Lifting the Digital Curtain: an NN Pepsi Challenge
Pepsi Challenge Grant: Lifting the Digital CurtainMany communities across the United States, especially rural communities and communities of color, live behind a digital divide. They don’t have access...
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IGTNT: He Died Far From Home
~ Photo Credit llbearAs of today, 1,696 US military personnel have been killed in or near Afghanistan, while 4,483 have been killed in or near Iraq.I Got the News Today is a diary series intended to...
View ArticleAction Diary: Diversify Netroots Nation
Pepsi Challenge Grant: http://www.refresheverything.com/...Last year, I brought a team of three non-blogging activists with me to Netroots Nation from rural Rio Arriba in northern New Mexico to learn...
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Your VOTE can help us win a grant to send people of color to Providence for...
Cross-posted from Native American Netroots Pepsi Challenge Grant: The Progressive Slate and Communities Joined in Action, Lifting the Digital CurtainRural communities and communities of color live...
View ArticleMeteor Blades: Stop Sending me Stupid Juggling Vids
The day before yesterday, Meteor Blades e-mailed me. "Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse says you volunteered to write a subscription diary.""Yeah," I wrote back. "But first you gotta watch this video....
View ArticleHelp us GOTV in Communities of Color in 2012
As some of you know, I have applied for a Pepsi Challenge grant to diversify the blogosphere and help progressives to build relationships with communities of color. I have been attending Netroots...
View ArticleKossack Barbwire has Passed Away
This is a very short diary. I am seeing tweets from New Mexico bloggers that our fellow New Mexican, barbwire, passed away tonight after struggling with cancer. Barb was the coordinator of Democracy...
View ArticleJust a Few Days Left to Get Us There
I've been going to Netroots Nation for four years and each time I've gone, I've noticed how few people of color are present. Yet the Netroots Nation board and others have repeatedly tried to recruit. I...
View ArticleD'Var Torah: Sh'Mot (It's All in a Name)
Today's parshat, the first portion of Exodus, is called Sh'Mot, or Names. It begins with the names of the sons of Israel who went down to Egypt and then proceeds to tell the story of the women who...
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Netroots for the Troops: The Wrong Stuff
I spent half a decade as the world's worst Navy officer's wife. Tom Wolfe should have known me. I would have inspired a sequel to his satire about NASA's astronaut training program.His book about me...
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IGTNT: His Family Spanned the Globe
As of today, 1,935 US military personnel have been killed in or near Afghanistan, while 71 have been killed since January 1, 2012. Lance Corporal Ramon T. Kaipat, 22, became the 1,934th casualty on...
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IGTNT: Humble Guy, Hardest Worker
As of today, 1,957 US military personnel have been killed in or near Afghanistan. Green Beret Staff Sergeant Andrew T. Brittonmihalo became the most recent fatality on April 25, 2012. He was killed by...
View ArticleMy Daughter Called an Ambulance Thru Facebook
In an entirely bizarre Monday morning turn of events, my daughter fell, dislocated her knee, and summoned an ambulance through facebook. Through an even-stranger twist, I came home looking for her,...
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Why Republicans Are Loaded for Medi-Bear
Crossposted from the Rio Arriba Community Health Council Blog.To the average American working outside of health administration, the anti-Medicare crusade waged during the primary by the always...
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Medicare Billing in a Nuclear Holocaust
Crossposted from the Rio Arriba Community Health Council BlogA bit of humor for healthcare geeks: Katie Meara, a nurse who belonged to our coaltion, posted this photo of the up and coming ICD-10 codes...
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IGTNT: They Died on Mothers' Day
As of today, 1,974 US military personnel have been killed in or near Afghanistan. Staff Sargaent Brian L. Walker, 25, and Pfc. Richard L. McNulty III, 22, died together in Bowri Tana, Afghanistan, on...
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Little Wisconsin: NM State Senate District 5
While the nation's eyes are on Wisconsin this weekend, skirmishes are being waged across the US to take back state legislatures from their corporate overlords.I haven't yet donated to Wisconsin because...
