|
Slowly and surely, Green Party Houston is coming back to life and gearing up for the 2022 election cycle. What we need right now, more than anything, is people—preferably people who are pissed off at the Establishment parties and the anti-people system they perpetuate (and from which they profit).
Come be Green with us in cyberspace, Monday night the 12th. Registration strongly recommended. Future online meetings will require registration to get the link, although before too long we should be able to meet in person. The April meeting will include a look at the Green Party Maps project, which could very well be the future of Greendom on the web. Hyperlinks in text don't appear to be working on Weebly this morning, so here's the URL to register and get the details: https://www.txgreens.org/green_party_houston_zoom_april_21 First, I would like to apologize again for my lack of posts recently. Second, I would like to apologize for my frequent apologies regarding inability to spend quality time on this blog. Suffice to say, I've been busy scratching out a living sufficient to keep Kayleen and me housed, fed, and current on bills.
My circumstances may change for the better soon, but it is too early to discuss those changes in detail, nor to say what impact they will have on my blogging habits. Onward to the main topic now. ***** Green Party Houston is ready to get back to the business of providing a group with whom to Be Green in the Houston Metro area. That area includes Harris County, the seven surrounding counties, and communities on the fringes thereof such as Huntsville and the Golden Triangle. A group of us, comprising old-timers and recent arrivals, have had a few online planning meetings in recent months, including a very productive one in February. The new arrivals have come to us via the Twitter group created by Green Maps and congealing around the 2022 gubernatorial campaign of Delilah for Texas, as well as via last summer's Eco-Social gatherings on Zoom. Today I spent some time polishing the GPH section of txgreens.org, including some pages and features not yet published. This section will serve as the hub of the outreach effort to grow the party presence locally. Beyond that, one of the most important pieces of the puzzle will be getting folks to sign up and volunteer. For the time being, you can sign up by indicating your interest via Facebook or Twitter: follow the Twitter account and/or ask to join the Facebook group (it's Private, at least for now). There may be a GPH Facebook page in the near future, plus expansion into other corners of the social media universe. Too bad the headline couldn't be "dbc Interviewed for Job at Chronicle." But I can fantasize that my editorial skills are worthy of a position at the Chron.
Exchange journalist Marina Kormbaki, who also appears in this entry, interviewed me by phone today for about a half-hour. She also interviewed my Green comrade Laura Palmer and possibly some others. The interviews covered several overlapping topics, all having to do with the state of the Green Party in Texas and its positions on climate policy, in light of the Democrats' debate devoting all of five minutes to The Biggest Existential Threat Other Than Thermonuclear Annihilation last night. I'll let y'all know when Kormbaki's article appears in the print or online editions of the Chronicle. See the Activist Calendar for additional information, included street addresses.
In case you'd like to join in the fun:
It's a decent start: We had ten people in attendance last night, about as many as could comfortably fit in the conference room at SHAPE. Most of the ten have been regular attendees at the organizing sessions.
As the facilitator, I wanted to start off with an actual prepared speech instead of just winging it, which would be customary for this crowd. It's a way of setting the tone for how we'll be aim to do things differently rather than settling into comfortable routines. I thought the speech was good enough to post here (below the fold) for posterity; you may hold a different opinion as to its worthiness. I am happy to report that I did fit the speech within my five allocated minutes, we did finish the meeting in just under two hours as planned, and a few of us did repair to Axelrad Beer Garden for adult beverages and conversation (but very little political talk, for which I am thankful). Also, we collectively exercised sufficient restraint to keep our sometimes-reflexive bitching about the current state of HCGP to a bare minimum. ***** You are welcome to join us at the SHAPE Center's Harambee Building on Almeda Tuesday evening from 7 to 9. This will be the inaugural public meeting of Green Party Houston, a new organization with a different mission and different responsibilities from the Harris County Green Party.
Yes, the GPH website is still a work in progress. The meeting is free to attend, but that doesn't mean we won't ask for donations to cover room rental and other expenses. We're back in H-Town after our big roadtrip to Seattle, Chicago, and various points between. During the two weeks' travel, I took a break from blogging, as there was no time for it with all the driving and hotel check-ins and visiting friends and other activities. For me, you might say that it was a vacation from unemployment. As for Kayleen, she started her new job Monday, the day after we returned. Selected photos from out excursion will appear in a later post.  Just a portion of the crowd demonstrating near Sen. John Cornyn's office on Memorial Drive. Protesters also occupied the other three corners at Memorial and Detering. This Is What a Crowd of Pissed-Off (Mostly) Democrats Looks Like!
Yesterday I got back to activism, showing up at the weekly protest in front of Sen. John Cornyn's office, with a larger-than-usual crowd gathered to yell "CLOSE THE CAMPS!" and other slogans. I don't like chanting, but it warmed my heart to be present there. I didn't even mind all the Democratic Party t-shirts that showed how deluded the wearers are. MoveOn, for example, had a fairly large contingent in attendance. My UU brethren numbered about a dozen. I was immensely gratified that venerable Houston activist Gloria Rubac and some friends showed up to represent F.I.R.E. (Fighting for Immigrant Rights Everywhere). We got some media coverage from the Chronicle and several TV stations (e.g., KPRC). Despite Cornyn's recent flippant tweet about having to withdraw his money from Bank of America in response to its no longer doing business with private prison companies, the senior senator from Texas has apparently introduced legislation to stop the family separation policy. Republicrat Rep. Henry Cuellar has put the same bill before the US House. Did the protests have anything to do with that? I'd like to think so, even if not; the bill was announced two months ago. If adopted, watered down or not, the bill would still bring a return to the unacceptable "keep families together behind bars" policy of the Obama administration. |
Blogging Sporadically since 2014Here you will find political campaign-related entries, as well as some about my literature, Houston underground arts, peace & justice, urban cycling, soccer, alt-religion, and other topics. Categories
All
Archives
April 2023
|
RSS Feed