AUTHOR: Sarah Cove TITLE: DATE: 2/17/2006 08:24:00 PM ----- BODY:

This blog is my first suggestion of how to set-up this community. (I think all conversations in this community should happen in a blog format; it will allow all work we do to be transparent to the group and, I think, will make opportunities and breakdowns easier to spot.) I would like to have this initial post be where anyone interested give his or her name and, if he or she wants to, give roles that interest him/her, and offer any suggestions or comments. There will be people of different roles in this think tank. Here are the ones I can think of right now but let me know if there are others. 1. Some people will be involved in the technical/ visual design work of the blog. 2. Some to design the kinds, and structures, of conversations and roles in this community in order to build the best space for thinking and working. 3. Some to post blogs and form groups around researching either specific questions or examining the background out of which liberal political/social thought and action is based. 4. Some to design and build intellectual property rights in this space (which might not be necessary now, but might be interesting for both our own reputations as well as in bringing academics into the conversation). 5. People within this community as reviewers of work? (This I’m not sure about. It might be superfluous, stifling, or ineffective.) 6. Perhaps others to invite intellectuals, etc. to either work with us on specific projects, review our work, or do research of their own. 7. Some to watch the entire process, keeping people on task with the commitments they have made and looking for breakdowns that needed to be resolved. Also, this role might be a good one to look for ways in which the network amongst all of us can be built and strengthened. 8. Others to plan the strategic future of this community in both the political world as well as the blog atmosphere. Again, if this interests you, comment with your name and maybe an area you could commit to doing work in. If you want to give a quick introduction of who you are, what you do, and perhaps why this interests you, that would be useful to see what kinds of talents and interests we have available to us. For right now, I will try to organize the start-up of this group, but later will probably want to give this organizing role to someone else or to a group of people. However, if for right now you would like to help me get this off the ground, please let me know. That’s all I have for right now. What do you think?

----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Sarah Cove DATE:2/18/2006 02:59:00 AM Thanks Lilia. I will look into these networking/learning possibilities over the weekend. Noah, could you help me?

(Side note: Thanks Edie and Lilia for the Young Dem forum on Thurs. Markos was great and was the final push in getting this going.)

I think money and time can be obstacles, especially for those without any. Being that some of us are going to be spending the next 9 months organizing the state of CA while others prepare for the bar, time is an issue. But it seems that there never has been and there never will be enough time. But I think some of the assets we bring to this are that we are all working/studying in very diverse fields and can bring what we are doing to the table. Also, most of us spend some, if not all, of our free time thinking and talking about politics. Why not spend that time in a network of action?

In terms of dough, we have none. *long sigh* But the possibility I see for us right now is not in financial capital (at least not right a way) but in identity or reputation capital. If we can build this form of capital, we can bring in financial capital (in the form of grants...). I think one of the first roads we need to develop is in building the reputation capital. Without it, we will be just another set of unrecognized voices on the left. I'm thinking that the best way to build this would be with bringing in something like advisors. This could bring authority to the work we do. One problem is right now, we can't pay them. But we could offer them the position of co-author (or something of the sort) on the papers we produce. Anyone else have any ideas on how to bring this capital? ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Anonymous DATE:2/18/2006 10:40:00 AM so is this project open to those of us who are neither organizing ca nor studying for the bar?
i like this idea, sarah, mostly because i miss sitting around a table in beckett's and talking with all of you about politics.
i would like to hear more about your (or anyone's) thoughts on structure. most right-wing grassroots organizing is issue-based (i.e. abortion). it's a successfull model, but is it one we want to follow?
i think another role we might want to fill is making connections with other progressive bloggers/websites. one of my friends from high school has a moderately successful blog that has gotten some attention at the chronicle and other places.
if you email me your blogger username and password (mari.schimmer@gmail.com) i'll poke around and see if we can set this up for multiple users. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Sarah Cove DATE:2/18/2006 10:51:00 AM Mari,

Do you have any ideas on why issue-based planning is successful for them? What are the advantages/disadvantages? In thinking about the structure, perhaps we should also talk about how, in the long run, we would like to interact with the liberal world. Do we know people who could help us think in this area?

Also, thanks for the additional role. I think that would be very important.

Now, Ms. Mari Mac Mac Mac, I have sent you my username and password. Connected with it is my reputation on multiple sites. Should I be worried? ;-) Mwa. ----- --------