View ArticleACA is Biggest Women's Rights Bill Since Winning the Vote (Shocking Map)
It's not a coincidence that the Affordable Care Act has spawned a host of bills in states dominated by the religious right masquerading as anti-abortion legislation, but in fact punishing women (and...
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IGTNT: They Were Deployed to Afghanistan, but Now They're Deployed to Heaven
As of today, 2,010 US military personnel have been killed in or near Afghanistan. Pfc Andrew Keller, and Pfc Michael R. Demarsico II were two of the most recent casualties.I Got The News Today (IGTNT)...
View ArticleClimate Change SOS: Where Was the Gas?
I live in remote northern NM. In communities like mine, climate change means extreme weather events. We all watched the unfolding of Katrina, and now know that an extreme weather event can be...
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IGTNT: They Loved to Serve
As of today, 2,107 US military personnel have been killed in or near Afghanistan. Sgt. David V. Williams and Army Reserve Sgt. 1st Class Coater B. Debose were two of the most recent casualties.I Got...
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IGTNT: They Died Together at 28
As of today, 2,114 US military personnel have been killed in or near Afghanistan. Staff Sgt Jeremie S. Border, 28, of Mesquite, TX, and Staff Sgt. Jonathan P. Schmidt, 28 of petersburg VA were two of...
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IGTNT: Killed by Men in US Uniforms
As of today, 2,121 US military personnel have been killed in or near Afghanistan. Marine Lt. Col. Christopher K. Raible, 40, of Huntingdon, PA., and 27-year-old Marine Sgt. Bradley W. Atwell of...
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Vaccinating Old People for Democracy
While everyone's been knocking doors, I've been implementing a new GOTV strategy: vaccinating elders in remote villages to get Rio Arribans to the polls. Almost everyone in my extremely rural Hispanic...
View ArticleHelp! What Do I Do About My Bad ISP?
Happy morning after everyone! Those of you who know me realize that breaking down the digital divide has always been a passion. In the past, I have worried that many minorities lack access to the...
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How I got my Boss Detained by the FBI
Tierra o Muerte, bytegirl24, flickr It was a sunny weekend morning about fifteen years ago. Here in Rio Arriba County, northern New Mexico, occasional bombs were still going off in remote mountain...
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KosAbility: A Call for Recruits to the NN13 KosAbility Volunteer Corps
KosAbility is a community diary series posted at 5 PM ET every Sunday by volunteer diarists. This is a gathering place for people who are living with disabilities, who love someone with a disability,...
View ArticleI Was Just Elected Vice Chair of my County Democratic Party
I have never been a politician. I've always run other peoples' campaigns, or vaccinated the elderly, or looked for ways to treat substance abuse, or dragged groups of young leaders with me to Netroots...
View ArticleRace, Rape and Empowerment
Last night, I had a dream about Howard Street.When I was growing up in Chicago's East Rogers Park, Howard Street was the edge of the known universe. That was where the neighborhood changed and white...
View ArticleDo You Need a Power Scooter or Chair at NN13?
Last year, an impromptu KosAbility Caucus asked me to help coordinate NN13 for individuals with special needs. I am working with Eric at Netroots Nation to solve a few problems including finding a...
View ArticleNN13: Power Scooters, Chairs and a Call for Volunteers
Last year, an impromptu KosAbility Caucus asked me to help coordinate NN13 for individuals with special needs. I am working with Eric at Netroots Nation to solve a few problems including finding a...
View ArticleD'Var Torah Shavuot: The Book of Ruth
"Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus and more may the Eternal...
View ArticleMy Problem with Pronouns
I've always had an uneasy relationship with pronouns.When I was a teen-ager, somebody taught me how to use them. She sat me on a chair next to a pillow and told me to talk to the pillow about how I...
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An NN13 NFTT Memorial for my Father-in-Law (w/ vid)
I want to thank my fellow Kossacks. This year, my beloved father-in-law of 30 years passed away while I was at Netroots Nation. The next morning, my friends at Netroots for the Troops addressed 150...
