YKOS Memories Edition: DK Meetup in Chicago 10/08/06

Each of us who attended YK2006 has a YearlyKos diary, although we haven't all written them yet.  I'm only writing mine now.

I'm writing about YearlyKos partly because Dan Biss suggested it when we decided to write DK Meetup diaries all week.  Then yesterday Chicago was announced as the location of YK2007.

I'd like to focus on the part of YearlyKos that is pertinent to a meetup, that relates to the experience of chatting anonymously for years then suddenly showing up and saying, ok it's me.

You've heard it before, likely, that the people at YearlyKos were normal.  If I recall correctly, this was Kos' initial blogged reaction.  Perhaps that sounded strange to you, and you wondered, um, as opposed to what??

Politics can be a bit of role-playing, and sometimes posturing.  At its best, political theatre is awesome.  And even in personal political discussions people slip on fierce, painted masks and engage in the ritual.  We know the liturgy, and recite on command the creeds of either our faith or simply our affiliation.  This in no way lessens the sincerity of beliefs and causes espoused, but it affects the manner of relating.  And in a large gathering of unknowns there is a strain.  Nothing cumbersome really, but a funny-ness.  A randomness.

When I arrived at YearlyKos, it felt like a return to the first day of school--people were setting up, trying to find the right classrooms, and there was just this delicious anticipation.  Ambassador Joe Wilson walked up to the registration area slightly ahead of me, and casually, nonchalantly chatted as he waited for someone.  He gave me a friendly nod, and I, freshly curious about, you know, the secret identities behind screennames and so on said, so...who are you?  As though it were Halloween.  He said, Joe Wilson.  I gave it a moment of silence then apologized, he laughed, and I decided not to talk for awhile.  That turned out to be impossible.

A few of us bumped into each other the first day (in a session, on the smoking stairs, etc.), and tended to gravitate at key points during the remainder of the convention.  One of this crew said to me in a totally random comment, you guys make me feel like I belong.  The simplicity of the comment felt nice.  Because immediately after the 2004 elections I suddenly felt like I didn't fit into any given corner of my world, and that experience was still clearly tucked away in this corner of my mind.  Here, we all just fit.  And the posturing factor?  Pretty damn close to 0%.

I found also at YearlyKos that many attending were lurkers.  I'd guess that a high percentage of true DK addicts are readers only, and they are as much the lifeblood of the site as the active contributors though with vastly different functions.  The readers of the site give it its significance in the political scene through numbers, and declare their love by coming back.  

Some people connect on-line as easily as if they met you in the 3rd grade and had been your best friend ever since.  Others need the eye contact, have to size you up for a minute.  A lot of people in this 2nd category--the lurkers--made it out to Vegas, and it was a quite a splash.

So I'm hoping that on Sunday we have another terrific discovery experience, and just a lot of fun.  Come out and join us!  Details below:

Date:  October 8, 2006
Time:  5:00 pm
Place:  Blue Agave, raised level (this has been reserved)
Address:  just off intersection of State and Maple.
(Not to complicate, but two addresses are given since it's an intersection)
1 West Maple Street, Chicago IL, 60610
1050 N. State Street, Chicago IL, 60610
Blue Agave phone:  [phone]

And our previous meetup diaries (w/attached rsvps!) are here and here.

And, here is a link to Blue Agave and a Google Map, courtesy of Bill White and dmsilev.

UPDATE: As DB mentioned, Crashing the States will be in town. Come show a little love ;>