LA Chamber Orchestra Supports GiveList!

Whenever people ask me why I am so wildly enthusiastic about the Internet and all things social media, I point to content like the blog post from the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra on Friday about the GiveList. (True confession: I was an enthusiastic but awful french horn player in high school.) In essence, it says that they say the tweets about the GiveList and that got the blogger, Lacey Huszcza, thinking about ways that people can support the arts without writing a check. Here is the list of sixteen ways to give to arts organizations from Lacey:

1. Volunteer your time – arts organizations need docents, people to help with administrative time, and people to help with events. Your time can be worth even more than money
2. Call a friend and tell them about your favorite concert or piece of art. Word of mouth is the best way to spread the mission of an organization
3. Write a letter to the editor of the opinion section of your local paper to tell them about the importance of the arts in your community
4. Have a listening party in your home (can be around a broadcast of your favorite symphony or your favorite recording). The holidays are a great time to get together and share great music with friends.
5. Write or call your congressperson to thank them for the increase in the NEA budget for this year, and to encourage them to continue supporting the arts. Find your Congressperson here.
6. If you are a musician or an artist, teach a lesson to a child for free
7. Send CDs of your favorite music to the troops overseas (ok, this one costs a little, but it is a great gift to give someone far away from home)
8. Someone you know probably loves the arts, but is unable to drive. Offer them a ride to his/her favorite concert or museum and see how much joy that brings!
9. Serve on a city level or neighborhoods arts council to help direct funds to arts organizations in need
10. Call your favorite arts organization and offer to distribute brochures to a local coffee shop or bookstore
11. If you are a café/restaurant/bar owner, create a signature dish or drink and name it in honor of your favorite organization
12. Create a wish list of your favorite arts organizations, and ask people to make donations in your name rather than buying you presents for the holidays
13. Attorneys can call California Lawyers for the Arts and offer his or her services
14. Write a blog post about a cause/charity that you are passionate about. Include a link to the cause/charity (OK, I borrowed this great idea from @rogercarr but it’s a good one!)
15. Contribute, audition, comment on or follow the YouTube Symphony Orchestra project
16. If your favorite arts organization has a blog, a facebook page, or some other form of social networking – leave a comment, post on their wall, or just send them an email telling them what you love about that organization.

Thanks, Lacey, and thanks to the many other folks generating such lovely ideas to support people, organizations, and communities!

Memo to Maggie

So, finally the long-awaited shake up has occurred, but is it more than just one loyalist replacing another?  I hope not, and here are a few thoughts for Maggie as she firmly takes the reigns today.

1.  Maybe you all know someone who wasn’t part of Bill’s administration?   It seems to me that a core message of the campaign has to be that HRC isn’t Bill, that her Senate career has been separate from his, more disciplined, more productive, less polarizing than his administration ever was.  The campaign has to be the same.  Clearly no more South Carolinas can happen, but we also need some fresh faces on the team, someone not from 1992.

2.  I know you’re not a risk taker, and fundamentally Hillary isn’t either, but some risks are going to have to be taken to regain momentum.   How about a morning conference call with everyone interested in the campaign.  Yes, I know that less than friendly folk will likely listen in, so what?  Maggie, you don’t have the time or money to just work with the inside operatives anymore, let the rest of us regular folks in!  I talk to so many people who are passionate about the campaign and HRC but who can’t find a way in.  Invite us in for an 8 am call every day and give us some marching orders.  Who can we call, what letters can we write, what talking poitns can we use.  We’re here and ready – use us!

3.  I don’t want a new HRC, just the one I know and believe in.  Talking point #2 a step farther, how about HRC herself doing a 2 minute video of the upcoming day.  I want to hear from her, unscripted, even tired, maybe even a little cranky.  Here’s what’s on my heart and mind today, I am worried about Texas but was hearted by the turnout in Virginia yesterday.  My feet hurt, but I talked to a volunteer who manned the phones for 12 hours yesterday.

Bottom line, Maggie, is it isn’t the 20th century anymore.  You can’t script a presidential campaign, we won’t buy it.  You need to let us in, push power out to the edges, believe in our ability to add value to the campaign, show us the real HRC and we’ll all give it our best shot.  Good luck, you might want to set up an open tab at Starbucks!

