As always, great post Noemie.
There is so much here to respond to and I haven't fully synthesized everything that you talk about. I'd just like to throw my two cents in for anyone doing serious thinking on where to take the Washington progressive blogosphere. I think that as much as possible we need to focus on creating an online-offline bridge.
I always fear that blogs and their readers, while an amazing resource for news and analysis, don't do enough to advocate for change in the "real world." It's all well and good to be ridiculously well-informed about all these issues, but it's all for naught if we don't do anything with that knowledge.
I know the little "calls to action" that I tend to put in my posts seem cheesy at times, but it is vitally important that as educated and politicized citizens we keep on our legislators about the issues that are important to us. For instance handwritten letters were instrumental in getting Republican support to pass the patients bill of rights.
With that in mind, the Family Leave coalition is looking for anyone who has had a compelling experience with Family Leave to share their stories. Whether it be a story of how leave time allowed you to spend the last few weeks with a dying relative, or if you had problems getting leave from work, that sort of thing. They are looking for people to testify to the Legislature as well as providing real examples for media outreach. If you know anyone like this, have them contact the Family Leave coalition coordinator Marilyn Watkins of the Economic Opportunity Institute at Marilyn@eoionline.org or (206) 529-6370. As an aside, the EOI is another example of a great progressive think-tank in Washington State.
And as a final aside, I'd like to thank Brian again for giving me the opportunity to join this great community.
PortDork
