I was at lunch today with an old Washingtonian. She is someone who had a big impact on politics in the ’80s and well into the ’90s, as a female pioneer and a staffer in the Senate. I have no doubt from her stories that she totally kicked ass…which I totally, completely respect.

But today, I mentioned a way the new generation was kicking ass. And her look was of total disgust — which I took as a complete compliment.

In the days after the election, new media leaders like Jim Gilliam of Brave New Films, have created Web portals for voters to continue their civic engagement. Sites like Change.Org and WhiteHouse2.Org are modern social voting tools - that allow interested users to rank the policy issues that matter most. With that, some raise to the top, others fall, and eventually will disclose a microcosm of what voters want.

These two sites act almost like social bookmarking sites such as DIGG and Technorati. While it may sound crazy… there are some real players creating and partnering in these initiatives.  Will social networking change the world? Who knows. But as Howard Dean said,

“The Internet is the most important tool for redemocratizing the world since Gutenberg invented the printing press.”

Who knows how far this will go - for good and for bad. We will have to wait and see how far the Millennials, with the help of Obama and his leadership, take it. But from my perspective, the future couldn’t look brighter.

Wow, Kim. Though we’ve never met, I have to tell you. Speaking at the rally took balls.

Today, as any day, we need to be indifferent to the uninformed judgement that being gay might bring - and encouraged by the fact that our nation, gay and straight, are organizing against the passage of Prop 8. This is the kind of conversation we need to keep on having, until all of our rights, from Medicare to Marriage to the Military, are equal.

My name is Erica Anderson, and I’m gay and I want the rights, the same 1,069 federal marriage rights and the same equality for those who defend our nation, that others have. It is really as simple as that.

You can check out Kim’s blog here.

While many of my friends were distressed by the passage, I think it is a good thing.

Why? Well, for one the passage of Prop 8 stunts the growth of our free nation. And with the new President-elect Barack Obama, we know the country’s voters, when communicated with effectively, won’t let that slide. So let’s not all lose our cool.

Already, Prop 8 has become a vehicle for the other anti-equal rights measures to be brought to light in the online and national media. Oppression of minority groups and demonizing them as second-class citizens (it is 2008, right?) goes beyond the ballot boxes of California. It is alive and well in dozens of states.

[For an example of how the passage of Prop 8 has brought other anti-gay measures to light, read this New York Times OpEd: Anit-Gay, Anti-Family.]

The march was well organized in that the police were there to stop traffic and get us through. But it was quite apparent that there was not one leader there. A few people had megaphones – trying to garner the attention of the masses but no one could hear. My friend casually made the point, “We need a Gay MLK to step forward and bring this group together.”

I could not agree more. Physically, yes, we were all together. But no one was on the same page. One organizer with a megaphone used words “angry” “heated” and “pissed.”

When it comes to the movement for equal rights, the GLBT community needs to take a look at Obama. He didn’t win this election with anger. He won it by sharing idealism and optimism. The angle he used did more to attract undecided voters than it did to alienate the uncertain. In the case of the GLBT mission for equal rights, we have to look at homophobes as the undecided and try not to be angry — but gracious and patient educators. Now is the time – and we have the digital vehicles and presence to get them to listen.

This country has more important issues to focus on than petty ballot initiatives aimed at degrading their brethren. So let’s do just that. Make it known that these social setbacks won’t stop us from focusing on the bigger issues at hand – two wars, an economic crisis, a planet in peril.

But to get there, the GLBT community needs a clear leader with a message – to first define for everyone that being gay is not a choice. Next is the task of lifting up new GLBT faces, the feminine lesbian and the masculine guy, to confront the stereotype and bring more people out. Finally, we need to work without animosity to educate. With this kind of angle, I think we will be better serving our cause – and will be better set to make positive progress for us all.

It was certainly a historic election to cover, perhaps in ways I will only understand with time and reflection. Last night as I dozed off and looked over my video camera perched on my tripod, I thought about all the times we spent together. Will I ever be out on the trail again with my mobile pack? I sure hope so. But in the meantime, I’ll take the break to relax, reflect and write about what the experience was like…for better and worse. It was one of the greatest learning experiences in my lifetime.

For the final video, we all had the same assignment. Create a highlights reel of our work. I wanted to include not just mine, but a few of the others that I particularly enjoyed.

Best of ST ‘08, Washington DC

Read the rest of this entry…

In April, there was an Earth Day Concert on the National Mall. I fought the rain, went and reported it - and think it is one of the coolest pieces I did. I got schooled in comedy by Chevy Chase and even better, discovered my peers engaging eachother on the election and issues, with beers in hand, on the National Mall. Who said we aren’t active? We just do it on our own terms.

Here is why it just came back to me. Less than 24 hours after Obama became the President-elect, in a lightening speed fashion, social network invitations starting pouring into inboxes across the country. The call to action for Obama’s Inauguration - was for everyone to Caravan to Washington to have “our own Inaugural celebration on the Mall.”
 
Hotels are sold out. In one facebook group alone, there are 1,939 confirmed guests. This is amazing. Who else is in?

It is not the kind of scare tactic you might expect. But with more than 70,000 views in 24 hours just three days before the election, the Obama-Biden camp is yet again successful at marketing a message. This viral ad poses the question to viewers: “On November 5th, Will You Have Done All that You Could Have?”

Here is a particularly good example of a video that leverages amatuer footage to give a very clear call-to-action in under 3 minutes.

From the MTV News Press Release that went out yesterday

****UPDATE: Watch AP’s “BIG ISSUE: ELECTION RESULTS” LIVE web cast Election Night, starting at 7:00PM EST. Here’s the link: http://video.ap.org/v/Legacy.aspx?partner=en-ap 

“Two MTV Choose or Lose citizen journalists will take part in the first-ever Associated Press live streaming online continuous video stream, “Big Issue: Election Results.” Both will report their experiences from being on the ground, covering the youth vote throughout the year. The webcast will be available to some 2,000 Web sites of newspapers, broadcasters and other AP customers throughout the U.S. beginning at 7 pm ET on AP’s Online Video Network at http://www.ap.org.”

Be sure to check myself and Nevada Street Teamer, Michael Gonzales, as we show a few of our best videos and talk about what it has been like to be a part of the MTV-Associated Press Youth Press Corp.