This Odd Little Family...
I don't know if it is the lull after the election and the residual euphoria, the introspection that comes when suddenly I find myself with some extra time on my hands, this mushy time of year, or the number of personal posts that have popped up lately, but I'm finding myself reflecting quite a bit lately about this odd little family we have created here at TPM.
I know, there are those of you who are here solely to stir the pot, or for the issues only, and don't care to bond, but for many of us, this has become a family away from family, not the one given us by nature, but the one we have chosen for ourselves.
Some have been here a long time, years maybe, and others, like myself, not so long, but long enough to have built up a rapport that exceeds that found in mere "communities." We fight like families fight, we ask for support and give it like families...we have our crazy Aunt Harriette (don't panic, I'm not referring to you!) crotchety Grandpa Joe (you know who you are!) and cousins that could start a fight in an empty bar, others that are so funny we're falling down laughing listening to them, and yet others that have their heads so far up their butts we can hardly believe we're the same species, let alone related! We have our wise and brilliant mothers and fathers, and brothers and sisters that are so supportive we don't know what we'd do without them.
Our members come from so many different and diverse backgrounds and ethnicities and religions, some believers, some not. We have different economic realities, some are just starting their journeys into adulthood, others are much further along. We represent many, many careers and have an incredible knowledge base when we all put our heads together.
We can have a glass of wine with each other whenever we want, discuss any subject under the sun any time day or night, or just sit back and listen if we want to keep up but don't feel like we have anything to contribute. We share our common interests, sometimes being a bit of an echo chamber, then fuss like cats and dogs over those things we disagree about. Sometimes we're respectful, sometimes not so much...Every once in awhile a troll or two come through. Some ignore them, others band together to chase them off. Mostly we have each other's backs.
We share our pain, delight in each other's successes, help each other through technology glitches, come to each other's aid when we have a brain fart and can't remember where saw the article on (fill in the blank.) We've helped each other through life changing illnesses, divorces, job losses, job changes, serious accidents. We've celebrated new love, new jobs, a new President. We tease each other mercilessly. We alert each other to problems we see brewing out there in the world. We search out advice on just about every aspect of life, knowing that SOMEONE and maybe multiple someones have experienced the same thing and are anxious to share their perspectives with us. We cringe through the misspellings and incorrect word usages of some, and bask in the melodic words and phrases of others, hoping they will write more soon. We call each other out when we are being asshats (I just LOVE that term!) and encourage each other to be our better selves.
Anyway, today I have found myself thinking about our family in the most joyous of ways, and wanted to let you know that, while I have an awesome "real world" family, I treasure you, the odd little family I have chosen for myself. I am glad you are in my life, and I wanted you know...
P.S. Here's a little something from me to you...turn up the volume and prepare to be blessed.
I know, there are those of you who are here solely to stir the pot, or for the issues only, and don't care to bond, but for many of us, this has become a family away from family, not the one given us by nature, but the one we have chosen for ourselves.
Some have been here a long time, years maybe, and others, like myself, not so long, but long enough to have built up a rapport that exceeds that found in mere "communities." We fight like families fight, we ask for support and give it like families...we have our crazy Aunt Harriette (don't panic, I'm not referring to you!) crotchety Grandpa Joe (you know who you are!) and cousins that could start a fight in an empty bar, others that are so funny we're falling down laughing listening to them, and yet others that have their heads so far up their butts we can hardly believe we're the same species, let alone related! We have our wise and brilliant mothers and fathers, and brothers and sisters that are so supportive we don't know what we'd do without them.
Our members come from so many different and diverse backgrounds and ethnicities and religions, some believers, some not. We have different economic realities, some are just starting their journeys into adulthood, others are much further along. We represent many, many careers and have an incredible knowledge base when we all put our heads together.
We can have a glass of wine with each other whenever we want, discuss any subject under the sun any time day or night, or just sit back and listen if we want to keep up but don't feel like we have anything to contribute. We share our common interests, sometimes being a bit of an echo chamber, then fuss like cats and dogs over those things we disagree about. Sometimes we're respectful, sometimes not so much...Every once in awhile a troll or two come through. Some ignore them, others band together to chase them off. Mostly we have each other's backs.
