Daily Kos Turns 20: It's time to showcase our best work! Up next: The other half of our Staff

This post was originally published on this site

The internet—and the world—was a very different place on May 26, 2002, when Markos Moulitsas dashed off seven sentences and hit PUBLISH on the first-ever post on Daily Kos. Moulitsas—better known as the Kos in Daily Kos and Kos Media, LLC—will be the first to tell you that he never anticipated what was to come.

And now, we’re just weeks from the 20th anniversary of that iconic handful of sentences. In case you haven’t noticed, we kinda can’t stop talking about it or coming up with ways to celebrate. There are the Koscars and my fun little project—This is My Best—and so much more to come!

Some years ago, I’m told, there was a wonderful series called This Is My Best (TIMB), which encouraged Community members to share one piece of their own writing that they were most proud of, rather than the writing of others. One part self-promotion, one part self-confidence, all parts awesome, TIMB encourages writers to press pause on their roles as their own worst critics and take some time to toot their own horns.

I’m so excited to bring TIMB back for this amazing milestone, and it’s been a blast collecting submissions from the Community Contributors Team, half of our Daily Kos Staff, Kos himself, and you, dearest Community.

This week we’re highlighting the second batch of Staff submissions!

As I noted in the first installment of TIMB, we’re challenging you to reflect on your own writing at Daily Kos and choose your own “best” story.

In the comments, sound off with your own This Is My Bestsubmissions. We’ll be watching and taking note—and using your favorites to create new collections.

Be sure to include a link to your chosen best story and a sentence or two about why you think it’s great. Keep in mind that your “best” story doesn’t need to be your most recommended or the one that got the most comments.

So far, we’ve got nearly 100 of your TIMB submissions; I’ll be using them to keep the party going right up until our joyful 20th anniversary on May 26! But right now, it’s time to check in with the rest of our hardworking Staff and see what stories they’re most proud of.

The April 1 installment of TIMB was the first of three to showcase Daily Kos Staff, and includes my own submission (toot toot!). That collection focused largely on stories that were deeply personal for each writer, which doesn’t happen too often for folks tasked with crafting political analysis and covering progressive issues.

This final installment of Staff selections also includes personal stories, but also includes writing that propelled Daily Kos readers to powerful collective action, vital climate change coverage, and stories that might otherwise have been left in the shadows.

Let’s go!

***

JOAN MCCARTER, Editorial

A new Sagebrush Rebellion? (2008)

The highlights of my early career as a fellow at Daily Kos were my western state road trips for the 2006 and 2008 elections. The 2008 was one epic, beginning in Seattle, stretching east to Omaha, down to Phoenix, and back up, with stops along the way to spend some time with the congressional candidates we’d endorsed. (A favorite, going door-to-door with Wyoming’s Gary Trauner in 2006).

But this 2008 piece distilled much of what I’d been seeing on those trips, and what I was processing as I drove through these huge, gorgeous unpopulated expanses. This all happened before 30% of the country, and too many in the West, lost their goddamned minds thanks to Facebook, so my conclusions haven’t held up—but the writing does. It’s also a favorite because right after I published it, I got an email note from one of my heroes, Ed Quillen, a Denver Post columnist and humorist who I first read in High Country News.

“I really enjoy your work,” he wrote. “You’re one of the few writers anywhere who appears to understand this peculiar empty part of America, especially its political dynamics.”Please keep it up.”

I’ve tried. Quillen died back in 2012. Here’s a lovely tribute for him by his daughter, Abby.

PEREGRINE KATE, Product

There is no safe place (not even Michigan) (2017)

While this story of mine did not attract the most recommendations or the most comments, it holds a special place in my personal archive for several reasons. The story appeared as part of a group effort, for a blogathon related to addressing the climate emergency in the lead-up to major, nation-wide climate demonstrations in April of 2017. I consider both groups and blogathons to be distinctive and valuable features of our site and want to promote them at every opportunity.

For this post I chose to focus on Michigan, my beloved home state, and the threats we face here from the climate emergency related to water, along with the many efforts already underway by environmental justice activists to produce positive change. As we seek ever more diligently to protect our water resources and guarantee safe, clean, affordable water to people, it seems helpful to have this review of our conditions from five years ago. We have achieved some success, but the overall situation has indeed worsened.

We still have so much more to do.

LAUREN SUE, Trending

Rep. Ayanna Pressley reveals stunning bald head and struggle with alopecia (2020)

Rep. Pressley’s story about her struggle with alopecia is one of my favorites because of the bravery it takes to stand in an insecurity, call attention to it, and learn to embrace it. My hair was the stuff of adolescent angst for years, and my journey to accept and celebrate myself as beautiful has been a long one. Pressley represented so much of what is beautiful about Black women when she stood in her truth. Hers is a level of confidence I can only aspire to.

MARK SUMNER, Editorial

The Great Filter: The most important question in history (2018)

[After you asked for this], I stuck four posts up on Twitter, and the “great filter” piece won the poll. So I guess that’s my answer. This one is just riffing on science in a way that was fun. Honestly, I don’t think this is my best.

That probably came in the 640-some stories concerning COVID-19, or in the series on treatments for children with Niemann-Pick disease. But this is the kind of writing I enjoy most—a little history, a little science, a chance to take something that seems obscure or esoteric and fit it into the decisions that we make every day.

