Rachel Maddow introduces us to the kind of Republicans progressives can find common cause with: union Republicans. A very interesting, and encouraging, report.

Happy new year. It’s the last day of the first week of the year, so I think, technically, I can still say “Happy new year”. This is also my blog, so screw it; I’m going to say it. And publish it.

Resolutions are a part of many people’s new year, of course. I don’t do resolutions. I don’t trust myself with them. Were I to make a significant resolution and then keep it, god knows what the consequences would be. Maturity, accomplishment, personal growth? I’m not sure the world is ready for that. Not from me, anyway.

Instead, my new year’s practice is to sit home alone, drink cheap wine, and weep silently. This is one of the practices that has made me the man I am today. Unfortunately, in the past couple of years I have had the luck to have a number of markedly superior people enter my life; the excellence of these people has rubbed off on me, and it appears that bitter, lonely suffering will no longer suffice.

The best of these people is Kriste York. Her story is pretty amazing: brain tumor and stroke, standing on the abyss, learning to walk again, etc. The stuff of a Hallmark tv movie (do they still make those?). Somehow, she and I have become pretty good friends (mostly via Facebook; suck it, haters) and her impact on my life is nothing short of amazing. I knew her before her near-death experience, but we had drifted apart. And then, once we re-connected, I decided that if she was willing to be my friend, I was going to let her be my mentor. What that means is between the two of us, but I will share how that impacts my path in 2012.

Following her surgeries and recovery in 2009, Kriste began to mark her new year with the date of her medical adventures. As part of that, she chose to mark each year with a word. (And rather than me explain how that works, read her own words at her blog — a blog she started, and now loves, at my suggestion; our friendship is a two-way street, something that never ceases to amaze me). Since Kriste is my mentor in how to live life fully, I started thinking about a word for myself. And as 2011 came to a close, a word came to mind:

Connect.

I was really angry and sad that no one invited me anywhere over the holidays, that I had no invites to any New Years Eve parties, and none to watch the Ducks in the Rose Bowl. You would think after a few years in this city, and knowing quite a few people, not to mentioning having busted my butt on a lot of shared projects, I might get something. If you thought that, you’d be mistaken. But the realization came to me: no one invites me to do anything because I don’t invite others.

I needed to be the one doing the connecting. Waiting for invitations to connect to other people’s lives was never going to work. I need to instigate the connections. This is not something I do well. I am a shy person; I like my solitude. Also, I have spent most of my life hating myself. So it feels right to be rejected by others; it’s pretty much what I’m worth.

Except Kriste tells me otherwise (as do Bruce, Sonya and a few others). She tells me this explicitly. (To be fair, she tells almost everyone she knows the same thing, but I need the message desperately. And she follows it up with acts of friendship that prove it’s more than mere words.) Because she’s chosen to give some of her limited energy and time to me and our friendship, I take her seriously. I believe her. I refuse to insult her by wallowing in the oh-woe-is-me.

As a result, in 2012, I will be exploring in Kristesque style what the word “connect” means in my life. One thing I do know at this point: it does mean that hiding away in my room will not be an option. Whatever else I do this year, my trajectory will be outward.

Consider yourself warned.

The danger Americans Elect poses isn’t to the parties. And the answer Americans seek isn’t a national party promising electoral nirvana; it’s a personal commitment to your own community.

September 29, 2011.

Americans Elect says it’s opening the Presidential nominating process via the Internet, but its process is actually very tightly controlled. Scott Moore, Communications Director of Our Oregon, explains how.

September 29, 2011

Americans Elect is spending tens of millions of dollars to nominate a candidate for president via the Internet. Who is behind this nascent third-party, and what are their goals? Scott Moore, Communications Director of Our Oregon, spoke with me about the group.

September 29, 2011

In the final installment of my conversation with Rep Jules Bailey, he discusses the national picture and how those politics have a local effect in Oregon.

September 21, 2011

Rep Bailey spoke with me recently, and prior to the changes that were made to the House Dem leadership. Rep Lew Frederick & Rep Michael Dembrow have taken former Rep Cannon's & Rep Smith's places on the leadership team.

Sept 15, 2011

Rep Jules Bailey spoke with me on September 15th about a number of issues, including how the 2011 Legislature did. In this second installment of our conversation, he spoke of things that did not go well & things that failed to get done.

This marks the start of a new direction for my work: short interviews with great local progressives. I'll be presenting them over a period of days, building up a series of conversations that will, over time, define "progressive".

September 21, 2011

Rep Jules Bailey spoke with me on September 15th about a number of issues, including how the 2011 Legislature went.

This marks the start of a new direction for my work: short interviews with great local progressives. I'll be presenting them over a period of days, building up a series of conversations that will, over time, define "progressive".

September 21, 2011

President Obama discusses the need for Congress to pass the American Jobs Act to put more people back to work, and more money back in the pockets of people who are working. Read the jobs bill.