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I just listened to a podcast of No Days Off blog talk radio where Mooncat from Left in Alabama was a guest during the second half of the show. One good point made during this discussion was how there are a lot of prolific female bloggers at LIA. Unusual because the blogosphere, even from the Democratic and progressive side of the aisle, has been dominated by males. .
We have recently gotten to the point where we have three administrators that write daily diaries and a couple of others that frequently comment. We certainly appreciate all the help that Curtis and MOT have been giving recently. However, we have all white males that provide most of the content and that is something that we should improve upon in terms of both gender and race.
So if you are lurking, I know we have a number of female and African American followers, and can help us improve our diversity perspective we urge you to write diaries and comment in the threads. If any of the other admins can help with recruiting that would be much appreciated.
I think our op-eds and depth of coverage will improve if we can grow our spectrum of backgrounds that are involved in developing content on this site. For example, LIA has done a fabulous job in drawing attention to equal pay and the Lilly Ledbetter Act. I believe that is due in part to the fact that females have been directly adversely affected in the workplace in terms of pay and have a passion for writing and talking about these issues.
Identity politics will continue to exist and we should embrace more discussion on differences. I certainly do not believe that this is a chauvinist boys club, but I would like to make sure we are inclusive. This is a safe platform to express a wide range of ideas and while we love what we have been doing I believe that we can certainly do better.
I've spent the last four days in Pittsburgh for the Netroots Nation convention for progressive bloggers. Netroots Nation 2009 lacked diversity in any number of ways you could choose to define diversity. As another Daily Kos user this morning points out, the Netroots could have been called the whiteroots convention . From my perspective as a southern blogger I was also disappointed in the shrunken numbers of Southern attendees.
I was thus extremely disappointed when Las Vegas was announced as the choice for the location of the 2010 convention. As someone who started as a trained political field organizer I learned that you have to go directly to the people. The choice of where we go to hold our conventions is important as a symbol and also as a tool to influence change. Las Vegas at the Rio hotel may be a lot of fun and debauchery but does that stretch us far enough as a movement. Btw - Pittsburgh was an excellent choice
I believe we should certainly make the appropriate connections between the legacy of Dr.King and the path he blazed for President Obama. However, I also think that we should put on our thinking caps to look for lessons that may not be so glaring. We should certainly praise the accomplishments of yesterday and today while at the same time using the legacy of Dr. King to face today and tomorrow's real challenges.
I am slowly reading The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems. I am certainly ashamed that I have not yet finished this treasure and one of the more-thoughtful books I've started in a long time. However, I am at the same time grateful that I stumbled into the eco-equity chapter at the most appropriate time. Van Jones paints a picture where Dr. King fought for inclusion into an economy which was based on not so earth friendly technologies.
This will probably be the most emotional diary I have ever written. I was listening to a local sports radio talk show today regarding the football head coach vacancy at Auburn University. One of the names that came up was Charlie Strong - the Assistant Head Coach and Defensive Coordinator at the University of Florida. It was suggested that Strong, an African American, despite some pretty solid credentials has not been strongly considered for other head coaching jobs and may not this one perhaps because he is married to a Caucasian woman. Let me say that the hosts on this show were not promoting this as a valid reason. Just something that has been mentioned and they defended the contention that this fact should absolutely not exclude Strong.
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