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Shiv

(113 posts)
Fri May 29, 2020, 10:37 PM May 2020

Hi there DU!

I'm largely going to skip introductions cause I've got something burning me up and want to get on to it, but I've been reading on the DU over another long-time lurker's (me mum) shoulder predating this account, which, tbh I forgot I made until I tried creating one this week. I think I recall she started reading here during the whole 2000 Supreme Court Decision... Thing. We've found so much like-mindedness and information and comfort here over the years I can't begin to express. Sunday LOLcats are practically a weekly tradition to scroll through together for us. Cheers to you, SCE.

I think it wouldn't be a problem to share that I'm not sure how my mom would've coped and processed the Ken Blackwell Ohio election night fiasco in '04 with commiserating here. I remember her taking a 20-minute walk, for some reason her car was unavail, to the store, in Michigan, that cold night cause she ran out of cigarettes, and then walking back. It was rough. So I have a lot of gratitude for the DU, for that and a lot more.

The first person I ever voted for to be president was Howard Dean in the primary that year. (Yes, the first election I voted in happened to be a primary!). I would've voted for Gore had I been eligible then. I would've voted for someone's shoe if it had the D nomination, and Since there is only one rational choice at this point, I'm a little piqued I can't set my current 2020 choice to Extinction Level Asteroid Impact on a lark so someone might get an unexpected chuckle.

Okay, enough background. On with it! Cause I am done making excuses for the people I care about.

14 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Hi there DU! (Original Post) Shiv May 2020 OP
Welcome to DU! mtngirl47 May 2020 #1
Welcome aboard! FM123 May 2020 #2
Welcome Home! SheltieLover May 2020 #3
Welcome Shiv! pdxflyboy May 2020 #4
Welcome to DU! Rhiannon12866 May 2020 #5
Thanks! Shiv May 2020 #8
Awww, thanks so much! Rhiannon12866 May 2020 #11
Welcome! Glad you finally decided to step out of the shadows!! Fla Dem May 2020 #6
me too! ty so much (nt) Shiv May 2020 #7
Welcome aboard! lillypaddle May 2020 #9
this seems as good a place as any Shiv May 2020 #10
Welcome Shiv! kairos12 May 2020 #12
Welcome to DU Shiv. a kennedy May 2020 #13
Welcome! nt LAS14 May 2020 #14

Rhiannon12866

(202,970 posts)
5. Welcome to DU!
Sat May 30, 2020, 03:01 AM
May 2020

And DU was started by the admins (Skinner and EarlG who stood outside the Today Show with a banner which advertised democraticunderground.com ) on Inauguration Day in 2001. I've been here since early 2003, during the lead up to the Iraq War. And this is a unique and special place as you know from your Mom, the best place on the web to follow news and to join with and learn from like minded Democrats. We're glad to have you with us!

Shiv

(113 posts)
8. Thanks!
Sat May 30, 2020, 10:15 AM
May 2020

Does have a real coming home sort of feel.

Yeah I had a lot of big memories being put down during that period so wasn't really too sure some of the sequence myself! That sounds a lot like our experience. Being against that war was the first thing, I think anyways, that ever got me going in any kind of activist way. I annoyed a good fair number of moderates and conservatives in my class last year or so of high school putting up one page pamphlets I printed off a stack of at home, about E Pluribus Unum! and all this other stuff I was worked up about at the time, all over lockers and walls in our school.

Geez, I hadn't thought about that in ages lol

I've read countless of your posts over the years So it was kinda cool to me to see your response to my first post be my first reply!

Rhiannon12866

(202,970 posts)
11. Awww, thanks so much!
Sat May 30, 2020, 10:32 AM
May 2020

I was here on DU.1. DU.2 started on July 6, 2003 and we moved to DU.3, where we are now, in December of 2011. And every new incarnation has been an improvement. Skinner and EarlG sure came up with a haven for us and there's also a third admin, Elad who handles the technical stuff.

I have observed a lot of milestones here on DU, the most harrowing one was the night of "shock and awe," the first bombing of Iraq which all of us hoped and prayed would never happen. DU is an incredible haven, when these things happen it's wonderful to know you're not alone.

And I'm very glad you decided to officially join us. This was the right time since we've never needed the support and knowledge provided by others as much as we do now. These are truly scary times.

Again, we're so glad to have you with us!

Rhiannon

Fla Dem

(23,351 posts)
6. Welcome! Glad you finally decided to step out of the shadows!!
Sat May 30, 2020, 10:02 AM
May 2020

We need everyone now more than ever! All the best to your Mom.

Shiv

(113 posts)
10. this seems as good a place as any
Sat May 30, 2020, 10:24 AM
May 2020

I'd had this kicking around for awhile and a few new pieces came to mind last night when I was winding down and wanted to conclude a post with it in a facebook support circle amongst some friends that are coping with events right now, and it felt too hopeful not to find a place to share it over here as well. We could all use something to get our eyes looking up at that horizon right now me thinks.

I've imagined all the beautiful ways the table of solidarity might be decorated one day long after we've built it together and shared it together, I imagine the underside of its old wood carved with initials by the young ones underfoot, who look for a grandparent or great-great-grandparents to amaze at before adding theirs nearby, until the edges of earlier and earlier marks wear are faded and the new marks start to carve a new ever renewing layer over them, just as new generations always carve their mark onto the world. I see new families and brothers and sisters to the cause of solidarity leaving their signature on that old table one day, with that oldest way we've been leaving a sign of our handiwork since we've had something to say on walls, by taking paint and mixing it in our mouths and spraying it over the outline of our hands, the the silhouette of our open palms create a tapestry of bright colours and sizes of hands holding one another across countless generations overlap, and you can see from the signs of callouses and bent fingers on this classic signature or that classic old signature over there, that these hands, these peoples hands all together, have been wounded by good hard-work in a life well lived and have not ever need been wounded by strife.

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