Blog Entries
Blog entries, here and from elsewhere.
The ABC's of Deval Patrick
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Thu, 04/14/2005 - 17:02It was thirty years ago. It seems like it was a different time, a different life, a different world. Nixon had resigned. The country was licking its wounds after Vietnam. I was a high school student getting my first taste of politics. I went to Mount Greylock Regional High School; a school that I had been told was one of the best public high schools in the country. I was proud of my high school and the education I was receiving there.
We were not a well to do family in Williamstown. I had friends who came from very well off families. I also had friends who came from less fortunate circumstances than myself. There was a program at our school called, "A Better Chance". Highly qualified students from poor communities around the country would come to great schools like Mt. Greylock to get a good education and, a better chance.
Quick Notes
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Thu, 04/14/2005 - 06:39I am about to head up to Boston where I will be leading a workshop on blogging at the Grassroots Use of Technology sponsored by the Organizers' Collaborative. I don't know what my connectivity will be like, or how much time I'll have to write.
However, with all the stuff that has been going on, I doubt my writing can be less frequent than it has been so far this month.
Meetup Jumps the Shark
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Wed, 04/13/2005 - 08:39This morning, the Meetup website lists 1,609,193 members worldwide, 193,981 Meetup groups and 5,439 Meetup topics. Digging deeper, you can find that there are currently 924 DFA Meetups, 773 Democratic Party Meetups, and 807 John Kerry Meetups. It also announces, ‘Important: Organizers will soon have to pay a small monthly fee on behalf of their Meetup Groups.’
Following the link, it says, “How much & when? The regular Group Fee is $19/month, but Organizers of current groups get a special 2005 rate of $9/month if they pay now.”
They mention, “How was this decision made? We polled thousands of Organizers, met them in many cities, and listened to you online. We chose the path that keeps Meetup.com most focused on you.”
I remember that survey. It asked how much people would be willing to pay for special services. During the survey, I commented that I thought this was a really bad idea. Meetup has gone on to act on the idea, and the response online seems to be that Meetup has jumped the shark.
The Scream and The Kiss and Decency
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 04/04/2005 - 08:01(Originally published in Greater Democracy)
A little over two years ago, as our country was marching towards war, my wife and I found ourselves getting involved in politics supporting a candidate that stood up for opinions contrary to the prevailing opinions of the time. He was a man who stood for decency and spoke his mind. Over the following year he went from being an asterisk to being the superstar front-runner.
It is an oversimplification to speak of Gov. Dean’s campaign as being an anti-war campaign and it is an oversimplification to speak of The Scream as the one media event that took him down. However, it is important to look closely at The Scream and think about what really happened there.
Primaries
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sat, 04/02/2005 - 14:58A few weeks ago, I was at an informal gathering of highly involved grassroots activists from around the country in Washington, D.C. There was some discussion about how Democratic Leaders were supporting Bob Casey, a pro-life moderate Democrat over Barbara Hafer, a defector from the Republican party, and whether this was a good thing or not. We don’t want ideological purity issues to prevent us from choosing a candidate that can defeat the incumbent, especially when the incumbent is someone like Rick Santorum. However, Chuck Pennachio was not mentioned in the discussion.
