The Silent "I"

Netroots Nation '09

This weekend, I'm traveling to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to join hundreds of progressive bloggers from all over the country at the annual Netroots Nation Conference.  I will be moderating a panel called "The Revolution Begins at Home: Engaging Parents in Politics Through Social Media." 

On the panel are several other MOMocrats contributors: Cynematic, LawyerMama, and Julie Pippert.  MOMocrat Joanne Bamberger of PunditMom is on a panel called Building a Conversation Across Generations of Progressive Women , as well, so we'll be posting about the conference over at MOMocrats and PunditMom during and after the conference.  You can follow our tweets on Twitter by following: @momocrats, @cyn3matic, @lawyermama, @PunditMom, and @glennia. 

Michelle Obama Guest Posted on MOMocrats

The future First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, did a guest post on MOMocrats today.  Go read it by clicking here.

I haven't been posting here lately because I've been sick since our trip, trying to get back to work, and working hard on election-related things.  I promise to come back and fill you all in soon.

Next week, I'm going to Chicago for the Obama Women's Leadership Conference and will be blogging my adventures there.  Oprah Winfrey is kicking off the event, which features appearances by Michelle & Barack Obama, Madeline Albright, and other luminaries.  I can't wait!

Join the Huffington Post's Special Ops Team!

Over at The Huffington Post's Off the Bus feature, ordinary citizens are transforming themselves into high-powered citizen journalists during this election season.  Even the MOMocrats now have our own byline now on The Huffington Post.

Off the Bus rolled out a new feature this week, and you are invited to join the fun.  The feature is called "Off the Bus: Special Ops."  Every week, the Huffington Post editors will give out an assignment that individuals can carry out in their local areas, and report on it via Off the Bus.  To learn more, click here.

No special ninja journalism training needed...just a desire to learn more about politics and report on what you see and hear.

MOMocrats Podcast No. 3: From Red to Blue

Join host Julie Pippert and MOMocrats Donna and Stephanie today, Sunday, June 22 at 6 pm Eastern/3 pm Pacific for a lively discussion of the week's news, some insight on states going from red to blue in November, and an inside view of the Virginia and Texas State Democratic conventions. Listen live and participate in our live chat by siging in over at Blog Talk Radio.

If you missed the last podcast, click on the Blog Talk Radio button to hear the show that I hosted, with guests Stephanie, Jaelithe, and Julie.  It was a lot of fun, and we're trying to do a podcast every other week to prepare for the Democratic National Convention.

Next time, we will have aBook Club Discussion podcast of Arianna Huffington's book Right is Wrong with Joanne Bamberger on July 13.  Stay tuned for more information on that, and start reading, if you haven't already!

Maya Soetero-Ng: Meeting Obama's Sister

Maya Soetero-Ng, Barack Obama's sister, made an appearance Wednesday night at a San Francisco Obama fundraiser.  MOMocrat Stefania and I, along with various family members, were on hand to listen to Maya give a short talk about her brother, and then had a chance to meet her.  We tried hard to recruit her as a MOMocrat.  She accepted our MOMocrats pin, which I think means we're now going steady.

Maya exudes charm, warmth and poise.  When she walked in and started mingling with the crowd, I spotted her from across the room, and noticed how much she looked like her brother, with deep soulful eyes and broad smile.  While you wouldn't mistake them for twins exactly, they shared some common facial expressions and you can tell they are family.

Maya and Barack share the same mother, but not the same father. Maya's father was Indonesian, and she is considerably younger than her brother.  She started her remarks by saying that when she learned that she would be speaking in front of a group comprised of LGBTs for Obama, Asian-Pacific Islanders for Obama, Latinos for Obama, and South Asians for Obama, she realized that should could not possibly cover all the issues important to these groups.  She decided that instead, we could read his website, read his books, to find out his stance on issues important to our communities.  What she hoped to do was to give us some insight on who he was as a person, to give us the "measure of the man" from her vantage point as his sister.

Going to the Democratic National Convention

I am thrilled ecstatic to announce that the MOMocrats will be attending the Democratic National Convention in Denver in August.  We just learned this afternoon that we are among 120 credentialed blogs to be invited to cover the convention.

Back in September 2007, Stefania Pomponi Butler, Beth Blecherman and I sat in a coffee shop in Palo Alto and devised a plan to launch a collaborative blog where progressive moms could come together to express their views.  Since then, we've been joined by 19 other talented, passionate women who write and comment here regularly, a host of fantastic guest bloggers, dedicated readers, and a community of Democratic women and men, parents and non-parents alike. 

We never knew what would come of this, but we dreamed that we would be in a position to witness history in the making.  This convention, whatever the outcome, will be historic.  We are proud to be a part of it, and will share our adventure with you every step of the way.

I have to say, this is the culmination of a dream I've had since childhood.  I remember seeing the Democratic convention on TV in 1972 and thinking how exciting it looked.  I can't believe I will actually be able to go and see it for myself.  My feet haven't touched the ground since I found out!

Obama in San Francisco

I had the privilege of attending a fundraiser for Barack Obama in San Francisco on Sunday night, and came away with a renewed feeling of optimism and hope that this man could be our next President.  I was on the fence between Hillary and Barack for a long time, after the crushing blow of John Edwards' withdrawal from the race.  I now know that if Barack wins the nomination, he will go all the way.

