Drinking Liberally

"My name is Micha Rieser, and I am the City Leader for the
Washington D.C. Capitol Hill Drinking Liberally Chapter. I am
also a graduate student at Georgetown University. This spring,
I will be writing a Masters thesis which will be focusing on
Drinking Liberally. For this thesis, I am attempting to gather
information on the national membership of the organization

I went to the Drinking Liberally event tonight at Piper Down. I had called Megan Risbon to meet me there, and I also hoped to see my son there as well. Last time I had gone to one of the DL Friday night events, was when Marcos of DailyKos came to town. I had a great time and had no reason to have any other expectations.

The topic was "Education" and the speaker was Pat Rusk, who is the former President of the Utah Education Association.

Here is some more information about the ARMY MAN PROJECT-
I'll contact Drinking Liberally and find out details...I would like to participate in this, and hope I can get some D4U buddies to assist.

Welcome to the Mouths Wide Open
Army Men Project!

We’re spreading plastic Army Men around the country and around the globe as small, everyday reminders of the ongoing horrors of the war in Iraq and to serve as tools to foster dialogue, action and resistance to the war. Here in the United States we’re encouraged to forget about the war, to go on with our lives, to “go shopping.” But what if everywhere people went there were little plastic Army Men nudging them to remember that we’re waging war? At Home Depot, on the gas pump, in the 7-11, at the post office, on the hood of the car, in the public restroom, at the movie theatre, in the produce section of the grocery store … in your neighborhood …?...(see more on the website...

Good fun tonight at the Fiddler's Elbow listening to Daily Kos guru, Markos Moulitsas Zúniga. Brilliant guy, but that goes without saying..(said it anyway.). He is also very funny. Markos spoke to a captivated audiance of over 40 people, including local political heroes and anti heroes. Question and Answer session was full of energy, opinion and positive thoughts from the participants. Some of the attendees: Our Rob Miller, vice chair of the State Party, who is also running for office, Lawrence Buehler,(awesome man to get to know), Mike Ginsberg, Greg Felice, Cliff Lyon, Bob Aagard. Pete Ashdown's man, Bret; Chris Johnson, candidate for Senate, Jan Lovett; John Lee, our D4U representative to Drinking Liberally, Heather and Jeremiah; hosts of Drinking Liberally, (Jess, another DL founder, was not in attendance, which was disapponting to me, as she is one of my favorite people), and a host of others with strong opinions and ideas. I spoke to Josh Ewing after the event, he remarked that he also goes to DL events often. Josh is also a candidate in the race with Chris Johnson. Pete Ashdown was at a Utah County Convention this evening, so was not able to get there in time, I assume. He would have a lot in common with Markos, I think. I highly recommend this group! I think DL people are people with whom the D4U members can relate and participate in politically social events. Drinking alcohol is not necessary to join in the conversation and good times. Oh yeah, I had the vegie burger and it was very tasty. Also bought the book and got a nice, personalized autograph.
Sheryl

[John Lee is D4U's liaison with Drinking Liberally. –Carrie]

Mayor Anderson spoke at Drinking Liberally last Friday. His talk? A downer. He tried to be entertaining, and I always enjoy hearing him speak, but... our media, which "conventional wisdom" tells us leans to the left, fails to inform the public well enough for the public to make informed decisions. Stepping into this void is moneyed interests whose goal is shift public opinion for it's own benefit. We have a big hurdle to overcome. Our fourth estate is not doing its job. Oy.

After his talk, a table mate of ours called Rocky over to share a pitcher of beer. You could tell that the talk he gave wore on him as well. We started talking about what we can do. In his talk he spoke about the letters to the editor, and how we need more articulate voices for progressive causes, and in the back of my mind my D4U assignment that I have not yet been able to assemble. But shifting the discussion to what we can do broke the spell. We know that the cards are stacked. We want to make our communities better, and just can't help trying to make right.