We share our pain, delight in each other's successes, help each other through technology glitches, come to each other's aid when we have a brain fart and can't remember where saw the article on (fill in the blank.) We've helped each other through life changing illnesses, divorces, job losses, job changes, serious accidents. We've celebrated new love, new jobs, a new President. We tease each other mercilessly. We alert each other to problems we see brewing out there in the world. We search out advice on just about every aspect of life, knowing that SOMEONE and maybe multiple someones have experienced the same thing and are anxious to share their perspectives with us. We cringe through the misspellings and incorrect word usages of some, and bask in the melodic words and phrases of others, hoping they will write more soon. We call each other out when we are being asshats (I just LOVE that term!) and encourage each other to be our better selves.
Anyway, today I have found myself thinking about our family in the most joyous of ways, and wanted to let you know that, while I have an awesome "real world" family, I treasure you, the odd little family I have chosen for myself. I am glad you are in my life, and I wanted you know...
P.S. Here's a little something from me to you...turn up the volume and prepare to be blessed.
Advertisement
Awesome.
Nobody's here yet.....
Maybe I'll just leave some tricks and treats and lovely surprises....
December 7, 2008 7:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
What a family!
December 7, 2008 10:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Please feel free to skip the next 13 comments...if you don't, your brain will turn to oatmeal and then explode...it will be a painful experience...trust me on this one!
Just scroll quickly down to Bwakfat's comment and save yourself the misery of watching the blind trying to teach the blind. It isn't pretty (although I suppose some of the more dysfunctional among you may find it oddly amusing!)
December 8, 2008 3:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Quinn, how can I put something into a reply? Right-clicking doesn't do it, and you are obviously an expert.
Thanks
December 8, 2008 9:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
Jan, are you wanting to know how to embed a link into a word? Seashell and Chris Brown worked together to teach me, and I'll try to pass on the info if that is what you are asking for...
December 8, 2008 12:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes. When I want to send a photo in an email there is an "attachment" icon and then I click on "browse" and go to "my pictures." I don't see anything like that when I am writing a post. Right-clicking doesn't work either. I'd appreciate the help, thanks!
December 8, 2008 12:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
There are at least 2 ways to do what you want to do.
The easiest is to go back to your original post and insert the photo there. Just hit blog now, manage, entries, the insert picture icon (about 4 icons in from the right) and follow the prompts. I've never done this, but it looks easy.
If you want to embed the photo into a link like Quinn did, it is a little more complicated, but fun in a sick twisted geeky sorta way.
You 1st have to have a web address to link to, so go to flickr.com, set up a free account and it will prompt you on how to load the picture. You will use that address in your code.
I am going to type out the code, but with spaces between the href, so that you can see what the code looks like. When YOU do it, drop the spaces.
The only space you will leave in is the one between the a and the href...everything else gets all scrunched together (that's a technical term!)
insert the word you want to highlight as your link here then continue your sentence if there is one.
Ok, I'm going to send this, and if it doesn't turn out right, will add a new comment to fix it since we can't edit comments...
December 8, 2008 1:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
Notice how everything turned red instead of showing the code? It didn't leave the code for you to see, so I'm going to do it again with more spaces and hopefully the code will remain visable.
insert word you want to highlight as link here
Trying again!
December 8, 2008 1:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Rats! It is harder to teach than I thought!
I will spell out quotation mark and see if that works!
insert word you want to highlight as link here
December 8, 2008 2:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ok Below this Bwakfat attempted to embed, but messed up so that most of the code shows...
See where it says styrofoam plate? After that there should have been a The whole 1st part is correct, but you would have substituted your own address where the youtube address is, and your word for styrofoam plate.
Just scrunch everything up so that the only space is between the a and the href (I use lower case letters, but it looks like uppercase will work as well.)
December 8, 2008 2:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Picture me with a fork pointed at my temple...