View ArticleRural Hispanic Community Holds First-Ever Twitter Town Hall #HealthierNM
On August 14, the Rio Arriba Community Health Council will hold All Things Medicaid, our first ever Twitter Town Hall. The hashtag for the event is #HealthierNM. Some of my readers know that I went to...
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New Mexico Struggles with ObamaCare
Truchas, NM I am director of a rural Health and Human Services in northern New Mexico; as such, I am at the front (and, geographically speaking, frontier) lines of ACA implementation. I am tasked with...
View ArticleSorry Righties but Biblical Noah was a Vegan Environmentalist!
Call me picayune, but yesterday morning, I woke up annoyed with Chris Hayes, Alex Wagner and all my MSNBC friends. My husband was blasting All In over the internet. Alex Wagner was reviewing the new...
View Article"Collectivism" Rules, Mother Frackers!
If the Koch Brothers are going to use their fortune to sponsor a private Coup Against America™, then let's use our collective power of collectivism to fight back. Strategy below the fold.
View ArticleTell Hobby Lobby to Stop Selling Home Abortion Kits!
Hey everybody! After a great facebook convo with Kossack Jill Richardson and her friend Sara Robinson, I decided to start a MoveOn Petition directed at David Green, Hobby Lobby President, asking him to...
View ArticleDeath, Cows and Water: Parshat Chukat
In this week’s Torah portion, the Israelites gather at the edge of the land of Edom (meaning ‘red stuff’ or ‘field’ and closely related to ‘Adam’), poised to leave the desert for the Promised Land.The...
View ArticleRosie the Respirators: Breathing Life Back Into America One Mask at a Time
I got up early this morning and lined up at Walmart in Española, New Mexico in my pajamas to buy supplies to make masks for our health care workers. A few of you old-timers might remember me even...
View ArticleContagion Meets the Milagro Beanfield War
Saturday morning I set out on a quest to collect and drop off materials for Rosie the Respirators, volunteer seamsters organized to make masks for first responders and health care workers in Rio Arriba...
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Making it Up as We Go: Behavioral Health and Protective Gear in the Time of...
New Mexico is ten days into an economic shut-down ordered by our Governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham. I work in Rio Arriba County, where under normal circumstances I oversee provision of Intensive Case...
View ArticleCheck Out the Best Case Scenario Deaths and Hospital Bed Needs for Your State
The IMHE Model cited by the CDC today is being used to project hospital bed, ICU bed, and ventilator needs and shortages, as well as the peak of the epidemic, deaths and illnesses by state. It assumes...
View ArticleOrdinary New Mexicans "Flatten the Curve" Through Collaboration and Solidarity
While New Mexico is geographically the fifth largest state in the US, it is also one of the most rural, with a population of just over 2 million; it is ranked 47th in income out of 50 states and the...
View ArticleOur Covid Census Challenge: A Rural Minority County Responds
The US Census is a forgotten casualty of the current federal war on state, county and municipal government, and in fact on community. The census count will determine the shape of Congress, and thus the...
View ArticleNecessity is the Mother of Invention: Ad Hoc Corona-Busters in Rural America
Today was a busy day in Rio Arriba County. Despite great leadership by Governor Lujan Grisham, New Mexico has seen a rapid jump in new Covid cases in the past two days with 71 yesterday, and 124 today....
View ArticleTheFatLadySings on PBS, Shames Walmart Into Better Behavior
Gene Grant invited me, TheFatLadySings, of Rosie the Respirators, and Emma Landry of the Merry Mask Makers of Albuquerque, NM to talk about community mask-making efforts on New Mexico In Focus. It was...
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Galloping to Gallup with supplies to combat the COVID-19 surge in Indian Country
San Juan (in the far northwestern corner), McKinley County (in red below it), and Sandoval County (in red to the east of McKinley) are home to the Navajo nation and several pueblos hard hit by the...
View ArticleWhen epidemics collide: SARS-CoV-2 confounds New Mexico's battle against...
Rio Arriba County in northern NM led the nation in heroin overdose deaths for two decades while its sister county, McKinley, struggled with alarming rates of alcoholism. Both counties developed unique...
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