Saying Hello, you Gore-o-philes

Hi ya'll! Joy here, or Fancy Pants Elitist or Hummingbird as I am on DKos. Ok, granted, Gore-o-phile sounds a bit like you get into slasher movies, but don't blame me for Al's last name! I thought it apt, as we all seem to be real Al Fans. Maybe Alophile? no... that sounds like a disease or plant. Teehee. Anyhow I thought we might start to introduce ourselves, and let folks know where we are, and all that rot. I'm sitting in my office in a little cabin in Scotts Valley which is about 5 miles north of Santa Cruz, CA, a liberal mecca of beach, mountains, redwood and art. I'm also very near Monterey, a little less liberal, and about 90 miles south of one of the most beautiful and progressive cities in America, maybe only surpassed by Seattle (that's debatable), San Francisco, the city O'Reilly targets for Al Qaeda. We have about 32 acres here and I live in an intentional community that was established back in 1982 and is still going. We have about 7 households that share the LAND in common, but not the kitchen - a surefire way to destroy a commune, btw, is to share a kitchen! Also Gore-o-philes? Celeborn and Kahlua More below the fold.. I think I've been a liberal since I was born (and maybe in a previous life), and in fact when I was a baby I accompanied my Mother in a stroller as she passed out flyers about a Democratic candidate running for office in Phoenix, and at the age of 6 I sang Hubert Humphrie's campaign song to him when he visited the military base we were stationed at in Michigan, and got myself in the paper and got a kiss from the candidate. I've been pretty informed on politics all my life, in fact at 13 I stopped Sam Irvin for an autograph as he was on the shuttle between the House and Senate, and he almost didn't sign it (though was surprised someone my age recognized him) because Nixon had JUST resigned. I think I probably knew about his resignation before the press did. He signed it anyway when he saw me get disappointed. :) I did my own little "Earth Day" thingie at the age of 8 in 1970, and WANTED to be a flower child as well, even then I was against war, even though I was a military brat. But my Dad was in USAFJAG as a judge, so he wasn't a soldier, perse, and peace to our family was one of the reasons to HAVE a military. At least that's the way it used to be. In High School during our government class '79-'80, we kept abreast of current affairs and we did a world power game. The Valedictorian and I ended up being Libya and the world's terrorists, respectively, and we decided to spin a little "reality" into the class and came in dressed as "t'ists" (I was in fatiques and had a bandalier and an empty grenade... yes we checked with the Principle beforehand) and "Qadaffi" was dressed in a very similar Qadafi uniform with an empty baretta and we took the teacher hostage as the other "world powers" decided how to deal with an act of terrorism while they were also figuring out economic issues, etc. It was an education for all of us. ;) We actually were talked about 20 years later. I've worked on nuclear issues and alternative energy, (we lived in the shadow of Calvert Cliffs in MD, and we monitored the plant with geiger counters and did actions to try and get accountability for that plant and Peach Bottom in Baltimore) and later I worked on the Clinton Inaugural and then after that had a choice between working for Clinton's staff or the Environmental Defense Fund. I chose EDF because I decided it was better to be a fox then a chicken. I worked on the Toxics campaign as a program assistant, specifically on lead and dioxin issues and on pollution of the Chesapeake Bay, a world estuary in danger. After I met my husband via email (yes, a real "e-mail order bride", one of the first internet romances that worked) I moved to California from DC to marry him and spend my life here in a beautiful part of the country. I love it here. I moved into this intentional community and also saturated myself in Paganism for quite a while, and though I'm still a Pagan, I really don't practice anymore, other than an awareness of the world, and working with the earth through my organic gardening and raising my alpacas (which isn't really Pagan but is hands on with the living aspect of creation). My religion is what I call Gaianism, because I believe the planet is a living breathing and conscious being, that we are all a part of, not only on a physical level but on a collective consciousness level. This neither disputes with nor repudiates any other religion or science, it's merely a manifestation of my believing that everything is alive and we are integrally part of that expression of life. I have no problem at all with evolution or most mystical traditions. The only thing I have trouble with is fundamentalism, because it flies in the face of experiential reality and common sense. I was turned onto Daily Kos by listening to Air America Radio, and I love the hosts there, and I love the blog. I hope my experience and passion for Democratic and Gaian principles will be of benefit here to make not only our blog a productive experience but also to help heal our world by help getting elected a candidate with exemplary qualifications that will help to heal this nation of the wounds inflicted by the current regime. Additionally, I hope that this candidate can lead this world by showing that even when challenged by the worst thing that our nation can face, that the Democratic process can show how we (the people) can wrest back control from the bastards and show that the REAL America can change, grow, and become a light of hope, once again, for the world. I have that much faith in Al Gore. I hope you do too. Bright Blessings and Greetings, Joy