It Blows the Media’s Mind that Hillary’s Supporters Support Her

This is exactly what I’ve been talking about – is it really so very difficult for Marc Ambinder of the Atlantic magazine (are they still supposed to be vernerable with coverage like this?) to believe that the millions of people who are voting for HRC and attending rallies and making phone calls wouldn’t dig into their pockets and give to her candidacy when asked last week?? Here’s the post:

According to the Clinton campaign, 100,000 of Hillary Clinton’s enthusiastic donors have contributed more than $10M since Feb 5.

Now these numbers are looked at with suspicion by Obama allies. They can’t possibly see how Clinton could generate some of the same enthusiasm that Obama does — they can’t stand comparisons of his donors to hers.

But unless the Clinton campaign is just flat out lying, which I will stipulate is most likely not the

Terrible Experience by One Caucus Goer in Seattle

Ann Gonzalez attended a caucus in Seattle today. Here are her thoughts after being bullied and belittled by Obama supporters throughout the course of the caucus:

Is there anything more undemocratic than a caucus?

In my Seattle caucus today, overwhelmingly for Obama, us Hillary supporters were older, and less aggressive than the Obama supporters. We didn’t have a chance against the Obama caucus machine. First, they put 90 Obama supporters right in the middle between the Hillary supporters and the undecideds.  While the Obama supporters had been asked to move to the side first, they en-mass, said “No, put Clinton over there.” I tried to talk about fairness, and democracy, but wasn’t heard over the Obama cheers and Clinton character assassination.

Frankly, if our next presidential nominee is going to be selected by a small subset of the population, I don’t want it to be made by many of the Obama supporters I met today. (And yes, caucusing means that a selection is being made by a much smaller sample of the state than if you hold a primary. People work, have childcare obligations, are sick and infirm and have a whole host of reasons why they can’t make it to a caucus.) Don’t get me wrong, some of the Obama supporters were nice…but, some were awful. They can’t say the same about the Clinton supporters because we were a much quieter and less aggressive group. My partner just wanted to help people

Intimidation is a factor in caucuses. It’s something the democratic party has to deal with which is why I want the democratic party to do away with them completely. The last thing democrats need when trying to build party unity is one half winning votes by scaring the other half.

People were lined up to change their votes and the captain just stood up and said “No more changes.” She was going to change her vote from Obama to Hillary.

Not only does there have to be a better way, there is…and I urge all democrats to pressure their states to switch to primaries so that we can finally find out what the voters want.

There’s got to be a better way, wait, I know, how about a primary election, instead . . .

Hillary’s Letter Protesting Debasing Treatment by NBC

Here is the full text that Hillary sent to Steve Capus, president of the news division at NBC regarding the degrading remarks made by David Shuster:

Dear Mr. Capus,

Thank you for your call yesterday. I wanted to send you this note to convey the depth of my feeling about David Shuster’s comments.

I know that I am a public figure and that my daughter is playing a public role in my campaign. I am accustomed to criticism, certainly from MSNBC. I know that it goes with the territory.

However, I became Chelsea’s mother long before I ran for any office and I will always be a mom first and a public official second.

Nothing justifies the kind of debasing language that David Shuster used and no temporary suspension or half hearted apology is sufficient.

I would urge you to look at the pattern of behavior on your network that seems to repeatedly lead to this sort of degrading language.

There’s a lot at stake for our country in this election. Surely, you can do your jobs as journalists and commentators and still keep the discourse civil and appropriate.

Sincerely,

Hillary Rodham Clinton

Sing it sister! It is remarkable to me how often people seem not to realize that Hillary and Chelsea are actually real people. I was at an event once when someone asked HRC if any of the remarks people make hurt her feelings. She looked startled and said, “Of course, they hurt my feelings, I am a person, you know!”

In fact, I think we should all send letters to Capus; here’s his email address: steve.capus@nbc.com.

Media Misogny Continues

On the same day that the Pew Center for the People and Democracy released this survey that shows that most people believe that the media is biased against Hillary, MSNBC reporter, David Shuster, used a gutter reference (story here if you really want to read about it) towards Chelsea that was unbelievably unfair and unkind. He joked, then apologized (sorta a – the half apology that says if I offended you I’m sorry, not that the remark was offensive) and was then suspended by MSNBC.

End of story, right? WRONG! Shuster’s comments follows on the heels of Chris Matthews ongoing sexist remarks about HRC, and don’t even get me started about Fox News! It’s wrong and as the Pew study shows it’s not going unnoticed. Enough is enough, no worry the glass ceiling is so firmly in place.