Jan 13th meeting, and going forward

Thanks to ALL OF YOU for coming to the first DSA potluck brunch; we promise less chaos the next time...but I think everyone got enough to eat and so we'll just remember to get set up earlier next time.  Thanks particularly to Andrea and Jen for being there early and coordinating with Carol at the GP, and staying at the end to make sure everything was as it had started....

IN any case....I didn't get everyone's name before they left but I wanted to put out at least a rough idea of what people seem to want to do and how this thing could be moved along in the future.  Karen's point about de-centralization of the group is pertinent and relevant; some of us are anarchists at best....

YES.  This is a WORK IN PROGRESS, and I will edit and update it as I know more...

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I apologize in advance if it appears that I have 'cooked' the happenings at the meeting to create the summary below; please comment and correct me if I've left out something major, or if you just don't like the way this is organized...The structure below is nothing more than a sort of mental-map of what I saw in this afternoon...I've named names and such, but NONE of this should be considered even as much as the suggestion of a permanent thing.  PLEASE volunteer for whatever you would like most to do, or what you see most needs to be done...or just show up and call us all crazy once in a while to keep us grounded.
There were also a few people at the meeting I spaced out on, or didn't get the names of, or both.  Please let me know what I've missed!


Last things first:  next meeting is on Sunday, February 17th at 12 noon at the GP; potluck brunch seems to be popular, but if you are bringing anything that takes extra setup (my coffee machine fiasco is a good cautionary tale..), come at least 15 minutes early.  And thank you to EVERYONE for helping clean up...Carol and Ken love what we are doing but we need to keep up the good works.

ADMINISTRATIVE THINGS: (getting basics done)


Steering Committee: Dro and Andrea seemed to volunteer tentatively for that, so we will need to help define their responsibilities and continue to ask others to help them.  For now I suppose they will put together an agenda, run the meetings and keep us from bogging down in the middle of everything.
DSA Chapter exploration:  Ed Struthers and George know as much as anyone...
Howard Zinn reading group:  Andrea had a good notion: holding a discussion of the 'chapters of the month' just before the meeting, which may help with our solidarity as a group anyway.  Should we meet an hour or so early on these Sundays (say 11AM??) for that purpose, then move right into the brunch and meeting?
Blog and Email: Pat Struthers will continue maintaining the blog and coordinating the membership list, until we have something and/or someone more permanent in place.  Someone also needs to step up and act as a first contact for the group; this could be as easy as making their phone # available as the Pendleton DSA's official one, getting down basic information, and sending it to Pat...


LIASONS: (we will need regular reports on what other local orgs are doing)


Walla Walla DSA:  George knows the people up there, although Pat S. will mail Rachel E. there to keep them in the loop.
ROP: Brianna Spencer
Altrusa: Marie Struthers
Umatilla Democrats: Pat S. and Mark Peterson
Local Agriculture: Virginia Blakelock
EOC3: Paul
CTUIR: Brianna Spencer
KBLU: Pat S, Karen, Gary, Virginia, Ron, Ira
Other organizations ??? (Karen mentioned some others. Karen?)


ISSUES: (what we most want to be on our platform, and to work on locally)


Brianna Spencer brought an immediate thing up: support her the tribe in getting public drinking fountains in public spaces, both on the reservation and (I assume) in the surrounding area. Jenni is finding out more about it and will report to us, I hope...


Climate: Andrea, Jen, Paul, Gary (everyone liked this!)
Impeachment: Pat Lee, Pat S., Ron, Jack??
Money in Politics: Ed, Harvey (pretty much everyone wants this)
Sustainability: Eleanor, Paul, Virginia??
Foreign Policy/Education: Pat S, Ira, George  (trade policy, military, immigration)
Local Action: George, Ron

Erin McCusker was there, but we didn't give her another chance to talk, and Jack Davis was new and wanted to listen mostly...but everyone else jumped right in and had an enthusiasm to share.  A great start!

I KNOW I've left a lot out here, especially on the issues; there was a lot more said than I can easily condense, but the rough categories are there I think.  Again, please mail back or comment on the blog...