Should have been a pointy thing pointing to the left (key found next to the m key) followed by a / followed by the letter a followed by a pointy thing pointing to the right positioned right after the word you want to highlight as your link, in place of styrofoam plate!
pointy thing to the left / a pointy thing to the right
Lord have mercy...if you can follow that, you're a better woman than I am...
December 8, 2008 2:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is the last time I'm going to try this (you can see I have a demented persistent streak.)
I'm going to type out the code, but w/o the pointy things. In place of the pointy things I'm going to type pointythingleft ()
I'm bound and determined...
pointythingleft a href="web address between the quotation marks" pointythingright word you want to highlight as link pointythingleft / a pointythingright then continue on with sentence
To save everyone from having a psychotic break, this will be my last attempt. If it doesn't work, try to track down seashell. She and Chris Brown taught me and did a much better job!
December 8, 2008 2:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
When I click on the "insert photo," I get the message "no assets found." I right-clicked, went to "my pictures," but it wouldn't go any further.
December 8, 2008 2:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sorry, Jan... I messed around with it and got the same error message you did. I'm workin' above my pay grade here! David Seaton uses photos in his posts a lot, maybe you could track him down.
Did you try my convoluted instructions on doing the code in a comment? If you go to one of your old posts and mess with commenting on it you should be able to do it, and if you goof it up, probably no one will know... :-) Sorry I couldn't have been a better teacher!
December 8, 2008 3:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm like a dog w/ a bone...another way to do it would be to set up the flickr account and post the pic there, then link to it in your original post using the "link" icon. That way you don't have to mess with the html code, it does it automatically. That does not work in comments, just posts...in comments you have to use the html code.
To do that you write out your sentence ie Here is the photo of the white deer...highlight white deer, click on the chain (or link) icon, fill in the url that your flickr photo will have into the box and it should turn into a hot link.
I haven't figured out how to paste a url into the box...I've always had to type it in and some of the urls are really long. There is a website (tinyurl.com) where you can paste in the url and it will convert it into a 5-6 figure url that is easier to type in.
If you are able to get a hot link there, go into html mode (the furthest right A icon) and you will be able to see the actual code written out, then in the future you can use that code (the one I've tried so unsuccessfully to send you!) in future comments.
Beyond that, do a HELP post...Someone will come to your rescue and we will all learn from it!
December 8, 2008 3:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Tada! I just figured out how to get the code to you...
Take the last sentence of my post where the hot link is, highlight and copy the sentence...go to your blog now and paste the sentence into the body.
Now hit the html icon (the A button furthest to the right) and the html code will appear. Just copy that, inserting your own url info and word you want to be your hot link!
December 8, 2008 3:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wow! Thanks so much! I have to wait until tomorrow because the deer is not on my laptop, but I do so appreciate your valiant effort to help me. I think it's going to work!
December 8, 2008 7:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
And then there's . . . . . Quinn.
Obviously, he's the victim of too many bad meals on A HREF="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHLeKItghB4">Styrofoam Plates
=D
(Just 'teasing mercilessly,' Q. Still thinks THIS family is odd. Could always be worse, I think)
Nice thought Still, and backatcha.
December 7, 2008 8:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ack! sorry for the bad link. Serves me right.
Styrofoam Plates
December 7, 2008 8:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
SI, You wrote a masterpiece above! That's so true of how this place is or has come to be. I would give you four rec's if I could! I like the way you show the true diversity here. It's not a love-fest all the time, and its not a fight club either. Its like you say, a family.
December 7, 2008 9:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks a lot, Lux...high praise coming from you!
December 8, 2008 5:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Can't let Quinn get away with the most repulsive video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woLQI8X2R6Y
Stillidealistic, thanks for a very nice post, really.
December 7, 2008 9:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, that was pretty horrible KO. Nice post SI.
December 7, 2008 9:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Touching and True.
