When I moved to NYC a few months ago, primarily looking for a "hometown," but also to reengineer my career path and go back to dreaming big, I made a point to give myself a fresh start socially. And guess what I turned to first: MeetUps.
The Dean surge got me to MeetUps. And I stayed on. I "landed" in Indianapolis early last year hoping to dig into the MeetUp phenomenon, but the city was not my size. It was a little too small for me. And so I "took off" again a few months later.
NYC is a different story. And the Dean connection landed me at the DFA MeetUps. I looked for the one with the most members - East Village - and just plain showed up, is all it takes. Last night was my second show-up.
And at DFNYC you have people like Tracey Denton. Getting on a first name basis with her has been another Hollywood moment for me. It is like meeting Scott, the CEO of MeetUp.
Tracey is razor sharp, and she is on a first name basis with the man himself, Howard Dean. I still don't believe it, but facts are facts.
I think I witnessed this Bill Clinton moment with Tracey last night. She hosted the East Village meetup. And she was so good with names. Reminded me of this Bill Clinton moment from one of his biographies. So Bill Clinton, this southern boy from Arkansas, comes to the East Coast to read a few books, and homeboy goes back to homestate to run for public office. Some of his contacts arrange a meeting for him with the local business leaders who might contribute to his campaign. Maybe 20 people are in the room. He leans over to the guy next to him and quietly asks for the names of all around the table. For the rest of the evening, he is addressing everyone in the room on a first name basis and surprising them. There is another story about Billie Clinton. The guy used to learn names at college the way students preparing for the SAT might learn words from the dictionary.
And so Tracey Denton is picking up names like there were cherries spread all over the room. Topping it off with names of people in Congress I had never heard of and have since forgotten. The only name I recognized was Charlie Rangel, so guess who I sent my letter to during the letter writing campaign segment of the meetup.
An ongoing conversation on every issue on the progressive blanket with everyone in the room. And I am like, wow. The obvious leader of a structureless group, designed to be, supposed to be structureless.
Not to say all the grunt work away from the glamor of Dean going "Where is Tracey? Where is Tracey?" at a public event.
I am just so delighted to be part of the conversation. A new guy in town figuring things out entrepreneurial, personal, political.
On The Web
- Tracey Denton | Dean for America 2008: Pledge your support Because Howard Dean can win and can bring much needed change to our country. His record on healthcare, fiscal responsibily and many other important issues, along with his honesty, make him just the sort of candidates that Democrats can respect and America will support. I think it is clear that the standard strategy of the Democratic Party, chose nice boring polished candidates, is not working.
- DeanPhotos.com - Faces of Dean Nation from All 50 States :: Coming ... Tracey Denton continuing her tireless effort on behalf of Dean Dozens candidates in NYC. ... Tracey Denton (at right) chats with other Dean Democrats. ...
- Elana & Elena's Blog 'Peter Acocella encountered Democracy for NYC at two letter writing parties at Phyllis Weiner's apartment with Tracey Denton. Along with other concerned New ...
- New York's Premier Alternative Newspaper. Arts, Music, Food ... like artillery shells rooting out the last pockets of a tattered resistance army ....... As members speak of sister cells across town–"Has anyone been in contact with Brooklyn about Saturday?"–the scene smacks of nothing so much as a defiant underground guerilla group entering its final hour....... The soldiers of hellskitchen4dean–a subsection of nyc4dean–are, now as then, the true Deaniacs. With their money, time and energy, they sparked and helped sustain the Dean explosion of 2003. And tonight the loyal troops are vowing to continue the fight, if not for the nomination, then for convention delegates; if not for convention delegates, then for the future of the Democratic Party......... Until Dean throws in the towel–still an unspeakable thought–they will fight. Hard. Like the sewer rats of the Polish Underground, hellskitchen4dean is low on ammo–the group has only four bumper stickers left–but is determined to engage the enemy until each has died an honorable death against the "Kerry machine.".......... Manhattan theatergoers are discussed as if they are a vital Dean constituency......... "Remember," says one young woman, "Dean’s mother is a big supporter of the performing arts. This is a good thing to mention, especially to women." Tracey Denton, the high-energy leader of the cell, agrees that this is a good point......... The critical condition of Howard Dean’s presidential campaign has both toughened the group’s resolve and loosened its grip on reality....... "The DNC used the words ‘meet-up’ yesterday for the first time!" ...... Blitzer officially declares Dean a "distant third" at 18 percent....... Tracey Denton begins her long grapple with denial. "Wait–this could be good," she says, turning frantically from face to face. "An Edwards victory could slow down the Kerry machine!" ....... If anybody agrees, nobody says so. Nor does anyone walk over and grab her by the shoulders, shake her and scream, "Godammit woman! Get a grip! It’s over! It’s fucking over!!" .......
- [PDF] * . CIAC : TCILDTC
- April 6th Meeting with Howard Dean - New Democratic Majority ..... Tracey Denton (NDM Political Outreach Director), and I met with Howard Dean for 45 minutes at the Time/Life building in Midtown on Tuesday afternoon....... in the same spirit of pragmatic idealism...... He said that the reason progressives have been losing again and again is because we keep killing each other over semantics, or in Ted Kennedy's words, "letting the perfect become the enemy of the good." ....... We concluded the meeting with a group photo that we are now having digitized .....
- Equal Exchange - Java Jive #25, Fall 2003 A Quality Investment by Tracey Denton, Equal Exchange investor
- [PDF] [Working Title: Comparative Institutional Analysis in Cyberspace ...
- The New York City Anti-Police Misconduct Meetup Group - Meetup.com "I worked on the Dean campaign here in New York City, and I'm now working with another political organization, and I would like to connect with other New Yorkers to find out how we can make police brutality an issue in elections."
- Blog for America Tracey Denton, Executive Director of Democracy for New York City, spoke with Ronnie M. Eldridge on CUNY's Eldridge & Co. program about her involvement in the Dean campaign, Democracy for NYC politics and NYC politics in general. You can view the 30-minute segement in RealVideo or listen to audio-only in QuickTime.
- DeanPhotos.com - Faces of Dean Nation from All 50 States ... I always tell people that tracey Denton is the only person I know who speaks quicker than I do , and that's saying something
- Denton County, Texas - Denton County Most Wanted
- GoLobos.com :: Athletics :: The University of New Mexico ... Tracy Denton has been a cheerleading coach at UNM since 1996. She is a graduate of the University of ...
