As I’ve mentioned before, I’m in the running for scholarship to this year’s Netroots Nation conference in Providence, Rhode Island. Right now, I’m
sixth in the competition, with 286 votes. (I had about 350 in the first round, but they were all wiped out when the second round began.) The top three vote-getters are guaranteed slots, but, I’m told, the folks at Democracy for America, who are administering the competition, have as many as a dozen more scholarships to offer at their discretion. I suspect they’ll be taking a number of different things into consideration when choosing the individuals asked to attend, but clearly the number of votes that someone has amassed will factor into it. And, for that reason, I’d like to ask one last time for you to take 30-seconds out of your busy day, follow this link, and place a vote on my behalf.
As for the image above, of the ghoulish FDR… it was inspired by a series of comments that were left here some time ago, when I first mentioned that I’d wanted to attend this big, annual progressive blogging event. I can’t remember how it started, exactly. I believe someone, noting that Providence was the home town of occult hero, H.P. Lovecraft, suggested that, in addition to attending sessions on the new tools in the arsenal if the progressive online activists, we might also be gathering on the author’s tomb at midnight, to summon Cthulu, the ancient embodiment of ultimate evil, which he often wrote about. And, then, if I’m not mistaken, someone else took it step further, painting an image of Chtulu breaking through the waves, as we stood along the shore, in our black hoods, with the reanimated corpse of FDR on his back, shrieking like Howard Dean. I believe George Soros also figured into the narrative somehow, as did Obama’s secret, gay, black militant army, but I don’t recall the specifics.
For what it’s worth, I have no reason to believe there’s any connection between Netroots Nation and the occult. At least, the imagery on their site wouldn’t suggest it.
Oh, and I should probably mention that the folks a Democracy for America called a few days ago, which I take as a good sign. They wanted to encourage me to keep plugging away, looking for votes, which is why I decided to write about this one last time, begging for your support. (I was going to ask about Chtulu, but I thought better of it.)
Polls close this weekend, so, if you haven’t voted on my behalf in this round, please click here, and do so now… Seriously, it only takes a few seconds, and, on the off chance that we do bring Cthulu back, you might want to be on my good side.
15 Comments
If we’ve voted twice before, do we need to do it again? Because you are definitely my candidate!
Satan has already been raised. His name is Barack Husein Obama.
Cthulu was harvested by the Republicans a month or so ago. His heart was put inside of Cheney.
I’ve heard there’s video on the internet of Cthulu coming out of the surf in 2008, during a Republican fundraiser, and mating with Sarah Palin, like in that scene in From Here to Eternity.
The learning never ends at Miskatonic U!
What is the dollar value of the scholarship?
I’m not sure about the dollar value. They put you up in a hotel for a few days. I think you’ve got to share rooms, though. And they cover the event registration. They don’t cover transportation, though. And, to be honest, I don’t know if they cover food. I didn’t look into the details that closely. As for total dollar value, I’d say it’s somewhere between $600 and $1200. That’s just a guess, though… Why do you ask? Are you thinking that, if I get it, I’ll sell it on Ebay, or something? Or are you thinking of offering me a lump sum to assume my identity for the weekend?
I notice that Democracy for America took a number of people ahead of you in the first round, even though you had accumulated more votes. Regardless of what we’re told, it would seem being a middle aged, straight white male isn’t always an advantage in this country.
I mention this not because I’m a homophobic racist who enjoys ranting about how hard white men have it these days, but because I found it telling who they were extending scholarships to. Hispanic and gay community organizers, for instance, seem to have an advantage. I didn’t look that closely, but my guess is that they’re also focusing on people from swing states. From a strategic perspective, it makes sense. Unfortunately, it doesn’t help you very much, though.
I wondered about the value because the multiple rounds of voting seems strange. I guess the point is that they spend a couple thousand bucks and hundreds of bloggers beg their readers to visit their site over and over again.
I like Democracy for America as an organization, and I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. I think that they just broke it up into rounds because they wanted to give new people a shot at it, and not to feel intimidated by those folks who had amassed several hundred votes. As for them taking people from different backgrounds, representing segments of our population that aren’t always encouraged to participate, I think that’s a good thing too. I do think , however, Michigan is a critical state, and I’d like to see us represented at the conference. If I’m chose to be part of that delegation, I think that would be great.
Also, I know that, by focusing all the Cthulu stuff, I might make it look like I’m not taking this seriously. The truth is, I take it very seriously. It’s just that this is the third time I’ve posted about this competition, and I felt as though I had to approach it in a different way in order to keep it interesting. I didn’t feel as though one more post with me talking about how I wanted to go this conference so that I can come back, full of new ideas as to how to drive progressive change in Michigan would be compelling… At any rate, I thought that was worth noting.
Congrats Mark – you’re a winner. Way to put Yipsy on the map!
This is old technology, but I am seeking folks who want to collaborate on this as a community building strategy–Mark and EOS could do a local call-in show for example. Growing Hope workshops could be conducted on-air. Radio is admittedly not the same as blogging, but I think the skill set is transferable.
http://blackagendareport.com/content/what-could-your-organization-do-its-own-radio-station
Is this something that you’re actually thinking about doing, Wobblie? I know that Steve Pierce and Brian Robb run a little station, but I don’t know what kind of range they have, or if anyone listens.
That place is a radio station? I thought that they were DJing for the strip club from that little booth.