Tricounty DFA Update: Post Election Edition!
Hello Everyone;

First, before I start this update, I want to thank everyone who has participated in this group over the last five and a half years, since we first formed for Howard Dean. It took a bit longer than we expected to take back the White House. But you and people like all of you, all across the country, made this week of miracles happen. It has been a unique and single honor to be associated with you, and to become your friend.

In this update for November 7th, 2008:


1. One Picture Says It All
2. Meeting Report
3. I Voted For Obama Bumper Sticker
4. Thank Howard
5. Thanks From Bob Muller
6. Vigil Pictures
7. Saturday Night Progressive Film Fest


1. One Picture Says It All

I am certain we all saw President Elect Obama's electrifying acceptance speech Tuesday night. However, not everyone may have seen this picture today:. It's what it really was all about, and it needs to be savored: Office Of The President Elect. http://apnews.excite.com/image/20081107/Obama.sff_ILDA127_20081107162405.html?date=20081108&docid=D94AG51O0


2. Meeting Report

We had a terrific monthly meeting Wednesday night, that culminated with a live conference call with DFA Chair Jim Dean and DFA staff. It was a pretty mellow event, as you might imagine, quite a contrast to the day after the election four years ago. We did discuss, some, the upcoming year ( local elections are coming up! ) but mostly it was a night to celebrate and reflect. We'll get serious about next year's agenda at our next meeting.

In reference to that, Dick sends along this link, about the role of progressives in the future-- making sure Democrats don't lose sight of why they won: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-l-borosage/amazing-grace-hallelujah_b_141054.html


3. I Voted For Obama Bumper Sticker

DFA National is sending out free "I Voted For Obama" bumper stickers. We handed out a few Wednesday, but everyone should go online and get one to show their support for our President-Elect: http://democracyforamerica.com/activities/113


4. Thank Howard

We also handed out post cards Wednesday night to thank Howard Dean, for starting this movement, for breaking trail for Barack Obama, for the 50 State Program, and for standing up at one of the most perilous moments in American history, to Take Back America. Without Howard Dean, the great change coming would never have happened. http://democracyforamerica.com/activities/112


5. Thanks From Bob Muller

A Thank You From Bob Muller, the first Democrat to win a seat on the State Supreme Court in decades:

"Good Morning:

"While this is a busy day for some it is simply one of anticipation for me. I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for all of your efforts on my behalf. I think it will be an historic evening across the North County and beyond and each of you have played an important role in the result. I started my campaign with the best of intentions and present myself this Election Day in the same posture. On to a resounding victory!

"Many, many thanks,
"Bob Muller"

6. Vigil Pictures


After a nearly six year run, the last vigil downtown for Peace and to Bring Our Troops Home was held last Saturday. Many thanks again to those who started them, and for everyone who helped keep them going. Kate Austin, now of the Chronicle, came by and took pictures of the last day, and posted them online.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aeph/2992907107/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aeph/2992907177/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aeph/2993753486/


7. Saturday Night Progressive Film Fest

The Rockhill Bakehouse Cafe's Progressive Film Fest continues this Saturday. WIth the election now over, the press of news will abate, and so, like Cincinattus, I will be returning to my plow and only doing these updates no more than twice a month. So I am including two weeks worth of films at the Cafe. I strongly suggest we all sign up for Matt's updates directly.

SAT NOV 8 7:00 pm SATURDAY SCREENINGS Free.
51 BIRCH STREET (2005) Doug Block 88 min. RT Rating = 95 %
Documentary filmmaker Doug Block had every reason to believe his parent’s 54-year marriage was a good one. So he isn’t prepared when, just a few months after his mothers’ unexpected death, his 83-year old father, Mike, phones to announce that he’s moving to Florida to live with "Kitty", his secretary from 40 years before. Always close to his mother and equally distant from his father, he’s stunned and suspicious. When Mike and Kitty marry and sell the longtime family home, Doug returns to suburban Long Island with camera in hand for one last visit. And there, among the lifetime of memories being packed away forever, he discovers 3 large boxes filled with his moms’ daily diaries going back 35 years. Realizing he has only a few short weeks before the movers come and his dad will be gone for good, the veteran documentarian sticks around, determined to investigate the mystery of his parents’ marriage. What begins as his own intimate, autobiographical story, soon evolves into a broader meditation on the universal themes of love, marriage, fidelity and the mystery of family. 51 Birch Street spans 60 years and 3 generations, and weaves together hundreds of faded snapshots, 8mm home movies and two decades of verit? footage. The result is a timeless tale of what can happen when our most fundamental assumptions about family are suddenly called into question.

SAT NOV 15 7:00 pm SATURDAY SCREENINGS Free.
THE REAL DIRT ON FARMER JOHN (2007) John Peterson & Greg Snyder 82 min. RT Rating = 88 %
The Real Dirt on Farmer John is a personal documentary about John Peterson, a farmer, artist, and eccentric/innovative thinker cast in rural Illinois. Filmmaker Taggart Siegel has documented John's struggle to redefine his family farm for over twenty years, witnessing the colorful drama of John's life. With the death of his father during the late 60's John turns his traditional family farm into an experiment of art and culture, making it a haven for hippies, radicals and artists. The Real Dirt on Farmer John charts the end of this idealistic era as the farm debt crisis of the 1980s brings about the tragic collapse of the farm. As the intricate weave of rural America unravels, vicious local rumors turn John into a scapegoat, condemning him as a Satan-worshipping drug-dealer. Threatened with murder, his home burned to the ground, John defies all odds to transform his land into a revolutionary farming community. At the film's close, the Peterson family farm is one of the largest Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms in the United States. Out of the ruins of single-crop agriculture, John creates an extended farm village where people and art can thrive alongside agriculture.


Thanks everyone! My very, very best to all of you,

Larry

Labels: Democracy For America, Democracy For The Greater Glens Falls Area, DFA, New York Supreme Court, Obama, Robert Muller, Rockhill Bakehouse Cafe, vigil

- posted by Larry Dudley @ 11:46 PM