Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
Let's return to center. I don't think we've used this one up yet,
Farai.

Now, I have a question: now what?
  

    
Good question!

And another: Why is Keith Olbermann of MSNBC the only guy following up on 
the election irregularities?
  

    
I just went through all 164 pages of the Sorry Everybody web site (now
mirrored on a new fast machine @ http://72.3.131.10/) and I was
thrilled and delighted.

I laughed, I cried, I got angry, I was provoked, but mostly I was
touched and astounded by the 1000 or so images I viewed.

There is no other medium on earth that can allow so many people to
instantly express themselves/share their stories with the world.

I know I've said this a hundred of times, but on the internet, it's
the
uploads, stupid.

God Bless America.  

And God Bless the WWW.
  

    
All those kids. Breaks my heart, but it's hopeful, too.
  

    
Now what? Start planning for 2006 and 2008. Build infrastructures and
connect the ones that exist. If you go to
http://pandpelex.blogspot.com, I linked to an analysis of how many
billions of dollars was spent this election cycle. And plent of it went
to Dems and progressive 527s. People have to get smarter.... build
institutions, as Don Hazen of Alternet wrote, from the bottom up, not
the top down. And I think there has to be the equivalent of a secular
church--a physical place where people gather, that can be leveraged by
progrssives the way church is by evangelicals.
  

    
I'm connected with several groups who've talked about doing just that. 
Wonder how we make new progressive organizations and institutions 
sustainable? I guess giving to your favorite 527ish organization will be 
like tithing...
  

    
Maybe we should think of endowed Progressive Centers in every town --
a place with meeting rooms, some 'net terminals ... ?
  

    
Here's an interesting pictorial representation of the real demographic
mix:   we are far more Purple than the Red and Blue depictions would
indicate....

http://www.cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/election/
  

    
Yes--this is one of the most amazing visual representations of our
electorate I've seen. In a way it's hopeful, but a friend of mine also
said "when you look at it, it looks like the country is literally being
ripped apart."

I'll be reading, BTW, at a Clean Well Lighted....
(http://www.bookstore.com.... what a URL!), on Friday at 7pm.

I'm watching TV right now and it's just horrific.... that's an aside,
I suppose. But it's no wonder, given that the Avg american watches
4-5hrs of tv/day, that folks were not better informed about voting.

I think the progressive-alternative-to-church could take a lot of
forms, and come either from big national organizations or from local
innovators. One thing I found to be a good model was a space/event I
used to participate in called "Brunch at 4B" (for an apartment number
in Brookyn where it was held). It was a monthly brunch that always had
a theme--a speaker, or a fashion show or art show or music--but really
was about connecting people to each other. Very multi-racial, very warm
and fuzzy, and also practical (people got advice on how to fucking
LIVE as an artist, etc). Very progressive, politics often a part of it
but not front and center, I guess goes without saying. (But I just
did.)

Food was potluck, and usually very good.

I think, with a collective of people, you could take that concept
weekly, and have a drop-in, potluck brunch on Sundays (or Saturdays)
that made people feel a PART of something. Ideally it could be based at
a consistent location--hey, even a church--and people could kick in a
couple of bucks to pay for cleanup, etc. Or it could rotate between
different peoples' homes.

I think community needs to be made tangible. It's hard, of course,
given that most peoples' friends, family, associates, are dispersed
geographically. But I had to take a train for an hour to Crown Heights
to get to this brunch, and it was always worth it.
  

    

> I think community needs to be made tangible

Yes.
  

    
and with that, we seem to have come around to the thought that you use
to conclude your book:

"The lockout of half the population from American politics will not
change unless we change it:  not just the parties, not just the
activists, but ordinary Americans who reach out to their friends,
families and neighbors."

It's been a really interesting discussion, Farai.   Do you have any
last comments for Inkwell before we wrap this up?
  

    
Thanks Lisa.... just will say that I'm privy to a lot of what I call
"spaghetti" conversations. The big issue right now is building
community and a civic "echo chamber." People in technology, finance,
nonprofits, grassroots organizing, and media all trying to come up with
ideas, throw the spaghetti against the wall, and see what sticks. When
I hear of good stuff a-coming, I'll make it known.