I waited to post this until the end of the week, but have been toying with it since I began rescuing. It's been a hard week for me, with work going a bit nuts, preparing for a conference in Brussels, and my first full week as an election diary rescuer. Little did I know that signing up to be an election diary rescuer would have a massive effect on me. Follow me below the fold for some navel gazing, stories about what goes on in the meta-Dkos world, and examples of the generosity and dedication of Kossacks that in my opinion just do not get enough attention...
I admit that I am a bit of an armchair socialist. I haven't really engaged in much political activity, aside from attending a few rallies in Chicago for Gore in '00, and a few protests against the war. On Dkos, my behavior was reasonably similar, a bit lurkerish-- the occasional diary or posting open threads/C&J etc. It was enough for me just to know that dailykos exists and reports all news, or at least tries to, and that there people out there fighting the good fight. Being in the UK, it's tough to help campaigns in the States on the ground, but I did want to help out more. The more I read on dkos about what the Repubs were doing the worse the situation seemed to me, so my want to get involved evolved to a need. And then I saw a request for help from the election diaries, so I timidly commented on the election rescue diary that I'd like to help out. Nervously, I watched the thread to find out what I needed to do and in a little bit a reply came asking me to get in email contact with sidinny.
I fired off an email and waited, and in no time, suejazz dropped me a line as the scheduling coordinator. She's a lovely woman, whose warmth is evident even over the typically austere medium of email. And so I was assigned the 7-10 a.m. eastern standard timeslot. The job demands skimming each diary in my timeslot and collating all election diaries, any post that directly relates to a '06 race ought to be included. It takes me somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 minutes to an hour to gather all the diaries from my timeslot, and write what I hope is a pithy line or two summing up the diary. However, I typically get distracted by a diary here or there and feel compelled to comment or find out more about the story. As I am lazy, I think of this as my daily exercise routine (got to clear the conscience some ways).
Of course the whole group of election diary rescuers is wonderful. Getting to know the compilers has been great fun--sensitive, caring nightprowler and gregarious, comical randallt. When Nightprowler had a diary up on the recommended list, we were sent an email with a link by Sue. We're a small mini-community in the massive dkos world.
Then, yesterday I did something uncharacteristic--I pestered some family who are living in Virginia to get friends registered. I followed Kos' advice and told them to get 10 people registered to vote or make sure they are and get them to the polls. I wouldn't have dreamed of doing something like this a couple of months ago. I was too ashamed to approach even my family to encourage them to do election related things. I'd argue politics all the time, but never attempt to incite others to action. And then I felt good about it, and have started emailing them about things to uplift them in the bid to get people registered and voting. I sent round Pelosi's 100 hours, which I know they all agree with. But these acts are pathetic and insignificant when compared to what I have seen as a rescuer:
Go and take a look at cmanaster's diaries in the past 20-odd days. He's donated at least 20 bucks to a candidate a day, totaling at this point in time for a grand total of $1155 with $3420 matched from other Kossacks. If 1 Kossack matches cmanaster he doubles his donation, and if we get up to 10, then he triples it. I know we don't all have the funds to do this, but the consistency with which he has kept this up has become like a friend each morning. To be honest, when the election's over, and cmanaster won't be donating each day, I'll be a little sad--as it's been such a comfort to see this dedication.
Also, go and look at WNCNN's scathing roasts of Republican Representative Charles Taylor and the support for Dem Heath Shuler in North Carolina's 11th I don't possess half the boldness these dedicated Kossacks do to support a candidate. Actually it was these diaries that lead to my longest rescue effort as I sat through the videos they have produced.
And then there are the purely personal thrills, like rescuing the diary that eventually got front-paged about the multiple strokes Republican Rep Castle suffered. I know, it is vain, but being on the leading edge of stories is exciting...pathetically so, but exciting nonetheless.
But the biggest thing is the sense of belonging. I grew up in Richmond Virginia, not the most liberal place. I was at odds with most of my classmates, till I ended up at the Governor's School. Going to neighborhood parties elicited aggression against me (I was once accused of picking on someone unfairly about the war in Iraq, and made to feel expressly unwelcome). And being gay only made it worse--I didn't want to make trouble, but when someone makes a bigoted remark it still cuts to the bone, as I am sure many of you know. So getting to know some like-minded people is thrilling.
All of these positive experiences are from helping--getting off my lazy ass and doing something. And I feel good--good for helping out, good for trying to pull the Repubs out of power, and a good mental tiredness from the hard work. So do something to help out, and if it still all goes wrong in November, and Dems still lose, at least you will know that you tried to stand up and be counted.