SHOUT OUTS TO:
Maryb – who remains the voice of class and reason during turbulent times and I hope our paths will cross again.
AndiF – who has almost singlehandedly kept the Froggy Bottom Cafe up and running every. single. day. which provides us with a safe, accepting and fun place to drink coffee, mix up a mean marmotini, smoke the peace hookah, or tell the latest crummy joke.
keres – without Thursday dog (and other critter) blogging the pond would be barren. No dogs, rabbits, wallabies and yes even pooties would grace our pages.
Man Eegee – who is wise beyond his years and constantly enlightens me with his well-researched and heartfelt stories of immigrants and their families, as well as injustices around the world.
RubDMC – whose Iraq war daily witness is heartbreaking but necessary to remind us all of the cost of war.
Boran2 – whose Saturday painting diary is always entertaining and fun to watch his paintings progress and to share our own attempts at creativity.
Family Man – whose folksy sort of wit belies his great and patient wisdom. Follow the link to his blog. He’s a gifted writer and his love of family will touch you.
Arthur Gilroy – who has made me fall in love with double-spacing and I never have to wonder what he really means by that…
refinish69 – who has the energy of someone half his age and never ever sleeps. He works hard on the local level to bring about change in the whole country. His podcasts are amazing and entertaining to boot. Have a listen.
Kidspeak – who is wise and patient and funny as hell sometimes and has a heart of gold.
Teach313 – who is teaching the next generation to be good guardians of the light. I’d clone him 1000 times over to give more kids a chance to learn from him.
That’s my list and I’m sure I’ve left someone out.
Who do you want to give a shout out to?
Leave your snark at the door.
Welcome newcomers – a special shout-out to you. 🙂
see I forgot someone already!
Olivia – for her gorgeous flowers. Take time to look around you everyone. Look down!
Right on, crouton as my boss used to say! Well there’s our Second Nature for one and right up there on the awesome list!
and as my daughter would say: why are croutons packed in a plastic bag if they are stale bread cubes anyway?
For epitomizing what my grandmother always called Decent People. They were never fancy people who she taught me were decent people, just people who had a quality of heart, soul, intelligence, and self forged into the highest content of character.
Thanks, MT. 🙂
I wnat to add to the list.
Tracy for her strong and fearless perspective.
NL in Saint Paul, Tampopo, Library Lil, Steven, Booman, Boran2 and on and on and on. We have soooo many shiny (sometimes happy) people.
Oh yes, and Boston Joe and Jeff Huber, Wilfred, Dada and Renee in Ohio, and on and on.
Jim Starro, Real History Lisa, Oui, Chris, Albert, Betsy Angert, and well, everbody already mentioned and those not yet mentioned. Hooray for all of us!
(oh no, voting for myself) and add
XicanoPwr for his immensely informative and emotionally powerful diaries
Wilderness Wench for her intelligence, snarky wit and shared joy in nature. I hope she’s enjoying her return to the Catskills.
Indianadem for all his good work (and for actually coming to my house when he was out campaigning).
Omir the Storyteller for being the kind of person you always want to be around.
Ooh, good list! I forget sometimes how many really awesome people pass through here every week. Or just now and then.
to:
Supersoling, EJMW, ManEE and all our other fighters for peace;
Iowa Victory Gardener for being a fellow Countdown-aholic;
and of course, you, m’dear, for hanging in there every damn day…
🙂
hangin’ in there is what I do best. 🙂
I love Scribe and the Madman in the Marketplace for their incredible wisdom.
Diane101,Infedelpig, Alohaleezy, Brenda Stewart, Kali, Kamahkya, Bobaloo, Ask, CaliScribe. . .in additon to all the others mentioned above. . .and many, many more.
And some I miss a lot. . .Ghostdancer’s way, Sally Cat and sadly a too long list of the ones who have left.
Eight of this group is SHOUT worthy, eh?
Kamahkya,Bobaloo, me, Diane, Manny G
Caliscribe, SallyCat, Alohaleezy, SandiegoDem. . .at the SoCal Meetup March 2006
Thanks Shirl…I needed that.
It was such a pleasure spending that weekend with these folks that all came together because of Booman Tribune.
Well don’t leave out the other, that is you Shirl. BTW don’t anyone get any ideas about mannee and me for standing next to each other in the photo….unless you include all of us. LOL
he’s all mine!! JOKE!!!
