Netroots Nation #2 - "Different Strokes for Different Folks"

So yesterday I wondered if I would fit in..the answer: a resounding YES!

I am surprised at the number of middle-aged people at this convention of online political bloggers. At least one third of the attendees appear to be over forty. There are more men than women, however there are MANY women and we had a chance to discuss our issues at one of the women's caucuses yesterday. (There was a mom's caucus, a woman's caucus, and a feminist caucus...they wanted to reach all women....overkill if you ask me :)

My day started with a meeting of all the DFA scholarship winners...a diverse and jovial group...all of whom are thankful for the opportunity to be here. We were asked to attend a rally for Howard Dean who is on a bus tour 'Register for Change' and was on his way to Austin from Crawford, Texas. I attended the rally and then had lunch with a young woman blogger from Washington D.C.. (I tend to gravitate to people from D.C. since i lived there almost a decade). The woman is about to leave for Oxford to study public policy and I enjoyed hearing her viewpoints on government and public officials. Her concern is that neither candidate for President will make the needed changes to move the country forward. I disagree with her...I am unashamedly an Obama supporter...however, I am glad she will use her blog to document his efforts!

I attended the women's caucus and realized that most of the complaints I heard.....women getting lower pay...women being disrespected...women being the caregivers of the world....well, these are the same laments I hear from my women's Bible study groups. I make the point to the women that we need to stop dividing ourselves with labels: feminist, progressive, conservative, etc. we may disagree...however our issues are the SAME! (this seems to be a reoccurring theme for me in political discourse).

I also attended the African-American caucus and it was good to hear from black bloggers. There were only about 15 of us in the room and this convention still has a way to go as far as diversity. After the AA Caucus I met a woman who had attended the Latino caucus and she said our individual caucuses should have been held together....I agree with her. We have to move away from all the divisions! She is a DNC Super-Delegate from Colorado and we made plans to meet up in Denver since I am a delegate also.

Last night I attended the keynote by Wesley Clark and Howard Dean. I met a lovely woman from Austin and her Dad. We discussed juggling kids and family with political activism. Afterwards I had some of the BEST Bar-b-que, yams, and collard greens as I hit the Downtown Austin restaurant area with my fellow Netroots attendees.

Now that all of the 'affinity group' caucuses are out of the way, the real conference begins today!

I'm having a blast!!!