Frank, Alex and I drove up to a gorgeous home in San Francisco, and were met with a long line of well-dressed Northern Californians who were all excited to meet Obama.  We met our hosts at the door, a real estate developer and his lovely wife.  There were about 300 people in attendance, all crowded into the downstairs living room, dining room, and foyer, munching on appetizers and drinking wine. 

When Obama's motorcade (actually, two giant champagne-colored Suburbans) arrived, we all had to squeeze together and back up to make way for him to come through the crowd without freaking out the Secret Service.  My son, Alex, met a 9 year old girl at the event and the two of them weaseled their way up to the front to position themselves at the bottom of the staircase that Obama was use to make his entrance. The Secret Service stoically stood by, eyeing the crowd and talking into their sleeves from time to time, and the crowd was calm, but excited.

California Democratic Convention: Who Wants to Be Governor of California?

I spent the past weekend attending the California Democratic Convention.  On the first full day of the Convention, I made my way into the big hall, bright green "INTERNET MEDIA" press pass dangling from my neck, wondering who was going to stop me and tell me that it was off-limits.  I thought as lowlife bloggers, we'd be shuttled into a windowless, cinderblock sideroom where we would watch the action from a portable Zenith black & white television set with rabbit ears.  Instead, I was told to go sit on a platform at the back of the room, with a great view of the stage, above he heads of the delegates in the crowd, right beside the TV news crews from CBS, CNN, and other major networks.  I found a seat in the back row of the blogger ghetto, and opened up my laptop.

As I was sitting there, about a half dozen or more people representing various causes and candidates came by to hand me literature, asking if I would write about their causes.  A guy with a firm handshake with the made-for-politics name of Joe Nation, candidate for State Senate, came by to talk to the bloggers. He said that he bought carbon off-sets to neutralize the entire Bay Area delegation's carbon footprint for the convention.  He seemed like a very nice guy, but one of the bloggers kicked him off the blogger platform and said that the area was for press only.

Peace Vigil: Better to Light A Candle...

Like many people across the US, my family attended a vigil for peace in our town.  The vigils were organized on a mass scale by Moveon.org.  In our town, people gathered in front of City Hall, held signs, lit candles, and formed small circles of rememberance, small circles of light.

My husband and 7-year old son and I are veterans of a number of peace rallies since the war in Iraq began five years ago.  My husand and son traveled to Washington, DC last year to participate in one of the largest demonstratons since the war began, marching one cold day from the Lincoln Memorial to the Pentagon.  That day, a pro-war protester handed my son an American flag as he walked by, and he carried it proudly.  The anti-war people were somewhat appalled by this gesture, and separated themselves from him.  To us, protesting is part of being American, and our son carried his flag proudly.  Isn't the right to free speech one of the rights we're supposedly sending our young men and women to die for?

Why is it considered unpatriotic to exercise the freedoms guaranteed under the Constitution?  I would posit that the most patriotic acts of all are those in which we raise our voices in opposition to tyranny and oppression, those acts in which we stand together so we don't fall apart. 

Al Gore in San Francisco

I had the opportunity to hear former Vice President Al Gore speak last night at City Hall in San Francisco.  It was an inspiring, and surprisingly moving event, and one I won't likely forget soon.

The event was a fundraiser for the Full Circle Fund, an innovative non-profit that links entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs, and leaders in the non-profit sector to creative new ideas for solving social problems.  They have been working on 3 focus areas up until now--technology, housing, and education.  For the unveiling of their new focus area--environment--they invited Al Gore to be the Keynote Speaker at this event.  The event turned out to be an awards ceremony for leaders in both philanthropy and non-profits.  The theme was "You've Got the Power" with a 70's style logo, and an award that looked like a naked lightbulb sitting on a box.

The first award went to Richard Goldman, a frail, elderly gentleman who was assisted to the stage by a burly young man, who I assume is either his bodyguard or his manny.  He was honored for the work that his foundation, The Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund, has done since 1955.  They've awarded over $500 million in grants to various organizations focused on the environment. 

Goldman introduced his twin gransons, both college students, and said that he was proud of the fact that they were as committed to philanthropy as he is.  He also noted that they love Al Gore, but more importantly, they love him.  He went on to say that some people want Gore to run for president, which drew applause from the crowd.  He added, "But I don't, because the work he's doing to save humanity is much more important than being President."  I couldn't agree more.

Al Gore was introduced next to thunderous applause, and he seemed to really appreciate the crowd's welcome. He looked a bit grayer and more tired than I'd imagined, but his voice was very distinctive.  He started by thanking various people, mentioning the Alliance for Climate Change, his new green think tank located right here in Palo Alto.  He introduced two people who now do the slide show seen in "An Incovenient Truth."  One of them, a young man named Taylor, he said had done the slide show 22 times, and is only 15 years old.

Gore started out his speech by saying, "I'm Al Gore." Then mumbled,  "I used to be the next President of the United States."  The crowd roared at this line, but he sheepishly said, "I think I need a new line."

He went on to tell a story of going to a salad bar type restaurant with his business partner on his way to LAX one day, when an elderly woman started circling his table and staring at him.  He finally greeted her, and she said to him, "You know, if you dyed your hair black, you'd look exactly like Al Gore."