December 7, 2008 10:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
I have truly loved being a part of TPM. I loved the fact that people actually read and responded to my writing. It was really the first time that I felt like my voice was being heard. The positive feedback from people like you are what made it worth it, every single time I posted. Even when times were tough, or when people were extremely negative, if not downright horrible, I always knew that I could come back.
The election is over, and there is a huge lull in the activity here. I still post from time to time. Mostly comments. But I'm definitely not as active as I once was. These days, I'm devoting my time to other things, like movies. I've been trying to work on my own blog. It's about movies, though, not politics.
I don't know. I feel slightly depressed about the lack of activity here. I know others have completely left, like Articleman, who's working on his own blog.
So what do we do? I know I don't want to lose contact with all the people I've grown to know here on TPM. Honestly, it's difficult because of TPM's lack of email or private message system.
Hey, SI, you were really a ton of fun, and an extremely enlightening person to blog with. If you ever want, feel free to email me. nathandonarum (at) gmail (dot) com.
The rest of you, feel free as well. I don't know how active I'll be here in the coming months. Life seems to always get in the way.
December 7, 2008 10:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, Nate...I don't know what to say. We're losing so many incredibly talented writers and generally great people. I hope you'll continue to stop by from time to time. I know that it is hard to stay engaged when there just isn't much going on, but perhaps when an issue comes up that you feel passionately about, you'll post again. We'll miss you, but I won't say goodbye, just so long...see ya later. Take care of yourself, and I will check in with you from time to time. You've given me confidence that we are turning the country over to a competent new generation! Go out and make me proud!
December 7, 2008 11:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Nathan, you're young - it's right to stretch and grow. If we gave you a start, a boost, well what a joy to know that! We'll always remember you when you come back. Stop by from time to time... just like old relatives do. A blog is a shifting community. It's never static. But you'll always find some of us here when you stop by.
December 8, 2008 8:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
To both SI and Thera:
I will definitely still drop by from time to time. It's just hard to be active. But TPM made me into a blogger. I never was one before. I think that's a pretty big accomplishment. Though, as I said, it was the people that made it what it was.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not abandoning TPM. Not in the least. Still one of the websites I go to daily. But I doubt I'll be commenting as frequently as I used to.
December 8, 2008 12:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Family, indeed. Individuals who alone find the world a bit overwhelming, yet together bask in it's diversity. All because we know that within each other we find the best parts of ourselves.
Thank you, still, for reminding us.
December 8, 2008 4:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
Stillidealistic, I agree wholeheartedly with you. I really got lifted out of my doldrums with the help of my friends here at TPM after I wrote about my Empty Nest yesterday. It is not the anonymity that allows it; I would not have felt like I could have written what I wrote 3 years ago. It took these years of getting to know many of you to allow me to trust the group enough to open up.
Thanks to you and everyone else as well.
Jan
December 8, 2008 9:08 AM | Reply | Permalink
I feel the same way, sitting out here on my rugged solitary hilltop lost in the midst of Red State red-ness. A hermit by choice.
I was joking to my husband just the other day, that when I die, we'll have to have a virtual funeral for me so all my friends can come! I feel as if I have friends all over this country, but not so many in town. (My fault, really. I just got tired of biting my tongue after 20 years or so of conservative rhetoric.)
But I have felt a sense of community here at TPM and over at HuffPo, to a lesser degree, as well.
I've been a bit afloat since the election, uncertain which way to go next. I am a writer by trade, but with the "mission accomplished" of the election, I'm not sure what should be next.
I'm here every day though. Just quietly.
CVille Dem, I missed your empty nest post--what is the link? I've been through it--maybe I can help.
December 8, 2008 11:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
Hereyou go. I'm sure Jan will appreciate hearing from you.
December 8, 2008 12:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Deannie: I know the unease that sets in when a major effort is over -- and as yours was a mighty work, you may be feeling mighty uneasy.
What will you really regret not writing, if you don't? Something you've thought about writing for a long time, or something you learned through the process of your passionate involvement in the election. Whatever it is, why not start it now? (Pot calling the kettle black, of course, but never mind.)
