This land was made for you and me

This post is a shout out of sorts to Sahar Massachi, who blogs with other progressive students at Brandeis University at Innermost Parts. You can see that it's listed on the right-hand side of the page under the list of some cool people I know. If you haven't checked out the folks in this list, please do. These are people I'm delighted to know, and whose material is well-crafted and thoughtful. Every now again they (or some cool people I don't necessarily know, see list) will post something that is so engaging that I will either respond to it here or simply link to it so that you all can share the experience.

Sahar wrote a great piece about the folk song "This Land Is Your Land," and with today's commemoration of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., tomorrow's inauguration of President-elect Obama, and the perennial thoughts about what it means for me to live and serve faithfully in the United States floating around in my head the piece resonated with me.

Here is the piece in its entirety: http://innermostparts.org/2009/01/19/this-machine-surrounds-hate-and-forces-it-to-surrender/ Below is a YouTube video of Peter Seeger singing and leading a rendition of "This Land Is Your Land" at the Inauguration concert yesterday, which Sahar includes in his post. Please read it, and read other pieces from these pretty cool people I've met.



This past summer I had the privilege to work with the Center for Progressive Leadership in DC, getting work experience as an intern at the National Youth Advocacy Coalition (see their website and their blog) and being part of a cohort of great folks learning about different aspects of progressive leadership like exploring anti-oppression work and how to work in coalition with others to create meaningful change. We touched on policy a little bit, but the policy wonks in the room were the folks from The Roosevelt Institution, among them Sahar. The progressive movement is enriched incomparably by his knowledge, energy, and creativity. Plus, he turned me on to Revolution in Jesusland, so he's automatically a cool guy in my book.

I'll post shout outs of sorts from time to time, so cool people beware: I know where you blog.