Thanks, Shirl. Back at ya.
Hopefully there will be a LOT less of me in the next photo… 😉
Still remember that trip…especially the San Diego Transit bus driver who flirted with me… 😛
I want to give a shout out to all the wonderfully kind and nice people I’ve met while here. They are to numerous to count and name each one, but you know who you are.
Thanks to each and everyone of you who make this site a joy to visit everyday.
She always knew exactly what my heart was saying and what my heart was feeling. She isn’t at Orange often enough either.
Thanks, SN. I must echo the comments of our wise FamilyMan above. I would offer a shout out to every BTer but especially to our patient host.
Take care everyone. xoxox
What a fabulous pic. Two of my favorites for sure.
Damnit! I miss you so much and think of you often. I hope that you are well and that your family is doing well. Please remember how much I love you and admire all that you do create change in our country.
Blessings of peace and love!
Hey Shirl, I’m okay… so the’s family.
I’m taking my leave of here now. I’ll miss you all.
here’s how you can “check up on me” from now on. I’m gonna vanish.
http://peacegonewild.blogspot.com/
Janet, I hope you will consider posting on VB, would love to have your peace diaries over there.
just got off the phone with her and she was absolutely devastated and crying because of what she has been accused of here and over at Dkos by Tracy. Janet has done so much for the troops. I for one support her.b
I really wanted this to be free of MT, DJ and Spiderleaf drama. I’ve had more than enough.
So you downrated me for not knowing the rules that you posted where? Give it a rest SN.
I didn’t downrate you, leezy. I gave you a good.
This is my diary. If you want to write about what a terrible person MT is, write your own. And if you ask people not to be nice in it I will honor your wishes.
I asked people not to bring that shit over here.
thank you, leezy.
I love this group– how about a meet up in Brasil??
We’ll be waiting for ya.
Now THAT sounds like a plan. I have never been to South America and would love to visit sometime.
I wonder if what a small charter boat would cost? Brasil by BooBoat!
which is in the very Southern end (almost) of Brasil– but any way you get here will be fine. Love to have you.
sounds wonderful!
you’ll love it.
Ta me dando saudades!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
is having a “passport Saturday” in a couple of weeks — not a bad idea to have one handy for spur-of-the-moment escapes… 😉
Glad to have you with us, oneal…
AndiF and JimF, from the enchanted forest, who bring such lovely pictures to these pages (and are my neighbors).
BrendaStewart, blueneck and ejmw, who showed up for the Meetup In Memphis last May and instantly became friends.
blksista for her NOLA diaries.
Manee, whose personal warmth is just amazing.
Arthur Gilroy and Madman In The Marketplace for never holding back.
And all the regulars at the Froggy Bottom Cafe, including kansas.
And everyone else here, too, with almost no exceptions…
for her many shining hours.
and the Madman.
and RubDMC, of course.
and, louisianagirl.
and, my pal of pals, Bood or Dood.
and b2.
and ask.
and, I just remembered, I actually don’t like these popularity contests.
because they are completely unfair to people I am not familiar with, who, no doubt may be as worthy or worthier than any nominee I can think of.
oh, and, it seems a little painful to see BMT going meta and making pop contests.
don’t go there. there is no instrinsic value in setting up hierarchies.
This has been my main blog community for 18 months. Petty as it is, I’m a little sore that apparently I’ve made scant impression on anybody here. At the same time, there are several people mentioned here that I don’t recall. I suppose I could have spent more time in the silliness of the Froggy Bottom Cafe.
I’ll bet there are quite a few other people in the same boat.
All of this also seems sour in view of the recent extreme disruptions on this site, and the horrid news of the departures of Spiderleaf, Supersoling, Alohaleezy, Damnit Janet and probably others.
I’ll be glad to see this annoying diary disappear.
I value your contributions to this community, Arminius. From Cardinal Mahoney to Leonard Cohen, to just knowing there was another person out there who’d had adoption blues… Those diaries, I recall, adding a different flavor to our progressive politics, and to what I knew of you as a immigration lawyer.
That’s the trouble with diaries that name names. I’m certain SN wants persons blogging here to feel better in the context of the discord in the air of these past few days. I think that’s her likely hope for this diary. I appreciate SN intentions.