December 8, 2008 12:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Still:
You said so beautifully what I, too, think and feel about TPM.
I would be crazy as a loon this year without all of you. Thank you for writing this.
December 8, 2008 12:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
wwstaebler, that's a great question. I never thought of it that way.
I've missed you guys! (sniff, sniff)
December 8, 2008 1:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Methinks we use family too much and community not enough. What if all the characteristics enumerated here were those of a community and we all looked after our neighbors like this? What if we expected our neighbors to respond to attacks with us rather then stand idly watching? What if we felt compelled to respond as well when they were attacked?
Another word too often thrown around is hero. We have so glorified decent behavior, if someone holds a door for someone else they are heroes. Maybe they are decent people and we have let good manners be perceived as weakness.
Or maybe cults use the term family too much and they have marred it's true beauty for me. Or perhaps thinking of my own family's dysfunction I fail to see family as all that. Be that as it may, does developing a bond require we call our neighbors family to the exclusion of all else?
Or maybe I just have not been here long enough to know I'm a little brother. I'm not ready to say family, but, well, okay, after wandering around other blogs, coming back to TPM does kind of, sort of, feel like a place I would call home. I don't know. I'm just saying. I am, therefore, I blog.
December 8, 2008 1:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Gotcha...Shortly after starting up w/ TPM I considered it a community...I lived in a VERY small town for 25 years and was very invested in it. There were people I felt close to, but I never considered it my family, just my community.
I feel closer to the inhabitants of TPM, and family is the term that comes closest to how I feel. Call it what you will...it is a special place.
Right now feel free to consider yourself a second cousin twice removed. Hopefully someday you'll feel like a little brother!
December 8, 2008 2:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
When blogs and comment lines began 8 years ago, they very quickly devolved into TYPED SCREAMING MATCHES, WHERIN ONE PARTY ACCUSED THE OTHER OF TREASON.
This was in part due to the contentious nature of the 2000 election - the water-shed event that actually caused TPM to come into being.
I think Josh Marshall deserves a lot of credit for shaping the way the TPM readers comment. It was very much a 'top down' effort to increase civility.
The other factor I think is simply the maturing of the medium - and readers. With a rare exception, I think I've become pretty immune to "troll bait" - as most others here have.
Since the comments quickly pile up, you're largely wasting your time by tacking a trenchant remark onto 100 boxes of a troll and a naive typing IS NOT!, IS TOO!
Hence, one learns quickly to let the stinkers type their stink words and not bless them by trying to cover up the stink or legitimize it with opposition.
December 8, 2008 2:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't really know how long I've been a member here. It's a few years for sure. TPM has been a constant companion it seems for all of the crazy Bush years. I've kept most of my postings and a huge number of other articles and postings. All tucked away in my electronic journal on this very computer. Actually my current journal is Vol III and is just shy of 2000 pages in MS Word and it's almost time to start volume IV. Most of it is stuff from the last eight years. I started Vol I in the late years of Clinton. I've cut and pasted into them a zillion articles from all over the web for the past ten years. With most of them I enter my accompanying thoughts.
One thing I absolutely do every day is read TPM. I especially like the expanded TPM Joshua has given us. I remember when TPM was only a few pages and there was no posting or anything. Having a chance to read postings from so many smart, thoughtful and caring people is a genuine treat. Thank you Joshua.
December 8, 2008 4:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
What a lovely post.
:)
I agree. This is a place where a lot of really good people hang out.
December 8, 2008 5:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Good to see you Tena...so sorry about all the crap you went through. Glad you're back!
December 8, 2008 5:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Which reminds me, I've been kind of busy doing my bit in the War Against Christmas (now that we've finally gotten a crypto-Islamofacist Communist DLC sellout elected, our victory is inevitable but its no time to relax), but this seems like a great time to wish all of you a merry Christmas and a hopeful New Year.
December 8, 2008 5:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Back at you! I have enjoyed your musings this year. Happy happy to you and yours! Hope indeed. What a great concept!
December 8, 2008 8:49 PM | Reply | Permalink