happening in my life right now to keep up. Anyway, the reason I replied to your post is just to say hi.
hey pacifica, hi right back!
i miss you at LSF. if it was a Safari problem i think it’s fixed now.
and i found the thread i was looking for.
A very sincere thank you to all who live here, for the wonderful welcome. Please take time out for taking care of you and yours, Boo, and same to all of you who have worked so hard this week to welcome so many newbies.
Don’t let the turkeys get ya down, Boo. They just need a target, and you’re handy.
Now go get refueled!
Life for most of us way to complex for anything to be handled with just a days of a few precious sentances. I just want to say, if I want to read a lot of political stuff, I know where I can go…If I need to break bread with the human race and feel like I can commune with them, then this is the place to come to.
We all need deviation in our lives..for me that is what makes it interesting. But I need this more than one can tell. The stressors of my life is more than I can contend with somedays. Now I have a place to come and unwind. Booman, your place has given me refuge that I desperately needed. Thanks so much…
To The Boo Nation:
Thanks for making this place inclusive, educational and inspiring. To Susan, Catnip and Military Tracy – a speedy recovery to y’all!
Best Wishes,
Ratzo
p.s – Now I Must Drink!
I think the BooMan Tribune’s culture is characterized by three core values:
Honesty, Humility and Humour
And we should cultivate them passionately…
For your incredibly kind and heartfelt comments.
You mean the world to me. And I’ve shared your comments with my daughter Darcy.
We’ll likely be in and out for a bit. I’ll tell you all about it soon.
I’m going to try to keep writing because it’s good for my sanity, as is conversing with all of you wonderful people.
And big hugs to Catnip, Tracy, and everyone else who’s facing tough times.
HUGS AND LOVE, Susan
Let’s spread the wealth of our knowledge and interests and start discussing topics besides those related to “you-know-what”. I’m not saying that “you-know-what” didn’t need to be discussed — but wow, Booman, Jerome a Paris, Pastordan, and Susanhu (and others) all have written terrific frontpage diaries the last day or so, that are informative and interesting — and I look at the number of folks posting on those compared to the “you-know-what” diaries, and I say, huh? So venture out a little. It’s probably healthy.
and thanks, and peace.