However, it is always true that people get left out in these kinds of things.
Even if all were recognized, however, that would not diminish the losses.
How can anyone say, write, think positively in this context? We’ve gone from advocating against the war (and other things), to arguing how and who and what is an adequate antiwar response, to simply who we will or won’t associate with.
I had to seek professional help to laugh at this time:
Molly Ivins .
That was very kind!
I got up at 1 a.m. after a nap (a major appeal brief can totally wipe one out) and I’ve been spending the last two hours reading all the various diaries, which I had somehow missed last night during the Marisacat flap, regarding the Spiderleaf-BooMan-Militarytrace dispute. Thursday and Friday were like days under a dark sun or something.
One watches with the same dread that one watches mangled, whimpering human beings being pried out of a car wreck.
I’m sure SecondNature is trying to cheer everybody up, and I’m sorry to be cranky about it.
One watches with the same dread that one watches mangled, whimpering human beings being pried out of a car wreck.
Interesting metaphor in that it describes a profession I’ve been engaged in and, much of that time, been obsessed with for the past 37 years. It has been at times extremely rewarding and at others, deeply depressing. Some years ago, I was forced to develop an attitude, an emotional contract with myself, if I was to continue in my career without having my mental health, and that of my loved ones, destroyed.
I chose a career that involves the health and safety of my fellow human beings. I owe them 100% of my training, experience and ability when on the job. No excuses, no compromise.
I resolve not to engage in mental self-recrimination for situations that are beyond my ability to control.
Of course its a lot more complex than that in practice. Am I perfect at it? Hell no, but I can work toward those tenets. I’ve found that those two rules work pretty well outside the fire service too.
I suppose the point of my comment is that I think I recognize some of the same emotional suffering I once experienced in others who are very dedicated either to their professions or their desire to improve the human condition and relieve the suffering of others.
Also, I wanted to say that I value your writing here, Arminius, even though there is little time for me to comment most days.
Wonderful insight Indianadem. That’s coming from someone who has worked in another field that deals with human suffering and have had to grapple with the same challenges, but I hadn’t made the connection. I’m going to think alot about what you said. Thanks!!
There have been several diaries posted that have tried in many different ways to stop the collapse of this blog. I don’t think that SN’s intention was to leave anybody out. I’m most worried that the assumption of good will has been permanently damaged in this community.
Thank you for your comment. I’m kind of sorry I posted my little boy’s complaint here.
The atmosphere here truly has been poisonous over the last few days.
An old friend of mine for 25 years, a woman I almost married 20 years ago, has been sinking steadily into serious insanity for years. My wife and I have devoted absolutely amazing efforts to help her–thousands of dollars, hundreds of hours of time. Recently she gave her last money to Nigerian scammers and sold her house to a scammer against my fervent advice. Today she sent a letter saying she hates me for permitting her to lose her house! She has become so delusional, and is so vindictive, that I’m afraid she might harm me or my family. And yet, for what it’s worth, she’s always in my daily prayers (which actually work much of the time!).
I’m not sure why I told that story, but somehow it reminds me of the recent rancor here. We just absolutely have no choice except to keep coming back to love and forgiveness.
Kidspeak & I have a older neighbor that, while not struggling with sanity, is so needy and gullible that she is constantly being taken advantage of. We are very worried that she will lose her house and be left with nothing. Please protect your family first. Sometimes you cannot help people.
Hi arminius – as noted I was just trying to band together a little bit after the horribly divisive last couple of days that have threatened to ruin this blog.
I merely started the shout-outs and hoped eventually everyone would have been included – a naive and lofty goal, at best.
Mainly I wanted to thank EVERYONE who treats others with respect and adds to the goodwill of the blog. I did not mean to leave anyone out.
Just a small shout-out from me (probably a pariah here at this point) to Andi and Family Man, who made the really early mornings a little more manageable. You both rock.
First I want to say thank you for the wonderful comment.
My list includes anyone who has a liberal thought or breath in their body and is willing to share with the world to try and make a difference. I also include the people who vote against the status quo and hold even our elected “liberals”; to task for thier decisions and votes.
There are many people I could name by name who have added so much to my Booman experience but they know who they are and that I love them if even I haven’t met them face to face. There are some here I probably met back at Demfest 2005 but I met so many people as an attendee and volunteer that names escape me. LOL