It’s the kind of writing I’d like to do more often.

APRIL SIESE, Trending

Youth-led climate change lawsuit against Montana will be heard next year in landmark first (2022)

I deeply enjoyed reporting this because it gave me a chance to speak with someone directly involved in the lawsuit. Too rarely are there positive climate change stories. It was really inspiring to see how the next generation is committed to this fight for environmental justice and an emissions-free world.

SMILEYCREEK, Community

NIXON!! (2011)

It’s fun to remember how innocent I was. This was my political coming-of-age story about “How I Learned to Love the Democrats” by canvassing for … Richard Nixon.

LAURA CLAWSON, Editorial

Solidarity forever, Dan Clawson (2019)

This is my best not because it’s my best writing or a piece that spurred activism or donations, but because my father was the best person I have ever known, and so many of the best pieces of me are the ones that come from him.

JAY CUASAY, Community

Your sweet sixteen somewhere (2021)

Most of my stories have been about local politics, the Black Lives Matter marches, and protests during Donald Trump’s visits to his golf course in my neighborhood. But this story is more personal.

I didn’t write an “About Me” staff introduction when I onboarded, but one thing to know about me is that I have a son, Joshua Emet, who died during labor and delivery, in the early days of Daily Kos. This story is a bit about coming full circle years later, after enduring the Trump years with my wife and daughter.

WALTER EINENKEL, Trending

The Wall Street Journal cries about the poverty of making $400,000 a year (2014)

I chose this story because, frankly, it reminded me of the first story I wrote for Daily Kos. The first month or so of my stories on Daily Kos have been lost to time (and the conversion that came when my personal email was replaced by my work email, and a new account created). At the time, I was working as an intern in the then-“social media” department, mostly making memes for Facebook distribution. Faith Gardner mentioned to me that if I ever wanted to write anything, I should go for it. I ended up writing about a similar business media outlet promoting this same upper middle-class narrative of scarcity and bad personal economics. It was, and remains, a simple and obvious (to me, at least) example of how bankrupt a “free market” and deregulated system of capitalism inherently is.

A close friend of mine’s father once pointed it out to me after I stayed over at his place for a few nights bookending the Christmas holiday season. Watching a business report on television the first night, the broadcast lamented “consumers’ reticence to spend money during the Christmas season,” how “consumer confidence” needed to be up, and there was really no reason why people shouldn’t go out and buy things. A couple of weeks later, on the same nightly business report, the same broadcasters lamented how American consumers really needed to tighten their belts, and think about saving and not spending so much.

I pitched the story to Faith, and I wrote it up, and subsequently, it was well-received and shared. I began writing more and more, and now you are all stuck with me. This story reminds me of that moment, where I crossed into the life I now cherish at Daily Kos.

HUNTER, Editorial

The unlikely redemption of Safety Spider (2014)

In the near future, all political punditry will take the form of long allegories featuring anthropomorphic animals, furniture, or home appliances. This is a simple fact, and the sooner we adjust to it the better off we will be.

REBEKAH SAGER, Trending

Hijacked by his ego, Will Smith missed his opportunity to address bullying, respect for Black women (2022)

I loved working on this because it allowed me to cover something other than straight politics, but still talk about race and the politics involved with race. This was a complex issue. On the surface it looks like a Hollywood ego trip, but dig a little deeper, and there’s more to it that meets the eye—especially for the Black community. It brings up the issue around being held to a different and higher standard, and how Black folks are viewed by white folks and the reactions on social media were a rich hunting ground for commentary.

Most of all, this story gave be the chance to ask myself how I felt about what happened, as a Black woman, a move enthusiast, a Chris Rock and Will Smith fan, and a daughter to a Black man born in the 1930s, who raised me to behave a certain way, lest we all (Black people) be judged.

DAVID NIR, Elections

Flip this seat! Special election to replace Trump’s anti-Obamacare health chief is huge opportunity (2017)

This is the post that started it all. Daily Kos was the first organization to endorse now-Sen. Jon Ossoff, and our community exploded with enthusiasm, donating $400,000 to his campaign in the first week. That massive infusion quickly turned Ossoff into a household name, and you know what happened next: He lost a very close race, setting the stage for now-Rep. Lucy McBath to flip the seat the following year. Ossoff then flipped the Senate along with Raphael Warnock in last year’s runoffs.

We knew him when!

METEOR BLADES, Editorial (Emeritus)

If Trump wanted a real celebration at Rushmore, he’d support Lakota sovereignty over the Black Hills (2020)

While it isn’t my most favorite, it’s on a subject of deep concern to me: Native sovereignty. That’s a hard subject for many non-Natives to wrap their minds around in the abstract, and Trump’s visit to South Dakota two years ago provided an opportunity to present the subject with reference to Mount Rushmore, a national icon nearly everyone is familiar with, but whose true history few know.

Now it’s your turn! To make my job easier (and data entry much faster), please use this format for your submission:

Linked title of story (year published)

A sentence or two in your own words—not an excerpt—about why it’s your “best.”

See you in the comments!

Remember: If you’ve already submitted, there’s no need to do it again, and we are only accepting one story per person. And if you simply can’t narrow down your choice before comments close, we’ll be back with another installment (and opportunity to submit) next week, when I’ll start digging into the Community submissions from the last four weeks.

Posted in Independent News